37 of 56 · Maryland
PACA
A Planter's Guide
28 lessons. 4 chapters. In his own words.
Wealth, gardens, and a careful vote. Not every signer had to shout. Some had to be respectable enough to count.
William Paca · 1740–1799 · Planter · judge · governor
01
The Garden
1 of 4
Build a place that argues for you.
“He laid out the terraces and the wilderness garden behind the Annapolis house as carefully as a brief.”
Record of the William Paca House, Annapolis · 1765
Brick, boxwood, a falling garden down to the water. Taste is not frivolous in a colony of planters. It is credentials. Make a room people want to be seen in, then use the room.
Cultivation is a public language.
“A man is known in Maryland by his table, his acreage, and whether his name can carry a county.”
Attributed, Chesapeake planter society · 1770
Paca had Italian blood, English law, Maryland land. The garden said: I am not a wrecker. I am one of you, and I am going to move you. Beauty can be a political technology.
Do not let the grounds become the work.
“We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
The Declaration of Independence · 1776
The house still stands. So does the name. If the garden had been the point, he would be a footnote in a tour book. Stake the grounds on something that can confiscate them.
Order the private world so the public one can be risked.
“He left Annapolis in order, then sat in Congress as if order were portable.”
Maryland record of William Paca · 1776
Chaos at home makes radicals uncountable. Trim the walks. Then go to Philadelphia. People follow a man whose own acres do not look like a riot.
A garden is an argument in brick and boxwood.
“The Paca House garden in Annapolis was laid out as a public face of private order.”
Annapolis record of the Paca House · 1765
Terraces, a wilderness, a summerhouse. Not a hobby. A demonstration that this man could compose a world. In a gentry revolution, taste is credentials. Lay the walks. Then risk them.
Cultivation is how a planter learns patience for a vote.
“He built the grounds, then spent them on a province that had to be argued into independence.”
Maryland record of William Paca · 1776
Gardens teach delay that is not cowardice. You wait on seasons. You do not wait on kings. The same man can keep a parterre and move a convention. Do not let the grounds become an alibi.
Leave the walks. Take the motion.
“He left Annapolis for Philadelphia with the garden finished and the province still to move.”
Maryland record of William Paca · 1776
A composed house makes a composed signer. That can slide into decoration. The test is whether you will leave the terrace for Philadelphia in June. Beauty that cannot travel is just furniture.
02
Be Countable
2 of 4
Not every signer has to shout.
“Chase brought the heat. Paca brought the names that would not follow heat alone.”
John Adams on the Maryland deputation · 1776
Respectable enough to count. That is a job. The province would not be dragged by a single florid lawyer. It would be led by a planter who looked like the province.
Put your fortune where your vote is.
“And for the support of this Declaration, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
The Declaration of Independence · 1776
He had a fortune to pledge. That is why his yes moved rooms Chase's yes could not. Wealth that hides is ballast. Wealth that signs is a warrant.
Be the second man who makes the first man possible.
“The Convention of Maryland authorized their deputies to concur in a declaration of independence.”
Proceedings of the Maryland Convention · 1776
Chase, Paca, Stone, Carroll — a chord, not a solo. If you cannot be the fire, be the brick that keeps the fire from falling over. Countability is a craft.
Learn the law in two cities.
“He read at Annapolis and at the Inner Temple, and came home bilingual in courts.”
Biographical record of William Paca · 1760
London polish, local docket. Maryland's conservatives trusted the polish. The country party trusted the local. Be fluent in both dialects of authority.
Revolutions need a floor that does not collapse.
“Not every signer had to shout. Some had to be respectable enough to count.”
Maryland political memory of William Paca · 1776
Chase brought heat. Paca brought a name the conservative counties could bear. Revolutions need both, and they need them in the same delegation. If you cannot be the fire, be the floor that does not collapse.
Respect without a wager is manners.
“He signed, and the estate stood behind the name.”
The Declaration of Independence · 1776
Respect without a wager is manners. He had land, law, and a house the British could find. Countability is a hostage you offer. Offer it. Then the shout next to you is not a lone madman.
The Temple gave the profession. Maryland gave the case.
“He read law in Annapolis and at the Inner Temple, then brought both rooms home.”
Biographical record of William Paca · 1760
Two cities of training. The Temple gave him the profession; Maryland gave him the case. A respectable patriot is often just a well-trained one. Get the training. Spend it on the side that needs a gentleman to say yes.
03
Sit the Court
3 of 4
After the vote, put on the robe.
“William Paca, Judge of the Court of Appeals for Maryland, and later Judge of the United States District Court.”
Maryland and federal commissions · 1789
Washington put him on the new federal bench. Revolutionaries who cannot become judges leave a country of pamphlets. Sit down. Decide cases. Make the parchment operational.
Federal court is how a state joins a nation.
“The judicial Power of the United States shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.”
Constitution of the United States, Article III · 1789
He was the inferior court. That is not an insult. That is the plumbing. Admiralty, revenue, the first federal questions in Maryland — unglamorous, load-bearing.
Do not perform Chase on the bench.
“He kept the robe quieter than the man who had been his colleague in Congress.”
Contrast of Paca and Chase in Maryland public memory · 1795
Same province, opposite temperatures. Paca's heat had been spent. The court got the remainder: courtesy, land, a name people already trusted. Different rooms, different tools.
A planter's judge still has to prefer the statute.
“He is to decide, not as a gentleman of Maryland, but as a judge of the United States.”
Class is a fact. Law is a discipline. If the two collide, the robe was a costume. Take the pay and the oath, or take neither.
Take Washington's commission and sit it quietly.
“President Washington appointed him to the federal court for the District of Maryland.”
Federal judicial commission of William Paca · 1789
The first bench of a new government needs men who will not perform. He had already governed. Now he judged. A planter who can prefer a statute to a cousin is the whole hope of federal court in a slave state.
Let Chase furnish the cautionary tale. Furnish the docket.
“The contrast was Maryland's: one signer loud on the high court, one quiet on the district bench.”
Contrast of Paca and Chase in Maryland public memory · 1795
Same province, same parchment, opposite judicial styles. You do not owe the republic a second firebrand. You owe it a man who can hear a case. Let Chase furnish the cautionary tale. Furnish the docket.
Sit the local federal chair as if the union were real.
“The judicial Power shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.”
Constitution of the United States, Article III · 1789
He was the inferior court. That is not an insult. That is how a nation reaches Annapolis. Sit the local federal chair as if the union were real, because that is what makes it real.
04
Govern After
4 of 4
Win, then administer.
“William Paca, Governor of Maryland.”
Maryland election of 1782 · 1782
Three one-year terms. Soldiers to pay, Loyalist estates to sort, a harbor to reopen. Independence is a weekend. Government is the rest of the calendar.
Pay the men who did not sign anything.
“The troops of Maryland must be fed and clothed, or this state has broken faith with its own sword.”
Attributed to the Maryland executive in the late war · 1783
The signers pledged fortunes. The privates pledged years. A governor who forgets the second list will not keep the first list's honor. Receipts are patriotism.
Leave the garden in the state's hands.
“He returned from the governorship to the bench and to Wye Hall, having spent the public years as if they were a crop.”
Maryland record of William Paca · 1786
Plant, harvest, rotate. He did not cling to the chair. Office is a season. The acres and the docket were waiting, which is how you know the office was service.
Die with the institutions standing.
“He died in 1799, a signer, a governor, a federal judge, the house and garden still in order.”
Obituary record of William Paca · 1799
Not a martyr. Not a ruin. A completed circuit. Some founders explode. Some finish. Be countable to the end, and the province will keep the name without being asked.
Winning is a day. Governing is the next three years.
“William Paca, Governor of Maryland, 1782 to 1785.”
Maryland executive record · 1782
The war was not done and the men were unpaid. Gardens do not feed a line. He had the respectable name; he spent it on administration. Winning is a day. Governing is the next three years.
Honor, at this rank, is a payroll.
“He pushed Maryland to find money for men who had not signed a thing except an enlistment.”
Maryland record of William Paca · 1783
Signers get chapters. Privates get arrears. A governor who loves the parchment and stiffs the line has misunderstood the pledge. Honor, at this rank, is a payroll.
Leave the rooms usable. That is a planter's founding.
“He died in 1799, Wye Hall his later seat, the institutions he had sat still in motion.”
Obituary record of William Paca · 1799
House, garden, bench, governorship — a career of rooms kept in order. Not a ballad. A method. Leave the rooms usable. That is a planter's idea of founding, and it is not nothing.