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Back to article: NATHANIEL MACON (1758-1837)

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MACON, NATHANIEL (1758-1837), American political leader, was born at Macon Manor, Warren county, North Carolina, on the 17th of December 1758. He studied at the college of New Jersey (now Princeton University) from 1774 to 1776, when the institution was closed on account of the outbreak of the War of Independence; served fora short time in a New Jersey militia company; studied law at Bute Court-house, North Carolina, in 1777-1780, at the same time managing his tobacco plantation; was a member of a Warren county militia company in 1780-1782, and served in the North Carolina Senate in 1781-1785. In 1786 he was elected to the Continental Congress, but declined to serve. In 1791-1815 he was a member of the national House of Representatives, and in 1815-1828 of the United States Senate. Macon's point of view was always local rather than national. He was essentially a North Carolinian first, and an American afterwards; and throughout his career he was an aggressive advocate of state sovereignty and an adherent of the doctrines of the " Old Republicans." He at first opposed the