William Maclay Quotes
John Adams has neither judgment, firmness of mind, nor respectively of deportment to fill the chair of such an assembly.
William Maclay, 1737-1804, U. S. Senator (Democrat, PA), Assessment of the presiding officer of the first U. S. Senate, Vice President John Adams
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Before Governor Mecham was impeached, Senator John McCain called for his resignation. After Mecham was impeached for misusing State funds and thwarting investigations of death threats, he commented upon McCain's qualifications for a place on the Republican national ticket:
Vladimir Lenin. Although Lenin’s letter was given to the Central Committee by his wife, it was not read or debated at the Congress and Stalin was elected.
He was very critical of Arraham Lincoln even though he was a Republican. Many percieved that Lincoln's administration could not get anything done. Lincoln might have lost the 1864 campaign but for the great victory that General Sherman's troops had in taking Atlanta. This changed a lot of mionds about Lincoln's War strategy. Actually, in the first 2 years of the Civil War, Lincoln could not get his generals to fight his preferred kind of war until he appointed Grant who brought Sherman to high command.
Obama was a President who believed deeply in the concepts of checks and balances and separation of powers. He did not punish members of Congress who opposed him by closing federal installations in their state of district, not giving government contracts to companies in his district and in the case of member of his own party who were “recalcitrant” supporting opponent in primary elections and failing to support in general elections. Presidents Nixon and Johnson used these techniques particularly effectively. As a result they pushed their legislative programs through Congress very effectively. All other modern Presidents have done this to one degree or another, but Obama did not. He believed that pressure on member of Congress should be limited to persuasion and public debate moving public opinion. Many seasoned politicians and political observers however thought that this was Obama’s biggest weakness as a President. Lyndon Johnson did not have to actually punish many member of Congress, as his willingness to do so was well known and thus few opposed him when he called or met with them and “gave them the treatment.” But Congress knew that Obama had taken punishment and retaliation off the table, and many opposed him including member of his own party.
Presidential assistant Sherman Adams was rumored to have accepted gifts for favors. Adams resigned in disgrace a few months later.
William Maclay was a politician from Pennsylvania during the eighteenth century. Maclay, along with Robert Morris, was a member of Pennsylvania's first two-member delegation to the United States Senate. Following his tenure in the Senate, he served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on two occasions, as a county judge, and as a presidential elector. He is known for his journal providing historical information on the 1st United States Congress.
