MACON, NATHANIEL (1758-1837). An Ameri can political leader. He was horn in Warren County. N. C.. of Huguenot parentage, and was educated at the College of New Jersey (Prince ton). When the Revolutionary War broke out, lie left college and enlisted as a volunteer. He was present at the capture of Charleston by the British and at the battle of Camden, and was with Greene in his retreat across Carolina. He left the army in February, 1751. to take a seat as Senator in the Lerrislatnre. in which he served until December. .1785. In 1786 he was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress, but declined to serve. being opposed to the State's sending delegates to the old Congress. He vig orously opposed the ratification of the Federal Constitution by the State of North Carolina on the ground that it conferred too much power on the general Government. In 1791 he ac cepted a seat in Congress, in which he served without interruption until 1815, when he was transferred to the United States Senate. The
Republican victory of 1801 led to his election to the Speakership of the House, a position which he filled acceptably until 1806. While a member of the Senate, Macon served as president pro tem. from 1825 to 1827. In polities he was a Jeffer sonian Republican of the strict construction school. In 1828 lie retired from the United States Senate of his own accord. and until his death in 1837, lived in seclusion on his plantation, except that in 1835 he served as chairman of the North Carolina Constitutional Convention, and in 1836 was a Presidential elector. A biographical sketch of Macon was prepared by E. R. Cotton (Balti more, 1840). Consult also the American His torical Review (New York, 1902).