Michael MacNamara

For other people named Michael McNamara, see Michael McNamara (disambiguation).

Michael MacNamara was a politician in Colonial Maryland, who served 3 terms as Mayor of Annapolis.

Politics

Originally from Ireland^[1] MacNamara held a number of Proprietary appointments in colonial Maryland and, politically, was a Loyalist. He was Mayor of Annapolis on three occasions, from 1746–1747, 1753–1754, and 1760–1761.

Maryland politics could evidently be rancorous. Court records show that MacNamara and his predecessor as Annapolis mayor, the physician George Steuart (1700–1784), were both required "to post a bond to keep the peace...especially with each other".^[2]

Contemporary records show that in 1754 MacNamara was the Deputy Commissioner of Anne Arundel County, hearing a claim by Henrietta Maria Dulany seeking to overturn the will of her late husband, the planter and politician Daniel Dulany the Elder (1685–1753).^[3]

Coming of Revolution

Samuel Chase, signer of the Declaration of Independence and MacNamara's implacable opponent.

In 1766, MacNamara became embroiled in a war of words Samuel Chase, a vocal opponent of the Stamp Act and later a signer of the American Declaration of Independence. In an open letter dated July 18, 1766 Chase attacked MacNamara, John Brice, Walter Dulany, George Steuart, and others for publishing an article in the Maryland Gazette Extraordinary of June 19, 1766, in which Chase had been accused of being: "a busy, reckless incendiary, a ringleader of mobs, a foul-mouthed and inflaming son of discord and faction, a common disturber of the public tranquility".^[4]

In his response, Chase accused MacNamara and the others of "vanity...pride and arrogance", and of being brought to power by "proprietory influence, court favour, and the wealth and influence of the tools and favourites who infest this city." ^[4]

In particular Chase accused MacNamara, in highly personal terms, of having been "reduced to a servile dependency" by "the consequences of a bad life", and accused him of having allowed his children to be "reduced to beggary by your continued round of vice and folly, drunkenness and debauchery".^[4]

See also

• Colonial government in the Thirteen Colonies
• List of mayors of Annapolis, Maryland

References

1. ^ Coldham, Peter Wilson, p.289, The King's Passengers to Maryland and Virginia Retrieved November 2010
2. ^ Yentsch, Anne E, p.313, A Chesapeake Family and their Slaves: a Study in Historical Archaeology, Cambridge University Press (1994) Retrieved Jan 2010
3. ^ Wright, Edward F., p.8, Maryland Calendar of Wills, Volume 11: 1753-1760 Retrieved November 2010
4. ^ ^{a b c} Sanderson, John J, p.67, Biography of the Signers To the Declaration of Independence, Volume 5, published by R W Pomery (1823). Retrieved Jan 21 2010

Preceded by Robert Gordon	Mayor of Annapolis 1746–1747	Succeeded by Benjamin Tasker, Sr.
Preceded by Bejamin Tasker	Mayor of Annapolis 1753–1754	Succeeded by Benjamin Tasker, Jr.
Preceded by George H. Steuart	Mayor of Annapolis 1760–1761	Succeeded by Stephen Bordley