William Paca was an American statesman, born in Abington, Maryland. He received a classical education at home before studying law at the Inner Temple in England. Paca was a local leader in the patriot movement in the late 1770s, and he wrote and organized against a poll-tax instituted by the royal governor. He was elected to the Maryland State Legislature in 1771 and appointed to the Continental Congress in 1774. Paca was reelected and served until 1779 when he was appointed chief justice of the State of Maryland. He was elected governor of Maryland in 1782 and later appointed federal district judge for the state, serving in that position until his death in 1799.
