Matthew Quay
Matthew Stanley Quay (/kweɪ/; September 30, 1833 – May 28, 1904) was an American politician of the Republican Party who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate from 1887 until 1899 and from 1901 until his death in 1904. Quay's control of the Pennsylvania Republican political machine made him one of the most powerful and influential politicians in the country, and he ruled Pennsylvania politics for almost twenty years. As chair of the Republican National Committee and thus party campaign manager, he helped elect Benjamin Harrison as president in 1888 despite Harrison not winning the popular vote. He was also instrumental in the 1900 election of Theodore Roosevelt as vice president.
Matthew Quay
Vacant
Vacant
Francis Jordan
John Blair Linn
John Blair Linn
Francis Jordan
William Livsey
William Livsey
Isaiah White (as member for Beaver and Lawrence counties)
Thomas Nicholson
Office created
David H. Lane
A. R. Thomson
Michael Weyand
May 28, 1904 (aged 70)
Beaver, Pennsylvania, U.S.
5
.png){kind=small}
1861–1862
Quay studied law and began his career in public office by becoming prothonotary of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, in 1856. He became personal secretary to Governor Andrew Curtin in 1861 after campaigning for him the previous year. During the Civil War, he served in the Union Army, commanding the 134th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment as a colonel. Quay received the Medal of Honor for heroism at the Battle of Fredericksburg. He acted as Pennsylvania's military agent in Washington before returning to Harrisburg to assist Curtin and aid in his re-election in 1863. He was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1865 to 1868.
Beginning in 1867, Quay became increasingly aligned with the political machine run by Senator Simon Cameron, and, by 1880, was the chief lieutenant of Cameron and his son and successor Don. He continued to serve in public office, as Secretary of the Commonwealth, Philadelphia County Recorder, and Pennsylvania Treasurer. The last, to which he was elected in 1885, gave him enough power to eclipse Don Cameron as Pennsylvania's Republican political boss, and put him in position to run for the Senate. He served there from 1887 to 1899, and then from 1901 until his death in 1904. There, he strongly advocated for Pennsylvania's economic interests, paying little mind to matters that did not affect his home state.
At the height of his career, Quay influenced appointments to thousands of state and federal positions in Pennsylvania, the occupants of which had to help finance the machine. Opponents within the Pennsylvania Republican Party, such as merchant John Wanamaker, contested his rule from time to time, usually unsuccessfully, though they did block his election to a third term in the Senate for two years, causing the 1899 legislative election for senator to end with no one chosen. Increasingly in poor health, he took on few new battles in his final years. After Quay's death, his political machine was taken over by his fellow Pennsylvania senator, Boies Penrose, who continued to run it until his own death in 1921.
Early life and career[edit]
Matthew Stanley Quay was born in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, on September 30, 1833. His father was Anderson Beaton Quay, a Presbyterian minister; Matthew's mother's last name at her birth was Catherine McCain.[4] The Quay family was of Scottish and Manx descent;[5][6] Matthew Quay had a Native American great-grandmother.[7] Matthew was named for General Matthew Stanley, who raised McCain after her parents died; he was one of eight children and the oldest son to reach adulthood.[8]
The Quay family lived in several towns in central and western Pennsylvania during Matthew's childhood as Reverend Quay accepted new positions, before they finally settled in Beaver in 1850, where the family had previously lived in the early 1840s. Despite the itinerant nature of the family's existence, the education of the children, including the girls, was not neglected.[9] Matthew attended Beaver and Indiana academies, then enrolled at Jefferson College (now Washington & Jefferson College), where he became a member of Beta Theta Pi.[10]
After graduating in 1850, Quay visited Mississippi, where one of his classmates lived on a plantation. They had plans to go into business giving stereopticon lectures, but the equipment broke. Unable to find suitable employment in the South, he returned to Pennsylvania, where he read law in the Pittsburgh firm of Penney and Starrett. James C. Penney, a partner in the firm, stated that he "had never known a man of his age whose mind was so well disciplined and mature".[11] In late 1852, uncertain that he was suited to the law, Quay embarked on another tour of the South but was again unable to find profitable employment and returned to complete his legal studies[12] under the tutelage of Colonel Richard Roberts of Beaver.[5] He was admitted to the bar in Beaver County on October 13, 1854.[13]
In 1856, Governor James Pollock appointed Quay as prothonotary of Beaver County, to fill an unexpired term. The appointment came because the governor and his advisors respected Reverend Quay, and the young lawyer was elected to three-year terms in 1856 and 1859.[14] At this time, the Republican Party was being formed; Quay became a member[4] and was the Beaver County manager of that party's candidate for governor in 1860, Andrew Curtin.[15] Quay's success in getting delegates to the state convention from western Pennsylvania to support Curtin was crucial to his getting the nomination.[16] In October 1860, Curtin was elected, and won Beaver County by a large margin, causing him to admire Quay's political skill.[17]
