1. Matthew Stanley Quay 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.
118 Facts About Matthew Quay
1. 2.
Matthew Quay was instrumental in the 1900 election of Theodore Roosevelt as vice president.
3.
Matthew Quay studied law and began his career in public office by becoming prothonotary of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, in 1856.
4.
Matthew Quay became personal secretary to Governor Andrew Curtin in 1861 after campaigning for him the previous year.
5.
Matthew Quay received the Medal of Honor for heroism at the Battle of Fredericksburg.
6.
Matthew Quay acted as Pennsylvania's military agent in Washington before returning to Harrisburg to assist Curtin and aid in his re-election in 1863.
7.
Matthew Quay was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1865 to 1868.
8.
Matthew Quay served as Secretary of the Commonwealth, Philadelphia County Recorder, and Pennsylvania Treasurer.
9.
Matthew Quay was elected state treasurer in 1885, eclipsing Don Cameron as Pennsylvania's Republican political boss and putting Quay in position to run for the US Senate.
10.
Matthew Quay served there from 1887 to 1899, and then from 1901 until his death in 1904.
11.
Matthew Quay advocated for Pennsylvania's economic interests, paying little mind to matters that did not affect his home state.
12.
At the height of his career, Matthew Quay influenced appointments to thousands of state and federal positions in Pennsylvania, the occupants of which had to help finance the machine.
13.
Matthew Stanley Quay was born in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, on September 30,1833.
14.
Matthew Quay's father was Anderson Beaton Quay, a Presbyterian minister; Matthew's mother's last name at her birth was Catherine McCain.
15.
The Quay family was of Scottish and Manx descent; Matthew Quay had a Native American great-grandmother.
16.
Matthew Quay was named for General Matthew Quay Stanley, who raised McCain after her parents died; he was one of eight children and the oldest son to reach adulthood.
17.
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.
18.
Matthew Quay attended Beaver and Indiana academies, then enrolled at Jefferson College, where he became a member of Beta Theta Pi.
19.
In late 1852, uncertain that he was suited to the law, Matthew Quay embarked on another tour of the South but was again unable to find profitable employment and returned to complete his legal studies under the tutelage of Colonel Richard Roberts of Beaver.
20.
Matthew Quay was admitted to the bar in Beaver County on October 13,1854.
21.
When I met him [Matthew Quay], he did not at first impress me as a man of more than ordinary parts.
22.
Matthew Quay was extremely modest and unassuming in manner, with a defective sight in one eye that made his face expressionless, excepting when very warmly aroused in conversation.
23.
Under ordinary conditions he might have filled the place of secretary to the Governor without commanding the special attention of the political leaders of the State, but the most momentous events were crowded upon us at Harrisburg immediately after Curtin assumed his official duties, and Matthew Quay soon became recognized as one of the most valuable of all the men connected with the administration in meeting sudden and severe emergencies.
24.
At the start of the Civil War, Matthew Quay was among the earliest from Beaver County to volunteer.
25.
The Republicans lost their majority in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in the 1861 election, but Matthew Quay was able to forge an alliance between the Republican minority and the War Democrats, assuring a legislature that would work with Curtin on war matters.
26.
Matthew Quay did not see combat at that time, as McClellan was content to let Lee retreat into Virginia without a battle.
27.
Shortly thereafter, Matthew Quay fell ill of typhoid fever, and on medical advice, and because Curtin wanted him to serve as Pennsylvania's military agent in Washington, he submitted his resignation on December 5,1862, though there were delays in accepting it.
28.
The acceptance of Matthew Quay's resignation was received on the eve of the Battle of Fredericksburg, and he refused to leave his men, persuading commanders to accept him as a voluntary aide-de-camp.
29.
Matthew Quay was warned by the chief surgeon not to join in the battle because of his health, and was told he would die like a fool.
30.
Matthew Quay's troops were sent to attack the Confederate positions on Marye's Heights; hidden behind a stone wall, Confederate forces were able to unleash a torrent of fire against the attackers.
31.
Matthew Quay was not wounded, and his conduct earned him the Medal of Honor.
32.
In 1864, Matthew Quay was elected to the state House of Representatives for Beaver and Washington counties, he was re-elected in 1865 and 1866.
33.
Cameron gained the party legislative caucus's nomination for senator, and Matthew Quay healed relations by moving to make the nomination unanimous.
34.
Matthew Quay did not seek re-election to the legislature in 1867, instead returning to his hometown and founding a weekly newspaper, the Beaver Radical, which began publication in January 1868.
35.
Matthew Quay fully broke with Curtin, strongly supporting the regular Republican ticket.
36.
In January 1873, Matthew Quay managed Cameron's campaign for re-election to the Senate.
37.
Matthew Quay disposed of the challenge by calling an early caucus of the Republicans in the legislature, which Tower was unprepared for, and Cameron won easy re-election.
38.
Don Cameron and Matthew Quay offered Blaine's managers the state's votes in exchange for a promise to appoint a Pennsylvanian to the Cabinet but Blaine refused.
39.
The legislature duly created the position, and Hartranft appointed Matthew Quay, who resigned as Secretary of the Commonwealth, to it; Matthew Quay relocated to Philadelphia, taking a large double house at 11th and Spruce Streets.
40.
Matthew Quay resigned, and was re-appointed as Secretary of the Commonwealth by Governor Hoyt.
41.
Matthew Quay continued to deal with Standard Oil financially until his death in 1904, throughout his time in the Senate.
42.
Cameron and Matthew Quay were among the "Immortal 306", the delegates who voted for Grant on the 36th and final ballot.
43.
When Hoyt endorsed Stewart, Matthew Quay resigned as Secretary of the Commonwealth in protest.
44.
Part of the reason for the defeat was because Matthew Quay had insisted that Hoyt pardon legislators convicted of taking bribes to pass a bill reimbursing the Pennsylvania Railroad for losses incurred in the Railroad strike of 1877.
45.
When Blaine again sought the presidential nomination in 1884, Quay surrendered some party offices to the independents in exchange for the state party chairmanship going to his nominee, Thomas V Cooper.
46.
In doing so, Matthew Quay achieved a level of control over the state government that the Camerons had never reached.
47.
Matthew Quay had long wanted to become a US senator, if only to place himself on the same footing as Don Cameron, and McClure related that Matthew Quay had confided that he had considered taking Curtin's place in the 1867 senatorial battle.
48.
Matthew Quay wanted Senator Mitchell's seat, that would be filled by the legislature in early 1887.
49.
Matthew Quay, who stated the race for treasurer was one for "self-protection and self-preservation" as others maneuvered within the party, faced some criticism at his attempt to gain the office of treasurer, but had no serious opposition at the Republican convention, and was easily elected.
50.
Matthew Quay chose state senator Boies Penrose of Philadelphia to act for him while he was absent in Washington.
51.
Matthew Quay was willing to support Senator Sherman, but primarily he wanted a candidate who, if victorious, would reward Pennsylvania for its support.
52.
The convention deadlocked; Matthew Quay, realizing that Sherman could not win, opened negotiations with the managers of former senator Benjamin Harrison of Indiana.
53.
Matthew Quay wanted a written commitment to appoint a Pennsylvanian acceptable to Matthew Quay to the cabinet, but Harrison refused.
54.
Nevertheless, as the convention swung towards Harrison on the eighth and final ballot, Matthew Quay cast Pennsylvania's votes for the Indianan, but the circumstances did not give the state the credit for getting Harrison the nomination as Matthew Quay had hoped.
55.
Matthew Quay was elected as RNC chairman by a large margin.
56.
Matthew Quay recruited Philadelphia businessman John Wanamaker to do much fundraising.
57.
Matthew Quay believed that vote fraud committed by Tammany Hall had given Cleveland New York's electoral votes in 1884, and the election, and the senator was determined to prevent a repetition.
58.
Matthew Quay offered rewards for providing evidence resulting in convictions for illegal registration or illegal voting, something the public took more seriously after the first reward paid was for the conviction of a Republican.
59.
McClure stated that Matthew Quay used some of the campaign fund to bribe Tammany Hall leaders who were disenchanted with Cleveland.
60.
Matthew Quay sent money to win Southern congressional districts, and hired Pinkerton detectives to protect GOP-voting African-Americans there, leading to gains and Republican control of the House of Representatives in the next Congress.
61.
Matthew Quay responded with outrage that a letter had been opened, threatening prosecutions for interfering with the mails, and the election occurred before the scandal could fully develop.
62.
Matthew Quay met with Harrison in Indianapolis on December 19,1888, and made recommendations as to appointments, urging that Blaine and Wanamaker not be given cabinet positions, but be given diplomatic posts, and that his deputy at the RNC, James Clarkson, be appointed to the cabinet.
63.
Matthew Quay, who did not want a cabinet post for himself, supported the appointment once it was announced, for it at least put a Pennsylvanian in the cabinet.
64.
In one incident, Matthew Quay handed Harrison a list of people he and Cameron wanted appointed, and replied, when the president asked for their qualifications, that the senators from Pennsylvania vouched for them.
65.
Matthew Quay wanted the tariff to pass because it was supported by many manufacturers who helped finance the Republican Party, especially in Pennsylvania, and he had made promises of protectionist policies during the 1888 campaign.
66.
Matthew Quay believed the Lodge Bill would provoke renewed sectional conflict.
67.
In early 1890, the New York World published a series of articles bringing up incidents from Matthew Quay's past, beginning with the 1867 Senate race, in which he was accused of accepting payments to recruit support for Simon Cameron.
68.
Matthew Quay responded with silence, which he was wont to do.
69.
Matthew Quay finally answered the allegations against him in February 1891, addressing the Senate, which he rarely did, and calling the allegations "false and foul to the core".
70.
Matthew Quay was not supportive of Harrison as the president faced renomination in 1892, but disliked the only real rival, Blaine.
71.
At the 1892 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, Matthew Quay realized that Harrison's renomination could not be prevented, and himself voted for McKinley, by then governor of Ohio, who was third in the balloting although not a declared candidate.
72.
Matthew Quay's statements were bolstered when he fell ill early in 1892, causing his wife Agnes to make one of her rare trips away from Beaver to tend to him in Florida.
73.
Matthew Quay kept control of the Senate floor for over two months, from April 14 to June 16,1894, himself consuming 14 legislative days, and did not conclude his remarks until he and other pro-tariff legislators had secured a compromise that preserved tariffs on manufactures, as favored by Pennsylvania industry, and included other protectionist provisions.
74.
John Oliver wrote, "one can readily see the connection between Matthew Quay's fight for a high protective tariff and liberal contributions from the Pennsylvania manufacturers".
75.
Matthew Quay faced further rebellion within the Pennsylvania Republican Party in 1895.
76.
Republicans had elected Daniel H Hastings as governor in 1894; he was the candidate the reform element had wanted in 1890 instead of Delamater, and, this time, Quay acquiesced in his nomination.
77.
Matthew Quay appealed to rural politicians, alleging that the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh machines were trying to take them over.
78.
At the state convention, a deal was reached whereby Matthew Quay would get the post, and he moved the adoption of a platform that committed the party to reform.
79.
Platt and Matthew Quay decided to promote favorite son candidates to deny McKinley a first-round majority at the 1896 Republican National Convention and force him to the bargaining table.
80.
Matthew Quay was Pennsylvania's favorite son and he found considerable enthusiasm in the state for nominating a Pennsylvanian as the state had been the largest to be consistently loyal to the party, but had never received a place on a Republican ticket.
81.
Matthew Quay played only a small role in the fall campaign, helping to run the campaign's New York headquarters, and making recommendations that Hanna spend more money in several Southern states, part of which Hanna agreed to.
82.
Matthew Quay was defeated by Congressman William A Stone, a Quay loyalist.
83.
On October 3,1898, Matthew Quay was arrested for conspiracy to defraud the People's Bank of Philadelphia.
84.
Matthew Quay was the choice of the Republican legislative caucus in January 1899, but some remained away and his support was not enough for the necessary majority of the legislature with the two houses meeting in joint assembly.
85.
Matthew Quay had a sufficient hold over the Democratic legislative leaders to prevent them from uniting with the anti-Matthew Quay Republicans to elect a senator, and the deadlock persisted through 79 ballots.
86.
Matthew Quay was finally brought to trial on the allegations in April 1899, but the prosecution rested an hour after the legislature adjourned, having failed to elect a senator, and he was quickly acquitted, leading Matthew Quay's defenders to allege that the indictment had been purely political.
87.
Not enough Republicans attended the legislative caucus to provide a majority for Matthew Quay leaving him four votes short of a majority to elect.
88.
Matthew Quay was elected because two Democratic legislators voted for him, and two others remained away from the voting.
89.
One of the crucial votes in electing Matthew Quay was an ill Republican, brought on a stretcher from the hospital to the state capitol to cast his ballot.
90.
Matthew Quay languished, forgotten, in a hallway as his bearers joined in the celebrations of Quay's victory, got pneumonia and died.
91.
Matthew Quay was given an impressive funeral: both Quay and Penrose attended, wearing silk hats.
92.
Matthew Quay was sworn in to his third term in the Senate on January 18,1901, in a Senate chamber filled with his supporters, congratulatory telegrams, and flowers.
93.
Matthew Quay believed it was necessary to nominate for governor a judge whose character was beyond suspicion.
94.
Hanna favored Elkin's nomination, and Matthew Quay feared that the Ohioan might control Pennsylvania's delegation to the next national convention through Elkin.
95.
In office, Pennypacker generally did what Matthew Quay wanted, but sometimes differed from him over appointments to office.
96.
One battle Matthew Quay undertook in his last years was statehood for Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona.
97.
One reason Matthew Quay wanted the bill to pass is that it might allow William "Bull" Andrews, a longtime Matthew Quay lieutenant with financial interests in New Mexico Territory, to reach the Senate.
98.
Matthew Quay remaining in Washington through the winter of 1903 to seek passage of his bill, rather than spending part of the winter in Florida as usual, hurt his health.
99.
Matthew Quay was a member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs; when Chief Joseph and his party came to Washington, they expended all their funds and were unable to get home, Quay paid their railroad fare.
100.
Matthew Quay went to his brother's country estate at Morganza, Pennsylvania, in April 1904, but knowing he was dying, he asked to be conveyed home to Beaver.
101.
Matthew Quay could read and speak several languages, possessing one of the finest private libraries in America.
102.
Matthew Quay's headstone gives his name and those of his parents, his dates of birth and death, and implora pacem.
103.
In 1855, Matthew Quay married Agnes Barclay ; they had five children; the eldest, Richard Rogers Matthew Quay, served in the Pennsylvania legislature.
104.
The former town of Matthew Quay, Oklahoma, was named for him.
105.
Matthew Quay's success required considerable manipulation, because he was not able to control the state's burgeoning cities, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
106.
Matthew Quay's death sparked renewed debate about him, though McClure stated that upon his death, "friend and foe bowed regretfully over the grave of Pennsylvania's ablest and most chivalrous political gladiator".
107.
Matthew Quay was able to work with and conciliate many of those whom Don Cameron had alienated.
108.
Blair wrote that Matthew Quay's techniques were to "work one-on-one; keep quiet; maneuver behind the scenes".
109.
Matthew Quay was certainly one of the best-hated men in politics.
110.
Matthew Quay was indicted, arrested, beaten at the polls, attacked from the pulpit, criticized in the press.
111.
Matthew Quay endured to make two presidents and to serve three terms in the Senate.
112.
Matthew Quay rarely addressed the Senate; his power was behind the scenes, exercised over dinner and in committee rooms.
113.
Matthew Quay authored no major legislation; his interest was in being able to control the flow of legislation.
114.
Matthew Quay chaired no major committees, but led the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds.
115.
Matthew Quay kept close control of the purse strings, deciding where money should be doled out.
116.
In one case, Matthew Quay avoided making nineteen enemies by submitting twenty candidates for an office to Governor Stone, and got him to reject them all.
117.
Matthew Quay was even more committed to the status quo than most legislators were.
118.
Matthew Quay was content to sit in silence while senatorial discussion resounded on all sides; he never championed any principle, not even the Republican doctrine of protection[ism].