William Findley (1741-4 April 1821) was a member of the US House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's at-large district from 4 March 1791 to 3 March 1795, from the 8th district from 4 March 1803 to 3 March 1813 (succeeding John Stewart and preceding William Piper, and from the 11th district from 4 March 1795 to 3 March 1799 and from 4 March 1813 to 3 March 1817 (succeeding Abner Lacock and preceding David Marchland). He was a Democratic-Republican.
Biography[]
William Findley was born in Ulster, Ireland in 1741 and emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1763, starting a farm and a family in Cumberland County. He served as a militia captain during the American Revolutionary War, and his family moved across the Allegheny Mountains to Westmoreland County in 1783 upon the war's end. During the state's convention to ratify the US Constitution, Findlay - an opponent of the constitution - mocked the debates, and was seen as an uneducated country "hick" by his Federalist Party opponents. Findley went on to serve in the US House of Representatives from 1791 to 1799 and from 1803 to 1817, serving as a Democratic-Republican. Findley was a voice of reason, helping to calm the Whiskey Rebellion, and, despite his support for states' rights, he opposed slavery. He died in 1821.