On the Wye Plantation near Houghten House is a monument honoring William Paca one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. "He was a practitioner of enduring patriotism that informs and inspires us today," Stiverson said. "He had an unwavering devotion to liberty." Paca, a Baltimore County native who earned his law license at the tender age of 22, worked tirelessly until his death in 1799, a few days shy of his 59th birthday. He married the daughter of a wealthy Maryland plantation owner named Mary Chew, and later served as Maryland governor, senator, first federal district judge, and also on the Continental Congress and the U.S. Senate. His tenure proved a time of change for a fledgling nation, and Paca led opposition to the British Stamp Act of 1765, and established the Anne Arundel chapter of the Sons of Liberty. Paca served three one-year terms as governor, from 1782-1785, during which time Congress met in Maryland's State House. As governor, Paca saw the resignation of Gen. George Washington as commander in chief and the ratification of the Treaty of Paris that officially ended the war for independence. He convinced Maryland's General Assembly in 1783 to charter the state's first college Washington College and championed education. He also championed for a Bill of Rights. "He argued a Bill of Rights guaranteed fundamental liberties," Stiverson said. "He drafted a 22-article Bill of Rights, the first time anyone gave a formal proposal during ratification." In 1789, Maryland became the second state to ratify a Bill of Rights, and once that happened, Paca supported a federal government. Paca came out of retirement that same year, when Washington appointed him as Maryland's first federal district judge, a post he kept until his death about 10 years later".--Quoted from Gregory A. Stiverson in http://www.myeasternshoremd.com