Profiles in PA Political History

March 9, 2010 Edition

Matthew S. Quay, Republican, US Senator, 1887-1899, 1901-1904

Matthew Quay was born in 1833 in York County.  He graduated form what is now Washington and Jefferson and spoke several languages.  While serving in the Civil War, he won the Congressional Medal of  Honor. 

Quay served in the State House for two years starting in 1865, then briefly left politics to publish the Beaver Radical.  When he re-entered the political sphere in  1869, he remained a Republican force until his death.  He served as State Treasurer from 1885-1887, then in the US Senate from 1887-1899. In 1898, he was tried for misappropriating state funds, but was acquitted. The Pennsylvania Legislature failed to fill his seat in 1899, but Governor William Stone appointed him for a third term.  The Senate refused to seat him. He then regained his seat through election in 1901.  He died three years later. 

During the guilded age , the term “quayism” meant shrewd and ruthless politics.

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