William Vans Murray

William Vans Murray
Portrait (1787), oil on canvas, of William Vans Murray (1760–1803), by Mather Brown (1761–1831)
6th United States Minister to the Netherlands
In office June 20, 1797 – September 2, 1801
President	John Adams Thomas Jefferson
Preceded by	John Quincy Adams
Succeeded by	William Eustis
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland
In office March 4, 1791 – March 3, 1797
Preceded by	George Gale
Succeeded by	John Dennis
Constituency	5th district (1791–93) 8th district (1793–97)
Personal details
Born	(1760-02-09)February 9, 1760 Cambridge, Province of Maryland, British America
Died	December 11, 1803(1803-12-11) (aged 43) Dorchester County, Maryland, U.S.
Political party	Pro-Administration
Relatives	Clement Sulivane (nephew)
Occupation	Lawyer, attorney, diplomat

William Vans Murray (February 9, 1760 – December 11, 1803) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman. He served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1788 to 1790, and in the United States House of Representatives from 1791 to 1797. He was the United States Ambassador to the Netherlands from 1797 to 1801.

William Vans Murray was born on February 9, 1760, in Glasgow in Cambridge in the Province of Maryland. He studied the Law in England.

He served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1788 to 1790. He was then elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the fifth district of Maryland, serving from 1791 until 1793. He represented the eighth district from 1793 to 1797. He was appointed the U.S. Minister (ambassador) to the Netherlands from 1797 until 1801. He supported the U.S. mission to France in peace negotiations.

He wrote a series of six essays, which were published in Philadelphia during the Constitutional Convention. Murray rejected the notion, advanced by Montesquieu among others, that virtue was the root of democracy. He addressed his essays to John Adams, then assigned to London as the United States ambassador, and of whom Murray was a "political disciple."^[1]

In 1799, Murray was nominated as a U.S. minister to France.^[2] He played a major role in securing peace and the end of the Quasi-War with the Convention of 1800.^[3]

• Hill, Peter P. William Vans Murray, Federalist diplomat: the shaping of peace with France, 1797-1801 (1971)

• United States Congress. "William Vans Murray (id: M001119)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Shoreman Averted War With France - Delmarva Heritage Series