Grayson, William, 1736-1790

William Grayson (1736 – March 12, 1790) was a soldier, lawyer, and statesman from Virginia. He was one of the first two U.S. Senators from Virginia, and belonged to the Anti-Federalist faction.

Born at Belle Aire Plantation in Prince William County in the Colony of Virginia, Grayson attended the University of Pennsylvania, and received his degree in Law from the University of Oxford and was knowledgeable in Latin, Greek, and English history. He practiced law, principally in Prince William County, Virginia. Grayson was involved in the political prelude to the Revolution in Virginia. He was on various Committees of Correspondence and military preparedness. In June, 1776 became an assistant secretary to George Washington, and was promoted as an aide-de-camp to Washington in August, which came with the rank of rank of Lieutenant Colonel. In January, 1777, William Grayson recruited a regiment for the Continental Army known as Grayson's Additional Continental Regiment, and served as its colonel. In 1779, he resigned his military commission to serve on the Congressional Board of War. In 1781, he returned to Dumfries to practice law.

Grayson was a delegate to the Confederation Congress from 1785 to 1787. He helped to pass the Northwest Ordinance, including a provision that forbade slavery in the Northwest Territory. As an Anti-Federalist, he joined George Mason, James Monroe, and Patrick Henry in opposing ratification of the proposed new United States Constitution at the Virginia Ratification Convention in 1788. Although the Anti-Federalists lost the battle in opposition of the new Constitution, Patrick Henry, Virginia's leading Anti-Federalist, rewarded Grayson by arranging his election to the first United States Senate. Grayson served from March 4, 1789 until his death on March 12, 1790. He and Richard Henry Lee were the only members of the first Senate who had opposed ratification, and so they were unhappy when the Bill of Rights omitted any provisions making serious corrections to the division of powers between the central government and the states. Grayson continued to believe that the Philadelphia Convention had struck precisely the wrong balance.

Grayson died in Dumfries on March 12, 1790, the first member of the United States Congress to die in office. He is interred in the Grayson family vault at Belle Aire.