James McHenry
There were three physicians present as delegates during the Constitutional Convention, one of them being Revolutionary War veteran and accomplished surgeon James McHenry. During his war service McHenry, an immigrant from Ireland, was held prisoner by the British, paroled, served as an aide to Washington, and finished the war on the staff of the Marquis de Lafayette. Before the war was over McHenry was elected to the Maryland Senate, he later served in the Confederation Congress as a delegate from Maryland. At the Constitutional Convention he generally acted as directed by the majority of the Maryland legislature.
McHenry supported his colleague from Maryland, Daniel Carroll, but in private caucuses and discussions rather than in open debate on the floor of the convention. He both supported ratification of the resultant document and was a signatory to the Constitution. In 1788 he was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates, but two years later he decided to retire from political life and go into business as a merchant. By 1791 he was back in the Maryland Senate and remained there until his old commanding officer, George Washington, summoned him to Philadelphia and a position within his Cabinet.
Washington appointed McHenry as his Secretary of War, a position previously held by Henry Knox and later Timothy Pickering. After Pickering’s resignation Washington attempted to lure several men to accept the position, but few wanted the responsibility of enforcing the recent Jay Treaty, which compelled the British to abandon western posts. McHenry reinforced the Army, established a new organizational structure, and created a commission of marine, a precursor of the Department of the Navy. He convinced the Senate to fund his modernization of the War Department, presenting his plans and needs before Senate Committees, and so impressed Vice President Adams that he retained him as Secretary of War for his Presidency.
Adams did not remain enthralled with McHenry for long, and frequent clashes with the President and the Secretary of War marked the early days of the Adams Administration. There was a lot of backbiting in the Adams cabinet and among members of Congress, and the President was frequently absent from the Capital, leaving the running of the government to his department heads. By 1800 Adams had had enough of the recalcitrant Secretary of War and asked for his resignation. The problems within the Adams cabinet were not restricted to just McHenry, several others resigned, or were dismissed when they refused to resign. The turmoil contributed to John Adams losing his re-election bid that year.
McHenry retired to his Maryland home near Baltimore and although he remained a strong supporter of the Federalist party he took no further roles in politics, other than the exchange of views in conversation and correspondence. The harbor fortress in Baltimore which protected the city from British destruction during the War of 1812 was named Fort McHenry in his honor. He was still alive at the time of the British attack and was aware of the successful defense, but he was by then paralyzed in both legs, and often in considerable pain. He died in 1816.