London. He was the "resident partner of Forrest, Stoddert & Murdock" In 1784, Forrest was admitted as an original member of The Society of the Cincinnati of Maryland. When he learned of its founding, he said: I cannot express my feelings on reading today, for the first Time, the constitution of the Society of the Cincinnati... though, separated by an Ocean of 3000 Miles, and a slave to Business; there is not one among you, who feel more Affection, for that brave handful, who persevered to the last, than I do. Forrest was elected to the Maryland State House of Delegates in numerous terms and served from 1781 to 1783, 1786 to 1787, and 1787 to 1790, as a member of the Maryland State Senate from 1796 to 1800, and a State Court Judge from 1799 to 1800. He represented St. Mary's County in most of the 1780s and then Montgomery County and in the Maryland Senate represented the Western Shore of Maryland. He also served as churchwarden of St. Andrew's Parish within St. Mary's County (1782-1783), justice in Montgomery County (1799-1800). He owned five black slaves in 1790, which had increased to nine by 1801. In 1800, he had a bounty land warrant for his military service. However, he never occupied the land, which remained vacant. Federal politics Forrest was also active in politics by representing Maryland as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1787. Thomas Jefferson would tell him in a letter from Paris on December 31 that he admired the framers of the Constitution but also was concerned about them sowing the "seeds of danger" by thinking that rulers after them would be "as honest as themselves." Forrest would be nominated to be a US senator the following year. All of the people nominated would be Federalists, as he was, he lost to Charles Carroll in the second and third ballot voting by a few votes. In 1792, he ran for US House of Representatives within the third district of Maryland as a "Pro-Administration candidate." The Federalist won against the Anti-Federalist William Dorsey, by 669 votes, with most of his votes coming from individuals within Montgomery County, Maryland, and almost 100 more from Frederick County, Maryland, counties that made up parts of the Third District. He would serve as a representative from March 1793 to November 1794, when he resigned. During his time in office, he