William Vans Murray (February 9, 1760 – December 11, 1803) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman.

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

He was then elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the fifth district of Maryland, serving from 1791 until 1793; he previously ran for the seat in 1789.

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.