An object in this meaning is the same thing as an objective[?] or task[?]. It comes from old project terminology and refers to the act of actually performing something according to a plan, or rather "according to a project" (the word "project" used to mean "plan").
... C. Pinckney[?]
14
Federalist
Rufus King (14)
Other elections: 1792, 1796, 1800, 1804, 1808, 1812, 1816
Source: U.S. Office of the Federal Register ...