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WILLIAM BLOUNT
William Blount's great-grandfather, Thomas Blount, came to the Americas
from England in 1660. He first resided in Virginia, then moved to North Carolina,
and started his family. William was the eldest in his family, and was born in 1749
while his mother was visiting her father-in-law's Rosefield estate. This was near
Palmico Sound, present day Windsor.
William was said to have received a good education although little is
known. He also apparently had intrest for government since he was little.
When the war started in 1776, Blount was appointed paymaster, who was in
charge of wages, in the army of North Carolina. Then in 1778 he married Mary
Grainier. They had six children, and one became active in Tennessee's govern-
ment.
He spent the rest of his life in public office. Blount represented North
Carolina in Congress. He sat in the lower house of the legislature for 4 years,
from 1780-1784. During those years, he was the speaker of the house, and was
a public speaker. He served in the upper house from 1788-1790, and spoke for
them as well. Blount also took part in national politics, including two
Continental Congress sessions in 1782-1783 and 1786-1787. Here he also
represented his state of North Carolina.
The next highlight in Blounts life, was being apppointed to be a delegate
at the Constitutional Convention. At this time, he was 38 years of age. Although
he already had a prior commitment to represent his state at the Continental
Congress, He attended the Constitutional Convention for all but one month.
He was a very quiet person who let other members take part in debates and
and arguements, and kept his opinions to himself, whether they were follow-
ing or opposing the crowd. He signed the Constitution with hesitation, and said
only to make it the unanimous act of the States in the Convention. Although
when it reached his state for ratification, he signed it without reluctancy, and gave
his full support.
Later in 1789, wanted to be elected to the Senate. This was inportant
because it was the first United States Senate ever. After failing to achieve
this goal, he moved out west past the Appalachian Mountains. While out west,
William tried to get some of the Indians land, and claim it for America. This
area later became Tennessee, where he resided for the rest of his life.
In 1790, George Washington appointed Blount the first territorial
governor Tennessee, and the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the South.
Then in 1796 Tennessee became a state, and he was appointed one of the
two United States Senators. During his term as Senator, Blount was struck by
a stream of bad luck. In 1797, his speculations out west led him to very
serious financial problems. After this he started to plot to help British
troops conquer Louisiana and Florida. He wrote a letter reffering to this
plan, which fell into the hands of President Adams. The President gave it
to the Senate who voted to dismiss Blount from office. This happened on
July 8th 1797.
After this episode, it was up for debate whether of not he should
be alowed to hold office again, but the charges were later dropped and he
resumed his position in the Tennessee Senate in 1798. He died in 1800 in
Knoxville, Tennessee at the age of 51.
I picked William Blount for two reasons; One because North
Carolina is my favorite state, and the other because I have a cousin in
California with the last name of Blount. When I first started researching
his name, he seemed like just an ordinary signer, nothing of interest to his
name. But then I was reading about the serious problems he encountered,
I give him credit for being strong. Even though he wasn't particularly a very
loudly outspoken man, he must have had some views and arguements that
got him to the places he got to go.
Word Count: 657
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