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See also:BLOUNT, See also:- WILLIAM
- WILLIAM (1143-1214)
- WILLIAM (1227-1256)
- WILLIAM (1J33-1584)
- WILLIAM (A.S. Wilhelm, O. Norse Vilhidlmr; O. H. Ger. Willahelm, Willahalm, M. H. Ger. Willehelm, Willehalm, Mod.Ger. Wilhelm; Du. Willem; O. Fr. Villalme, Mod. Fr. Guillaume; from " will," Goth. vilja, and " helm," Goth. hilms, Old Norse hidlmr, meaning
- WILLIAM (c. 1130-C. 1190)
- WILLIAM, 13TH
WILLIAM (1749-1800) , See also:American politician, was See also:born in Bertie See also:county, See also:North Carolina, on the 26th of See also:March 1749. He was a member of the See also:Continental See also:Congress in 1783-1784 and again in 1786-1787, of the constitutional See also:convention at See also:Philadelphia in 1787, and of the See also:state convention which ratified the Federal constitution for North Carolina in 1789. From 1790 until 1796 he was, by See also:President See also:Washington's See also:appointment, See also:governor of the " Territory See also:South of the See also:Ohio See also:River," created out of See also:land ceded to the See also:national See also:government by North Carolina in 1789. He was also during this See also:period the See also:superintendent of See also:Indian affairs for this See also:part of the See also:country. In 1791 he laid out See also:Knoxville (See also:Tennessee) as the seat of government. He presided over the constitutional convention of Tennessee in 1796, and, on the state being admitted to the See also:Union, became one of its first representatives in the See also:United States See also:Senate. In 1797 his connexion became known with a See also:- SCHEME (Lat. schema, Gr. oxfjya, figure, form, from the root axe, seen in exeiv, to have, hold, to be of such shape, form, &c.)
scheme, since called " Blount's See also:Conspiracy," which provided for the co-operation of the American frontiersmen, assisted by See also:Indians, and an See also:English force, in the seizure on behalf of See also:Great See also:Britain of the Floridas and See also:Louisiana, then owned by See also:Spain, with which See also:power See also:England was then at See also:war. As this scheme, if carried out, involved the corrupting of two officials of the United States, an Indian See also:agent and an interpreter, a See also:breach of the See also:neutrality of the United States, and the breach of See also:Article V. of the treaty of See also:San Lorenzo el Real (signed on the 27th of See also:October 1'795) between the United States and Spain, by which each power agreed not to incite the Indians to attack the other, Blount was impeached by the See also:House of Representatives on the 7th of See also:July 1797, and on the following See also:day was formally expelled from the Senate for " having been guilty of high misdemeanor, entirely inconsistent with his public See also:trust and See also:duty as a senator." On the 29th of See also:January 1798 articles of See also:impeachment were adopted by the House of Representatives. On the 14th of January 1799, however, the Senate, sitting as a See also:court of impeachment, decided that it had no See also:jurisdiction, Blount not then being a member of the Senate, and, in the Senate's See also:opinion, not having been, even as a member, a See also:civil officer of the United States, within the meaning of the constitution. The See also:case is significant as being the first case of impeachment brought before the United States Senate. " In a legal point of view, all that the case decides is that a senator of the United States who has been expelled from his seat is not after such See also:expulsion subject to impeachment " (See also:Francis See also:Wharton, State Trials). In effect, however, it also decided that a member of Congress was not in the meaning of the constitution a civil officer of the United States and therefore could not be impeached.
The " conspiracy " was disavowed by the See also:British government, which, however, seems to have secretly favoured it. Blount was enthusiastically supported by his constituents, and upon his return to Tennessee was made a member and the presiding officer of the state senate. He died at Knoxville on the 21st of March , 800.
For a See also:defence of Blount, see See also:General See also:Marcus J. See also:Wright's See also:Account of the See also:Life and Services of William Blount (Washington, D. C., 1884).
End of Article: BLOUNT, WILLIAM (1749-1800)
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