William Pinkney

This article is about the former U.S. Attorney General. For the first Episcopal Bishop of Maryland, see William Pinkney (bishop).
William Pinkney
United States Senator
from Maryland
In office
December 21, 1819  February 25, 1822
Preceded by Alexander C. Hanson
Succeeded by Samuel Smith
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Maryland's 5th district
In office
March 4, 1815  April 18, 1816
Preceded by Alexander McKim
Succeeded by Peter Little
United States Minister to the United Kingdom
In office
December 11, 1811  February 9, 1814
President James Madison
Preceded by Caesar A. Rodney
Succeeded by Richard Rush
In office
April 27, 1808  May 7, 1811
Preceded by James Monroe
Succeeded by Jonathan Russell (chargé d'affaires)
United States Minister to Russia
In office
January 13, 1817  February 14, 1818
Preceded by James A. Bayard
Succeeded by George W. Campbell
Attorney General of Maryland
In office
1805–1806
Preceded by Luther Martin
Succeeded by John Thomson Mason
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Maryland's 3rd district
In office
March 4, 1791  November 1791
Preceded by Benjamin Contee
Succeeded by John F. Mercer
Member of the Maryland House of Delegates
In office
1788–1792
1795
Personal details
Born (1764-03-17)March 17, 1764
Annapolis, Maryland
Died February 25, 1822(1822-02-25) (aged 57)
Washington, D.C.
Political party Democratic-Republican
Spouse(s) Ann Maria Rodgers

William Pinkney (March 17, 1764  February 25, 1822) was an American statesman and diplomat, and was appointed the seventh U.S. Attorney General by President James Madison.

Biography

William Pinkney was born in Annapolis, Maryland. His home was situated on the banks of the Severn River and in full view of the Chesapeake Bay.[1]

Pinkney attended King William school, which was considered a first class academy. His teacher was a Mr. Brefhard. At age thirteen he left school but his teacher, aware of the young Pinkney's marked intelligence, continued to give him private lessons at home.[2]

He studied medicine (which he did not practice) and law, becoming a lawyer after his admission to the bar in 1786. After some time practicing law in Harford County, Maryland, he participated in Maryland's state constitutional convention.

Pinkney was an excellent orator who possessed a marked command of language and was said to possess a most pleasing and articulate manner in his speaking.[3]

Political career

In April, 1788, Pinkney was elected a delegate to the convention of the State of Maryland, which ratified the United States Constitution, marking the beginning of his political career.[4]

Pinkney served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1788 to 1792 and then again in 1795, and served as a U.S. Congressman from the third district of Maryland in 1791 and from the fifth district from 1815 until 1816. He was mayor of Annapolis from 1795 to 1800. In 1801 he was appointed Attorney general for the District of Pennsylvania, by President Thomas Jefferson[5] and Attorney General of Maryland from 1805 to 1806.

Pinkney was co-U.S. Minister to the Court of St. James (i.e. Great Britain) (with James Monroe) from 1806 to 1807;

They were asked by President Jefferson to negotiate with Great Britain to end the harassment of American shipping, though Britain showed no signs of improving relations. They negotiated the Monroe–Pinkney Treaty, but lacked any provisions to end impressment and was subsequently rejected by President Jefferson and never went into effect.[6]

Pinkney was Minister Plenipotentiary from 1808 until 1811. He then returned to Maryland, serving in the Maryland State Senate in 1811. In 1811 he joined President James Madison's cabinet as Attorney General. He was a major in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812 and was wounded at the Battle of Bladensburg, Maryland in August 1814. After the War, he served as congressman from the fifth district of Maryland from 1815 to 1816. After serving in Congress he became the U.S. Minister Plenipotentiary to Russia from 1816 until 1818, along with a special mission to the Kingdom of Naples.

Pinkney successfully argued many important cases before the Supreme Court, including the landmark case of McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), where the right of the U.S. Congress to charter the Bank of the United States was upheld.[7]

Pinkney served as a U.S. senator from Maryland from 1819 until his death in 1822. He is buried at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C..[8]

His son, Edward Coote Pinkney, became an accomplished poet.

References

Bibliography

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Benjamin Contee
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Maryland's 3rd congressional district

1791
Succeeded by
John Francis Mercer
Preceded by
Alexander McKim
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Maryland's 5th congressional district

18151816
Succeeded by
Peter Little
Political offices
Preceded by
James Williams
Mayor of Annapolis
17941795
Succeeded by
Allen Quynn
Legal offices
Preceded by
Luther Martin
Attorney General of Maryland
18051806
Succeeded by
John Thomson Mason
Preceded by
Caesar A. Rodney
U.S. Attorney General
Served under: James Madison

18111814
Succeeded by
Richard Rush
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
James Monroe
U.S. Minister to Great Britain
18071811
Succeeded by
John Quincy Adams
Preceded by
John Quincy Adams
U.S. Minister to Russia
18161818
Succeeded by
George W. Campbell
United States Senate
Preceded by
Alexander C. Hanson
U.S. Senator (Class 1) from Maryland
18191822
Served alongside: Edward Lloyd
Succeeded by
Samuel Smith
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