The Wheeler Dealer

"For William Blount, especially, a new era had opened. Though his interests in merchandising, trade, and politics continued, the never-ceasing pursuit of acreage, and the search for profit in every acre from town lots to imperial domains became his paramount, life-long interest." William H. Masterson

Although Vice President Thomas Jefferson, who presided over the Senate during the impeachment trial of Senator William Blount, believed that the Tennessee senator has done nothing wrong, and concluded that impeachment is a political farce, Blount had very little personal support during the expulsion and impeachment proceedings other than his attorneys and his protege, U.S. Representative Andrew Jackson - Jackson took Blount's senate seat.

The Senate factions vigorously and sometimes eloquently debated their respective interpretations of the great fulcrum of controversy, the Constitution. There were fireworks on the side to liven the dryer patches: on one memorable day, Matthew Lyon of Vermont grabbed the fire tongs, rushed Federalist Roger Griswold, knocked him down, and tried to beat his head in over an insulting remark - they were separated, and neither were expelled. Yet, given the Blount Affair as an occassion to argue as they might over the construction of the Constitution, nary a soul in the administration or Congress would have much to do with Senator Blount himself. Federalists and Republicans alike distanced themselves from him, denounced him, sought to punish him

The impeachment was brought by the House after a mere five days on the basis of a single letter that Senator Blount had written in conspiratorial tone to Indian-interpreter James Carey, with instructions to destroy it after it was read. The representatives of both parties made haste to impeach Blount because they believed their young nation was presently endangered by a ominous conspiracy. The writing of such a letter might not have constituted an indictable offense in itself; it takes more than one person to conspire, and there was no concrete evidence that anyone else was actually involved; the conspiracy countenanced, even if were executed, might not have been a crime under current law. But all that was beside the point at the time - and whether or not impeachment requires an indictable criminal offense remains irrelevant to this day according to one interpretation of the impeachment clause. The nonpartisan point was obvious: Senator Blount was privately scheming, apparently for his personal profit, to engage in activities that might embarrass the nation and provoke a bloody war with a world power.

Certain persons who had the duty to judge Blount's conduct had framed the Constitution - they were familiar with "the intent of the framers." Blount appeared to be guilty as sin of malfeasance in office. Since his perceived misconduct seemed to pose an immediate threat to the existence of the infant nation, the congressmen did not immediately proceed to quibble over the definition of "office," but set about employing their powers to expell Blount from the Senate forthwith, then to uncover and defeat the conspiracy and to make sure Blount could not return to office - ever popular in Tennessee, Blount would have been re-elected to the Senate short of impeachment.

This was not the first time William Blount had been accused of malfeasance in office, nor was the Carey letter the sole cause for congressmen to fear so much for their nation's safety. They knew the author of the letter quite well. He was a powerful and clever man. He had cut his teeth on the mercantile business of his father in North Carolina. He had served the nation as a merchant-soldier during the Revolution. His public duties then as a paymaster gave him immediate access to crucial information and vital commercial facilities, and dovetailed with his private pursuits - to his credit after he become a U.S. Senator, he kept his business separate from politics and voted against his private interest.

The wartime economy was an unusual opportunity for shrewd, well-placed speculators: races and creeds clashed; mobs were pillaging; Tories and Whigs were making savage raids; inflation was soaring over floods of depreciated paper; finished goods were in short supply. Meanwhile, paymaster Blount, having official access to goods and warehouses, procured and disposed of supplies; issued warrants to pay the soldiers; speculated on paper and real estate; mastered currency trading and the like. He handsomely profited by his salary, private trading in goods and currencies, and paying off Loyalist debts with depreciated currency. Furthermore, in the Camden disaster of August 16, 1780, he somehow managed to lose $300,000 of the payroll. In any case, his business methods were not greatly appreciated by persons who got the short end of the stick. Thomas Hart's facetious letter to Blount, dated January 25, 1780, is a bitterly made case on point:

"I have (Once more) Sendt a waggon and two Hhds tobe your place, and what will you send me in Return, I Suppose as half Bushl Salt, or Galls of Rum for a 100wt Tobe, Something like this, I make no doubt, - What a Sett of Atheistical fellows must there be in Newbern that thinks there is Neither God nor Devil to punish them in a Nother World, for their usury to us in this, I must send down Debow Once more to preach up the Doctrine of Regeneration or the New Birth to you, for If there ever was a Sett of men on the face of this Globe, who stood more in need of being Regenerated, and Born anew, I wonder trully how many poor Sons of Bitches with tears in their Eyes have I Seen with these Six weeks past, Coming from your place. Some with 5 or 6 Bushls Salt in their waggons, Some [with?] 8 or 10 Galls of Rum, and others with Cargoes [or less?] Value, all declaring themselves Broken [miserably] but None of them without a Good Store of [curses which] they bestow (with a very Liberal hand) on the Good folks of Newbern... can you expect to thrive Under the Heavy Curses of the Rightious folks of this Country, had Not you better try to do Something that may entitle you to Our Blessing. Instead of Our Curses, come do (for Godsake) begin with me, and let us See what you can do...." (sic)

Blount entered politics after the war - in 1780 at age 31- becoming New Bern's representative to North Carolina's House of Commons. As one of several self-interested speculator-legislators, he devised and pushed through legislation to grant certain 'unclaimed' Tennessee land over the mountains to North Carolina veterans. The soldiers needed money more than the distant land. Blount and his fellow speculator-legislators were kind enough to buy the land from the veterans with an issue of brand new money they had legislated for that very purpose - the affair was dubbed The Land Grab of '83. Then Blount sponsored legislation to have the Western land ceded to the federal government, hoping that would serve to secure the land grants - the cession did not take place until 1790. At the same time, Blount was involved in an effort to secure a big chunk of the prime real estate of East Tennessee and have it recognized as the State of Franklin - Benjamin Franklin gave it his blessing but declined the invitation to move there due to reasons of advanced age.

Blount was re-elected to the North Carolina legislature in 1784. He briefly served in the Continental Congress in 1785, then returned to North Carolina. In 1790, President Washington appointed him Governor of and Superintendent of Indian Affairs of the Territory of the United States South of the Ohio. The appointment gave him ample opportunity to deal in vast tracts of land, including tracts rightfully belonging to the Indians.

Blount and his fellow schemers wanted to secure a U.S. route to the Gulf of Mexico - Spain had possession of the Mississippi and New Orleans. They figured The Bend - the great southern bend of the Tennessee River - and further on by river and land to the Gulf would serve the purpose nicely. The spectre of possible Spanish attacks was raised to scare off the competition and drum up patriotic support. The possibility of enormous profits was vaunted to obtain financing - a Mennonite company already wanted to buy some land in the Bend. It was necessary to deal, first of all, with South Carolina, and then to buy off the Georgia legislature to gain legitimate access to the vast tracts of land. A commission was set up to manage the land - the commission also had the power to grant warrants on the land. Some of the official land commissioners were, quite naturally, also members of the private Bend of Tennessee Company. We can easily guess who he mastermind was; none other than William Blount.

On May 31, 1784, Blount sent an excerpt from the Mennonite community's offer to purchase Bend lands, to his partners - North Carolina land commissioners John Donelson, Joseph Martin, and John Sevier - along with his letter stating that the North Carolina cession of lands to Congress would boost the value of the land. He further advised them as follows:

".... If you should think proper to open the .... [land office] to grant Warrants at 1/8 of a dollar per Acre enter as much as you can and make use of any Names fictitious ones will do I suppose, If not you may use the Names of Blount, WIlliam Johnson Allen, Winnan, Ogden and almost any other Name you please ading such Christian Names to them as You please and You need not fear but I can find the People to transfer their Rights to the Company.... May it not be good Policy [to] set some new Scheme on foot in Partnership with the Gentlemen of Georgia to make futher Purchases over the Tenesee or on the Missisippi in on down near the Natches for they must if possible be fixed with a thirst for back lands to effect which no Pains must be spared...."

On the same day, Blount wrote to Georgia commissioners James McIntosh, Stephen Heard, John Morrell and William Downes:

".... The Object of the Tenesee Company in purchasing the Bend and (I suppose) your's in Accepting the appointment as commissioners must have been the same, I mean private Emolument and in Order that we may both obtain our purposes it is Necessary, We should understand eath Other and that our Acts should tend to our mutual advantage.... You have power, to make the company such, compensation as may be deemed Adequate and satisfactory. No Bond nor no Oath has been required nor no Instructions, given you... and if you accede to my Proposition of our Interest being the same you will have a share of your own liberty..... Such Another oppertunity may never present itself of Making a Spec and there's an old Proverb which says "make Hay while the sun shines," of which I wish you to be mindfull.... I wish you an agreeable Journey and greate Choice and Great plenty of Cheekamagga Squaws." (sic)

William Blount soon led the fight for the admission of Tennessee to the Union. Once Tennessee became a state, Blount, the Federalist-appointed territorial governor, would no longer be beholden to the Federalists in Philadelphia, nor would other Tennesseans for that matter. Wherefore the Federalists tried to prevent Tennessee Senators Blount and Cocke from taking their Senate seats. Blount, who had once been a moderate if not a conservative, was now a confirmed Republican (democrat), and so were the rest of the conservative holdouts in liberal Tennessee - they were embittered by the Federalist obstruction to their ambitions.

Blount was not as popular in Tennessee as the famed John Sevier, his longtime ally, but he was popular enough, especially to the settlers who had due cause to appreciate his land deals and to despise the Federalist government. Blount had a reputation for getting things done by disreputable means. All of the above was not lost on his fellow senators when they expelled him and proceeded to try him for high crimes and misdemeanors.

As for crooked conduct, Blount was not the only great person to resort to deceitful business and political methods - we need not name other Names here since many several qualified academics are busy taking the shine off our historical idols as we speak. Today the name William Blount is barely known by U.S. citizens outside of Tennessee. History buffs remember him as the ignominious Senator who was impeached by the House, jumped bail and fled on horseback - the esteemed senators eventually decided that senators could not be impeached.

Blount deserves considerable credit for being the founding father of the State of Tennessee. But the state was just one of his deals. William Blount was a pioneer wheeler-dealer, perhaps one of the greatest wheeler-dealers America has ever known. I suppose somebody had to do what he did, else we would not be here, nor would the United States of America as we know it.

Peronsal Note: I utilized numerous sources for this article. The best popular source available is William Blount, by William H. Masterson, Baton Rouge: Lousiana State Press 1954. Masterson had access to the Blount papers: the letters above are quoted in his book.