William Blount - Blount Conspiracy

Blount Conspiracy

Throughout the 1780s and 1790s, William Blount and his brothers gradually bought up large amounts of western lands, acquiring over 2.5 million acres by the mid-1790s. Much of this land was bought on credit, pushing the family deeply into debt. In 1795, the market for western lands collapsed, and land prices plummeted. A number of land speculators, including Blount associate David Allison, went bankrupt. Blount partnered with Philadelphia physician Nicholas Romayne in an attempt to sell land to English investors, but their efforts were unsuccessful. Compounding Blount's problems, Timothy Pickering, who despised Blount, replaced Henry Knox as Secretary of War in 1795.

Following France's defeat of Spain in the War of the Pyrenees, land speculators, already on the financial brink, worried that the French would eventually gain control of Spanish-controlled Louisiana, and shut off American access to the Mississippi River. In hopes of preventing this, Blount and his friend, an Indian agent named John Chisholm, concocted a plan to allow Britain to gain control of Florida and Louisiana, and in return give free access to both New Orleans and the Mississippi River to American merchants. The plan called for territorial militias, with the aid of the British fleet, to attack New Madrid, New Orleans and Pensacola.

To help carry out the plan, Blount recruited Romayne, who never showed more than lukewarm support for the idea, and a Knoxville merchant named James Carey. Chisholm, meanwhile, sailed to England to recruit British supporters. In April 1797, Carey was drinking at the Tellico Blockhouse near Knoxville when he gave a War Department agent a letter from Blount outlining the conspiracy. The agent turned the letter over to his superior, Colonel David Henley in Knoxville, and Henley in turn sent it to Pickering (who had since become Secretary of State). Elated at the opporturnity to crush Blount, Pickering turned the letter over to President John Adams.

Determining that the actions of Blount, now a senator from Tennessee, constituted a crime, Adams sent Blount's letter to the Senate, where it was presented on July 3, 1797, while Blount was out for a walk. When Blount returned, the clerk read the contents of the letter aloud as Blount stood in stunned silence. Vice President Thomas Jefferson asked Blount if he had written the letter. Blount gave an evasive answer and asked that the matter be postponed until the following day, which was granted.

On July 4, Blount refused to return to the Senate, and merely had fellow Tennessee senator William Cocke read a letter which again requested more time. The Senate rejected this request, and formed an investigative committee. Ordered to testify before the committee, Blount initially attempted to flee by ship to North Carolina, but federal deputies seized the ship and most of his belongings. On July 7, Blount, after consulting with attorneys Alexander Dallas and Jared Ingersoll, testified before the committee, and denied writing the letter. The following day, the House of Representatives voted 41 to 30 to hold impeachment hearings, and the Senate voted 25 to 1 to "sequester" Blount's seat, effectively expelling him, with Henry Tazewell casting the lone dissenting vote.

Rather than await trial, Blount posted bail and fled to Tennessee. John Chisholm remained in England in a debtors' prison for several months, and confessed the entire scheme upon his return. Romayne was arrested and forced to testify before the committee, where he confessed to his part in the conspiracy. The House continued to consider evidence for Blount's impeachment in early 1798. At one session on January 30, a bizarre brawl erupted between two congressmen, Matthew Lyon and Roger Griswold. Blount's trial in the Senate took place in January 1799, though Blount refused to attend, in spite of a visit to Knoxville from the Senate sergeant-at-arms. On January 11, 1799, the Senate voted 14 to 11 to dismiss the impeachment, arguing that impeachment did not extend to senators.

The unraveling of the conspiracy destroyed Blount's reputation at the national level, and touched off a series of accusations between Federalists and Antifederalists. George Washington called for swift justice against Blount, and hoped he would be "held in detestation by all good men." Abigail Adams called the conspiracy a "diabolical plot," and bemoaned the fact that there was no guillotine in Philadelphia. Pickering argued the conspiracy was part of a greater French plot and accused Thomas Jefferson of being involved. Oliver Wolcott suggested the conspiracy was an attempt to blackmail Spain.