Timothy Pickering

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Timothy Pickering
2nd United States Postmaster General
In office August 12, 1791 – January 1, 1795
Preceded by	Samuel Osgood
Succeeded by	Joseph Habersham
2nd United States Secretary of War
In office January 2, 1795 – December 10, 1795
Preceded by	Henry Knox
Succeeded by	James McHenry
3rd United States Secretary of State
In office December 10, 1795 – May 12, 1800
Preceded by	Edmund Randolph
Succeeded by	John Marshall
Born	July 17, 1745 Salem, Massachusetts, USA
Died	January 29, 1829 (aged 83) Salem, Massachusetts, USA
Political party	Federalist
Profession	Politician

Timothy Pickering (July 17, 1745 – January 29, 1829) was the third United States Secretary of State, serving in that office from 1795 to 1800 under Presidents George Washington and John Adams. Also known as Thomas Pickering, he was one of the founders of the Newburgh Plan to the Continental Congress.^[1] His ideas formed the Northwest Ordinance. His grandson was the naturalist Charles Pickering. Pickering Hall at Ohio University is named after him.^[1]

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early years 1.2 Middle years 1.3 Later years and afterwards 2 References 3 See also

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early years

Pickering was born in Salem, Massachusetts, and graduated from Harvard University in 1763. He opposed the patriot cause early in the American Revolutionary War, but in 1777 he accepted General George Washington's offer to be adjutant general of the American army, and was widely praised for his work in supplying the troops during the remainder of the conflict.

After the first of Pickering's two failed attempts to make money speculating in Pennsylvania frontier land, now-President Washington appointed him commissioner to the Iroquois Indians; and Pickering represented the United States in the negotiation of the Treaty of Canandaigua with the Iroquois in 1794.

Washington also brought Pickering into his cabinet, as Postmaster General in 1791. He remained in the cabinet for nine years, serving as postmaster general until 1795, Secretary of War for a brief time in 1795, then Secretary of State from 1795 to 1800.

[edit] Middle years

After a quarrel with President John Adams over Adams's plan to make peace with France, Pickering was dismissed from office in May 1800. In 1802 Pickering and a band of Federalists, agitated at the lack of support for Federalists, attempted to gain support for the secession of New England from the Jeffersonian United States. The irony of a Federalist moving against the national government was not lost among his dissenters. He was named to the United States Senate as a senator from Massachusetts in 1803 as a member of the Federalist Party. He lost his senate seat in 1811, and was elected to the United States House of Representatives in U.S. House election, 1812, where he remained until 1817. His congressional career is best remembered for his leadership of the New England secession movement (see Essex Junto and the Hartford Convention).

[edit] Later years and afterwards

After Pickering was denied re-election in 1816, he retired to Salem, where he lived as a farmer until his death in 1829, aged 84. In 1942, a United States Liberty ship named the SS Timothy Pickering was launched. She was lost off Sicily in 1945. Unitl the 1990s, Pickering's ancestral home, the circa 1651 Pickering House, was the oldest house in the United States to be owned by the same family continually.

[edit] References

Citations and notes

General information

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Clarfield, Gerard. Timothy Pickering and the American Republic. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1980.
• Garraty, John A. and Mark C. Carnes. American National Biography, vol. 17, "Pickering, Timothy". New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
• Wilentz, Sean "The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln" W.W. Norton. New York. 2005.

[edit] See also

Preceded by Samuel Osgood	United States Postmaster General Served Under: George Washington August 12, 1791 – January 1, 1795	Succeeded by Joseph Habersham
Preceded by Henry Knox	United States Secretary of War Served Under: George Washington January 2, 1795 – December 10, 1795	Succeeded by James McHenry
Preceded by Edmund Randolph	United States Secretary of State Served Under: George Washington, John Adams December 10, 1795 – May 12, 1800	Succeeded by John Marshall
Preceded by Dwight Foster	United States Senator (Class 2) from Massachusetts March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1811 Served alongside: John Quincy Adams, James Lloyd	Succeeded by Joseph Varnum
Preceded by Leonard White	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district March 4, 1813 - March 3, 1815	Succeeded by Jeremiah Nelson
Preceded by William Reed	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 2nd congressional district March 4, 1815 - March 3, 1817	Succeeded by Nathaniel Silsbee

United States Postmasters General

Cabinet Level: Osgood • Pickering • Habersham • G Granger • Meigs • McLean • Barry • Kendall • Niles • F Granger • Wickliffe • Johnson • Collamer • Hall • Hubbard • Campbell • A Brown • Holt • King • Blair • Dennison • Randall • Creswell • Marshall • Jewell • Tyner • Key • Maynard • James • Howe • Gresham • Hatton • Vilas • Dickinson • Wanamaker • Bissell • Wilson • Gary • Smith • Payne • Wynne • Cortelyou • Meyer • Hitchcock • Burleson • Hays • Work • New • W Brown • Farley • Walker • Hannegan • Donaldson • Summerfield • Day • Gronouski • O'Brien • Watson • Blount Non-Cabinet Level: Blount • Klassen • Bailar • Bolger • Carlin • Casey • Tisch • Frank • Runyon • Henderson • Potter

Persondata
NAME	Pickering, Timothy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	American statesman
DATE OF BIRTH	July 17, 1745
PLACE OF BIRTH	Salem, Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH	January 29, 1829
PLACE OF DEATH	Salem, Massachusetts