Senator William Pinkney

William Pinkney (March 17, 1764 – February 25, 1822) was an American statesman, diplomat, and lawyer who served as the seventh United States Attorney General under President James Madison. He also served as a United States Representative, United States Senator, Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and Minister to Russia, making him one of Maryland’s most distinguished public figures of the early republic.

Early Life and Education

Pinkney was born on March 17, 1764, in Annapolis, Province of Maryland, then one of the Thirteen Colonies of British America. His parents’ home was on the banks of the Severn River, from where the family could see the Chesapeake Bay. He attended King William School, a private school which is now St. John’s College. Although Pinkney left school at age 13, he impressed his teacher, Mr. Brefhard, with his intelligence, and Brefhard agreed to give the youth private lessons at home.

Pinkney studied medicine, which he never practiced, and read law with an established firm. He was admitted to the bar in 1786 and practiced law for two years in Harford County, Maryland. After beginning his law practice, he married Anne Rodgers, and together they had ten children, including the poet Edward Coote Pinkney.

Political and Diplomatic Career

In April 1788, Pinkney was elected a delegate to the Maryland convention which ratified the United States Constitution. He served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1788 to 1792 and again in 1795, and was elected mayor of Annapolis from 1794 to 1795.

Pinkney was elected to Congress in 1790 from Maryland’s 3rd congressional district, serving in the U.S. House in 1791. He was elected again to Congress in 1814 from the fifth district, serving from 1815 until 1816.

In 1801, President Thomas Jefferson appointed Pinkney Attorney General for the District of Pennsylvania. Jefferson later appointed him Attorney General of Maryland, where he served from 1805 to 1806. From 1806 to 1807, he served as co-Minister to the Court of St. James’s with James Monroe, where they negotiated the Monroe-Pinkney Treaty. He then served as Minister Plenipotentiary to the United Kingdom from 1808 to 1811.

In 1811, Pinkney joined President James Madison’s cabinet as the seventh United States Attorney General, serving until 1814. He was commissioned as a major in the United States Army during the War of 1812 and was wounded at the Battle of Bladensburg in August 1814.

After the war, President James Monroe appointed Pinkney as Minister Plenipotentiary to Russia from 1816 to 1818. Pinkney also argued many important cases before the Supreme Court, including the landmark case of McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), which upheld Congress’s authority to charter the Bank of the United States.

United States Senate

In 1818, Pinkney was elected by the state legislature as a United States Senator from Maryland. He served from December 21, 1819, until his death on February 25, 1822.

Death and Legacy

Pinkney died in Washington, D.C., on February 25, 1822, at the age of 57. He is buried at Congressional Cemetery. Known as one of the most eloquent orators of his era, Pinkney possessed an impressive command of language and was considered among the finest lawyers in America.