Timothy Pickering

Timothy Pickering
Portrait by Charles Willson Peale, 1792
3rd United States Secretary of State
In office December 10, 1795 – May 12, 1800 Ad interim: August 20 – December 10, 1795
President	George Washington John Adams
Preceded by	Edmund Randolph
Succeeded by	John Marshall
2nd United States Secretary of War
In office January 2, 1795 – December 10, 1795
President	George Washington
Preceded by	Henry Knox
Succeeded by	James McHenry
5th United States Postmaster General
In office August 12, 1791 – January 1, 1795
President	George Washington
Preceded by	Samuel Osgood
Succeeded by	Joseph Habersham
United States Senator from Massachusetts
In office March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1811
Preceded by	Dwight Foster
Succeeded by	Joseph Bradley Varnum
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts
In office March 4, 1813 – March 3, 1817
Preceded by	Leonard White
Succeeded by	Nathaniel Silsbee
Constituency	3rd district (1813–15) 2nd district (1815–17)
Personal details
Born	(1745-07-17)July 17, 1745 Salem, Massachusetts Bay, British America
Died	January 29, 1829(1829-01-29) (aged 83) Salem, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political party	Federalist
Children	John Pickering (linguist)
Education	Harvard College (BA)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	Massachusetts militia Continental Army United States Army
Years of service	1766–1785
Rank	Colonel
Battles/wars	American Revolutionary War

Timothy Pickering (July 17, 1745 – January 29, 1829) was the third United States Secretary of State under Presidents George Washington and John Adams. He also represented Massachusetts in both houses of Congress as a member of the Federalist Party. In 1795, he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society.^[1]

Born in Salem in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Pickering began a legal career after graduating from Harvard College. He won election to the Massachusetts General Court and served as a county judge. He also became an officer in the colonial militia and served in the siege of Boston during the early stages of the American Revolutionary War. Later in the war, he was Adjutant General and Quartermaster General of the Continental Army. After the war, Pickering moved to the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania and took part in the then colony's 1787 ratifying convention for the United States Constitution.

President Washington appointed Pickering to the position of Postmaster General in 1791. After briefly serving as Secretary of War, Pickering became the Secretary of State in 1795, and remained in that office after President Adams was inaugurated. As Secretary of State, Pickering favored close relations with Britain. President Adams dismissed him in 1800 due to Pickering's opposition to peace with France during the Quasi-War.

Pickering won election to represent Massachusetts in the United States Senate in 1803, becoming an ardent opponent of the Embargo Act of 1807. He continued to support Britain in the Napoleonic Wars, famously describing the country as "The World's last hope – Britain's Fast-anchored Isle."^[2] He left the Senate in 1811 but served in the United States House of Representatives from 1813 to 1817. During the War of 1812, he became a leader of the New England secession movement and helped organize the Hartford Convention. The fallout from the convention ended Pickering's political career. He lived as a farmer in Salem until his death in 1829.