Statesman; born in
Annapolis, Md., March 17, 1764.
His father, an Englishman, was a loyalist in the Revolution, but the son espoused its principles.
He studied law with
Judge Chase, and was admitted to practice in
1786, in which he acquired great reputation for his impassioned oratory.
He was a delegate in the
Maryland convention that ratified the national Constitution.
After serving a term in the Maryland legislature, he was elected to a seat in Congress, but declined the honor on account of the state of his private affairs.
In 1796 he was appointed one of the commissioners in
London under
Jay's treaty, and obtained for the
State of Maryland a claim on the Bank of
England for $800,000.
Pinkney was made attorneygeneral of his State in 1805, and the next year he was sent to
England as commissioner to treat with the
British government in conjunction with
James Monroe.
He was minister there from 1807 to 1811, and in the autumn of the latter year was chosen to his State Senate from
Baltimore.
From December, 1811, until 1814, he was United States Attorney-General.
In the latter year he entered the military service to repel a British invasion of his State, and was severely wounded in the
battle of Bladensburg.
Again in Congress (1815-16), he took a leading part.
In 1816 he went to
Naples as special minister there, and became minister at
St. Petersburg, whence he returned home in 1818.
From 1820 until his death he held a seat in the United States Senate.
In that body he opposed with all his powers of oratory the admission of
Missouri into the
Union under the terms of the compromise.
His death was occasioned by overexertion in a case in the Supreme Court of the
United States, in
Washington, D. C., Feb. 25, 1822.
