Blount, << bluhnt, >> William (1749-1800), was a North Carolina signer of the Constitution of the United States. At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Blount took no part in debates. But his support of the Constitution helped win ratification (approval) for the document in his state.
Blount was born on March 26, 1749, near what is now Windsor, N.C. In 1776, he entered the Revolutionary War in America and soon became a paymaster to North Carolina troops. Blount was elected to the North Carolina legislature in 1780 and served until 1789. He also served in the Congress of the Confederation in 1782 and 1783 and again in 1786 and 1787.
In 1790, President George Washington appointed Blount the first territorial governor of Tennessee. When Tennessee became a state in 1796, he was elected one of its first two U.S. senators. But the Senate expelled Blount in 1797, after discovering that, while a senator, he had plotted to help British troops and local Indians attack the Spanish territories of Florida and Louisiana. The U.S. House of Representatives began impeachment proceedings, but the case was dismissed due to lack of jurisdiction. Blount’s case established that Congress would discipline its own members rather than use impeachment. Blount served in the Tennessee Senate from 1798 until his death on March 21, 1800.
