Timothy Pickering (1745-1829) was born in Salem, in Essex County Massachusetts. After graduating from Harvard he studied law. Originally he was a loyalist. On the eve of the American Revolution, he joined the patriots as a member of Salem’s Committee of Correspondence. In 1774 he became colonel of the Essex County militia. He was a reluctant commander in battle, failing to lead his troops as the British retreated toward Boston. While others from the Essex County militia fought with the Continental Army in 1776, Pickering remained in Salem. By 1777, Pickering had changed his mind. He organized volunteers to serve with the Continental Army in Morristown, New Jersey. George Washington recruited him to be adjutant-general of the army. He served with the army for the remainder of the war. Frustrated by the difficulties of the Continental Army, Pickering, irritable and intolerant, argued with Washington.[1]
After Pickering experienced financial failures, Washington appointed him as a representative to the Seneca Indians. Later, Washington appointed Pickering as Secretary of State.[2]
Pickering was an unabashed Anglophile. He had difficulty adhering to Washington’s policy of neutrality with Britain and France. John Adams retained Pickering as Secretary of State, continuing Washington’s policy of neutrality. Abrupt and difficult, Pickering refused to follow Adams. Instead he promoted an alliance with Britain. Adams disagreed. Miffed, Pickering worked in secret with Adams’s sworn enemy Alexander Hamilton, to lead an enlarged army. Next he obstructed Adams’s attempts to make peace with the French. Adams dismissed him. He responded by working with Hamilton and high Federalists to thwart Adams’s reelection.[3]
In 1803 Pickering became a senator. Twice during the first decade of the nineteenth century, Pickering plotted to have New England and New York secede from the Union. An avowed secessionist and high Federalist, Pickering wanted to take control of the party away from the moderates.[4]
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[1] Gerard H. Clarfield, “Timothy Pickering,” American National Biography.
[2] Clarfield, American National Biography.
[3] Clarfield, American National Biography.
[4] Clarfield, American National Biography, James M. Banner, Jr. To the Hartford Convention: The Federalists and the Origins of Party Politics in Massachusetts, 1789-1815, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970) 120.
