MS (DNA: RG 46, Senate Records, 5th Cong., 1st sess.); probably in Theodore Sedgwick’s hand, with emendation (see note below) and last sentence in TJ’s hand; endorsed by Samuel A. Otis: “Committee of five to consider the Messg of P US respecting a letter signed Wm Blount July 4th 1797.” For the final text of this resolution under this date, see JS description begins Journal of the Senate of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1820–21, 5 vols. description ends , ii, 383.

On 3 July 1797, President Adams sent a confidential message with supporting papers to both houses of Congress reporting that westerners, in association with the Cherokee and Creek Indians, were conspiring with the British to invade Spanish Florida and Louisiana. Among the documents was a letter from William Blount to James Carey, a Cherokee nation interpreter, dated 21 Apr. 1797, in which the Tennessee senator, a former Federalist territorial governor who had broken with that party in 1796 when Federalist congressmen tried to block the admission of Tennessee into the Union, indicated that the “plan” would be carried out in the fall and that he would probably “be at the head of the business on the part of the British.” Blount predicted “if the Indians act their part, I have no doubt it will succeed” (ASP description begins American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States, Washington, D.C., Gales & Seaton, 1832–61, 38 vols. description ends , Foreign Relations, ii, 66–77; JS description begins Journal of the Senate of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1820–21, 5 vols. description ends , ii, 383; William H. Masterson, William Blount [Baton Rouge, 1954], 174–9, 2928). Blount was absent from the Senate when the letter first was read aloud, but it was read again upon his return. When asked whether he had written it, Blount admitted corresponding with Carey but requested an opportunity to search his papers before replying. The following day a formal letter from Blount was laid before the Senate requesting more time to look through his correspondence and collect “other evidence to remove suspicion.” The Senate responded by passing the resolution above and appointing James Ross, Richard Stockton, John Henry, Theodore Sedgwick, and Jacob Read to serve on the select committee, the first to be given investigative powers by that body. The next day Ross reported that while Blount had again requested more time to prepare his defense and obtain pertinent papers, the committee had received information that he intended to leave the city that morning and proceed by sea to North Carolina. They therefore resolved to have the president of the Senate exercise his authority “to compel the personal Attendance of William Blount” (MS in DNA: RG 46, Senate Records, 5th Cong., 1st sess.). In response, TJ wrote Blount from the Senate chamber: “You are hereby required to attend the Senate in your place without delay. By order of the Senate” and signed the letter “Th: Jefferson President of the Senate” (RC in same, addressed: “William Blount esquire of the Senate of the U.S.,” endorsed by Otis: “Letter from the Vice President to Wm Blount, to attend Senate July 5th 1797”; Dft in same, in unknown hand, with signature, place, and date in TJ’s hand, endorsed by Otis). Later that day TJ announced that James Mathers, doorkeeper of the Senate, had attempted to deliver the missive, but Blount could not be found (JS description begins Journal of the Senate of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1820–21, 5 vols. description ends , ii, 385). For the Tennessee senator’s abortive attempt to flee, see Melton, First Impeachment, description begins Buckner F. Melton, Jr., The First Impeachment: The Constitution’s Framers and the Case of Senator William Blount, Macon, GA, 1998 description ends 109–10. On 6 July Blount informed the Senate that as he understood his attendance was desired, he would be in his seat at noon (RC in same; addressed: “The Vice President of the United States or the President Pr. Tem. of the Senate of the United States”). Since TJ departed for Monticello on that day, William Bradford, president of the Senate pro tempore, presided over the Blount proceedings during the remainder of the session.

Blount appeared in the Senate, indicated that he would answer the charges against him, and retained Alexander J. Dallas and Jared Ingersoll as counsel. In the meantime Samuel Sitgreaves introduced a resolution in the House calling for Blount’s impeachment. In debate on 6 and 7 July, Virginia Republican John Nicholas called British Minister Robert Liston “equally culpable,” a theme reiterated in the Republican press. Benjamin F. Bache’s Aurora charged “that the British are fomenting divisions within the United States, and driving us into a war with Spain,” and Republicans often referred to the episode as “Liston’s plot,” rather than “Blount’s conspiracy” (Philadelphia Aurora, 20 July 1797; Madison to TJ, 25 Dec. 1797). On 7 July Sitgreaves appeared before the Senate, announced that the House had voted for impeachment, and requested that Blount be “sequestered” or suspended from his Senate seat. The next day the Senate expelled Blount by a 25 to 1 vote—only Tazewell refused to support the resolution. The House appointed Sitgreaves, two other Federalists—James A. Bayard and Robert G. Harper—and Republicans John Dawson and Abraham Baldwin to investigate the “whole nature and extent of the offence” and prepare the articles of impeachment (JS description begins Journal of the Senate of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1820–21, 5 vols. description ends , ii, 383–92; JHR description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1826, 9 vols. description ends , iii, 70–75; Annals, description begins Annals of the Congress of the United States: The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … Compiled from Authentic Materials Washington, D.C., Gales & Seaton, 1834–56, 42 vols. All editions are undependable and pagination varies from one printing to another. The first two volumes of the set cited here have “Compiled … by Joseph Gales, Senior” on the title page and bear the caption “Gales & Seatons History” on verso and “of Debates in Congress” on recto pages. The remaining volumes bear the caption “History of Congress” on both recto and verso pages. Those using the first two volumes with the latter caption will need to employ the date of the debate or the indexes of debates and speakers. description ends vii, 448–66; Melton, First Impeachment, description begins Buckner F. Melton, Jr., The First Impeachment: The Constitution’s Framers and the Case of Senator William Blount, Macon, GA, 1998 description ends 104–48).

The House committee spent the summer collecting evidence and writing a report, which after the convening of the new session of Congress was read before the House on 4 and 5 Dec. It produced, according to Dawson, “some long faces” because it concluded that “it was not a French plot with Mr. Jefferson at the bottom, as has been industriously circulated in the eastern states” (Madison, Papers description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, J. C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, Chicago and Charlottesville, 1962– , 26 vols. Sec. of State Ser., 4 vols. description ends , xvii, 58; Report of the Committee of the House of Representatives of the United States, Appointed to Prepare and Report Articles of Impeachment against William Blount [Philadelphia, 1798], in Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C., 1952–59, 5 vols. description ends v, 207; Annals description begins Annals of the Congress of the United States: The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … Compiled from Authentic Materials Washington, D.C., Gales & Seaton, 1834–56, 42 vols. All editions are undependable and pagination varies from one printing to another. The first two volumes of the set cited here have “Compiled … by Joseph Gales, Senior” on the title page and bear the caption “Gales & Seatons History” on verso and “of Debates in Congress” on recto pages. The remaining volumes bear the caption “History of Congress” on both recto and verso pages. Those using the first two volumes with the latter caption will need to employ the date of the debate or the indexes of debates and speakers. description ends , viii, 2319–416). On 25 Jan. 1798, Sitgreaves presented articles of impeachment to the House, charging that Blount intended to cooperate with Great Britain on an expedition against the Spanish possessions of Louisiana and Florida and that attempts had been made to engage the Creek and Cherokee Indians in the expedition, thereby corrupting relations between United States agents and the Indians. After agreeing to the articles four days later, the House on 30 Jan. began selecting by ballot the eleven managers who would conduct the proceedings. All of the members of the original investigative committee except Dawson were elected on the first day of balloting. Upon learning of Dawson’s defeat, Baldwin refused to serve and the second day of voting saw the election of a complete slate of Federalists (JHR description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1826, 9 vols. description ends , iii, 74, 149–56; Melton, First Impeachment, description begins Buckner F. Melton, Jr., The First Impeachment: The Constitution’s Framers and the Case of Senator William Blount, Macon, GA, 1998 description ends 161–2). The articles of impeachment were published as a pamphlet, Further Report from the Committee, Appointed on the Eighth of July last, to Prepare and Report Articles of Impeachment against William Blount [Philadelphia, 1798], cited in Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C., 1952–59, 5 vols. description ends v, 207. For the ensuing actions in the Senate with TJ once again presiding, see TJ to Tazewell, 27 Jan. 1798; Sitgreaves to TJ, 6 Feb. 1798; Sitgreaves’s address to the Senate, at 7 Feb. 1798; and Notes on the Framing of Oaths, [ca. 8–9 Feb. 1798]; and for the trial, which commenced on 17 Dec. 1798 in Blount’s absence, and the subsequent dismissal of the case, see the Senate’s resolution on the impeachment at 11 Jan. 1799.

Blount’s later career is surveyed in Masterson, William Blount, 324–47. For an analysis of the weakness of the federal government in the region south of the Ohio

River and Blount’s desire to bring stability and economic development to Tennessee and the southwest, see Andrew R. L. Cayton, “’When Shall We Cease to Have Judases?’ The Blount Conspiracy and the Limits of the ‘Extended Republic,”’ in Ronald Hoffman and Peter J. Albert, eds., Launching the “Extended Republic”: The Federalist Era (Charlottesville, 1996), 156–89.