William Grainger Blount (1784 – May 21, 1827) was an American politician who represented Tennessee's 2nd district in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from 1815 to 1819. He is the son of

Southwest Territory The Territory South of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Southwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1790, until June 1, 1796, when it was admitted to the United States a ...

governor

William Blount William Blount (March 26, 1749March 21, 1800) was an American Founding Father, statesman, farmer and land speculator who signed the United States Constitution. He was a member of the North Carolina delegation at the Constitutional Convention o ...

and nephew of Tennessee governor

Willie Blount Willie Blount (April 18, 1768September 10, 1835) was an American politician who served as the third Governor of Tennessee from 1809 to 1815. Blount's efforts to raise funds and soldiers during the War of 1812 earned Tennessee the nickname, "Volu ...

, serving under the latter as

Tennessee Secretary of State The Tennessee Secretary of State is an office created by the Tennessee State Constitution. The Secretary of State is responsible for many of the administrative aspects of the operation of state government of Tennessee. The current Secretary of ...

from 1811 to 1815.

Life and career

Blount was born near New Bern, North Carolina, in

Craven County Craven County is located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 100,720. Its county seat is New Bern. The county was created in 1705 as Archdale Precinct from the now-extinct Bath County. It was rename ...

, the eldest son of

and Mary Grainger Blount. He attended the New Bern Academy. In 1792, following his father's appointment as Governor of the

, he moved with his parents to

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state' ...

, which had been chosen as the new territorial capital. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1805. He was never married and had no known children. Blount practiced law in Knoxville. He also engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1811, he was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives. Shortly afterward, the General Assembly elected him Secretary of State of Tennessee. Serving alongside his uncle, Governor Willie Blount, he helped coordinate the state's

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

efforts, and certified the "Walker Line" as the boundary between Tennessee and

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

. Following the death of

John Sevier John Sevier (September 23, 1745 September 24, 1815) was an American soldier, frontiersman, and politician, and one of the founding fathers of the State of Tennessee. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, he played a leading role in Tennes ...

in 1815, Blount was elected to his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, narrowly defeating John Cocke by a vote of 1,583 to 1,355.Candidate: William Grainger Blount
''Our Campaigns''. Retrieved: 20 February 2013. He was reelected in 1817, again defeating Cocke by a narrow margin, 3,627 votes to 3,429. Serving as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

in the Fourteenth and

Fifteenth In music, a fifteenth or double octave, abbreviated ''15ma'', is the interval between one musical note and another with one-quarter the wavelength or quadruple the frequency. It has also been referred to as the bisdiapason. The fourth harmonic, ...

congresses, Blount consistently sought the creation of new postal routes throughout his district, including a route connecting Maryville and

Sevierville Sevierville ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Sevier County, Tennessee, located in eastern Tennessee. The population was 17,889 at the 2020 United States Census. History Native Americans of the Woodland period were among the first human ...

, a route connecting Sevierville and Dandridge, and a route connecting Morganton, Tennessee, with

Carnesville, Georgia Carnesville is a city in Franklin County, Georgia, United States, and the county seat. The population was 741 at the 2020 census. History Carnesville was founded in 1805 as the seat of Franklin County. It was incorporated as a town in 1819 and as ...

.
Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States
' (Francis Childs and John Swain, 1816), pp. 89, 104, 270, 548. He voted in favor of an 1816 bill reaffirming the nation's neutrality, and voted against the

Bonus Bill of 1817 The Bonus Bill of 1817 was legislation proposed by John C. Calhoun to earmark the revenue "bonus," as well as future dividends, from the recently-established Second Bank of the United States for an internal improvements fund.Stephen MinicucciIn ...

(he also voted in favor of sustaining President

James Madison James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for h ...

's veto of the Bonus Bill). Choosing not to run for a third term, Blount resumed his practice of law in Knoxville. In 1818, he became owner of Blount Mansion, the house his father had built in the city. He moved to Paris, Tennessee, in 1826, where he continued to practice law. He died on May 21, 1827, and is interred in the City Cemetery in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blount, William Grainger 1784 births 1827 deaths Politicians from New Bern, North Carolina Politicians from Knoxville, Tennessee People from Paris, Tennessee Secretaries of State of Tennessee Tennessee lawyers Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American lawyers