William L. Pierce

State: Georgia (Born in Virginia)

Age at Convention: 47

Date of Birth: 1740

Date of Death: December 10, 1789

Schooling: Attended William and Mary

Occupation: Soldier, Merchant

Prior Political Experience: Lower House of Georgia State Legislature 1786, Confederation Congress 1787

Committee Assignments: None

Convention Contributions: Attended May 31 to June 30, with the exception of a one week absence in mid-June. Left on July 2 to represent Georgia in the Confederation Congress and never returned. He is best known for his character sketches of the delegates at the Convention, since Pierce left on July 2 these sketches are prior to the Connecticut Compromise and the subsequent conversation on the Committee of Detail report. William Pierce stated that “My own character I shall not attempt to draw, but leave those who may choose to speculate on it, to consider it in any light that their fancy or imagination my depict.”

New Government Participation: Died in the first year of the new government.

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Biography from the National Archives:Very little is known about William Pierce’s early life. He was probably born in Georgia in 1740, but he grew up in Virginia. During the Revolutionary War Pierce acted as an aide-de-camp to Gen. Nathanael Greene and eventually attained the rank of brevet major. For his conduct at the battle of Eutaw Springs, Congress presented him with a ceremonial sword.

The year Pierce left the army, 1783, he married Charlotte Fenwick of South Carolina. They had two sons, one of whom died as a child. Pierce made his home in Savannah, where he engaged in business. He first organized an import-export company, Pierce, White, and Call, in 1783, but it dissolved less than a year later. He made a new start with his wife’s dowry and formed William Pierce & Company. In 1786 he was a member of the Georgia House of Representatives and was also elected to the Continental Congress.

At the Constitutional Convention Pierce did not play a large role, but he exerted some influence and participated in three debates. He argued for the election of one house of the federal legislature by the people and one house by the states; he favored a 3-year term instead of a 7-year term in the second house. Because he agreed that the Articles had been insufficient, he recommended strengthening the federal government at the expense of state privileges as long as state distinctions were not altogether destroyed. Pierce approved of the resulting Constitution, but he found it necessary to leave in the middle of the proceedings. A decline in the European rice market adversely affected his business. Soon after he returned to Savannah he went bankrupt, having “neither the skill of an experienced merchant nor any reserve capital.” Only 2 years later, on December 10, 1789, Pierce died in Savannah at age 49 leaving tremendous debts.

Pierce’s notes on the proceedings of the convention were published in the Savannah Georgian in 1828. In them he wrote incisive character sketches that are especially valuable for the information they provide about the lesser-known delegates.

Related:

* indicates delegates who did not sign the Constitution

Connecticut

William Samuel Johnson –  Roger Sherman –  Oliver Ellsworth (Elsworth)*

Delaware

George Read –  Gunning Bedford, Jr. –  John Dickinson –  Richard Bassett –  Jacob Broom

Georgia

William Few –  Abraham Baldwin –  William Houstoun*  -  William L. Pierce*

Maryland

James McHenry –  Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer –  Daniel Carroll –  Luther Martin*  -  John F. Mercer*

Massachusetts

Nathaniel Gorham –  Rufus King –  Elbridge Gerry*  -  Caleb Strong*

New Hampshire

John Langdon –  Nicholas Gilman

New Jersey

William Livingston –  David Brearly (Brearley)  -  William Paterson (Patterson)  -  Jonathan Dayton –  William C. Houston*

New York

Alexander Hamilton –  John Lansing, Jr.*  -  Robert Yates*

North Carolina

William Blount –  Richard Dobbs Spaight –  Hugh Williamson –  William R. Davie*  -  Alexander Martin*

Pennsylvania

Benjamin Franklin –  Thomas Mifflin –  Robert Morris –  George Clymer –  Thomas Fitzsimons (FitzSimons; Fitzsimmons)  -  Jared Ingersoll –  James Wilson –  Gouverneur Morris

South Carolina

John Rutledge –  Charles Cotesworth Pinckney –  Charles Pinckney –  Pierce Butler

Rhode Island

Rhode Island did not send delegates to the Convention.

Virginia

John Blair –  James Madison Jr. –  George Washington –  George Mason*  -  James McClurg*  -  Edmund J. Randolph*  -  George Wythe*

Other:

The Founding Fathers: A Brief Overview