Timothy Pickering

Timothy Pickering served as Secretary of State under George Washington and John Adams from 1795 to 1800. A Massachusetts lawyer who had been the Continental Army’s quartermaster general, he also served as postmaster general and secretary of war. Before entering the State Department, he negotiated the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua with the Six Nations, recognizing their lands and arranging peace and payments. ¹

Pickering favored Britain in the struggle between the European powers. He supported the Jay Treaty and opposed Adams’s effort to reach an accommodation with France as French seizures of American merchant ships intensified. The demands for payments made to American negotiators in the XYZ Affair strengthened his preference for military preparations and close cooperation with Britain. He worked with Alexander Hamilton to enlarge the army during the undeclared naval conflict known as the Quasi-War. ¹

Adams nevertheless reopened negotiations with France. Pickering resisted the president’s policy and publicly criticized his leadership; when he refused a request to resign, Adams dismissed him in 1800. The confrontation exposed a division within the Federalist Party over whether American security required alignment with Britain or a settlement with France. Pickering subsequently represented Massachusetts in the Senate and House, continuing his political career after the Federalists lost the presidency. ¹