BLOUNT, WILLIAM (1749-180o), American politician, was born in Bertie county (N.C.), on March 26, 1749. He was a member of the early continental congresses, of the Constitu tional Convention at Philadelphia in 1787, and of the State con vention which ratified the Federal Constitution for North Caro lina in 1789. From i790 until 1796 he was governor superintend ent of Indian affairs of the "Territory South of the Ohio River." He presided over the Constitutional Convention of Tennessee in 1796 and became one of its first representatives in the United States Senate. Blount was impeached by the House of Repre sentatives on July 7, 1797, for his connection with a conspiracy to seize the Spanish-owned Floridas and Louisiana for England, then at war with Spain, and on the following day was formally expelled from the Senate for "having been guilty of high misde meanour, entirely inconsistent with his public trust and duty as a senator." On Jan. 14, 1799, however, the Senate, sitting as a court of impeachment, decided that it had no jurisdiction, Blount not then being a member of the Senate, and, in the Senate's opin ion, not having been, even as a member, a civil officer of the United States. The case is significant as being the first impeach ment brought before the United States Senate. Blount was en thusiastically supported by his constituents, and upon his return to Tennessee was made a member and the presiding officer of the State Senate. He died at Knoxville on March 21, 1800.