With all the media in 2023 abuzz about classified material being found at Donald Trump’s estate in Florida and in Joe Biden’s garage next to his Corvette, it is only logical to write about Thomas Pickering and his run in with classified material.

Timothy Pickering (1745-1829) was an American statesman who served in a variety of high-level government positions during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was born in Massachusetts and studied law before becoming involved in politics.

Pickering served as a member of the Continental Congress from 1777 to 1781, where he was an advocate for the American Revolution. He later served as a delegate to the Massachusetts convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution in 1788.

In 1791, President George Washington appointed Pickering as Postmaster General, a position he held until 1795. He then served as Secretary of War from 1795 to 1796 and as Secretary of State from 1795 to 1800 under Presidents Washington and John Adams.

During his tenure as Secretary of State, Pickering was involved in several controversial issues, including the XYZ Affair, which led to the Quasi-War between the United States and France.

In 1810 he was a member of the House of Representatives under President James Madison. President Madison, on October 27th, declared that the Spanish Possession of West Florida was now property of the United States because it fell under the Louisiana Purchase.

Now Pickering was not a liked man. He was fired as Secretary of State by John Adams for disloyalty to the Administration, had called George Washington “a much overrated, semi-literate mediocrity” and was known to have worked to overthrow the first four presidents.

So, when James Madison issued the proclaimation, Pickering stood up to speak against it and produced a document from France’s foreign minister, Charles Tallyrand stating that West Florida was not part of the Louisiana Purchase. The only problem was the document was classified.

His enemies took the opportunity to take up a resolution of censure stating that he had released information that had yet to be de-classified. Pickering became the first of nine U.S. Senators to be officially censured.