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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. |
