Senator William Pinkney - Contact Information

William Pinkney Whyte (August 9, 1824 – March 17, 1908) was a Maryland lawyer and Democratic politician who held a wide range of state and local offices, including state delegate, state comptroller, United States senator, the 35th governor of Maryland, mayor of Baltimore, and state attorney general. He was a member of the United States Democratic Party from Maryland and became one of the most enduring figures in the state’s public life during the nineteenth century. Earlier in Maryland’s history, William Pinkney served as a Senator from Maryland in the United States Congress from 1791 to 1823. A member of the Republican Party, William Pinkney contributed to the legislative process during four terms in office. William Pinkney’s service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, and as a member of the Senate he participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his constituents.

Whyte was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 9, 1824, into a community and political culture that had already produced prominent national figures such as William Pinkney. He was educated in local schools in Baltimore and read law in preparation for a legal career, entering the bar as a young man. He established himself as a practicing attorney in Baltimore, where he began to build the professional and political connections that would sustain his long public career. His early legal and political work in the city, later chronicled in studies of mid-nineteenth-century Baltimore such as Tracy Matthew Melton’s account of the Plug Uglies era, helped bring him to the attention of Maryland’s Democratic leadership.

Whyte entered public life as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, serving as a state delegate and aligning himself with the Democratic Party. He subsequently served as the state comptroller of Maryland, gaining experience in public finance and administration. In 1857 he was nominated to serve in the United States Congress, but was defeated in the election. Contending that the contest had been marred by fraud and corruption, he brought evidence before the House of Representatives challenging the result. The House, however, did not concur on whether he should have been seated, and he did not take office. After this setback, Whyte spent nearly a decade largely out of the political arena, returning to his legal practice in Baltimore.

Whyte’s national career began in earnest when Governor Thomas Swann of Maryland asked him to fill the unexpired term of United States Senator Reverdy Johnson. He was appointed to the Senate and served from July 13, 1868, to March 3, 1869. During this short tenure as senator, Whyte steadfastly supported President Andrew Johnson, who was then under intense political pressure during the Reconstruction era, and he advocated easing tensions with the Southern states as they were reintegrated into the Union. He chose not to be a candidate for election to a full Senate term in 1868 and returned once more to Maryland politics and the practice of law.

In 1872, Whyte was elected the 35th governor of Maryland as a Democrat, defeating Republican challenger Jacob Tome. His administration dealt with the post–Civil War adjustment of the state’s institutions and finances. In 1874, the Maryland legislature elected him to the United States Senate, and he accordingly resigned the governorship to take his seat in Washington. Between his service as governor and his assumption of the Senate seat, he served as counsel for Maryland before the arbitration board in the boundary dispute between Virginia and Maryland, representing his state’s interests in a long-standing regional controversy. Returning to the Senate in 1874, he opposed proposals to pay the nation’s debt with a combination of silver and gold instead of solely gold, reflecting the hard-money views held by many Democrats of his era. During this tenure he served as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Printing in the 46th Congress. In the election of 1880, Whyte chose not to run for re-election to the Senate, citing illness in his family.

After leaving the Senate, Whyte continued to play a central role in Maryland and Baltimore civic life. In 1881 he was elected unopposed as mayor of Baltimore, serving a term that lasted until 1883. At the conclusion of his mayoralty he returned again to private legal practice. From 1887 to 1891 he served as Attorney General of Maryland, acting as the state’s chief legal officer. Later, from 1900 to 1903, he was Baltimore City Solicitor, advising the municipal government on legal matters and further extending a public career that by then had spanned more than half a century.

In 1906, Maryland Governor Edwin Warfield appointed Whyte to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy created by the death of Senator Arthur P. Gorman. His return to the Senate came 25 years, 3 months, and 5 days after his previous service in the chamber, setting an all-time record for the longest gap between periods of service in the U.S. Senate. He served in this final Senate term until his unexpected death in Baltimore on March 17, 1908. William Pinkney Whyte was buried in Greenmount Cemetery in Baltimore, closing a career in which he had served Maryland as state delegate, state comptroller, governor, United States senator in multiple periods, mayor of Baltimore, attorney general, and city solicitor, while William Pinkney’s earlier four-term service as a Senator from Maryland from 1791 to 1823 marked an earlier chapter in the state’s long tradition of national representation.