William Burnet Kinney

Who was William Burnet Kinney?

William Burnet Kinney was an American politician and diplomat.

His grandfather, Sir Thomas Kinney, came to the United States from England before the Revolution to explore the mineral resources of New Jersey. Kinney was born and raised in the Speedwell section of Morristown, New Jersey, and lived there in later life. William Burnet received a good education. After graduating from Princeton University, he studied law under Joseph C. Hornblower. In 1820, he began the life of an editor in Newark, New Jersey, where he founded the Advertiser in 1832. He continued to lead this life until his appointment, in 1851, as U. S. minister to Sardinia. Prior to this event, he had been conspicuous in various public capacities, and among them as a delegate, in 1844, to the Baltimore Whig convention, where he was largely instrumental in securing the nomination of his friend, Theodore Frelinghuysen, for the vice-presidency, with Henry Clay.

While minister at Turin he discussed with Count Cavour and other eminent men of the kingdom of Sardinia the movement for the unification of Italy.