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PINCKNEY, CHARLES (1757–1824)

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 616 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PINCKNEY, See also:CHARLES (1757–1824) , See also:American statesman, was See also:born on the 26th of See also:October 1757 at See also:Charleston, See also:South Carolina; he was the son of Charles Pinckney (1731–1784), first See also:president of the first South Carolina Provincial See also:Congress (See also:Jan. to See also:June 1775), and a See also:cousin of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and See also:Thomas Pinckney. He was studying See also:law at the outbreak of the See also:War of See also:Independence, served in the See also:early See also:campaigns in the South, and in 1779 was elected to the South Carolina See also:House of Representatives. He was captured by the See also:British at the fall of Charleston (1780), and remained a prisoner until the See also:close of hostilities. He was elected a delegate to the Congress of the See also:Confederation in 1784, 1785 and 1786, and in 1786 he moved the See also:appointment of a See also:committee " to take into See also:consideration the affairs of the nation," advocating in this connexion an en- provincial congress in 1775, served as See also:colonel in the South largement of the See also:powers of Congress. The committee having 1 Carolina See also:militia in 1776–1777, was chosen president of the been appointed, Pinckney was made chairman of a sub-commit- South Carolina See also:Senate in 1779, took See also:part in the See also:Georgia expedi- tion and the attack on See also:Savannah in the same See also:year, was captured at the fall of Charleston in 178o and was kept in close confinement until 1782, when he was exchanged. In 1783 he was commissioned a See also:brevet brigadier-See also:general in the See also:continental See also:army. He was an influential member of the constitutional See also:convention of 1787, advocating the counting of all slaves as a basis of See also:representation and opposing the abolition of the slave-See also:trade. He opposed as " impracticable " the See also:election of representatives by popular See also:vote, and also opposed the See also:payment of senators, who, he thought, should be men of See also:wealth. Subsequently Pinckney See also:bore a prominent part in securing the ratification of the Federal constitution in the South Carolina convention called for that purpose in 1788 and in framing the South Carolina See also:State Constitution in the convention of 1790. After the organization of the Federal See also:government, President See also:Washington offered him at different times appointments as See also:associate See also:justice of tee which prepared a See also:plan for amending the articles of confederation. In 1787 he was a delegate to the Federal constitutional convention, and on the same See also:day (May 29) on which See also:Edmund See also:Randolph (q.v.) presented what is known as the See also:Virginia plan, Pinckney presented a draft of a constitution which is known as the Pinckney plan. Although the Randolph resolutions were made the basis on which the new constitution was framed, Pinckney's plan seems to have been much See also:drawn upon.

Furthermore, Pinckney appears to have made.valuable suggestions regarding phrasing and matters of detail. On the 18th of See also:

August he introduced a See also:series of resolutions, and to him should probably be accredited the authorship of the substance of some See also:thirty-one or thirty-two provisions of the constitution.' Pinck- The " Pinckney Plan " has been the subject of considerable discussion. When, in 1818, See also:John See also:Quincy See also:Adams was preparing the See also:journal of the convention for publication and discovered that the Pinckney plan was missing, he wrote to Pinckney for a copy, and Pinckney sent him what he asserted was either a copy of his See also:original draft or a copy of a draft which differed from the original in no essentials. But as this was found to See also:bear a close resemblance to the draft reported by the committee of detail, See also:Madison and others, who had been members of the convention, as well as historians, treated it as See also:spurious, and for years Pinckney received little See also:credit for his See also:work in the convention. Later historians, however, notably J. See also:Franklin See also:Jameson and See also:Andrew C. McLaughlin, have accredited to him the See also:suggestion of a number of provisions of the constitution as a result of their efforts to reconstruct his original plan chiefly from his speeches, or alleged speeches, and from certain papers of See also:James See also:Wilson, a member of the committee of detail, one of which papers is believed to be an outline of the Pinckney plan. See J. F. Jameson, " Studies in the See also:History of the Federal Convention of 1787," in the See also:Annual See also:Report of the American See also:Historical Association for 1902, vol. i.; A. C. McLaughlin, " Outline of Pinckney's Plan for a Constitution," in The Nation, See also:April 28, 1904; an See also:article entitled " See also:Sketch of Pinckney's Plan for a Constitution," in the American Historical See also:Review for See also:July 1904; and C.

C. See also:

Nott, The See also:Mystery of the Pinckney See also:Draught (New See also:York, 1908), an See also:attempt by a former See also:chief-justice of the U.S. See also:Court of Claims to prove thatney was president of the State Convention of 1790 that framed a new constitution for South Carolina, was See also:governor of the state from 1789 to 1792, a member of the state House of Representatives in 1792–1796, and again governor from 1796 to 1798. From 1799 to 18oi he was a member of the See also:United States Senate. He entered public See also:life as a Federalist, but later became the See also:leader in organizing the Democratic-Republican party in his state, and contributed largely to the success of Thomas See also:Jefferson in the presidential election of 1800. By Jed'erson's appointment he was American See also:minister to See also:Spain from i8or to 18os. In general his See also:mission was a distinct failure, his arrogance and indiscretions finally causing the See also:Spanish government to See also:request his recall. He was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1805, was again governor of South Carolina from i8o6 to i8o8, in 1810–1814 was once more a member of the state House of Representatives, in which he defended President Madison's war policy, and from 1819 to 1821 was a member of the See also:National House of Representatives, in which he opposed the See also:Missouri See also:Compromise in a brilliant speech. He died at Charleston, South Carolina, on the 29th of October 1824. His son, See also:HENRY See also:LAURENS PINCKNEY (1794-1863), was a member of the state House of Representatives in 1816–1832, founded in 1819 and edited for fifteen years the Charleston See also:Mercury, the See also:great exponent of state's rights principles, and was a member of the National House of Representatives in 1833–1837.

End of Article: PINCKNEY, CHARLES (1757–1824)

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