Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
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Charles Cotesworth (C.C.) Pinckney (February 25, 1746 – August 16, 1825), was an early American statesman and a constitutional delegate.
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[edit] Early life and career
Pinckney was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1746, the son of Charles Pinckney and the celebrated planter, Eliza Lucas. He was also first cousin once removed to Governor Charles Pinckney. As a child he was sent to England, like his brother Thomas after him, to be educated. Both of them were at Westminster and Oxford and were called to the bar, and for a time they studied in France at the Royal Military College at Caen.
[edit] South Carolina
Returning to America in 1769, C. C. Pinckney began to practice law in Charleston, and soon became deputy attorney general of the province. He was a member of the first South Carolina provincial congress in 1775, and also served as colonel in the South Carolina militia in 1776–1777. Pinckney was chosen president of the South Carolina Senate in 1779, and took part in the Georgia expedition and the attack on Savannah in the same year. He was captured at the fall of Charleston in 1780 and was kept in close confinement until 1782, when he was exchanged. In 1783, he was commissioned a brevet Brigadier General in the Continental Army.
After the war, Pinckney resumed his legal practice and the management of estates in the Charleston area but found time to continue his public service, which during the war had included tours in the lower house of the state legislature (1778 and 1782) and the senate (1779) (taken from the National Archives).
[edit] The Constitutional Convention
He was an influential member of the constitutional convention of 1787, advocating that slaves be counted as a basis of representation and opposing the abolition of the slave trade. He also advocated a strong national government to replace the current weak one. He opposed as impracticable the election of representatives by popular vote, and opposed the payment of senators, who, he thought, should be men of wealth. Subsequently, Pinckney played a prominent role 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 Constitution in the convention of 1790.
[edit] XYZ Affair
- Main article: XYZ Affair
After the organization of the Federal government, President Washington offered Pinckney a series of appointments as associate justice of the Supreme Court (1791), Secretary of War (1795) and Secretary of State (1795), each of which he declined; but in 1796, he succeeded James Monroe as minister to France. The Directory refused to receive him, and he retired to the Netherlands. In the following year, he and fellow advisors Elbridge Gerry and John Marshall returned to Paris under the direction of President John Adams to serve as ministers in diplomatic negotiations with the French. France's demands for loans were perceived by the ministers as veiled bribery, and rejected. Pinckney is said to have made the famous reply rejecting France's demands, "No, no; not a penny." Another version is, "No, not a sixpence." The mission accomplished nothing, and Pinckney and Marshall left France in disgust, with Gerry remaining. Later, the secret correspondence of the commissioners was made public and sent to the United States Congress. The letters X, Y and Z, were inserted in the documents in place of the names of the commission's French agents, and they became known as the "XYZ Correspondence". The quote "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute" is often incorrectly attributed to Pinckney. Robert Goodloe Harper actually made this statement.
[edit] Presidential politics
In 1800, he was the Federalist candidate for vice-president, and for president in 1804 and again in 1808, receiving 14 electoral votes in the former and 47 in the later year. From 1805 until his death, he was president-general of the Society of the Cincinnati. Pinckney died on August 16, 1825 and was buried in St. Michael's Churchyard in Charleston, S.C.
[edit] Memorialization
- Castle Pinckney, a fort in Charleston Harbor, was completed in 1797 and named for Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.
- Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge, a national wildlife refuge on the site of the Pinckney family's plantation is named after Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.
- Pinckney Elementary School in Lawrence, Kansas is named for Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.
- A school in Fort Jackson, South Carolina is called C.C. Pinckney Elementary.
- During World War II, a 422-foot Liberty Ship, SS Charles C. Pinckney, was named in his honor and built in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1942.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
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| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by James Monroe |
U.S. Minister to France 1796 – 1797 |
Succeeded by Robert R. Livingston |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Thomas Pinckney(1) |
Federalist Party vice presidential candidate 1800 (lost)(1) |
Succeeded by Rufus King |
| Preceded by John Adams |
Federalist Party presidential candidate 1804 (lost), 1808 (lost) |
Succeeded by DeWitt Clinton |
| Notes and references | ||
| 1. Technically, Thomas Pinckney in 1796 and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney in 1800 were both presidential candidates. Prior to the passage of the Twelfth Amendment in 1804, each presidential elector would cast two ballots; the highest vote-getter would become President and the runner-up would become Vice President. Thus, in 1796 and 1800, the Federalist party fielded two presidential candidates, Adams and Thomas Pinckney in 1796 and Adams and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney in 1800, with the intention that Adams be elected President and either Pinckney be elected Vice President. | ||
