PINCKNEY, Charles (1757-1824)
Senate Years of Service: 1798-1803
PINCKNEY, CHARLES, (father of Henry Laurens Pinckney), a Delegate, a Senator and a Representative from South Carolina; born in Charles Town (now Charleston), S.C., October 26, 1757; pursued classical studies; admitted to the bar and commenced practice in 1779; member of the State house of representatives 1779-1780, 1786-1789, 1792-1796, 1805, 1806, 1810-1814; fought in the Revolutionary War and was taken prisoner by the British in 1780; Member of the Continental Congress 1785-1787; delegate to the Federal Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 and one of the signers of the Constitution; member of the State constitutional conventions in 1788 and 1790 and served as president; Governor of South Carolina 1789-1792, and 1796-1798; was elected in 1798 as a Democratic Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Hunter and also for the full term expiring March 3, 1805, and served from December 6, 1798, until his resignation in 1801; Minister to Spain 1801-1804; again served in the State general assembly and as Governor of South Carolina 1806-1808; elected to the Sixteenth Congress (March 4, 1819-March 3, 1821); resumed the practice of law and also engaged in agricultural pursuits; died in Charleston, S.C., October 29, 1824; interment in St. Philip's Churchyard.
Boston Public Library
Boston, MA
Papers: 7 items.
Cornell University
Rare Books and Manuscript Collections
Ithaca, NY
Papers: 1 letter (August 1, 1797) from James McHenry in Washington Irving's Life of George Washington, Volume X, Miscellany, 1764-1805.
Library of Congress
Manuscript Division
Washington, DC
Papers: In the Charles Cotesworth Pinckney family papers, 1694-1886. 34 containers. Includes correspondence, financial and plantation records, and family papers. Finding aid.
Massachusetts Historical Society
Boston, MA
Papers: 14 letters (1786-1821) in various collections.
New-York Historical Society
New York, NY
Papers: 1785-1822. 45 items. Chiefly letters to Robert Livingston regarding Louisiana Purchase.
Pierpont Morgan Library
New York, NY
Papers: 6 items (1779-1812); and 3 letters (1788, 1801, 1821) on various topics in the Gilder Lehrman collection. Finding aid.
Rosenbach Museum and Library
Philadelphia, PA
Papers: July 8, 1801. 1 letter. To James Madison concerning arrangements for Pinckney's taking office as minister to Spain.
South Carolina Historical Society
Charleston, SC
Papers: In Frances Leigh Williams papers, ca. 1700-1978. 6 feet. Research files, notes, correspondence, and copies of papers and correspondence relating to her book on the Pinckney family. Also correspondence in Theodore D. Jervey papers, 1881-1944; and Anna Wells Rutledge papers, 1835-1980.
University of South Carolina
South Caroliniana Library
Columbia, SC
Papers: In Pinckney family papers, 1735-1922. 315 items and 7 volumes.
Additional Papers: Correspondence in Pierce Butler letterbook, 1790-1794; and in Manigault family papers, 1750-1900. Finding aid.
Yale University Libraries
Manuscripts and Archives
New Haven, NY
Papers: Correspondence in William Jackson papers, 1782-1828. Available on 1 microfilm reel. Finding aid.
- Bethea, Andrew Jackson. The Contribution of Charles Pinckney to the Formation of the American Union. Richmond: Garrett & Massie, 1937.
- Kaplanoff, Mark D. "Charles Pinckney and the American Republican Tradition.'' In Intellectual Life in Antebellum Charleston, edited by Michael O'Brien and David Moltke-Hansen, pp. 85-122. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1986.
- Matthews, Marty D. Forgotten Founder: The Life and Times of Charles Pinckney. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2004.
- Nott, Charles Cooper. The Mystery of the Pinckney Draught. New York: Century Co., 1908.
- Pinckney, Charles. Observations on the Plan of Government Submitted to the Federal Convention, in Philadelphia, on the 28th of May, 1787. New York: Francis Childs, 1787.
- Rogers, George C., Jr. Charleston in the Age of the Pinckneys. 1969. Reprint. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1980.
- Williams, Frances Leigh. A Founding Family: The Pinckneys of South Carolina. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978.
