PINCKNEY, CHARLES COTESWORTH (17461825)

This article appears in Volume V21, Page 617 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: PIG-POL

PINCKNEY, CHARLES COTESWORTH (17461825) , American statesman, was born in Charleston, South Carolina, on the 25th of February 1746, the son of Charles Pinckney (d. 1758),2 by his second wife, the celebrated girl planter, Eliza Lucas. When 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. Returning to America in 1769, C. C. Pinckney began the practice of law at Charleston, and soon became deputy attorney-general of the province. He was a member of the first South Carolina
the Supreme Court (1791), secretary of war (1795) and secretary the document sent by Pinckney to Adams in 1818 is a genuine copy of his

original

ORIGINAL

plan.
2 Charles Pinckney, the father, was long prominent in colonial affairs; he was attorney-general of the province in 1733, speaker of the assembly in 17361738 and in 1740,

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

justice of the province in 17521753, and agent for South Carolina in England in 17531758. He was the uncle of Charles Pinckney (17311784), and the great-uncle of Charles Pinckney (17571824). Eliza Lucas Pinckney (c. 17221793) was the daughter of Lieut.-Colonel George Lucas of the British army, who about 1738 removed from

Antigua

ANTIGUA

to South Carolina, where he acquired several plantations. He was almost immediately recalled to

Antigua

ANTIGUA

, and his daughter under-took the management of the plantations with conspicuous success. She is said to have been the first to introduce into South Carolina (and into continental North America) the cultivation and manufacture of indigo, and she also imported silkwormsin 1753 she presented to the princess of Wales a dress made of silk from her plantations. She was married to Charles Pinckney in 1744. See Harriott H. Ravenel, Eliza Pinckney (New

York

, 1896), in the " Women of Colonial and Revolutionary Times "

series

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

.
of state (r795), 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 Holland, but in the next year, Elbridge Gerry and John Marshall having been appointed to act with him, he again repaired to Paris, where he is said to have made the famous reply to a veiled demand for a "

loan

LOAN (adapted from the Scandinavian form of a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Swed. Mn, Icel. lan, Dut. leen; the O.E. laen appears in " lend," the ultimate source is seen in the root of Gr. Xeiaecv and Lat. linquere, to leave)

" (in reality for a

gift

GIFT (a common Teutonic word, cf. Ger. die Gift, gift, das Gift, poison, formed from the Teut. stem gab-, to give, cf. Dutch geven, Ger. geben; in O. Eng. the word appears with initial y, the guttural of later English is due to Scandinavian influence)

), " Millions for defence, but not one cent for tribute," another version is, " No, not a sixpence." The mission accomplished nothing, and Pinckney and Marshall left France in disgust, Gerry (q.v.) remaining. When the correspondence of the commissioners was sent to the United States Congress the letters " X," " Y " and " Z," were inserted in place of the names of the French agents with whom the commission treatedhence the " X Y Z Correspondence," famous in American history. In 1800 he was the Federalist candidate for vice-president, and in 1804 and again in s8o8 for president, receiving 14 electoral votes in the former and 47 in the latter year. From 18o5 until his death, on the 16th of August 1825, he was president-general of the Society of the Cincinnati.

End of Article: PINCKNEY, CHARLES COTESWORTH (17461825)

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/PIG_POL/PINCKNEY_CHARLES_COTESWORTH_17.html">
PINCKNEY, CHARLES COTESWORTH (17461825)
</a>

(Previous)
PINCKNEY, CHARLES (17571824)

(Next)
PINCKNEY, THOMAS (1750-1828)

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email