Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (February 25, 1746 – August 16, 1825) was an American statesman, military officer and Founding Father who served as United States Minister to France from 1796 to 1797.

Born into a planter class family from South Carolina, Pinckney practiced law for several years and was elected to the colonial legislature.

A supporter of independence from Great Britain, Pinckney served in the American Revolutionary War, rising to the rank of brigadier general.

Seeing little hope of defeating popular incumbent president Thomas Jefferson, the Federalists chose Pinckney as their presidential nominee for the 1804 election.

He was the son of Charles Pinckney, who would later serve as the chief justice of the Province of South Carolina, and Eliza Lucas, a celebrated planter and agriculturalist, who is credited with developing indigo cultivation in this area.

Both Charles and his brother Thomas were enrolled in the Westminster School, where they continued as students after the rest of the family returned to South Carolina in 1758.

[2] During the American Revolutionary War, he served in the lower house of the state legislature and as a member of the South Carolina Senate, in addition to his military service.

[4] In 1775, after the American Revolutionary War had broken out, Pinckney volunteered for military service as a full-time regular officer in George Washington's Continental Army.

As a senior company commander with the rank of captain, Pinckney raised and led the elite Grenadiers of the 1st South Carolina Regiment.

He participated in the successful defense of Charleston in the Battle of Sullivan's Island in June 1776, when British forces under General Sir Henry Clinton staged an amphibious attack on the state capital.

In 1778, Pinckney and his regiment, returning to the South, took part in a failed American expedition attempting to seize British East Florida.

In October 1779, the southern Army of Major General Benjamin Lincoln, with Pinckney leading one of its brigades, attempted to re-take the city in the Siege of Savannah.

He also returned to the lower house of the South Carolina legislature, and he and his brother Thomas became major political powers in the state.

[8] The Revolutionary War had convinced many in South Carolina, including Pinckney, that the defense of the state required the cooperation of the other colonies.

'[11]Pinckney advocated for a strong national government (albeit one with a system of checks and balances) to replace the weak one of the time.

Pinckney played a key role in requiring treaties to be ratified by the Senate and in the compromise that resulted in continued American participation in the international slave trade for at least twenty years.

At the ratification convention, Pinckney distinguished three types of government and said republics were where "the people at large, either collectively or by representation, form the legislature".

When Pinckney presented his credentials in November 1796, they were refused, with the Directory stating that no ambassador could be accepted until the outstanding crisis was resolved.

Pinckney and Marshall left France in April 1798; Gerry remained behind in an unofficial capacity, seeking to moderate French demands.

Washington believed that Pinckney's military experience and political support in the South made him indispensable in defending against a possible invasion by the French.

Pinckney refused to become involved in Hamilton's plans to make him president and promised not to accept the votes of any elector who was not also pledged to Adams.

Pinckney's defeat in South Carolina made him the first major party presidential nominee to lose his own home state.

With a potential war against France or Britain looming, the Federalists hoped that Pinckney's military experience would appeal to the nation.

[22] In the South Carolina House of Representatives, on January 18, 1788, Pinckney offered several defenses for the lack of a bill of rights in the proposed U.S. Constitution.

The reporter's summary of his observation concludes, "Now, we should make that declaration with a very bad grace, when a large part of our property consists in men who are actually born slaves.

"[23] Elbridge Gerry ... proposed that the Constitution contain express language limiting the size of the standing army to several thousand men.

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, ostensibly at the instigation of Washington, responded that such a proposal was satisfactory so long as any invading force also agreed to limit its army to a similar size.Collier, Christopher and James Lincoln (1986).