Pinckney, Charles (1757-1824), was a South Carolina signer of the Constitution of the United States. At the age of 29, he was one of the youngest delegates at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Pinckney submitted his own plan for a new federal government. The plan was not adopted, but at least 30 of his suggestions were included in the final version of the Constitution.
Pinckney was born into a prominent plantation family in Charleston, South Carolina, on Oct. 26, 1757. He was educated in Charleston and later practiced law there. Pinckney became a lieutenant during the American Revolution (1775-1783). The British captured him in the fall of Charleston in 1780 and kept him imprisoned until 1781. From 1784 to 1787, Pinckney was a delegate to the Congress of the Confederation. He won election as governor of South Carolina four times, serving from 1789 to 1792, from 1796 to 1798, and from 1806 to 1808. Pinckney was a U.S. senator from 1798 to 1801 and a U.S. representative from 1819 to 1821. He served as U.S. minister to Spain from 1801 to 1805. His cousin Charles Cotesworth Pinckney also signed the Constitution. Charles Pinckney died on Oct. 29, 1824.
