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Collection Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774 to 1789

Charles Pinckney

Charles Pinckney (1757-1824). Artist unknown. Engraving, undated. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-6088.

(1757-1824)

A native of South Carolina, Charles Pinckney fought in the Revolutionary War, and was captured while defending Charleston. Handsome, vain, and ambitious, Pinckney lied about his age to fellow delegates at the Constitutional Convention; anxious to be the youngest delegate, the thirty-year-old Pinckney said that he was twenty-four.

Throughout his years as a delegate to Congress, Pinckney proved himself a firm advocate of a strengthened national government, willing either to amend the Articles of Confederation or draft an entirely new charter of government.