Charles Pinckney’s role in drafting the US Constitution

The United States Constitution is a venerable document that has served the Nation since 1789 with relatively few changes. Charles Pinckney, then a 29-year-old South Carolinian and owner of Snee Farm, had a role in its formation. Exactly what his role was has been a subject of debate since his death. At issue is whether Charles was a mere bystander to the Constitution’s creation or a significant contributor to the plan and substance of the document. To better understand the nature of this controversy, we need to examine the formation of the Constitution. While doing so, we will also consider attempts to document the process and explore the case for Charles Pinckney as a founding father.

During the Revolutionary War, delegates of the thirteen states adopted Articles of Confederation as governing principles. With the ratification of the Treaty of Paris on January 14, 1784, the war was officially ended, and the states began calling for amendments to the Articles of Confederation.

On May 25, 1787, delegates of twelve of the thirteen states met in the Pennsylvania Statehouse as a Constitutional Convention. Fifty-five of the seventy appointed delegates attended, and one of their first acts was to elect George Washington as the Convention’s President. Most delegates felt their purpose was to consider amendments to the Articles of Confederation and develop a framework for a Federal Government. Under the influence of future president James Madison, it was decided to develop a new constitution instead of amending the Articles of Confederation. Edmund Randolf, representing Virgina, presented a plan on May 29 known as the Virginia Plan, and on the same day Charles Pinckney submitted a plan that became known as the Pinckney Draft. Other plans would be submitted for consideration at a later date.

Progress on the Constitution was very slow because of widely varying views of the delegates. Rhode Island, fearing the powers of a federal government, refused to attend. By using a process by which a majority vote determined the inclusion of each provision, along with the formation of 12 “Action Committees,” slowly a document emerged.  After 116 days of deliberation the Constitution was complete. On September 17, 1787, 39 of the 55 delegates approved it.  Some delegates opposed the document; others had left Philadelphia early. That was only the beginning, because a 2/3 majority of states was needed to approve the Constitution for it to become law. South Carolina representatives met in Charleston and ratified the US Constitution on May 23, 1788 and became the eighth state to do so. New Hampshire’s ratification on June 21, 1788 gave the needed nine-state majority approval.

Some of those who were opposed wanted the Constitution to enumerate a Bill of Rights which would protect the freedoms of individuals and assure rights of States. The first amendments to the US Constitution included those rights and were ratified in 1791.

Fearing that public knowledge of the contentious debates surrounding its formation would prevent ratification, the delegates decided to turn over all records of the proceedings to George Washington for safe keeping until a new Congress could be formed. Unfortunately, the presiding Secretary decided to destroy all loose scraps of paper, which may have include the Pinckney draft.

Though pledged to secrecy, Benjamin Franklin and Charles Pinckney published parts of their contributions before the Convention year ended. Pinkney published a 27-page pamphlet entitled Observations on the plan of government submitted to the Federal convention in Philadelphia on the 28th of May 1787. Some thought this was part of a speech he was preparing and not an exact copy of his original submission.

When Congress authorized Secretary of State John Quincy Adams in 1818 to publish the proceedings of the Convention, Secretary Adams asked Charles Pinckney to supply him with his best memories of the draft that he submitted over 30 years earlier. Charles, now in his early 60s, consulted four or five drafts in his possession in Charleston and submitted what he believed to be the original account along with an explanatory letter. It was included in Journal, Acts and Proceedings of the Convention …  which formed the Constitution of the United States published in 1819.

James Madison kept a private journal of the proceedings which he claimed to be accurate. He remained silent about Pinckney’s account until after Pinckney died in 1824. In 1831, Madison penned his concerns about Pinckney’s account by pointing to a number of inconsistencies. Four years after his death in 1836 his notes on the Convention were published as the Journal of the Federal Convention kept by James Madison, and his concerns about the Pinckney draft became public knowledge.

With Pinckney’s contributions tarnished by James Madison’s posthumous rebuke, for many years Charles Pinckney was literally relegated to the dust bin of history. It was not until 1903 that a serious attempt was made to examine the case for Charles as a major contributor to the US Constitution. Charles Nott, a retired Chief Justice of the US Court of Claims, felt that a critical analysis of the record for Pinckney was long overdue.

In 1908, he published the Mystery of the Pinckney Draft, a point-by-point comparison of Pinckney’s 1818 submission with Madison’s criticisms. Judge Knott, using Pinckney’s accompanying explanations, countered Madison’s argument that the draft had a number of positions known to be opposed by Pinckney. He pointed out that Pinckney explained that he had changed his opinion during the Convention on those original positions. After his careful review of Pinckney’s case, Judge Knott concluded that Pinckney had made significant contributions to the form and substance of the US Constitution.  Pinckney’s status as a Founding Father began to be better recognized.

What is certain is that Charles came to the Convention well prepared for the work at hand.  He believed that the Federal Government as framed in the Articles of Confederation was too weak. In 1903 a hand written outline or sketch of the Pinckney draft was discovered in the papers of Pennsylvania delegate James Wilson and later reprinted in a pamphlet in 1927.  It is estimated that Pinckney suggested some thirty-one or thirty-two provisions which were finally embodied the Constitution. If indeed this is Pinckney’s plan, we can see that he envisioned a two-house legislative congress each with its own officers, an executive branch where the President was also commander in chief of the military. He proposed that the President and the Senate be elected by the Congress, not the public.

Apportioning delegates to the House was also concerning to Pinckney. Most states had diverse populations including white citizens, indentured servants, Blacks both free and enslaved, and Native Americans. In Pinckney’s original plan, members of the House of Delegates were to consist of one delegate for every 1000 inhabitants, where 2/3 of Blacks were to be included. At ratification, slavery was legal in all states. South Carolina at the time had and estimated 100,000 blacks, mostly enslaved, so Pinckney’s apportionment would have given South Carolina considerably more delegates to the House.

As a delegate of a slave holding state and a slave owner himself, Charles Pinckney opposed the Constitution limiting the slave trade and argued that history provided justification for slavery. He felt that South Carolina would not ratify the Constitution if it limited slave trade. As a compromise, the Constitution provided articles that prevented the Federal government from passing laws interfering with importation of slaves until 1808.  He was also instrumental in incorporating the Fugitive Slave Clause that required states to return escaped slaves within their borders to their owners.

Advocating for a strong Presidency, Pinckney was against impeachment of the President. However, he wanted Congress to be able to appoint the President’s cabinet. The compromise was to have the Senate approve the President’s nominees.

These and numerous other provisions in the US Constitution can be traced to Charles Pinckney’s contributions to its development. Though some of his ideas about slavery conflict with today’s views, it must be remembered that he was a man of his time in which such views were commonly held. The National Park Service, as stewards of the Charles Pinckney National Historic site, provides a memorial to his role in establishing the US Constitution.

For more information see:

Journal of the Federal Convention kept by James Madison

Reprinted from the 1840 Edition

E.H. Scott ed.

Scott, Foresman and Co. Chicago 1898

Journal, Acts and Proceedings of the Convention …  which formed the Constitution of the United States Printed and Published by Thomas B. Wait Boston 1819

Portions of Charles Pinckney's Plan for a Constitution, 1787 

J. Franklin Jameson

The American Historical Review, Volume 8, Issue 3, April 1903, Pages 509–511,

Documents Illustrative of the Formation of the Union of the American States.Government Printing Office, 1927.House Document No. 398.Selected, Arranged and Indexed by Charles C. Tansill

Mystery of the Pinckney Draught

Charles C. Nott

The Century Company New York 1908

The Friends of the Charleston National Parks endeavors to present informative and accurate materials for our readers. The subjects we cover are open to various interpretations and we invite readers to share their concerns about the material presented here. Please email us at Info@FCNP.org if you believe we have not correctly or accurately interpreted the historical record.