Charles Cotesworth Pinckney

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, a leading political and military figure in South Carolina who enslaved dozens on his plantations, was sought out by painter John Trumbull in 1791. The artist was traveling along the East Coast “taking heads” of Revolutionary War heroes. During the drafting of the U.S. Constitution in 1787, Pinckney had opposed including a bill of rights declaring all men were born free. He later defended his position, arguing it a “very bad grace when a large part of our property consists of men who are actually born slaves.”