Charles Cotesworth Pinckney

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was a leading South Carolina lawyer, military figure, and statesman, whose wealth stemmed from the labor of those he enslaved on his rice plantations. Educated in England, he was an active participant in the colonial government and served in the royal militia before siding with the rebels and becoming a captain in the Continental Army.

Around 1773, Henry Benbridge portrayed Pinckney in a red British uniform coat. Pinckney later asked the artist to repaint the garment’s color to represent his new allegiance. Traces of red remain visible along the edges of the sitter’s left sleeve.

After the Revolution, Pinckney served as a dele-gate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. When Northern delegates argued that the Constitution should ban the import of African people, he pro-posed the compromise that allowed it to continue for another twenty years, until 1808.