“ Pinckney was president of the State Convention of 1790 that framed a new constitution for South Carolina, was governor of the state from 1789 to 1792, a member of the state House of Representatives in 1792–1796, and again governor from 1796 to 1798. From 1799 to 1801 he was a member of the United States Senate. He entered public life as a Federalist, but later became the leader in organizing the Democratic-Republican party in his state, and contributed largely to the success of Thomas Jefferson in the presidential election of 1800. ”

“ He was studying law at the outbreak of the War of Independence, served in the early campaigns in the South, and in 1779 was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives. He was captured by the British at the fall of Charleston (1780) , and remained a prisoner until the close of hostilities. He was elected a delegate to the Congress of the Confederation in 1784, 1785 and 1786, and in 1786 he moved the appointment a committee “ to take into consideration the affairs of the nation, ” advocating in this connexion an enlargement of the powers of Congress. ”