Charles Cotesworth Pinckney

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Charles Cotesworth "C. C." Pinckney (February 25, 1746August 16, 1825) was an early American statesman of South Carolina, Revolutionary War veteran, and delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He was twice nominated by the Federalist Party as their presidential candidate, but he did not win either election.

Quotes[edit]

  • The legislature of the United States shall pass no law on the subject of religion nor touching or abridging the liberty of the press.
    • Resolution offered in the Philadelphia Convention, May 29, 1787. The United States Constitution was enacted without any protection for religion or the press, but with the understanding that a Bill of Rights would shortly be enacted to address these concerns.
  • No; no; not a sixpence.
    • Letter to Timothy Pickering (October 27, 1797), relating the American response to a French request for a tribute or bribe, in State Papers and Publick Documents of the United States, 3d ed. (1819), vol. 3, p. 492. The French had seized several American ships. Often misquoted as "...not a penny".
  • I say it is not, in my judgment, unconstitutional, for the following reasons, in which I mean briefly to answer to the call that has been made upon me:
    It appears by the Journal of the Convention that formed the Constitution of the United States, that I was the only member of that body that ever submitted the plan of a constitution completely drawn in articles and sections;
    and this having been done at a very early state of their proceedings, the article on which now so much stress is laid, and on the meaning of which the whole of this question is made to turn, and which is in these words:
    "the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities in every State,"
    having been made by me, it is supposed I must know, or perfectly recollect, what I meant by it.
    In answer, I say, that, at the time I drew that constitution, I perfectly knew that there did not then exist such a thing in the Union as a black or colored citizen, nor could I then have conceived it possible such a thing could have ever existed in it; nor, notwithstanding all that has been said on the subject, do I now believe one does exist in it.

External links[edit]

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