Pinckney, Thomas

Pinckney, Thomas, 1750–1828, American political leader and diplomat, b. Charleston, S.C.; brother of C. C. Pinckney and cousin of Charles Pinckney. At the outbreak of the American Revolution he joined the militia; he saw action in Florida, took part in the defense of Charleston (1780), and was wounded and captured at Camden in the Carolina campaign. After the war he served as governor (1787–89). While minister to England (1792–96), he was sent as envoy extraordinary to Spain (1794–95). His treaty with Spain (1795) established commercial relations between the United States and Spain, provided for free navigation of the Mississippi by American citizens and Spanish subjects, granted the right of deposit at New Orleans, and set the boundaries of Louisiana and E and W Florida. As a member of Congress (1797–1801) he upheld Federalist measures but voted against the Sedition Act and expressed no eagerness for war with France. In the War of 1812 Pinckney was a major general.

Bibliography

See biography by C. C. Pinckney (1895); S. F. Bemis, Pinckney's Treaty (1960, repr. 1973); J. L. Cross, London Mission (1968).

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Pinckney, Thomas

(born Oct. 23, 1750, Charleston, S.C.—died Nov. 2, 1828, Charleston, S.C., U.S.) U.S. soldier, politician, and diplomat. The brother of Charles C. Pinckney and a cousin of Charles Pinckney, he served as governor of South Carolina (1787–89) and as minister to Britain (1792–96). As special envoy to Spain (1795), he negotiated the Treaty of San Lorenzo, also called Pinckney's Treaty, which fixed the southern border of the U.S. and granted the U.S. navigation rights on the Mississippi River and the right of deposit (storage of goods) at New Orleans. He was a major general in the War of 1812.

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Pinckney, Thomas (1750–1828) diplomat, soldier; born in Charleston, S.C. He studied law in London but returned to South Carolina and served with distinction in the American Revolution. He was governor of South Carolina (1787–89) and ambassador to Great Britain (1792–96). He negotiated the San Lorenzo, or Pinckney, Treaty with Spain, which established territorial and traffic rights on the Mississippi River (1795), and served in the House of Representatives (Fed., S.C.; 1797–1801). A scientific planter, he employed agricultural methods that he had observed in Holland. He was a major general in the War of 1812.