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Pinckney's Treaty - History
The United States signed the Convention of Paris with France. Under this treaty, France accepted US neutrality rights at sea. The French also discharged the US from its obligations established under the alliance formed by the two nations during the American Revolution. In return, the United States granted France "most favored trading status."
The weakness of the Spanish Empire resulted in its agreeing to the Treaty of San Lorenzo. This treaty later became known as "Pinckney's Treaty," named after the American Ambassador who handled its negotiation. Leading the negotiations for the Spanish was Don Manuel de Godoy. The Spanish, who were concerned about a possible British American Alliance, agreed to all of the American demands.
The Spanish recognized the 31st parallel as the Southern border of the United States. Under the terms of the agreement the United States and Spain would jointly survey the border. As part of the agreement Spain ceded territory that later was organized as the Mississippi Territory. In addition, Spain granted the United States navigation rights to the Mississippi River. This included the right to use the port of New Orleans, opening the way to shipping products down the Mississippi River, from which goods could be sent by sea to the East Coast or Europe.
PINCKNEY'S TREATY
PINCKNEY'S TREATY of 1795, also known as the Treaty of San Lorenzo, between the United States and the Spanish Empire, established the thirty-first parallel as the border between the United States and Spanish West Florida. Spain had ceded that area in 1763 to Great Britain, which had moved the boundary from the thirty-first parallel to a line north of the thirty-second parallel. When the British gave Florida back to Spain after the War of Independence, this boundary was disputed. In addition to meeting the American position on this issue, Spain allowed the United States free navigation of the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico and granted it the right to deposit goods in New Orleans. This was of vital importance to the farmers and merchants who lived in Kentucky and Tennessee and to the settlers of the Ohio Valley, who now could ship their harvests and goods on the waterways to the eastern seaboard of the United States, to Europe, or to other areas. Additionally, both nations agreed not to incite attacks by Native Americans against the other
nation. Signed at San Lorenzo El Real on 27 October 1795, the "Treaty of Friendship, Limits, and Navigation Between Spain and the United States" was negotiated by Thomas Pinckney, minister to Great Britain, who had been sent to Spain as envoy extraordinaire.
Pinckney's Treaty (1795)
Pinckney's Treaty was made in order to quell Spanish fear of America encroaching on Spain's lands. The treaty established a good relationship between the U.S. and Spain. It allowed the U.S. to have full use of the Mississippi river and New Orleans, and gave a clear definition for the borders of the U.S. and Spanish colonies.
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His Catholic Majesty and the United States of America desiring to consolidate on a permanent basis the Friendship and good correspondence which happily prevails between the two Parties, have determined to establish by a convention several points, the settlement whereof will be productive of general advantage and reciprocal utility to both Nations. With this intention his Catholic Majesty has appointed the most Excellent Lord Don Manuel de Godoy and Alvarez de Faria, Rios, Sanchez Zarzosa, Prince de la Paz Duke de la Alcudia Lord of the Soto de Roma and of the State of Albala: Grandee of Spain of the first class: perpetual Regidor of the Citty of Santiago: Knight of the illustrious Order of the Golden Fleece, and Great Cross of the Royal and distinguished Spanish order of Charles the III. Commander of Valencia del Ventoso, Rivera, and Aceuchal in that of Santiago: Knight and Great Cross of the religious order of St John: Counsellor of State: First Secretary of State and Despacho: Secretary to the Queen: Superintendent General of the Posts and High Ways: Protector of the Royal Academy of the Noble Arts, and of the Royal Societies of natural history, Botany, Chemistry, and Astronomy: Gentleman of the King's Chamber in employement: Captain General of his Armies: Inspector and Major of the Royal Corps of Body Guards &ampa &ampa &ampa and the President of the United States with the advice and consent of their Senate, has appointed Thomas Pinckney a Citizen of the United States, and their Envoy Extraordinary to his Catholic Majesty. And the said Plenipotentiaries have agreed upon and concluded the following Articles.
There shall be a firm and inviolable Peace and sincere Friendship between His Catholic Majesty his successors and subjects, and the United Estates and their Citizens without exception of persons or places.
To prevent all disputes on the subject of the boundaries which separate the territories of the two High contracting Parties, it is hereby declared and agreed as follows: to wit: The Southern boundary of the United States which divides their territory from the Spanish Colonies of East and West Florida, shall be designated by a line beginning on the River Mississipi at the Northermost part of the thirty first degree of latitude North of the Equator, which from thence shall be drawn due East to the middle of the River Apalachicola or Catahouche, thence along the middle thereof to its junction with the Flint, thence straight to the head of St Mary's River, and thence down the middle there of to the Atlantic Occean. And it is agreed that if there should be any troops, Garrisons or settlements of either Party in the territory of the other according to the above mentioned boundaries, they shall be withdrawn from the said territory within the term of six months after the ratification of this treaty or sooner if it be possible and that they shall be permitted to take with them all the goods and effects which they possess.
In order to carry the preceding Article into effect one Commissioner and one Surveyor shall be appointed by each of the contracting Parties who shall meet at the Natchez on the left side of The River Mississipi before the expiration of six months from the ratification of this convention, and they shall proceed to run and mark this boundary according to the stipulations of the said Article. They shall make Plats and keep journals of their proceedings which shall be considered as part of this convention, and shall have the same force as if they were inserted therein. And if on any account it should be found necessary that the said Commissioners and Surveyors should be accompanied by Guards, they shall be furnished in equal proportions by the Commanding Officer of his Majesty's troops in the two Floridas, and the Commanding Officer of the troops of the United States in their Southwestern territory, who shall act by common consent and amicably, as well with respect to this point as to the furnishing of provissions and instruments and making every other arrangement which may be necessary or useful for the execution of this article.
It is likewise agreed that the Western boundary of the United States which separates them from the Spanish Colony of Louissiana, is in the middle of the channel or bed of the River Mississipi from the Northern boundary of the said States to the completion of the thirty first degree of latitude North of the Equator and his Catholic Majesty has likewise agreed that the navigation of the said River in its whole breadth from its source to the Occean shall be free only to his Subjects, and the Citizens of the United States, unless he should extend this privilege to the Subjects of other Powers by special convention.
The two High contracting Parties shall by all the means in their power maintain peace and harmony among the several Indian Nations who inhabit the country adjacent to the lines and Rivers which by the proceeding Articles form the boundaries of the two Floridas and the teeter to obtain this effect both Parties oblige themselves expressly to restrain by force all hostilities on the part of the Indian Nations living within their boundaries: so that Spain will notsuder her Indians to attack the Citizens of the United States, nor the Indians inhabiting their territory nor will the United States permit these last mentioned Indians to commence hostilities against the Subjects of his Catholic Majesty, or his Indians in any manner whatever.
And whereas several treaties of Friendship exist between the two contracting Parties and the said Nations of Indians, it is hereby agreed that in future no treaty of alliance or other whatever (except treaties of Peace) shall be made by either Party with the Indians living within the boundary of the other but both Parties will endeavour to make the advantages of the Indian trade common and mutualy beneficial to their respective Subjects and Citizens observing in all things the most complete reciprocity: so that both Parties may obtain the advantages arising from a good understanding with the said Nations, without being subject to the expence which they have hitherto occasioned.
Each Party shall endeavour by all means in their power to protect and defend all Vessels and other effects belonging to the Citizens or Subjects of the other, which shall be within the extent of their jurisdiction by sea or by land, and shall use all their efforts to recover and cause to be restored to the right owners their Vessels and effects which may have been taken from them within the extent of their said jurisdiction whether they are at war or not with the Power whose Subjects have taken possession of the said effects.
And it is agreed that the Subjects or Citizens of each of the contracting Parties, their Vessels, or effects shall not be liable to any embargo or detention on the part of the other for any military expedition or other public or private purpose whatever and in all cases of seizure, detention, or arrest for debts contracted or offences commited by any Citizen or Subject of the one Party within the jurisdiction of the other, the same shall be m ade and prosecuted by order and authority of law only, and according to the regular course of proceedings usual in such cases. The Citizens and Subjects of both Parties shall be allowed to employ such Advocates, Sollicitors, Notaries, Agents, and Factors, as they may judge proper in all their affairs and in all their trials at law in which they may be concerned before the tribunals of the other Party, and such Agents shall have free access to be present at the proceedings in such causes, and at the taking of all examinations and evidence which may be exhibited in the said trials.
In case the Subjects and inhabitants of either Party with their shipping whether public and of war or private and of merchants be forced through stress of weather, pursuit of Pirates, or Enemis, or any other urgent necessity for seeking of shelter and harbor to retreat and enter into any of the Rivers, Bays, Roads, or Ports belonging to the other Party, they shall be received and treated with all humanity, and enjoy all favor, protection and help, and they shall be permitted to refresh and provide themselves at reasonable rates with victuals and all things needful for the sustenance of their persons or reparation of their Ships, and prosecution of their voyage and they shall no ways be hindered from returning out of the said Ports, or Roads, but may remove and depart when and whither they please without any let or hindrance.
All Ships and merchandise of what nature soever which shall be rescued out of the hands of any Pirates or Robbers on the high seas shall be brought into some Port of either State and shall be delivered to the custody of the Officers of that Port in order to be taken care of and restored entire to the true proprietor as soon as due and sufficient proof shall be made concerning the property there of.
When any Vessel of either Party shall be wrecked, foundered, or otherwise damaged on the coasts or within the dominion of the other, their respective Subjects or Citizens shall receive as well for themselves as for their Vessels and effects the same assistence which would be due to the inhabitants of the Country where the damage happens, and shall pay the same charges and dues only as the said inhabitants.
The Citizens and Subjects of each Party shall have power to dispose of their personal goods within the jurisdiction of the other by testament, donation, or otherwise and their representatives being Subjects or Citizens of the other Party shall succeed to their said personal goods, whether by testament or ab intestate and they may take possession thereof either by themselves or others acting for them, and dispose of the same at their will paying such dues only as the inhabitants of the Country wherein the said goods are shall be subject to pay in like cases, and in case of the absence of the representatives, such care shall be taken of the said goods as would be taken of the goods of a native in like case, until the lawful owner may take measures for receiving them. And if question shall arise among several claimants to which of them the said goods belong the same shall be decided finally by the laws and Judges of the Land wherein the said goods are. And where on the death of any person holding real estate within the territories of the one Party, such real estate would by the laws of the Land descend on a Citizen or Subject of the other were he not disqualified by being an alien, such subject shall be allowed a reasonable time to sell the same and to withdraw the proceeds without molestation, and exempt from all rights of detraction on the part of the Government of the respective states.
The merchant Ships of either of the Parties which shall be making into a Port belonging to the enemy of the other Party and concerning whose voyage and the species of goods on board her there shall be just grounds of suspicion shall be obliged to exhibit as well upon the high seas as in the Ports and havens not only her passports but likewise certificates expressly strewing that her goods are not of the number of those which have been prohibited as contraband.
For the better promoting of commerce on both sides, it is agreed that if a war shall break out between the said two Nations one year after the proclamation of war shall be allowed to the merchants in the Cities and Towns where they shall live for collecting and transporting their goods and merchandises, and if any thing be taken from them, or any injury be done them within that term by either Party, or the People or Subjects of either, full satisfaction shall be made for the same by the Government.
No subject of his Catholic Majesty shall apply for or take any commission or letters of marque for arming any Ship or Ships to act as Privateers against the said United States or against the Citizens, People, or inhabitants of the said United States, or against the property of any of the inhabitants of any of them, from any Prince or State with which the said United States shall be at war.
Nor shall any Citizen, Subject, or Inhabitant of the said United States apply for or take any commission or letters of marque for arming any Ship or Ships to act as Privateers against the subjects of his Catholic Majesty or the property of any of them from any Prince or State with which the said King shall be at war. And if any person of either Nation shall take such commissions or letters of marque he shall be punished as a Pirate.
It shall be lawful for all and singular the Subjects of his Catholic Mayesty, and the Citizens People, and inhabitants of the said United States to sail with their Ships with all manner of liberty and security, no distinction being made who are the proprietors of the merchandises laden thereon from any Port to the Places of those who now are or hereafter shall be at enmity with his Catholic Majesty or the United States. It shall be likewise lawful for the Subjects and inhabitants aforesaid to sail with the Ships and merchandises aforementioned, and to trade with the same liberty and security from the Places, Ports, and Havens of those who are Enemies of both or either Party without any opposition or disturbance whatsoever, not only directly from the Places of the Enemy aforementioned to neutral Places but also from one Place belonging to an Enemy to another Place belonging to an Enemy, whether they be under the jurisdiction of the same Prince or under several, and it is hereby stipulated that Free Ships shall also give freedom to goods, and that every thing shall be deemed free and exempt which shall be found on board the Ships belonging to the Subjects of either of the contracting Parties although the whole lading or any part thereof should appertain to the Enemies of either contraband goods being always excepted. It is also agreed that the same liberty be extended to persons who are on board a free Ship, so that, although they be Enemies to either Party they shall not be made Prisoners or taken out of that free Ship unless they are Soldiers and in actual service of the Enemies.
This liberty of navigation and commerce shall extend to all kinds of merchandises excepting those only which are distinguished by the name of contraband and under this name of contraband or prohibited goods shall be comprehended arms, great guns, bombs, with the fusees, and other things belonging to them, cannon ball, gun powder, match, pikes, swords, lances, speards, halberds, mortars, petards, grenades, salpetre, muskets, musket ball bucklers, helmets, breast plates, coats of mail, and the like kind of arms proper for arming soldiers, musket rests, belts, horses with their furniture and all other warlike instruments whatever. These merchandises which follows shall not be reckoned among contraband or prohibited goods that is to say, all sorts of cloths and all other manufactures woven of any wool, flax, silk, cotton, or any other materials whatever, all kinds of wearing aparel together with all species whereof they are used to be made, gold and silver as well coined as uncoined, tin, iron, latton, copper, brass, coals, as also wheat, barley, oats, and any other kind of corn and pulse: tobacco and likewise all manner of spices, salted and smoked fish, salted fish, cheese and butter, beer, oils, wines, sugars, and all sorts of salts, and in general all provisions which serve for the sustenance of life. Furthermore all kinds of cotton, hemp, flax, tar, pitch, ropes, cables, sails, sail cloths, anchors, and any parts of anchors, also ships masts, planks, wood of all kind, and all other things proper either for building or repairing ships, and all other goods whatever which have not been worked into the form of any instrument prepared for war by land or by sea, shad not be reputed contraband, much less such as have been already wrought and made up for any other use: all which shall be wholy reckoned among free goods, as likewise all other merchandises and things which are not comprehended and particularly mentioned in the foregoing enumeration of contraband goods: so that they may be transported and carried in the freest manner by the subjects of both parties, even to Places belonging to an Enemy, such towns or Places being only excepted as are at that time besieged, blocked up, or invested. And except the cases in which any Ship of war or Squadron shall in consequence of storms or other accidents at sea be under the necessity of taking the cargo of any trading Vessel or Vessels, in which case they may stop the said Vessel or Vessels and furnish themselves with necessaries, giving a receipt in order that the Power to whom the said ship of war belongs may pay for the articles so taken according to the price thereof at the Port to which they may appear to have been destined by the Ship's papers: and the two contracting Parties engage that the Vessels shall not be detained longer than may be absolutely necessary for their said Ships to supply themselves with necessaries: that they will immediately pay the value of the receipts: and indemnify the proprietor for all losses which he may have sustained in consequence of such transaction.
To the end that all manner of dissensions and quarels may be avoided and prevented on one side and the other, it is agreed that in case either of the Parties hereto should be engaged in a war, the ships and Vessels belonging to the Subjects or People of the other Party must be furnished with sea letters or passports expressing the name, property, and bulk of the Ship, as also the name and place of habitation of the master or commander of the said Ship, that it may appear thereby that the Ship really and truly belongs to the Subjects of one of the Parties which passport shall be made out and granted according to the form annexed to this Treaty. They shall likewise be recalled every year, that is, if the ship happens to return home within the space of a year. It is likewise agreed that such ships being laden, are to be provided not only with passports as above mentioned but also with certificates containing the several particulars of the cargo, the place whence the ship sailed, that so it may be known whether any forbidden or contraband goods be on board the same which certificates shall be made out by the Officers of the place whence the ship sailed in the accustomed form and if any one shall think it fit or adviseable to express in the said certificates the person to whom the goods on board belong he may freely do so: without which requisites they may be sent to one of the Ports of the other contracting Party and adjudged by the competent tribunal according to what is above set forth, that all the circumstances of this omission having been well examined, they shall be adjudged to be legal prizes, unless they shall give legal satisfaction of their property by testimony entirely equivalent.
If the Ships of the said subjects, People or inhabitants of either of the Parties shall be met with either sailing along the coasts on the high Seas by any Ship of war of the other or by any Privateer, the said Ship of war or Privateer for the avoiding of any disorder shall remain out of cannon shot, and may send their boats aboard the merchant Ship which they shall so meet with, and may enter her to number of two or three men only to whom the master or Commander of such ship or vessel shall exhibit his passports concerning the property of the ship made out according to the form inserted in this present Treaty: and the ship when she shall have showed such passports shall be free and at liberty to pursue her voyage, so as it shall not be lawful to molest or give her chace in any manner or force her to quit her intended course.
Consuls shall be reciprocally established with the privileges and powers which those of the most favoured Nations enjoy in the Ports where their consuls reside, or are permitted to be.
It is also agreed that the inhabitants of the territories of each Party shall respectively have free access to the Courts of Justice of the other, and they shall be permitted to prosecute suits for the recovery of their properties, the payment of their debts, and for obtaining satisfaction for the damages which they may have sustained, whether the persons whom they may sue be subjects or Citizens of the Country in which they may be found, or any other persons whatsoever who may have taken refuge therein and the proceedings and sentences of the said Court shall be the same as if the contending parties had been subjects or Citizens of the said Country.
In order to terminate all differences on account of the losses sustained by the Citizens of the United States in consequence of their vessels and cargoes having been taken by the Subjects of his Catholic Majesty during the late war between Spain and France, it is agreed that all such cases shall be referred to the final decision of Commissioners to be appointed in the following manner. His Catholic Majesty shall name one Commissioner, and the President of the United States by and with the advice and consent of their Senate shall appoint another, and the said two Commissioners shall agree on the choice of a third, or if they cannot agree so they shall each propose one person, and of the two names so proposed one shall be drawn by lot in the presence of the two original Commissioners, and the person whose name shall be so drawn shall be the third Commissioner, and the three Commissioners so appointed shall be sworn impartially to examine and decide the claims in question according to the merits of the several cases, and to justice, equity, and the laws of Nations. The said Commissioners shall meet and sit at Philadelphia and in the case of the death, sickness, or necessary absence of any such commissioner his place shall be supplied in the same manner as he was first appointed, and the new Commissioner shall take the same oaths, and do the same duties. They shall receive all complaints and applications, authorized by this article during eighteen months from the day on which they shall assemble. They shall have power to examine all such persons as come before them on oath or affirmation touching the complaints in question, and also to receive in evidence all written testimony authenticated in such manner as they shall think proper to require or admit. The award of the said Commissioners or any two of them shall be final and conclusive both as to the justice of the claim and the amount of the sum to be paid to the claimants and his Catholic Majesty undertakes to cause the same to be paid in specie without deduction, at such times and Places and under such conditions as shall be awarded by the said Commissioners.
The two high contracting Parties hopping that the good correspondence and friendship which happily reigns between them will be further increased by this Treaty, and that it will contribute to augment their prosperity and opulence, will in future give to their mutual commerce all the extension and favor which the advantage of both Countries may require and in consequence of the stipulations contained in the IV. article his Catholic Majesty will permit the Citizens of the United States for the space of three years from this time to deposit their merchandise and effects in the Port of New Orleans, and to export them from thence without paying any other duty than a fair price for the hire of the stores, and his Majesty promises either to continue this permission if he finds during that time that it is not prejudicial to the interests of Spain, or if he should not agree to continue it there, he will assign to them on another part of the banks of the Mississipi an equivalent establishment.
The present Treaty shall not be in force untill ratified by the Contracting Parties, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in six months from this time, or sooner if possible.
In Witness whereof We the underwritten Plenipotentiaries of His Catholic Majesty and of the United States of America have signed this present Treaty of Friendship, Limits and Navigation and have "hereunto affixed our seals respectively.
Done at San Lorenzo el Real this seven and twenty day of October one thousand seven hundred and ninety five.
Original in English and Spanish Submitted to the Senate February 26, 1796. Resolution of advice and consent March 5,1796. Ratified by the United States March 7,1796. Ratified by Spain April 25, 1796. Ratifications exchanged at Aranjuez April 25, 1796. Proclaimed August 2, 1796.
At the end of the last Ice Age, Native Americans or Paleo-Indians appeared in what today is the Southern United States. [1] Paleo-Indians in the South were hunter-gatherers who pursued the megafauna that became extinct following the end of the Pleistocene age. A variety of indigenous cultures arose in the region, including some that built great earthwork mounds more than 2,000 years ago. [2]
The successive mound building Troyville, Coles Creek, and Plaquemine cultures occupied western Mississippi bordering the Mississippi River during the Late Woodland period. During the Terminal Coles Creek period (1150 to 1250 CE) contact increased with Mississippian cultures centered upriver near St. Louis, Missouri. This led to the adaption of new pottery techniques, as well as new ceremonial objects and possibly new forms of social structuring. [3] As more Mississippian culture influences were absorbed the Plaquemine area as a distinct culture began to shrink after 1350 CE. Eventually the last enclave of purely Plaquemine culture was the Natchez Bluffs area, while the Yazoo Basin and adjacent areas of Louisiana became a hybrid Plaquemine-Mississippian culture. [4] Historic groups in the area during first European contact bear out this division. In the Natchez Bluffs, the Taensa and Natchez had held out against Mississippian influence and continued to use the same sites as their ancestors and carry on the Plaquemine culture. Groups who appear to have absorbed more Mississippian influence were identified at the time of European contact as those tribes speaking the Tunican, Chitimachan, and Muskogean languages. [3]
The Mississippian culture disappeared in most places around the time of European encounter. Archaeological and linguistic evidence has shown their descendants are the historic Chickasaw and Choctaw peoples, who were later counted by colonists as among the Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeast. Other tribes who inhabited the territory that became known as Mississippi (and whose names were given by colonists to local towns and features) include the Natchez, Yazoo, Pascagoula, and the Biloxi. French, Spanish and English settlers all traded with these tribes in the early colonial years.
Pressure from European-American settlers increased during the early nineteenth century, after invention of the cotton gin made cultivation of short-staple cotton profitable. This was readily cultivated in the upland areas of the South, and its development could feed an international demand for cotton in the 19th century. Migrants from the United States entered Mississippi mostly from the north and east, coming from the Upper South and coastal areas. Eventually they gained passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830, which achieved federal forced removal of most of the indigenous peoples during the 1830s to areas west of the Mississippi River.
The first major European expedition into the territory that became Mississippi was Spanish, led by Hernando de Soto, which passed through in the early 1540s. The French claimed the territory that included Mississippi as part of their colony of New France and started settlement along the Gulf Coast. They created the first Fort Maurepas under Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville on the site of modern Ocean Springs (or Old Biloxi) in 1699. [2]
In 1716, the French founded Natchez as Fort Rosalie on the Mississippi River it became the dominant town and trading post of the area. In this period of the early 18th century, the French Roman Catholic Church created pioneer parishes at Old Biloxi/Ocean Springs and Natchez. The church also established seven pioneer parishes in present-day Louisiana and two in Alabama, which was also part of New France. [6]
The French and later Spanish colonial rule influenced early social relations of the settlers who held enslaved Africans. As in Louisiana, for a period there developed a third class of free people of color. They were chiefly descendants of white European colonists and enslaved African or African-American mothers. The planters often had formally supportive relationships with their mistresses of color, known in French as plaçage. They sometimes freed them and their multiracial children. The fathers passed on property to their mistresses and children, or arranged for the apprenticeship or education of children so they could learn a trade. Some wealthier male colonists sent their mixed-race sons to France for education, and some entered the military there. Free people of color often migrated to New Orleans, where there was more opportunity for work and a bigger community of their class. [2]
As part of New France, Mississippi was also ruled by the Spanish after France's defeat in the Seven Years' War (1756–63). Later it was briefly part of West Florida under the British. In 1783 the Mississippi area was deeded by Great Britain to the United States after the latter won its independence in the American Revolution, under the terms of the Treaty of Paris. Following the Peace of Paris (1783) the southern third of Mississippi came under Spanish rule as part of West Florida.
Through the colonial period, the various tribes of Native Americans changed alliances trying to achieve the best trading and other conditions for themselves.
Historical populations
Before 1798 the state of Georgia claimed the entire region extending west from the Chattahoochee to the Mississippi River and tried to sell lands there, most notoriously in the Yazoo land scandal of 1795. Georgia finally ceded the disputed area in 1802 to the United States national government for its management. In 1804, after the Louisiana Purchase, the government assigned the northern part of this cession to Mississippi Territory. The southern part became the Louisiana Territory.
The Mississippi Territory was sparsely populated and suffered initially from a series of difficulties that hampered its development. Pinckney's Treaty of 1795 ended Spanish control over Mississippi, but Spain continued to hamper the territory's growth by harassing commercial traders. It restricted American trading and travel on the Mississippi River down to New Orleans, the major port on the Gulf Coast.
Winthrop Sargent, territorial governor in 1798, proved unable to impose a code of laws. Not until the emergence of cotton as a profitable staple crop in the nineteenth century, after the invention of the cotton gin, were the riverfront areas of Mississippi developed as cotton plantations. These were based on slave labor, and developed most intensively along the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers, bordering the Mississippi Delta. The rivers offered the best transportation to markets. [7]
Americans had continuing land disputes with the Spanish, even after taking control of much of this territory through the Louisiana Purchase (1803) from France. In 1810 the European-American settlers in parts of West Florida rebelled and declared their freedom from Spain. President James Madison declared that the region between the Mississippi and Perdido rivers, which included most of West Florida, had already become part of the United States under the terms of the Louisiana Purchase. The section of West Florida between the Pearl and Perdido rivers, known as the District of Mobile, was annexed to Mississippi Territory in 1812 Americans from the United States occupied Kiln, Mississippi, in 1813.
Settlement Edit
The attraction of vast amounts of high-quality, fertile and inexpensive cotton land attracted hordes of settlers, mostly from Georgia and the Carolinas, and from former tobacco areas of Virginia and North Carolina in the Upper South. By this time, most planters in the Upper South had switched to mixed crops, as their lands were exhausted from tobacco and it was barely profitable as a commodity crop.
From 1798 through 1820, the population in the Mississippi Territory rose dramatically, from less than 9,000 to more than 222,000. The vast majority were enslaved African Americans brought by settlers or shipped by slave traders. Migration came in two fairly distinct waves—a steady movement until the outbreak of the War of 1812, and a flood after it was ended, from 1815 through 1819. The postwar flood was catalyzed by various factors: high prices for cotton, the elimination of Indian titles to much land, new and improved roads, and the acquisition of new direct water outlets to the Gulf of Mexico. The first migrants were traders and trappers, then herdsmen, and finally farmers. Conditions on the Southwest frontier initially resulted in a relatively democratic society for whites. [8] But expansion of cotton cultivation resulted in an elite group of white planters who controlled politics in the state for decades.
Cotton Edit
Expansion of cultivation of cotton into the Deep South was enabled by the invention of the cotton gin, which made processing of short-staple cotton profitable. This type was more readily grown in upland and inland areas, in contrast to the long-staple cotton of the Sea Islands and Lowcountry. Americans pressed to gain more land for cotton, causing conflicts with the several tribes of Native Americans who historically occupied this territory of the Southeast. Five of the major tribes had adopted some western customs and had members who assimilated to varying degrees, often based on proximity and trading relationships with whites.
Through the 1830s, state and federal US governments forced the Five Civilized Tribes to cede their lands. Various US leaders developed proposals for removal of all Native Americans to west of the Mississippi River. This took place following passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830 by Congress. As Indians ceded their lands to whites through the Southeast, they moved west and became more isolated from the American planter society, where many African Americans were enslaved. The state sold off the ceded lands, and white migration into the state continued. Some families brought slaves with them most slaves were transported into the area from the Upper South in a forced migration through the domestic slave trade. [9]
Statehood Edit
In 1817 elected delegates wrote a constitution and applied to Congress for statehood. On Dec. 10, 1817, the western portion of Mississippi Territory became the State of Mississippi, the 20th state of the Union. Natchez, long established as a major river port, was the first state capital. As more population came into the state and future growth was anticipated, in 1822 the capital was moved to the more central location of Jackson. [10]
Religion Edit
French colonists had established the Catholic Church in their colonial settlements along the coast, such as Biloxi. As Americans entered the territory, they brought their strongly Protestant tradition. Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians made up the three leading denominations in the territory, and their congregations rapidly built new churches and chapels. By this time, many slaves were already Christians, attending church under the supervision of white planters. They also developed their own private worship and celebrations on the larger plantations. Adherents to other religions were a distinct minority. Some Protestant ministers won converts and often promoted education, although there was no state public school system until it was authorized after the Civil War by the Reconstruction-era biracial legislature.
Whereas in the first Great Awakening, Protestant ministers of these denominations had promoted abolition of slavery, by the early 19th century, when the Deep South was being developed, most had retreated to support for slavery. They argued instead for an improved paternalism under Christianity by white slaveholders. This sometimes led to improved treatment for the enslaved. [11] [12]
Government Edit
William C. C. Claiborne (1775–1817), a lawyer and former Republican congressman from Tennessee (1797–1801), was appointed by President Thomas Jefferson as governor and superintendent of Indian affairs in the Mississippi Territory from 1801 through 1803. Although he favored acquiring some land from the Choctaw and Chickasaw, Claiborne was generally sympathetic and conciliatory toward Indians. He worked long and patiently to iron out differences that arose, and to improve the material well-being of the Indians. He was partly successful in promoting the establishment of law and order his offer of a $2,000 reward helped destroy a gang of outlaws headed by Samuel Mason (1750–1803). His position on issues indicated a national rather than regional outlook, though he did not ignore his constituents. Claiborne expressed the philosophy of the Democratic-Republican Party and helped that party defeat the Federalists. [13] When a smallpox epidemic broke out in the spring of 1802, Claiborne directed the first recorded mass vaccination in the territory. This prevented the spread of the epidemic in Natchez. [14]
Native American lands Edit
The United States government removed land from the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes from 1801 to about 1830, as white settlers entered the territory from coastal states. After Congressional passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the government forced the tribes to accept lands west of the Mississippi River in Indian Territory. Most left the state, but those who remained became United States citizens.
After 1800 the rapid development of a cotton economy and the slave society of the Deep South changed the economic relationship of native Indians with whites and slaves in Mississippi Territory. As Indians ceded their lands to whites in the eastern sections, they moved west in the state, becoming more isolated from whites and blacks. The following table illustrates ceded land in acres:
Treaty Year Signed with Where Purpose Ceded land
San Lorenzo 1795 Between Spain and United States San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain The treaty, also known as Pinckney's Treaty, put Choctaw & Chickasaw country under U.S. control n/a
Fort Adams 1801 Choctaw Mississippi Territory Redefined Choctaw cession to England and permission for whites to use the Natchez Trace 2,641,920 acres (10,691.5 km 2 )
Fort Confederation 1802 Choctaw Mississippi Territory n/a 10,000 acres (40 km 2 )
Hoe Buckintoopa 1803 Choctaw Choctaw Nation Small cession of Tombigbee River and redefined English treaty of 1765 853,760 acres (3,455.0 km 2 )
Mount Dexter 1805 Choctaw Choctaw Nation Large cession from Natchez District to the Tombigbee/Alabama River watershed 4,142,720 acres (16,765.0 km 2 )
Fort St. Stephens 1816 Choctaw Fort Confederation Ceded all Choctaw land east of Tombigbee River 10,000 acres (40 km 2 )
Doak's Stand 1820 Choctaw Natchez Trace, Choctaw Nation Exchanged cession in Mississippi for parcel in Arkansas 5,169,788 acres (20,921.39 km 2 )
Washington City 1825 Choctaw Exchanged Arkansas land for Oklahoma parcel 2,000,000 acres (8,100 km 2 )
Dancing Rabbit Creek 1830 Choctaw Choctaw Nation Removal and granting U.S. citizenship to Choctaw who remained 10,523,130 acres (42,585.6 km 2 )
Pontotoc 1832 Chickasaw Pontitock Creek Seek a home in the west 6,283,804 acres (25,429.65 km 2 )
The exit of most of the Native Americans meant that vast new lands were open to settlement, and tens of thousands of immigrant Americans poured in. Men with money brought slaves and purchased the best cotton lands in the Delta region along the Mississippi River. Poor men took up poor lands in the rest of the state, but the vast majority of the state was still undeveloped at the time of the Civil War.
By the 1830s Mississippi was a leading cotton producer, increasing its demand for enslaved labor. Some planters considered slavery a "necessary evil" to make cotton production profitable, for the survival of the cotton economy, and were brought in from the border states and the tobacco states where slavery was declining. [15] The 1832 state constitution forbade any further importation of slaves by the domestic slave trade, but the provision was found to be unenforceable, and it was repealed.
As planters increased their holdings of land and slaves, the price of land rose, and small farmers were driven into less fertile areas. An elite slave-owning class arose that wielded disproportionate political and economic power. By 1860, of the 354,000 whites, only 31,000 owned slaves and two thirds of these held fewer than 10. Fewer than 5,000 slaveholders had more than 20 slaves 317 possessed more than 100. These 5,000 planters, especially the elite among them, controlled the state. In addition a middle element of farmers owned land but no slaves. A small number of businessmen and professionals lived in the villages and small towns. The lower class, or "poor whites", occupied marginal farm lands remote from the rich cotton lands and grew food for their families, not cotton. Whether they owned slaves or not, however, most white Mississippians supported the slave society all whites were considered above blacks in social status. They were both defensive and emotional on the subject of slavery. A slave insurrection scare in 1836 resulted in the hanging of a number of slaves, as was common in the South after such incidents. Several white northerners were suspected of being secret abolitionists. [16]
When cotton was king during the 1850s, Mississippi plantation owners—especially those in the old Natchez District, as well as the newly emerging Delta and Black Belt region of the uplands in the center of the state—became increasingly wealthy due to the great fertility of the soil and the high price of cotton on the international market. The severe wealth imbalances and the necessity of large-scale slave populations to sustain such income played a strong role in state politics and political support for secession. [17] Mississippi was among the six states in the Deep South with the highest proportion of slave population it was the second state to secede from the union.
Mississippi's population grew rapidly due to migration, both voluntary and forced, reaching 791,305 in 1860. Blacks numbered 437,000, making up 55% of the population they were overwhelmingly enslaved. Cotton production grew from 43,000 bales in 1820 to more than one million bales in 1860, as Mississippi became the leading cotton-producing state. With international demand high, Mississippi and other Deep South cotton was exported to the textile factories of Britain and France, as well as those in New York and New England. The Deep South was the major supplier and had strong economic ties with the Northeast. By 1820, half of the exports from New York City were related to cotton. Southern businessmen traveled so frequently to the city that they had favorite hotels and restaurants.
In Mississippi some modernizers encouraged crop diversification, and production of vegetables and livestock increased, but King Cotton prevailed. Cotton's ascendancy was seemingly justified in 1859, when Mississippi planters were scarcely touched by the financial panic in the North. They were concerned by inflation of the price of slaves but were in no real distress. Mississippi's per capita wealth was well above the U.S. average. The major planters made very large profits, but they invested it on buying more cotton lands and more slaves, which pushed up prices even higher. They educated their children privately, and the state government made little investment in infrastructure. Railroad construction lagged behind that of other states, even in the South. The threat of abolition troubled planters, but they believed that if needed, the cotton states could secede from the Union, form their own country, and expand to the south in Mexico and Cuba. Until late 1860 they never expected a war. [18]
The relatively low population of the state before the Civil War reflected the fact that much of the state was still frontier and needed many more settlers for development. For instance, except for riverside settlements and plantations, 90% of the Mississippi Delta bottom lands were still undeveloped and covered mostly in mixed forest and swampland. These areas were not cleared and developed until after the war. During and after Reconstruction, most of the new owners in the Delta were freedmen, who bought the land by clearing it and selling off timber. [19]
Slavery Edit
At the time of the Civil War, the great majority of blacks were slaves living on plantations with 20 or more fellow slaves, many in much larger concentrations. While some had been born in Mississippi, many had been transported to the Deep South in a forcible migration through the domestic slave trade from the Upper South. Some were shipped from the Upper South in the coastwise slave trade, while others were taken overland or forced to make the entire journey on foot.
The typical division of labor on a large plantation included an elite of house slaves, a middle group of overseers, drivers (gang leaders) and skilled craftsmen, and a "lower class" of unskilled field workers whose main job was hoeing and picking cotton. The owners hired white overseers to direct the work. Some slaves resisted by work slowdowns and by breaking tools and equipment. Others left for a while, hiding out for a couple of weeks in woods or nearby plantations. There were no slave revolts of any size, although whites often circulated fearful rumors that one was about to happen. Most slaves who tried to escape were captured and returned, though a handful made it to northern states and eventual freedom.
Most slaves endured the harsh routine of plantation life. Because of their concentration on large plantations, within these constraints they built their own culture, often developing leaders through religion, and others who acquired particular skills. They created their own religious practices and worshipped sometimes in private, developing their own style of Christianity and deciding which stories, such as the Exodus, spoke most to them. While slave marriages were not legally recognized, many families formed unions that lasted, and they struggled to maintain their stability. Some slaves with special skills attained a quasi-free status, being leased out to work on riverboats or in the port cities. Those on the riverboats got to travel to other cities they were part of a wide information network among slaves.
By 1820, 458 former slaves had been freed in the state. The legislature restricted their lives, requiring free blacks to carry identification and forbidding them from carrying weapons or voting. In 1822 planters decided it was too awkward to have free blacks living near slaves and passed a state law forbidding emancipation except by special act of the legislature for each manumission. [16] [20] In 1860 only 1,000 of the 437,000 blacks in the state were recorded as free. [21] Most of these free people lived in wretched conditions near Natchez. [ citation needed ]
Politics Edit
Mississippi was a stronghold of Jacksonian democracy, which glorified the independent farmer the legislature named the state capital in Andrew Jackson's honor. Corruption and land speculation caused a severe blow to state credit in the years preceding the Civil War. Federally allocated funds were misused, tax collections embezzled, and finally, in 1853, two state-supported banks collapsed when their debts were repudiated. In the Second Party System (1820s to 1850s), Mississippi moved politically from a divided Whig and Democratic state to a one-party Democratic state bent on secession.
Criticism from Northern abolitionists escalated after the Mexican War ended in 1848. Mississippi and other southern planters expected the war to gain new territory where slavery could flourish. The South resisted attacks by abolitionists, and white Mississippians were among those who became outspoken defenders of the slave system. An abortive secession attempt in 1850 was followed by a decade of political agitation during which the protection and expansion of slavery became their major goal. When Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860 with the goal seeking an eventual end of slavery, Mississippi followed South Carolina and seceded from the Union on January 9, 1861. Mississippi's U.S. senator Jefferson Davis was chosen as president of the Confederate States.
More than 80,000 Mississippians fought in the American Civil War. [22] Fear that white supremacy might be lost were among the reasons that men joined the Confederate Army. Men who owned more property, including slaves, were more likely to volunteer. Men in Mississippi's river counties, regardless of their wealth or other characteristics, joined at lower rates than those living in the state's interior. River-county residents were especially vulnerable and apparently left their communities for safer areas (and sometimes moved out of the Confederacy) rather than face invasion. [23]
Both the Union and Confederacy knew control of the Mississippi River was critical to the war. Union forces mounted major military operations to take over Vicksburg, with General Ulysses S. Grant launching the Shiloh and Corinth campaigns and the siege of Vicksburg, from the spring of 1862 to the summer of 1863. [24] The most important was the Vicksburg Campaign, fought for control of the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. The fall of the city to General Grant on July 4, 1863, gave the Union control of the Mississippi River, cut off the western states, and made the Confederate cause in the west hopeless.
As Union troops advanced, many slaves escaped and joined their lines to gain freedom. After the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1863, more slaves left the plantations. Thousands of former slaves in Mississippi enlisted in the Union Army in 1863 and the following years. [25]
At the Battle of Grand Gulf, Admiral Porter led seven Union ironclads in an attack on the fortifications and batteries at Grand Gulf, Mississippi. His goal was to take over the Confederate guns and secure the area with troops of McClernand's XIII Corps, who were on the accompanying transports and barges. The Confederates won but it was a hollow victory the Union defeat at Grand Gulf caused only a slight change in Grant's offensive. [26]
Grant won the Battle of Port Gibson. Advancing toward Port Gibson, Grant's army ran into Confederate outposts after midnight. Union forces advanced on the Rodney Road and a plantation road at dawn, and were met by Confederates. Grant forced the Confederates to fall back to new defensive positions several times during the day they could not stop the Union onslaught and left the field in the early evening. This defeat demonstrated that the Confederates were unable to defend the Mississippi River line the Federals secured their needed beachhead. [27]
General William Tecumseh Sherman's march from Vicksburg to Meridian, Mississippi, was designed to destroy the strategic railroad center of Meridian, which had been supplying Confederate needs. The campaign was Sherman's first application of total war tactics, prefiguring his March to the Sea through Georgia in 1864.
The Confederates didn't have better luck at the Battle of Raymond. On May 10, 1863, Pemberton sent troops from Jackson to Raymond, 20 miles (32 km) to the southwest. Brig. Gen. Gregg had an over-strength brigade, but they had endured a grueling march from Port Hudson, Louisiana, arriving in Raymond late on May 11. The next day he tried to ambush a small Union raiding party. The party was Maj. Gen. John A. Logan's Division of the XVII Corps. Gregg tried to hold Fourteen Mile Creek, and a sharp battle ensued for six hours, but the overwhelming Union force prevailed and the Confederates retreated. This left the Southern Railroad of Mississippi vulnerable to Union forces, severing the lifeline of Vicksburg. [28]
In April–May 1863 Union colonel Benjamin H. Grierson led a major cavalry raid that raced through Mississippi and Louisiana, destroying railroads, telegraph lines, and Confederate weapons and supplies. The raid also served as a diversion to take away Confederate attention from Grant's moves toward Vicksburg.
A Union expedition in June 1864, commanded by General Samuel D. Sturgis, was opposed by Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest. They clashed at the Battle of Brice's Crossroads on 10 June 1864, and Forrest routed the Yankees in his greatest battlefield victory.
Free State of Jones and Unionism Edit
Most whites supported the Confederacy, but there were holdouts. The two most vehemently anti-Confederate areas were Jones County in the southeastern corner of the state, where the "Knight Company" originated, and Tishomingo County in the northeastern corner. Among the most influential Mississippi Unionists was Presbyterian minister John Aughey, whose sermons and book The Iron Furnace or Slavery and Secession (1863) became hallmarks of the anti-secessionist cause in the state. [29] Mississippi would furnish around 545 white troops for the Union Army. [30]
Homefront Edit
After each battle, there was increased economic chaos and local societal breakdown. State government during the course of the war transferred around the state. It moved from Jackson to Enterprise, to Meridian and back to Jackson, to Meridian and then to Columbus and Macon, Georgia, and finally back to what was left of Jackson. The first of the two wartime governors was the Fire-Eater John J. Pettus, who carried the state into secession, whipped up the war spirit, began military and domestic mobilization, and prepared to finance the war. [31] His successor, General Charles Clark, elected in 1863, remained committed to continuing the fight regardless of the cost, but he faced a deteriorating military and economic situation. The war presented both men with enormous challenges in providing an orderly, stable government for Mississippi. [32]
There were no slave insurrections, but many slaves escaped to Union lines. Numerous plantations turned to food production. The federal government wanted to keep up cotton production to fulfill the North's needs, and some planters sold their cotton to Union Treasury agents for high prices. The Confederates considered this a sort of treason but were unable to stop the lucrative trading on the black market. [33]
The war shattered the lives of all classes, high and low. Upper-class ladies replaced balls and parties with bandage-rolling sessions and fund-raising efforts. But soon enough they were losing brothers, sons and husbands to battlefield deaths and disease, lost their incomes and luxuries, and had to deal with chronic shortages and poor ersatz substitutes for common items. They took on unexpected responsibilities, including the chores previously left to slaves when the latter struck out for freedom. The women coped by focusing on survival. They maintained their family honor by upholding Confederate patriotism to the bitter end. Less privileged white women struggled even more to hold their families together in their men's absence many became refugees in camps or fled to Union lines. [34] After the war, Southern women organized to create Confederate cemeteries and memorials, becoming champions of the "Lost Cause" and shapers of social memory. [35]
Black women and children had an especially hard time as the plantation regime collapsed many took refuge in camps operated by the Union Army. They were freed after the Emancipation Proclamation but suffered from widespread diseases that flourished in the crowded camps. Disease was also common in the troop camps during the war, more men on both sides died of disease than of wounds or direct warfare. [36]
After the defeat of the Confederacy, President Andrew Johnson appointed a temporary state government under provisional governor Judge William Lewis Sharkey (1798–1873). It repealed the 1861 Ordinance of Secession and wrote new "Black Codes", defining and limiting the civil rights of freedmen, the former slaves. The whites tried to restrict the African Americans to a second-class status without citizenship or voting rights. Johnson was following the previously expressed policies of his predecessor, 16th President Abraham Lincoln. He had planned a generous and tolerating Reconstruction policy towards the former Confederates and southerners. He intended to grant citizenship and voting rights first to Black veterans, while slowly integrating the remainder of the freedmen into the political and economic life in the nation and the "new South". [ citation needed ]
The Black Codes were never implemented. Radical Republicans in the Congress, with the early support of President Lincoln, objected strongly to the intent to impose new restrictions on the movement and rights of freedmen. The federal government established the Freedmen's Bureau as an agency to help educate and assist the former slaves, in the U.S. War Department. It attempted to help the freedmen negotiate contracts and other relations in the new free labor market. Most officials in the Freedmen's Bureau were former Union Army officers from the North. Many settled permanently in the state, with some becoming political leaders in the Republican Party and in business (they were scornfully known as "carpetbaggers" by white Democrats in the South). The Black Codes outraged northern opinion, as they represented an attempt to reassert conditions of slavery and white supremacy. They were not fully implemented in any state. White Mississippians and other Southerners were committed to restoring white supremacy and circumscribing the legal, civil, political, and social rights of the freedmen.
In September 1865 Congress was under the control of more Radical Republicans from the North, and refused to seat the newly elected Mississippi delegation. Responding to tumultuous conditions and violence, in 1867, Congress passed Reconstruction legislation. It used U.S. Army forces to occupy and manage various areas of the South in an effort to create a new order, and Mississippi was one of the areas designated to be under military control.
The military Governor-General, and Union Army Gen. Edward O.C. Ord, (1818–1883), commander of the Mississippi/Arkansas District, was assigned to register the state's electorate so that voters could elect representatives to write a new state constitution reflecting the granting of citizenship and the franchise to freedmen through amendments to the United States Constitution. In a contested election, the state's white voters rejected the proposal of a new state constitution. Mississippi continued to be governed by federal martial law. Union Gen. Adelbert Ames (1835–1933) of Maine, under direction from the Republican majority in the U.S. Congress, deposed the provisional civil government appointed by President Johnson. He enabled all black men of age to enroll as voters (not just veterans), and temporarily prohibited about a thousand or so former Confederate leaders to vote or hold state offices. [37]
In 1868 a biracial coalition (dominated by whites) drafted a new constitution for the state it was adopted by referendum. The Constitutional Convention was the first political organization in the state's history to include African American (then referred to as "Negro" or "Colored") representatives, but they did not dominate the convention, nor the later state legislature. Freedmen numbered 17 among the 100 members, although blacks comprised more than half of the state population of the time. Thirty-two Mississippi counties had black majorities, but freedmen elected whites as well as blacks to represent them.
The 1868 constitution had major elements that lasted for 22 years. The convention adopted universal male suffrage (unrestricted by property qualifications, educational requirements or poll taxes) created the framework for the state's first public school system (which Northern and border states had begun 40 years earlier) forbade race distinctions in the possession and inheritance of property and prohibited limiting civil rights in travel. It provided for a four-year term for the governor rather than two years (the previous legislatures had severely limited executive power) provided the governor with the power to appoint judges (taking judicial elections out of what had been corrupt elections before the war) required legislative reapportionment of seats to recognize the new voting freedmen in many jurisdictions and repudiated the ordinances and powers of secession. Opponents of black franchise referred to this as the "Black and Tan Convention", although whites composed the overwhelming majority of delegates. Mississippi was readmitted to the Union on January 11, 1870, and its representatives and senators were seated in Congress on February 23, 1870. [38]
Black Mississippians, participating in the political process for the first time, formed a coalition with white Republicans made up of locals and Northerners in a Republican party that controlled the state legislature for a time. Most of the Republican voters were freedmen, several of whom held important state offices. Some black leaders emerged who had gained education in the North and were returning to the South. A. K. Davis served as lieutenant governor, and Hiram Revels (1827–1901) and Blanche K. Bruce (1841–1898) were elected by the Legislature to the U.S. Senate. John R. Lynch (1847–1939) was elected as a representative to Congress. The Republican regime faced the determined opposition of the "unreconstructed" white Democrats in the population. Soon after the end of the war, chapters of the Ku Klux Klan were organized in Mississippi, working to intimidate blacks and their allies, such as schoolteachers, and suppress voting.
The planter James Lusk Alcorn (1816–1894), a Confederate general, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1865 but, like other Southerners who had been loyal to the Confederacy, was not allowed to take a seat at that time. He supported suffrage for freedmen and endorsed the Fourteenth Amendment, as required by the Republicans in Congress. Alcorn became the leader of the "scalawags", local residents who comprised about a third of the Republican Party in the state, in coalition with "carpetbaggers" (migrants from the North) and freedmen.
Alcorn was elected as governor in 1869 and served from 1870 to 1871. As a modernizer, he appointed many like-minded former Whigs, even if they had become Democrats. He strongly supported education, conceding segregation of public schools in order to get them started. He supported founding a new college for freedmen, now known as Alcorn State University (established 1871 in Lorman). He maneuvered to make his ally Hiram Revels its president. Radical Republicans opposed Alcorn as they were angry about his patronage policy. One complained that Alcorn's policy was to see "the old civilization of the South 'modernized'" rather than lead a total political, social and economic revolution. [39]
Alcorn resigned the governorship to become a U.S. senator (1871 to 1877), replacing his ally Hiram Revels, the first African-American U.S. senator from the state. In speeches to the Senate, Alcorn urged the removal of the political disabilities of white southerners and rejected Radical Republican proposals to enforce social equality by federal legislation. He denounced the federal cotton tax as robbery, and defended separate schools for both races in Mississippi. Although a former slaveholder, he characterized slavery as "a cancer upon the body of the Nation" and expressed his gratitude for its end. [40]
Although President Grant achieved suppression of the KKK in much of the South through the Enforcement Acts, new groups of Democratic insurgents arose through the 1870s. Such paramilitary terrorist organizations as the White League, the Red Shirts in Mississippi and the Carolinas, and associated rifle clubs raised the level of violence at every election, attacking blacks to suppress the freedmen's vote.
In 1870, former military governor Adelbert Ames (1835–1933) was elected by the Legislature (as was the process at the time) to the U.S. Senate. Ames and Alcorn battled for control of the Republican Party in Mississippi their struggle caused the party to lose its precarious unity. In 1873 they both ran for governor. Ames was supported by the Radicals and most African Americans, while Alcorn won the votes of conservative whites and most of the scalawags. Ames won by a vote of 69,870 to 50,490.
In 1874 Republican voters elected a black sheriff in the city of Vicksburg and dominated other elections. White had been organizing to throw out Republicans and, on December 6, 1874, forced the newly elected sheriff Peter Crosby to leave his office. Freedmen tried to support him, coming in from the rural areas on December 7, but he advised them to return home peacefully. Armed white militia attacked the freedmen that day and in the following days, in what became known as the Vicksburg Massacre. White Democrats are estimated to have killed 300 blacks in the area. The massacre was carried by newspapers from New York [41] to California. [42] [43] [44] The New York Times also carried reporting on the congressional investigation into these events, beginning in January 1875. [45]
Pinckney's Treaty—A New Perspective
O n O ctober 27, 1795, at the summer residence of the Spanish court in the village of San Lorenzo del Escorial, near the Sierra de Guadarrama range, one of the most widely discussed events in history took place—the signing of the Treaty of San Lorenzo. 1 It was an event the importance of which can only be compared with that of 1783 in the history of the United States, that recognized it before the world as a nation free, independent, and sovereign. After fifteen years of continued diplomatic overtures and controversy between Spain and the United States over the southern boundary and the navigation of the Mississippi River, Spain's acquiescence to the United States opened the greatest of possibilities for her future development, and marked the beginning of the end of Spain's expansion. The importance of the treaty and the astounding fact of its realization have brought into being many critical and historical works, but only a few of these writers have had direct access to original sources. 2 Accordingly, with the perspective that time affords, and basing my observations principally on original documents conserved in the National Historical Archives, Madrid, I should like to present yet another interpretation of the conditions which preceded the signing of the Treaty of San Lorenzo. A detailed background of the question can be found in my: "Los Antecedentes Políticos y Diplomáticos del Tratado de Pinckney." 3
The powers of Thomas Pinckney 4 that designated him as "envoy extraordinary and only commissioned plenipotentiary" authorized him to negotiate and sign, subject to the ratification of the President and the consent of the Senate, a treaty or treaties "concerning the navigation of the Mississippi River and other matters such as the confines and territories of the United States and His Catholic Majesty" he also was empowered to conclude, in the same way, an agreement "of general commerce between the United States and the kingdoms and dominions of His Catholic Majesty." 5
Fortunately for Pinckney and the United States, he arrived in Madrid at a relatively favorable time, on June 28, 1795, although it was not the psychological moment as Whitaker points out. 6 The prevailing situation in European politics appeared to have been in his favor. Prussia and Holland already had abandoned the anti-French coalition. France began to fortify her armies that now advanced victoriously into Spain. Don Manuel de Godoy, 7 director of the King's policy and the Queen's sentiments, was not long in finding a way to realize his cherished desires, and by so doing, to enter the field of reality and history. On June 22, 1795, in Switzerland, Spain and France signed in secret the peace treaty that is known as the Peace of Basilea. By signing this treaty, Spain deserted the Anglo-Spanish alliance and remained exposed to the indignation and revenge of England, who was soon to learn of her ally's disloyalty, united as England and Spain were in a truly artificial alliance which did not correspond either to their reciprocal interests or their feelings, since they were traditional enemies.
In the opinion of Arthur Preston Whitaker in "New Light on the Treaty of San Lorenzo," it was the Peace of Basilea, and not Jay's Treaty, which made possible Pinckney's triumph at San Lorenzo. 8 The violation of the alliance and the fear of a vengeful England made Godoy increasingly apprehensive. Nevertheless, it would seem more likely to suppose that the combined weight of these treaties taken together was what so decidedly influenced Godoy's attitude, and thus impelled him to conclude an agreement with the Americans with so little delay. By virtue of Jay's Treaty, the fear that England and the United States had offered one another mutual support was added to the fear of British revenge once Spain's disloyalty was known. These facts were so inter-related in Godoy's mind that he was unable to consider them as separate entities. The fundamental danger was compounded of a furious England determined to punish Spain and united by common consent with the American states. Such being the case nothing could save the Spanish possessions in North America— and possibly some of the Spanish dominions of the Southern hemisphere—from falling into the hands of allied American and English forces.
What is certain is that the content of Jay's Treaty, although inoffensive in all its aspects for Spain, was thought to be a great danger because of its secret nature—a threat, which could be averted only by the signing of a treaty of friendship with the United States. 9
Pinckney, unaware of the easy course that events would take for him, arrived in Madrid only to find that the Spanish court, which was residing in Aranjuez, appeared not to be seriously affected either by political preoccupations or foreign military invasions. The Envoy went to Aranjuez only to discover that the court was about to leave for Madrid. He managed, however, to be introduced to Godoy and to exchange impressions with Short. 10 Desirous of beginning conversations, Pinckney, accompanied by Short, proceeded to Madrid. The court remained in the capital city only ten days, sufficient time to make preparations to depart for the summer residence in San Ildefonso. Nevertheless, in Madrid, Pinckney had arranged to be introduced to the King and, accompanied by Short, had had two personal interviews with Godoy. The Peace of Basilea still had not been signed. Godoy had not yet reached a maximum point of fear. In an interview with Pinckney, Godoy revealed his interest by expressing the desire that at the time Spain signed the projected separate peace with France, a triple alliance could be signed simultaneously with Spain, France and the United States—thus creating a powerful alliance opposed to Great Britain and one that would demand respect. But Godoy added that he could not reach any definite agreement until he had received a reply from President Washington concerning the proposals he had made a year ago. It was then that Pinckney learned through Short, from the reports of Secretary of State Randolph, 11 about the suspicious nature of Jáudenes' delay in delivering the proposals, and the vague way in which he had made them he had presented as proposals what were in reality resolutions already adopted by Spain. Pinckney informed Godoy of this fact. Godoy could hardly believe what he heard, assuring Pinckney that he had been awaiting the American reply with much interest.
At Randolph's request Pinckney sent Godoy, in support of this information, a copy of the proposals delivered to Jáudenes, April 4, 1795. 12 The conversations were interrupted at that moment, when the court moved to San Ildefonso. 13
On July 22 the secret Peace of Basilea was signed. Seven days later it was ratified in Paris. A special mail carrying the treaty arrived at Madrid on August 3. The treaty was immediately ratified by the Court and returned to Paris. On August 7, 1795, it was announced in Madrid that the war with France had ended.
The jubilation of the people in the streets knew no bounds and Godoy had his apotheosis. For having achieved the termination of hostilities "alone and unaided" grateful Charles IV conferred on him the sonorous title of the Prince of the Peace. But the Duke of Alcudia, now also the Prince of the Peace, could not rest on his laurels. England's reaction on learning the news remained to be seen!
As mentioned earlier, Godoy in his interview with Pinckney had expressed the desire for a triple alliance to be concluded simultaneously with the agreement of peace with France. The United States did not want an alliance of this nature. She wanted to remain free, at all costs, from the compromises that such an agreement would imply. Pinckney declared to Godoy in San Ildefonso that "it was not found authorized to include in a treaty a guaranty of the Spanish possessions in America." Godoy, having in mind his project of simultaneous agreements, listened with displeasure to Pinckney's declarations. Added to his discontent was the fear that the proposals that he had forwarded to President Washington, although facts, had been studied informally and thrown out by the American government as a result of Pinckney's attitude and declarations concerning the proposed alliance. 14
Inasmuch as the Treaty of Basilea had been concluded, the alliance as Godoy desired it had not been effected. The following day, after having made public in Madrid the announcement of peace, Godoy informed Pinckney that His Majesty "in order to give testimony to his good will toward the United States" was disposed to sacrifice some of his rights to the end that an understanding might soon be reached between the two nations. They were not empty words. Godoy was really expressing his fears, his anxiety, and his ardent desire to win American support and thus prevent the United States, England's ally, from undermining the Spanish possessions in American territory.
The Spanish Council of State met August 14, 1795. 15 It did not waver with regard to the attitude which it would adopt towards the Americans. If, instead of Godoy, Floridablanca or Aranda had been present as top representative of Spanish policy at that moment, it is most unlikely that a decision of such a nature would have been taken so easily and so conclusively. But Godoy did not vacillate a moment when, in order to satisfy him, the Council decided to proceed with negotiations with the Americans on the basis of conceding to them the rights of navigation of the Mississippi and the limit of 31 degrees in accordance with the claims of the United States. But if this fact in itself is surprising, it must be considered all the more so if it is taken into account that to make these concessions, Spain did not demand an alliance or a reciprocal guarantee of territories. 16 It only requested, and tacitly, a sincere friendship—a friendship capable of compensation for what could have been consolidated in Jay's mysterious treaty—and a sufficiently solid friendship so as to restrict the Americans from uniting with the British in an attack against the Spanish possessions in America.
The daring Prince of the Peace who "alone and without aid from anyone" effected the enactment of the Peace of the Basilea, was prepared to seek passage of the Treaty of San Lorenzo—one of the most precipitate and irresponsible acts of his career. Neither boards nor consultive bodies" would mediate in the negotiations. Godoy and Pinckney would resolve all the differences in a rather cordial diplomatic "tête-à-tête." Conrotte states that the plan of the treaty was delivered in confidence to don Diego de Gardoqui, Secretary of the Treasury, for study, with his vast knowledge of the points to be settled. It is affirmed that Gardoqui formulated a confidential report, "throwing out that which would signify authorization to do business with the Spanish colonies," and made some interesting observations over rights of capture of ships whose cargoes "would be harmful to the mercantile interests of Spain." 17 But although Gardoqui offered his opinion, it was obvious that Godoy would be the one who alone and without the aid of anyone would decide the question. It would seem likely that the very conscientious Gardoqui was perplexed by the concessions that Spain was disposed to make. He had remained almost five years in the United States without yielding to the same demands that Spain now seemed so ready to accept. 18
The Spanish Ambassador in London notified Godoy of England's reactions on learning of the Peace of Basilea and of the prodigious preparations of that nation to undertake a campaign in America: "We must fear the worst." Such a warning only added to the desperation of the Prince of the Peace. Pinckney, for his part, had noted Godoy's situation, and wrote Randolph concerning it: "My opinion in the present state of affairs is that the new position of Spain with respect to England will induce them to reach a decision with us." 19
He was not mistaken. Godoy began negotiations energetically—one could say almost sportingly. Naturally, those differences that they had to resolve were of little importance in comparison with those that had at first been arranged: the questions of the limits and navigation of the Mississippi. Pinckney tried to get Godoy to accede to a commercial treaty with reciprocal rights in all the dominions. But to open the doors of her colonies to the Americans, in virtue of Spain's treaties with other nations, would mean having to open the doors to all the European nations with which Spain had compromises. Godoy manifested that he would not make concessions on this point. Pinckney wished to leave as established the contents of the article relating to the navigation of the Mississippi. He desired to avoid being obliged to accept said navigation as a 'concession' on the part of Spain, but on the contrary, he wanted Spain to admit that it treated of the public recognition of a 'right' of the Americans. Moreover, he wanted a free port, or at least a place on Spanish territory, near the mouth of the river, where American ships could unload their merchandise. 20 Accordingly, in a plan of the treaty that Pinckney presented on August 15, the article referring to the question of the Mississippi was prepared in such a way that it implied the concession of a landing place. The article in question said: "that the navigation of the Mississippi be recognized as free for both nations and all the facilities for its use be mutually accorded." 21 Godoy asked for a complete plan of the treaty for study. On August 20 Pinckney presented it to him. The latter consisted of thirty-two articles which referred to diverse points, such as those of navigation, commerce with the American possessions, declaration of free zones on the islands and terra firma of the said continent, the Canaries and the Philippines and others, concerning the extradition of offenders, etc. 22 But for several weeks and in spite of Godoy's frank decision and great interest in concluding an agreement, Pinckney was still obliged to listen to some negative arguments.
Godoy's most categorical refusal had to do with the pretentions of the American envoy to ensure a landing place at the mouth of the Mississippi. In the counter-plan that Godoy submitted to Pinckney on September 18, Godoy not only left out the proposed articles of commerce but omitted the mention of a place of deposit, and he threw out the terms with which Pinckney had prepared the article on navigation. The American insisted on a place of deposit and Godoy again rejected the claim. Pinckney argued that without a place of disembarkation at the mouth of the river, the recognition of the right of navigation would be "illusory, without utility and without effect. Pinckney was absolutely right, but Godoy answered by requesting that they sign the treaty as he had proposed it. As a result of the renewed insistence of Pinckney, who called the right to disembark merchandise "one of the principal purposes of his mission," Godoy replied again by refusing to yield in this matter and by expressing his desire that this matter be not mentioned in the body of the treaty. 23
As a consequence of the intransigence of both parties, negotiations on this issue were delayed, and the Spanish court moved to its autumn residence at San Lorenzo. Pinckney had not dared to predict a decision. The conclusion of the famous treaty of San Lorenzo was a question of days. Still Pinckney on entering the village of San Lorenzo, and without suspecting it, was given the final step to fame. After exchanging impressions with Short, Pinckney decided to take the advice of the latter and put "the good will" of Spain to a test in negotiations. He decided to make the right to deposit merchandise at a point near the mouth of the Mississippi a condition fundamental to the conclusion of the treaty. It was then that he took a step so daring that if he were not to be admired for his triumph, he would have to be admired for his courage. Whether such a step was wise or not, it would be difficult to decide, but judging by the results of his action it would seem to have been an intelligent maneuver.
On seeing that Godoy would not yield to his claims, he gave up his efforts as a failure having now assured the right of navigation and the limit of 31 degrees, to which the United States had so long aspired, he demanded his passports on October 24, 1795. 24
In the face of such a daring attitude, the Prince of the Peace felt obliged to capitulate. His concession consisted in "permitting the privilege" of deposit, for three years at the port of New Orleans, capable of being prolonged at the termination of such period if before then a similar place was not conceded to them to effect their landings. 25
Three days later, October 27, 1795, the Treaty of San Lorenzo was signed, which was also the Treaty of Pinckney, and, in good measure, the prize for the will of a people who would be called upon to serve a historical mission for the nations of the world. 26
Needless to say, when the news of the Treaty reached the United States, it caused "great joy to all the people." 27 In Spain, on the contrary, a century and a half later there were still historians who mourned the outcome of the negotiations in the name of those who fought to conserve for Spain what Godoy ceded to the United States:
What think those who lived amongst Aranda, Floridablanca, Campo, Otamendi, Llaguno, the Count of Gálvez, Casas, Sormeruelos, Miralles, Rendon, Gardoqui, Miró, Carondelet, Gayoso, Céspedes, Queseda and more than a hundred Spaniards of lesser destinies, who during so many years, fought, worked, depleted themselves, and went their ways, on seeing how their efforts in serving Spain, on occasions without concrete orders and means, remained annuled and sterile by a pen of the resplendent and sagacious diplomat, the Prince of the Peace? 28
But this was to be no more than Godoy's first great error. The following year would reveal, in San Ildefonso, how he reinitiated the lamentable alliance with France, which would be truly the beginning of the end of Spain's greatness.
In the United States, on the contrary, with the concessions obtained by the Treaty of San Lorenzo, the possibility of its total development as a power and a nation was afforded her. The much-discussed point of "a place of deposit" at the mouth of the river, on being assured was several years later to play an important role in the Louisiana Purchase. The agreement of control that both nations, the United States and Spain, exercised over the Indian tribes in their respective territories, brought as a consequence a period of tranquility and in its wake a great growth in population and expansion in farming productivity. The importance of the treaty was also to extend to the later negotiations over Florida. As a consequence of the free navigation of the Mississippi, the conspiracies and the separatist movements in Kentucky ceased the nation, which before was divided into "easterners" and "westerners," was more strongly unified, and the development of commerce and the American west reached astonishing proportions. Now that the limits were defined, the nation was preoccupied not only with conserving them but of extending them with the course of the years, in such a way that the subsequent century would witness the spectacle of the nation whose borders would stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
In English, Pinckney's Treaty.
According to Arthur Preston Whitaker in "New Light on the Treaty of San Lorenzo: an essay in Historical Criticism," Mississippi Valley Historical Review, XV (March, 1929), 435-454, the following writers all wrote "without benefit of access to the Spanish Historical Archives": B. W. Bond, The Monroe Mission in France, 1794-1796 (Baltimore, 1907), p. 40 Edward Channing, History of the United States (New York, 1917), IV, 146 F. L. Paxson, History of the American Frontier (Boston, 1924), p. 85 G. L. Rivas, "Spain and the United States in 1795," American Historical Review, IV, 76-79 F. J. Turner, "The Policy of France," American Historical Review, X, 266-67.
My doctoral thesis, successfully defended at the University of Madrid, in 1958. The thesis is divided into two parts: the first, referring to the period which ends in 1783, with the recognition by England of the independence of the colonies the second, covering the period from 1783 until the date itself on which the treaty was subscribed.
Jáudenes' despatch of July 2, 1795 is in the Archivo Histórico Nacional (Madrid) (hereinafter cited as AHN). Sección de Estado leg. 3894. Jáudenes and Viar to Floridablanca, March 26, 1792, Est. No. 74. According to the description which the Spanish agents themselves sent, when Thomas Pinckney was appointed minister to England, he was a "wise, kind and dependable" man.
Samuel F. Bemis, Pinckney's Treaty, a Study of America's Advantage from Europe's Distress, 1783-1800 (Baltimore, 1926), p. 290.
Professor Whitaker in his essay argues that he believes it was not "the psychological moment" (Mississippi Valley Historical Review, XV, 451). "Pinckney did not, as some writers say, arrive in Spain 'at the psychological moment.' That moment occurred earlier in the year, when the impression of Jay's mysterious negotiations was still fresh, and when Godoy, already fearful of British treachery, had not yet freed himself of his French adversary. When at last Pinckney arrived in Spain, the situation was on the whole very favorable to his negotiation, but, as Short complained and as Pinckney himself would doubtless have admitted, a still more favorable moment had already passed and the treaty was not so satisfactory to the United States as it might have been had Pinckney proceeded to Spain immediately upon the receipt of his commission."
The innumerable titles of Godoy comprise almost half a page in the introduction to the text of the Treaty of San Lorenzo. "With this intention His Catholic Majesty has appointed the most excellent Lord Don Manuel de Godoy and Álvarez de Faria, Ríos, Sánchez Zarzosa, Prince de la Paz, Duke de la Alcudia, Lord of the Soto de Roma and of the State of Albalá: Grandee of Spain of the first class, etc., etc., etc.. . . and the President of the United States with the advice and consent of their Senate, has appointed Thomas Pinckney a Citizen of the United States and their Envoy Extraordinary to His Catholic Majesty.
AHN, Leg. 3896, No. 291 and No. 309.
Short, "first American career diplomat," is vindicated by the American historian, Samuel F. Bemis, in his Pinckney's Treaty, and thanks to said historian, he passes to the diplomatic history of the United States as an example of a man of vision, loyalty, and professional dedication to the interests of his nation. When, after Pinckney's arrival at Madrid, Short learned that the mission would not be assigned to him, that the name of Pinckney would pass to history and not his, and that the change was owing to the malintentions and unjust complaints of Godoy, he addressed the latter indignantly, demanding an explanation. Godoy lied, telling Short that he had been always persona grata to His Majesty and that the complaints referred only to Carmichael. Later, in a note, he made known his pleasure with Short's person and attitude. But the harm was done. Wounded and disillusioned, Short renounced his diplomatic career, and his name remained practically forgotten in the annals of American diplomacy. Bemis, pp. 186-272.
Jáudenes to Godoy, July 29, 1795, AHN, leg. 3896, No. 310. Correspondence with Randolph over the navigation of the Mississippi.
Jáudenes to Godoy, April 4, 1795, AHN, leg. 3896, No. 286. Jáudenes' reply to Randolph's letter desiring to know Spain's proposals.
Pinckney to Monroe, August 28, 1795. Pinckney Papers, p. 127. Cit. by Bemis, p. 312.
The report of the meeting of the Council of State is in the bound volume, Actas del Consejo de Estado, AHN, Est.
Actas del Supremo Consejo de Estado, August 14, 1795.
Manuel Conrotte, La Intervención de España en la Independencia de los Estados Unidos de la América del Norte (Madrid, 1920).
Godoy to Jáudenes, AHN, leg. 3896 (not numbered). "Estímesele su celo, pero ya sabrá que be firmado el tratado."
Pinckney to the Prince of the Peace, Oct. 24, 1795. AHN, Est., Leg. 3384, Original in French. Pinckney's note demanding passports.
Article 22, "and in consequence of the stipulations contained in the IV. Article His Catholic Majesty will permit the Citizens of the United States for the space of three years from this time to deposit their merchandise and effects in the Port of New Orleans and to export them from thence without paying any other duty than a fair price for the hire of the stores, and His Majesty promises either to continue this permission if he finds during that time that it is not prejudicial to the interests of Spain, or if he should not agree to continue in there, he will assign to them on another part of the banks of the Mississippi an equivalent establishment."
AHN, Leg. 3896 (not numbered), "duplicate of the Treaty signed October 27, between Spain and the United States for her ratification, is remitted to Jáudenes. "
Jáudenes to Alcudia, January 26, 1795, AHN, No. 326, "News has arrived of the signing of the Treaty with Spain, which has caused great joy to all the people."
Miquel Gómez del Campillo, Relaciones diplomáticas entre España y los Estados Unidos (Madrid, 1944), p. CII.
This is the English transcript.
Go here for the main article of the 1795 Pinckney Treaty .
Treaty of Friendship, Limits, and Navigation
Between the United States of America
and his Catholic Majesty
His Catholic Majesty and the United States of America, desidering to consolidate on a permanent basis the friendship and good correspondence which happily prevails between the two parties, have determined to establish by a convention several points, the settlement whereof will be productive of general advantage and reciprocal utility to both nations.
With this intention his Catholic Majesty has appointed the Most Excellent Lord Don Manuel de Godoy, and Alvarez de Faria, Rios, Sanchez, Zarsosa, Prince de la Paz, Duke de la Alcudia, Lord of the Soto de Roma and of the state of Albala, grandee of Spain, of the first class, perpetual regidor of the city of Santiago, Knight of the illustrious Order of the Golden Fleece, and Great-Cross of the Royal and distinguished Spanish order of Charles the III., commander of Valencia del Ventoso, Rivera, and Acenchalan, that of Santiago Knight and Great-Cross of the religious order of St John Counsellor of State First Secretary of State and Despacho Secretary to the Queen Superintendent General of the posts and highways Protector of the Royal Academy of the Noble Arts, and of the royal societies of natural history, botany, chemistry, and astronomy Gentleman of the King's Chamber in employment Captain general of his armies, Inspector and Major of the royal corps of body guards etc. etc. etc.
And the President of the United States with the advice and consent of their Senate has appointed Thomas Pinckney, a citizen of the United States, and their envoy extraordinary to his Catholic Majesty.
And the said Plenipotentiaries have agreed upon and concluded the following articles.
There shall be a firm and inviolable peace and sincere friendship between His Catholic Majesty, his successors and subjects, and the United States and their citizens, without exception of persons or places.
To prevent all disputes on the subject of the boundaries which separate the territories of the two high contracting parties, it is hereby declared and agreed as follows, to wit: The southern boundary of the United States, which divides their territory from the Spanish colonies of East and West Florida, shall be designated by a line, beginning on the river Mississippi at the northernmost part of the thirty-first degree of latitude north of the equator, which from thence shall be drawn due east to the middle of the river Apalachicola or Catahouche [Corahsuche], thence along the middle thereof to its junction with the Flint thence straight to the head of St. Mary's River, and thence down the middle thereof to the Atlantic Ocean. And it is agreed that, if there should be any troops, garrisons, or settlements of either party in the territory of the other, according to the above mentioned boundaries, they shall be withdrawn from the said territory within the term of six months after the ratification of this treaty, or sooner if it be possible and that they shall be permitted to take with them all the goods and effects which they possess.
In order to carry the preceding article into effect, one commissioner and one surveyor shall be appointed by each of the contracting parties, who shall meet at Natchez on the left side of the river Mississippi, before the expiration of six months from the ratification of this convention, and they shall proceed to run and mark this boundary according to the stipulations of the said article. They shall make plates [plans], and keep journals of their proceedings which shall be considered as part of this convention, and shall have the same force as if they were inserted therein. And if on any account it should be found necessary that the said commissioners and surveyors should be accompanied by guards, they shall be furnished in equal proportion by the commanding officer of his Majesty's troops in the two Floridas, and the commanding officer of the troops of the United States in their southwestern territory, who shall act by common consent and amicably, as well with respect to this point as to the furnishing of provisions and instruments, and making every other arrangement which may be necessary or useful for the execution of this article.
It is likewise agreed that the western boundary of the United States, which separates them from the Spanish Colony of Louisiana, is in the middle of the channel or bed of the river Mississippi, from the northern boundary of the said States to the completion of the thirty-first degree of latitude north of the equator. And his Catholic Majesty has likewise agreed that the navigation of the said river, in its whole breadth from its source to the ocean, shall be free only to his subjects and the citizens of the United States, unless he should extend this privilege to the subjects of other powers by special convention.
The two high contracting parties shall by all the means in their power maintain peace and harmony among the several Indian nations who inhabit the country adjacent to the lines and rivers which, by the proceeding articles, form the boundaries of the two Floridas. And the better to obtain this effect, both parties oblige themselves expressly to restrain by force all hostilities on the part of the Indian nations living within their boundaries, so that Spain will not suffer her Indians to attack the citizens of the United States, nor the Indians inhabiting their territory. Nor will the United States permit those last-mentioned Indians to commence hostilities against the subjects of his Catholic Majesty, or his Indians, in any manner whatever.
And whereas several treaties of friendship exist between the two contracting parties and the said nations of Indians, it is hereby agreed that in future no treaty of alliance or other whatever (except treaties of peace) shall be made by either party with the Indians living within the boundary of the other but both parties will endeavor to make advantages of the Indian trade common and mutually beneficial to their respective subjects and citizens, observing in all things the most complete reciprocity, so that both parties may obtain the advantages arising from a good understanding with the said nations, without being subject to the expense which they have hitherto occasioned.
Each party shall endeavor, by all means in their power, to protect and defend all vessels and other effects belonging to the citizens or subjects of the other, which shall be within the extent of their jurisdiction by sea or by land, and shall use all their efforts to recover and cause to be restored to the right owners their vessels and effects which may have been taken from them within the extent of their said jurisdiction, whether they are at war or not with the power whose [with the subjects who have] subjects have taken possession of the said effects.
And it is agreed that the subjects or citizens of each of the contracting parties, their vessels or effects, shall not be liable to any embargo or detention on the part of the other by [for] any military expedition or other public or private purpose whatever. And all cases of seizure, detention, or arrest for debts contracted, or offences committed by any citizen or subject of the one party within the jurisdiction of the other, the same shall be made and prosecuted by order and authority of law only, and according to the regular course of proceedings usual in such cases. The citizens and subjects of both parties shall be allowed to employ such advocates, solicitors, notaries, agents, and factors, as they may judge proper in all their affairs and in all their trials at law in which they may be concerned before the tribunals of the other party. And such agents shall have free access to be present at the proceedings in such causes, and at the taking of all examinations and evidence which may be exhibited in the said trials.
In case the subjects and inhabitants of either party, with their shipping, whether public and of war, or private and of merchants, be forced through stress of weather, pursuit of pirates or enemies, or any other urgent necessity for seeking of [taking] shelter and harbor to retreat, and enter into any of the rivers, bays, roads, or ports belonging to the other party, they shall be received and treated with all humanity, and enjoy all favor, protection, and help. And they shall be permitted to refresh and provide themselves at reasonable rates, with victuals, and all things needful for the sustenance of their persons or reparation of their ships, and prosecution of their voyage. And they shall no ways be hindered from returning out of the said ports or roads, but may remove and depart when and whither they please without any let or hindrance.
All ships and merchandise of what nature soever which shall be rescued out of the hands of any pirates or robbers on the high seas, shall be brought into some port of either state, and shall be delivered to the custody of the officers of that port in order to be taken care of and restored entire to the true proprietor as soon as due and sufficient proof shall be made concerning the property thereof.
When any vessel of either party shall be wrecked, foundered, or otherwise damaged, on the coasts or within the dominion of the other, their respective subjects or citizens shall receive, as well for themselves as for their vessels and effects, the same assistance which would be due to the inhabitants of the country where the damage happens, and shall pay the same charges and dues only as the said inhabitants would be subject to pay in a like case. And if the operations of repair should require that the whole, or any part of the cargo be unladen, they shall pay no duties, charges, or fees, on the part which they shall relade and carry away.
The citizens and subjects of each party shall have power to dispose of their personal goods within the jurisdiction of the other by testaments, donation, or otherwise. And their representatives, being subjects or citizens of the other party, shall succeed to their said personal goods, whether by testament or ab intestato, and they may take possession thereof, either by themselves or others acting for them, and dispose of the same at their will, paying such dues only as the inhabitants of the country wherein the said goods are shall be subject to pay in like cases.
And in case of the absence of the representative, such care shall be taken of the said goods [as] as would be taken of the goods of a native in like case, until the lawful owner may take measures for receiving them.
And if questions should arise among several claimants, to which of them the said goods belong, the same shall be decided finally by the laws and judges of the land wherein the said goods are. And where on the death of any person holding real estate within the territories of the one party, such real estate would by the laws of the land descend on a citizen or subject of the other, were he not disqualified by being an alien, such subject shall be allowed a reasonable time to sell the same and to withdraw the proceeds without molestation and exempt from all rights of detraction on the part of the government of the respective states.
The merchant ships of either of the parties which shall be making [into ports or into a port] belonging to the enemy of the other party, and concerning whose voyage and the species of goods on board her, there shall be just grounds of suspicion, shall be obliged to exhibit as well upon the high seas as in the ports and havens, not only her passports but likewise certificates expressly showing that her goods are not of the number of those which have been prohibited as contraband.
For the better promoting of commerce on both sides, it is agreed that if a war shall break out between the said two nations, one year after the proclamation of war shall be allowed to the merchants in the cities and towns where they shall live for collecting and transporting their goods and merchandises. And if any thing be taken from them, or any injury be done them, within that term, by either party, or the people or subjects of either, full satisfaction shall be made by the government.
No subject of his Catholic Majesty shall apply for, or take any commission or letters of marque, for arming any ship or ships to act as privateers against the said United States or against the citizens, people, or inhabitants of the said United States, or against the property of any of the inhabitants of any of them, from any prince or state with which the said United States shall be at war.
Nor shall any citizen, subject, or inhabitant of the said United States apply for, or take any commission or letters of marque, for arming any ship or ships to act as privateers against the subjects of his Catholic Majesty or the property of any of them, from any prince or state with which the said King shall be at war. And if any person of either nation shall take such commissions or letters of marque, he shall be punished as a pirate.
It shall be lawful for all and singular the subjects of his Catholic Majesty, and the citizens, people, and inhabitants of the United States, to sail with their ships with all manner of liberty and security, no distinction being made, who are the proprietors of the merchandises laden thereon, from any port to the places of those who now are, or hereafter shall be, at enmity with his Catholic Majesty or the United States. It shall be likewise lawful for the subjects and inhabitants aforesaid to sail with the ships and merchandises aforementioned, and to trade with the same liberty and security from the places, ports, and havens, of those who are enemies of both or either party, without any opposition or disturbance whatsoever, not only directly from the places of the enemy aforementioned to neutral places, but also from one place belonging to an enemy to another place belonging to an enemy, whether they be under the jurisdiction of the same prince or under several. And it is hereby stipulated that free ships shall also give freedom to goods, and that every thing shall be deemed free and exempt which shall be found on board the ships belonging to the subjects of either of the contracting parties, although the whole lading or any part thereof should appertain to the enemies of either, contraband goods being always excepted. It is also agreed that the same liberty be extended [granted] to persons who are on board a free ship, so that, although they may be enemies to either party, they shall not be made prisoners or taken out of that free ship, unless they are soldiers and in actual service of the enemies.
This liberty of navigation and commerce shall extend to all kinds of merchandises, excepting those only which are distinguished by the name of contraband and under this name of contraband or prohibited goods shall be comprehended arms, great guns, bombs with the fuses, and other things belonging to them, cannon balls, gun powder, match, pikes, swords, lances, spears, halberds, mortars, petards, grenades, saltpeter, muskets, musket balls, bucklers, helmets, breast plates, coats of mail, and the kind of arms proper for arming soldiers, musket rests, belts, horses with their furniture and all other warlike instruments whatever. These merchandises which follow shall not be reckoned among contraband or prohibited goods that is to say, all sorts of cloths and all other manufactures woven of any wool, flax, silk, cotton, or any other materials whatever, all kinds of wearing apparel together with all species whereof they are used to be made, gold and silver as well coined as uncoined, tin, iron, latten, copper, brass, coals, as also wheat, barley, oats, and any other kind of corn and pulse: tobacco and likewise all manner of spices, salted and smoked fish, salted fish, cheese and butter, beer, oils, wines, sugars, and all sorts of salts, and in general all provisions which serve for the sustenance of life. Furthermore all kinds of cotton, hemp, flax, tar, pitch, ropes, cables, sails, sail cloths, anchors, and any parts of anchors, also ships masts, planks, wood of all kind, and all other things proper either for building or repairing ships, and all other goods whatever which have not been worked into the form of any instrument prepared for war by land or by sea, shall not be reputed contraband, much less such as have been already wrought and made up for any other use: all which shall be wholly reckoned among free goods, as likewise all other merchandises and things which are not comprehended and particularly mentioned in the foregoing enumeration of contraband goods: so that they may be transported and carried in the freest manner by the subjects of both parties, even to places belonging to an enemy, such towns or places being only excepted as are at that time besieged, blocked up, or invested. And except the cases in which any ship of war or squadron shall in consequence of storms or other accidents at sea be under the necessity of taking the cargo of any trading vessel or vessels, in which case they may stop the said vessel or vessels and furnish themselves with necessaries, giving a receipt in order that the power to whom the said ship of war belongs may pay for the articles so taken, according to the price thereof, at the port to which they may appear to have been destined by the ship's papers and the two contracting parties engage, that the vessels shall not be detained longer than may be absolutely necessary for their said ships to supply themselves with necessaries that they will immediately pay the value of the receipts, and indemnify the proprietor for all losses which he may have sustained in consequence of such transaction.
To the end that all manner of dissensions and quarrels may be avoided and prevented on one side and the other, it is agreed that in case either of the parties hereto should be engaged in a war, the ships and vessels belonging to subjects or people of the other party, must be furnished with sea letters or passports expressing the name, property, and bulk of the ship, as also the name and place of habitation of the master or commander of the said ship, that it may appear thereby that the ship really and truly belongs to the subjects of one of the parties which passport shall be made out and granted according to the form annexed to this treaty. They shall likewise be recalled every year, that is, if the ship happens to return home within the space of a year.
It is likewise agreed that such ships being laden, are to be provided not only with passports as above mentioned, but also with certificates containing the several particulars of the cargo, the place whence the ship sailed, that so it may be known whether any forbidden or contraband goods be on board the same which certificates shall be made out by the officers of the place whence the ship sailed in the accustomed form and if any one shall think it fit or advisable to express in the said certificates the person to whom the goods on board belong, he may freely do so without which requisites they may be sent to one of the ports of the other contracting party, and adjudged by the competent tribunal, according to what is above set forth, that all the circumstances of this omission having been well examined, they shall be adjudged to be legal prizes, unless they shall give legal satisfaction of their property by testimony entirely equivalent.
If the ships of the said subjects, people or inhabitants of either of the parties, shall be met with, either sailing along the coasts or on the high seas, by any ship of war of the other, or by any privateer, the said ship of war, or privateer, for avoiding of any disorder, shall remain out of cannon shot, and may send their boats aboard the merchant ship which they shall so meet with, and may enter her to number of two or three men only, to whom the master or commander of such ship or vessel shall exhibit his passport concerning the property of the ship, made out according to the form inserted in this present treaty and the ship, when she shall have shown such passport, shall be free and at liberty to pursue her voyage, so as it shall not be lawful to molest or give her chase in any manner, or force her to quit her intended course.
Consuls shall be reciprocally established with the privileges and powers which those of the most favored nations enjoy in the ports where their consuls reside, or are permitted to be.
It is also agreed that the inhabitants of the territories of each party shall respectively have free access to the courts of justice of the other and they shall be permitted to prosecute suits for the recovery of their properties the payment of their debts, and for obtaining satisfaction for the damages which they may have sustained, whether the persons whom they may sue be subjects or citizens of the country in which they may be found, or any other persons whatsoever who may have taken refuge therein and the proceedings and sentences of the said courts shall be the same as if the contending parties had been subjects or citizens of the said country.
In order to terminate all differences on account of the losses sustained by the citizens of the United States, in consequence of their vessels and cargoes having been taken by the subjects of his Catholic Majesty during the late war between Spain and France, it is agreed that all such cases shall be referred to the final decision of commissioners to be appointed in the following manner.
His Catholic Majesty shall name one commissioner, and the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint another and the said two commissioners shall agree on the choice of a third, or if they cannot so agree, they shall each propose one person, and of the two names so proposed, one shall be drawn by lot in the presence of the two original commissioners and the person whose name shall be so drawn shall be the third commissioner. And the three commissioners so appointed shall be sworn impartially to examine and decide the claims in question, according to the merits of the several cases, and to justice, equity, and the laws of nations.
The said commissioners shall meet and sit at Philadelphia and in case of the death, sickness, or necessary absence of any such commissioner, his place shall be supplied in the same manner as he was first appointed, and the new commissioner shall take the same oaths, and do the same duties. They shall receive all complaints and applications authorized by this article during eighteen months from the day on which they shall assemble.
They shall have power to examine all such persons as come before them on oath or affirmation touching the complaints in question, and also to receive in evidence all written testimony authenticated in such manner as they shall think proper to require or admit.
The award of the said commissioners, or any two of them, shall be final and conclusive, both as to justice of the claim and the amount of the sum to be paid to the claimants and his Catholic Majesty undertakes to cause the same to be paid in specie without deduction, at such times and places and under such conditions as shall be awarded by the same commissioners.
The two high contracting parties, hoping that the good correspondence and friendship which happily reigns between them will be further increased by this treaty, and that it will contribute to augment their prosperity and opulence, will in future give to their mutual commerce all the extension and favor which the advantage of both countries may require.
And in consequence of the stipulations contained in the fourth article, his Catholic Majesty will permit the citizens of the United States for the space of three years from this time, to deposit their merchandises and effects in the port of New Orleans, and to export them from thence without paying any other duty than fair price for the hire of the stores and his Majesty promises either to continue this permission, if he finds during that time that it is not prejudicial to the interests of Spain, or if he should not agree to continue, he will assign to them on another part of the banks of the Mississippi an equivalent establishment.
The present treaty shall not be in force until ratified by the contracting parties, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in six months from this time, or sooner if possible.
In witness whereof, we the underwritten plenipotentiaries of his Catholic Majesty and of the United States of America have signed this present treaty of friendship, limits and navigation, and have thereunto affixed our seals respectively.
Done at San Lorenzo el Real, this seven and twentieth day of October, 1795.
some pages too tight margin due to tight binding
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Charles Pinckney
Charles Pinckney in Gilbert Stuart Portrait circa 1786
Charles Pinckney was born on October 26, 1757. He was the son of Charles Pinckney and Frances Brewton, members of Charleston's and South Carolina's social elite. They, like other wealthy families of the South Carolina Lowcountry viewed themselves as similar in standing and responsibility to British aristocracy. Their attitude toward political, social and economic leadership naturally lead them to participate fully in public affairs. Public service was considered not only an honor, but a duty as well. These factors destined Charles Pinckney to a career in public service which would last over forty years.
Charles Pinckney's father, Colonel Pinckney, was one of the colony's leading attorneys. Among the numerous offices and positions he held was his service as commanding officer of the Charles Towne Militia, a member of the General Assembly, and in 1775, president of the South Carolina Provincial Congress. As a symbol of position and wealth, Pinckney bought his first plantation, Snee Farm, in 1754. The farm remained in the family for over 60 years until 1817 when it was sold to satisfy debts.
Young Charles Pinckney was tutored in Charleston in preparation for studying law in England. He received his education under the guidance of noted South Carolina scholar and author, Dr. David Oliphant. Dr. Oliphant had served in the Commons House of Assembly with Col. Pinckney and supplemented his physician's income by instructing several young men of outstanding promise. Through Dr. Oliphant's tutelage Pinckney became well-versed in the classics, emphasizing his study of history, political science, and languages.
In 1773, just short of his seventeenth birthday, he was scheduled to leave Charleston for law school however, because of the growing unrest between the colonies and Great Britain, his parents decided Charles should remain at home and study law in his father's office. The decision to keep their son in South Carolina was wise, for just two years later the American Revolution began. Despite the war Pinckney was able to continue his education in Charleston and by early 1779 his formal training was completed.
Service in the American Revolution
That year, Pinckney celebrated his 21st birthday and began his life of public service. After being admitted to the South Carolina Bar, he was elected to the State's Third General Assembly representing Christ Church Parish. Also in 1779, Pinckney received a commission as lieutenant in the 1st Battalion of the Charles Towne Militia, joining his father who served as the unit's commanding officer. Service in the defense of the new nation would occupy most of his time for the next two years.
During the fall of that year, a joint French-American force advanced on Savannah, attempting to reclaim the city which had fallen to the British in December 1778. The Charles Towne Militia, one of the units included in the expedition, participated in the main attack on the British lines. Lt. Pinckney received his baptism of fire in this assault and survived unharmed. However, an estimated 400 Americans and French, including his first cousin Jack Jones, were not so fortunate. This action ended the siege with the American forces returning to Charleston.
Shortly thereafter, the British initiated a campaign resulting in the capture of Charleston in May 1780. Under the terms of the city's surrender, Pinckney and the other American officers were paroled. But this limited freedom lasted only a few days before the officers were arrested and placed on board prison ships in the harbor. Lieutenant Pinckney was confined on the Pack Horse.
Also captured with the fall of Charleston was Charles' father, Colonel Charles Pinckney. Before the war, Col. Pinkney had been a leader in the lower house of the General Assembly and one of the colony's leading attorneys. British authorities realized the influence Pinckney, and others like him, possessed and worked to have them swear allegiance to the crown. The British threatened to imprison, hand, and/or confiscate the property of the &quottraitor" who did no publicly declare themselves loyal to the Crown. Faced with these circumstances, Colonel Pinckney and over 160 others declared themselves as &quotloyal inhabitants of Charles Town." Pinckney's estate, which included Snee Farm, was saved through this decision. When Colonel Pinckney died in 1782, Snee Farm was among those properties inherited by his son.
After spending most of the summer of 1781 as a prisoner of war, Pinckney was among a group of officers exchanged through a general agreement for the South Carolina militia. Although records are not specific, the lieutenant was probably among the group taken to Philadelphia by ship and exchanged at that location. It is also unknown why he chose to remain in the North until the end of the war and did not return to South Carolina until 1783. Pinckney was not tainted by his father's actions during the Revolutionary War. His service in the militia, his imprisonment by the British, and status as a &quotPatriot" strengthened the beginning of his career in state and national government.
Political Service for the Young Nation
Upon his arrival home, he was again elected to the South Carolina General Assembly, but his return to state politics was short lived. Pinckney wrote 3 pamphlets on the nature of the Confederation and its weaknesses in 1783. Subsequently, he was selected as a delegate to represent South Carolina in the Fifth Continental Congress (1784-1787). Only 26 years of age, Pinckney was one of the youngest members to attend. &quotIn Congress in mid-winter of 1786 Charles Pinckney emerged as a major voice in the debates on the dire state of the Confederation." Pinckney quickly established himself as one of the most active members of the Fifth Congress. Of greatest note was his work on two important committees the first reported on the commercial treaty policy with foreign powers and the other concerned itself with negotiations with Spain over conflicting claims to navigation on the Mississippi River.
By the winter of 1786-1787, it was apparent that Pinckney, along with other members, began to realize the inherent weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and recognized the need for a strong central government. Pinckney began to concentrate his efforts towards resolving these problems.
The first need was for an official forum for discussion. On February 21, 1787, after a prolonged debate on the subject the Congress voted approval for a general convention to be held in Philadelphia in May 1787 to address the problems facing the new nation. This convention would become known as the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and Pierce Butler, Charles Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and John Rutledge were selected as South Carolina's delegates.
In Philadelphia, Pinckney became a familiar leader speaking more than one hundred times on various issues facing the body. Of note were his strong beliefs in protecting property interests and establishing a strong federal government with a clear separation of powers. Pinckney was concerned with forming a government that would represent the rights of the people.
Pinckney believed in the separation of church and state and in religious freedoms. At the time, nine of the thirteen colonies maintained an established church which was either Anglican, Dutch Reformed or Congregationalist. &quotHow many thousands of subjects of Great Britain at this moment labor under civil disabilities merely on account of their religious persuasions!" exclaimed Pinckney in a speech to members of the Continental Congress. The proposal passed easily and found itself in Clause 3 of Article 6 of the Constitution. When the issue of slavery arose, Delegate Pinckney stood among his fellow southerners in defense of the institution. He openly questioned the assertion that slavery was wrong, stating: &quotif slavery be wrong, it is justified by the example of all the world. In all ages, one half of mankind have been slaves."" He also stated South Carolina would reject the Constitution if the document prohibited the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
On May 29, 1787, Pinckney presented his own draft of the Constitution. Unfortunately, this document was lost. A draft of the Pinckney Plan was found among the papers of James Wilson [Pennsylvania] which permitted constitutional scholars, J. Franklin Jameson and Andrew C. McLaughlin to reconstruct Pinckney's Plan." When, in 1818, James Madison wrote Pinckney, requesting a copy of this original draft, Pinckney did not have it and, thus, provided Madison with another copy he believed was &quotsubstantially the same." This resulted in a major controversy concerning Pinckney's contributions to the final draft of the Constitution. Nevertheless, scholars today attribute approximately 28 clauses to Pinckney. His major contributions were:
The elimination of religious testing as a qualification to office.
The division of the Legislature into House and Senate.
The power of impeachment being granted only to the House.
The establishment of a single chief executive, who will be called President.
The power of raising an army and navy being granted to Congress.
The prohibition of states to.enter into a treaty or to establish interfering duties.
The regulation of interstate and foreign commerce being controlled by the national government.
Further contributions Pinckney made to the Convention and the Constitution may never be known, but it is obvious he contributed significantly to the proceedings, earning the nickname &quotConstitution Charlie". After the signing of the Constitution in September 1787, Pinckney returned home, once again to become active in state politics. That same year the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) conferred its Doctorate of Laws Degree to Pinckney.
In 1788, he represented Christ Church Parish as a member of the state's convention to ratify the Constitution. That same year, on April 27, he married Mary Eleanor Laurens, daughter of Henry and Eleanor Ball Laurens. Henry Laurens, who had served as president of the Second Continental Congress, was a wealthy Charleston merchant and one of South Carolina's leading citizens. Like his older cousins, General C. C. Pinckney and Thomas Pinckney, Charles had married into a family of wealth, position, and influence. Mary's wealth, combined with his own fortune, aided Pinckney's public service career and lifestyle.
Landholdings of Pinckney included property inherited from his father and that which his wife owned. Two plantations, Frankville and Hopton, were located five miles from Columbia on the Congaree River.. A plantation in Georgetown included 560 acres of tidal swamp and 600 acres of high land. Pinckney also owned a 1200-acre tract of land at Lynches Creek, 715-acre Snee Farm, a house and 4-acre lot at Haddrell's Point called Shell Hall (given to him by his mother, Francis Brewton), and a house and lot in Charleston on 16 Meeting Street. From his wife, Mary Eleanor Laurens, Pinckney acquired a plantation called Wrights Savannah on the Carolina side of the Savannah River and a tract of land, including a rice mill and ferry, called Mount Tacitus.
Pinckney's townhouse on Meeting Street was the former Fenwick home, a three-storied Palladian mansion which housed his 200,000 volume library. So posh was the home that in a letter dated 28 March 1789 to James Madison he bragged, &quotI think the house I have lately bought is not only a handsomer and better house than any in New York (which it might very easily be) but that the situation is as airy and the prospect as fine as any they have."' Pinckney also expressed how in later years he wanted to be able, &quotto do and go where I please if alive and well," to be, &quotmy own master or rather the master of my own time—in other words to enjoy the Luxut of doing as I please." (emphasis Pinckney's.)
The following year, in 1790, Pinckney served as president of the South Carolina State Constitutional Convention and while serving in the legislature was elected governor. Charles Pinckney would serve a total of four terms as South Carolina's governor, the only person to do so in state history. After completing his first term (1789-1791) he was immediately reelected and served from 1791-1792.
At the end of his second term, the people of Christ Church Parish once again returned Pinckney to the General Assembly as their representative. He subsequently served the Parish through the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth General Assemblies (1792-1797). During these formative years of the new nation, Charles and C. C. Pinckney, were leaders of the Federalist Party. However with time, Pinckney's views began to change. By 1795 he had cast his lot with the Democratic-Republican philosophies of Thomas Jefferson and the rapidly-growing Carolina back-country. With the rise of a new political party, Pinckney recognized the opportunity for advancement in a new power base. The rest of his family remained loyal to the Federalist Party of the eastern aristocracy.
In 1796, Pinckney supported the Virginian for president, and did not support his Federalist cousin, Thomas Pinckney, who sought the vice-presidency. John Adams won the presidency with Jefferson as vice-president. Pinckney solidified his support of Thomas Jefferson during the Fifth Congress (1797-1799), became the founding father of the Democratic-Republican Party in South Carolina, and helped establish it firmly on the national scene. These actions widened the gap between Pinckney, his Federalist family, and other established lowcountry families that had always controlled the state, politically and economically.
In 1796, after rejecting an offer to run for the US Senate, Charles Pinckney ran for his third term as governor, beating his Federalist brother-in-law, Henry Laurens, Jr. Upon completion of the two year term he was returned to the General Assembly, representing Christ Church Parish. However, he could not accept the post as he had been appointed to fill an unexpired term in the United States Senate on December 6, 1798.
In the Presidential election of 1800, General C. C. Pinckney was on the Federalist's ticket for the office of vice-president. However, Charles Pinckney remained loyal to presidential candidate Thomas Jefferson, serving as his campaign manager in South Carolina and helping to carry the state for Jefferson.
In 1801, President Thomas Jefferson offered Pinckney the post of Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain. He accepted and subsequently resigned from his seat in the Senate. Minister Pinckney served abroad from 1801-1805. He attempted to smooth relations between Spain and the United States, particularly with regard to problems which arose from the seizure and plundering committed by Spanish and French vessels on American shipping. In addition, he made an unsuccessful, but valiant attempt to win cession of the Floridas to the United States. He also worked toward the transfer of Louisiana from France to the United States in 1803.
Charles Pinckney returned to Charleston in January 1806, and again took up the mantle of public service in the South Carolina General Assembly. In December of that year he was elected to his fourth and final term as governor. After completing his term as governor, Pinckney was returned to the General Assembly and served until 1813.
Charles Pinckney worked tirelessly for South Carolina. He was the first governor to advocate free schools. He supported legislative reapportionment to provide better representation to the upcountry districts and advocated for universal white male suffrage. Pinckney favored the War of 1812 and supported the elimination of primogeniture. During his first term as governor, the state capitol moved from Charleston to Columbia, which better reflected the growing political power and population of the mid-lands and mountainous upcountry.
In 1814, nearly 56 years old, Charles Pinckney declined re-election to the legislature and retired from active political life. He was still the recognized leader of the state's Democratic-Republican Party and in 1816 actively supported James Monroe's successful presidential campaign. In 1818, Pinckney feared the Federalists would win the Charleston District seat in Congress. Convinced by friends that he was the only one in his party who could win, he entered the race and won the seat in the Sixteenth Congress (1819-1821).
It was during this Congressional session that the Missouri Compromise was passed. Pinckney, and many other members of Congress, opposed the proposal. In his speech addressing the issue he presented an outline of the views of the framers at the Constitutional Convention concerning slavery, which read in part:
In this speech, Pinckney also surmised he was in a losing battle and declared that slavery was the only issue that could divide the Union. He lamented the horrors a civil war would create. Pinckney refused to accept re-nomination and retired from politics entirely in 1821. He spent his remaining years writing of his travels and his political life.
On October 29, 1824, Charles Pinckney died in Charleston. For over forty years he had served his community, state, and nation. Descendant of one of South Carolina's founding families, Pinckney became one of the state's most prominent political figures. His influence extended to national politics and culminated in his contributions to the United States Constitution.
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