Good afternoon members of the convention, I, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, from South Carolina, plan to attend every Constitutional Convention meeting, accompanied by Mr. Rutledge. We came to fight for a government that would benefit South Carolina. I attended Middle Temple law school and graduated with an admission to the English bar in 1769. Being from South Carolina, I have quite a few opinions on slavery and the slave trade.
I had made the point that slaves should be written specifically in the constitution so that the legislature would not eliminate their representation. This angered many of the other delegates, but slaves are the basis of our society and without them we wouldn’t be able to have successful farms, therefore we will never have a successful state. I defended my statement by saying, “While there remained one acre of swamp-land uncleared of South Carolina, I would raise my voice against restricting the importation of slaves”. The slave trade should not be abolished. I motioned that the date of limiting slave importation should be changed from 1800 to 1808, giving us time to reestablish our way of life. The motion was passed. I also believe that the number of inhabitants in the state should determine the amount of representation in Congress, and slaves should be counted for and share an equal ground in the matter of representation.
I believe that the people who represent South Carolina are well educated, and I am sure that is a popular opinion amongst my fellow delegates. To insure the best interest of my state, I think that the elite members of Congress should vote on who the representatives would be. I can not distinguish a difference between the representatives being chosen by a state congress or being chosen by the people, in fact I find it impractical for the people to elect representatives for many reasons, including the location issues that would undoubtedly occur, and the people who were often...