Henry Laurens Pinckney (September 24, 1794February 3, 1863) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

, and the son of Charles Pinckney and Mary Eleanor Laurens. Born in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

, Pinckney attended private schools. He graduated from South Carolina College (now the

University of South Carolina The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...

) at Columbia in 1812. He studied law and was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Charleston. Pinckney served as a member of the

South Carolina House of Representatives The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly. It consists of 124 representatives elected to two-year terms at the same time as U.S. congressional elections. Unlike many legislatures, seatin ...

(1816–1832). He founded the ''

Charleston Mercury The ''Charleston Mercury'' was a secessionist newspaper in Charleston, South Carolina, founded by Henry L. Pinckney in 1819. He was its sole editor for fifteen years. It ceased publication with the Union Army occupation of Charleston in Febru ...

'' in 1819 and was its sole editor for fifteen years. Between 1829 and 1840, he served six terms as intendant or mayor of Charleston."Henry Laurens Pinckney." http://www.HalseyMap.com/Flash/mayors-detail.asp?polID=25 In 1838, he won among a field of four candidates with the following votes: Pinckney (600), Col. James Lynah (575), Dr. Joseph Johnston (203), and Dr. J.W. Schmidt (141). Pinckney was elected as a

Nullifier The Nullifier Party was an American political party based in South Carolina in the 1830s. Considered an early American third party, it was started by John C. Calhoun in 1828. The Nullifier Party was a states' rights party that supported stri ...

to the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Congresses (March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1837). He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1836, having been labelled a "traitor" by ultra-conservative Southerners for compromising with New York's

Martin van Buren Martin Van Buren ( ; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was the eighth president of the United States, serving from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as Attorney General o ...

on the 1836 " gag-rule" bill.William W. Freehling, "The Road to Disunion: Secessionists at Bay, 1776-1854", vol. 1 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), 327-331. Pinckney served as collector of the port of Charleston in 1841 and 1842 and as the tax collector of St. Philip's and St. Michael's parishes (1845–1863). Pinckney married Harriet Lee Post, the daughter of

Chaplain of the Senate The chaplain of the United States Senate opens each session of the United States Senate with a prayer, and provides and coordinates religious programs and pastoral care support for senators, their staffs, and their families. The chaplain is appoi ...

Reuben Post Reuben Post (January 17, 1792 – September 24, 1858) was a Presbyterian clergyman who served two separate terms as Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives (1824 and 1831) and also served as Chaplain of the Senate of the United ...

and Harriet Moffitt, a granddaughter of

Richard Henry Lee Richard Henry Lee (January 20, 1732June 19, 1794) was an American statesman and Founding Father from Virginia, best known for the June 1776 Lee Resolution, the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence fr ...

. He died in

on February 3, 1863 (during the time when South Carolina had seceded and joined the

Confederate States The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States from 1861 to 1865. It comprised eleven U.S. states th ...

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinckney, Henry Laurens 1794 births 1863 deaths Businesspeople from Charleston, South Carolina Members of the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina Pinckney family Mayors of Charleston, South Carolina Nullifier Party members of the United States House of Representatives Nullifier Party politicians 19th-century mayors of places in South Carolina U.S. Congressional gag rules and their sponsors 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century members of the South Carolina General Assembly