Library Society possesses letters between 1st president, Pinckney

George Washington was a tad frustrated.

In 1796, the president asked Charleston native Charles Cotesworth Pinckney to serve as his minister to France, an important position given the ongoing revolution there. James Monroe was out, and Washington needed someone he could trust to take over the delicate diplomatic position.

But the president had some trepidation. You see, Pinckney already had turned him down twice before. In 1794, Washington invited Pinckney to serve as secretary of war; in 1795, he offered the secretary of state job.

Who could turn down the father of our country? Apparently, Pinckney. Twice.

Still, Washington asked again.

"After what has passed between us, on former occasions (respecting your filling some of the important offices in our government), I must confess that I hesitated before resolved on this address, lest you might think I was too impertinate (sic), and that your former answers ought to have outweighed the desire of making it," Washington wrote to Pinckney. "Had not the case been urgent & important, I might have hesitated longer."

The Charleston Library Society holds this important and historical letter, as well as the two other handwritten offers from Washington, in its massive collection.

These dispatches offer an important glimpse into presidential duties and prove that the tradition of cabinet members jumping ship in a commander-in-chief's second term is as old as the presidency itself.

"It was probably pretty hard to excite Pinckney after he had helped draft the Constitution and get it adopted," said W. Eric Emerson, executive director of the Library Society. "But he (Washington) had a lot of confidence in Pinckney. They were really close."

Pinckney had known Washington for years. He had been a colonel in the South Carolina militia, was captured in the fall of Charlestown in 1780 and later served as a brigadier general in the Continental Army. After the war, Pinckney was a leading voice in the 1787 constitutional convention, this after years of holding various state offices in South Carolina.

Washington knew most of the Pinckneys — including Charles Cotesworth's cousin Charles Pinckney, a governor of South Carolina and owner of Snee Farm plantation.

"In 1791, on Washington's famous tour of the South, he stopped at Snee Farm at the invitation of Charles Pinckney," said Michael Allen, community partnership specialist and historian at Snee Farm. "Both Charles Pinckney and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney were delegates to the constitutional convention, so from May through September in 1787, they were in the same room with Washington (nearly) every day."

It was Pinckney's wealth of political and military experience that led Washington to consider him for secretary of war when he learned that Henry Knox planned to retire from the post. Nearly a year before Knox stepped down, Washington posed a hypothetical situation to Pinckney.

"As the officer who is head of that department is a branch of the executive, and called to its councils upon interesting questions of national importance, he ought to be a man not only of competent skill in the science of war, but possessing a general knowledge of political subjects, of known attachment to the government we have chosen and prove integrity," Washington wrote in January 1794. "To whom then can I turn my eyes with more propriety than on you?"

But Pinckney declined, paving the way for Thomas Pickering of Pennsylvania to become the second secretary of war.

More than a year later, Washington tried again, more directly this time: "The office of Secretary of State has become vacant …" the note began.

Again, Pinckney said no.

Washington realized that Pinckney had his own troubles. South Carolina had been laid to waste after the war, and Pinckney was one of those men putting the pieces back together again. He helped draft the state constitution in 1790 and watched the slave revolt the following year.

But Washington decided it was worth asking Pinckney to serve once again when Monroe was recalled because of his open support for the French and his open criticism of the United States.

Pinckney also was an avowed Francophile and had studied at the Royal Military College at Caen. Still, Washington — probably still stinging from his former rebuffs — tried his best to woo Pinckney, making it sound as if the post was meant to go to Pinckney.

"He must be a man whose abilities & celebrity of character are well known to the people of this country," Washington wrote, "and who ought, as far as the nature of the thing will admit, be acceptable to all parties."

These letters, and their window into history, have been part of the Library Society's collection for nearly two centuries. The library had an in: Pinckney served as its president for a while, and left his papers to the institution.

Emerson said the most amazing thing about the letters — other than having handwritten, autographed letters from the first president — is that they show a remarkably different process for selecting cabinet-level officials in the 18th century.

Back then, no one had to test reaction to these candidates by leaking their names in newspapers or on, say, "Meet Ye Olde Press."

"No one's being vetted. Washington knew Pinckney because he had served with him during the war," Emerson said. "He made this decision himself. He didn't have to hold up his appointments to public scrutiny."

Ultimately, not even Pinckney could say no to Washington a third time. He accepted the position, and the Library Society still holds the introductory letter to the Directory of the French Republic that he carried to Paris.

The rest of the story is just as interesting. At first, Pinckney was refused recognition by the French government, still upset over the Jay Treaty with Great Britain (which seemed to belie America's alleged neutrality).

Pinckney retreated to Amsterdam and returned to Paris the following year. There, he made it clear that Washington had made the correct choice. When one French official suggested Pinckney should provide him a gift — or a bribe, depending on how you look at it — the Lowcountry native said, "No! No! Not a sixpence!"

The ensuing scandal became known as the XYZ affair, led to an unofficial war with France and made Pinckney a national hero.

And it all started with a simple letter from a determined, if not stubborn, President Washington.

Reach Brian Hicks at 937-5561 or bhicks@postandcourier.com.