Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth (1746-1825), a planter, politician, and diplomat, was a South Carolina signer of the Constitution of the United States. An influential delegate at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Pinckney supported a strong national government and the power of the Senate to ratify (approve) treaties. He also helped settle the dispute between the Northern and Southern states over regulation of the foreign slave trade (see Constitution of the United States). He later helped win ratification of the Constitution by South Carolina. Pinckney's cousin Charles Pinckney was also a signer of the Constitution.