Pinckney, Thomas (1750-1828)

US diplomat and soldier. He was governor of South Carolina (1787-89) and ambassador to Great Britain (1792-96). He negotiated the San Lorenzo, or Pinckney, Treaty with Spain, which established territorial and traffic rights on the Mississippi River (1795), and served in the House of Representatives (Federalist, South Carolina; 1797-1801).

Pinckney was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He studied law in London but returned to South Carolina and served with distinction in the American Revolution. A scientific planter, he employed agricultural methods that he had observed in Holland. He was a major general in the War of 1812.