Charles C Pinckney Campaign Ad
The Federalists thought that the election of 1808 was coming at a perfect time for them to be able to take the position of the presidency. With the initiation of the Embargo Act of 1807, a great platform was created for the Federalists to run against. For their candidate they selected Charles Cotesworth Pinckney for the second time to oppose the overly favorite James Madison. Madison was thought to be the next in line for the position as he was friends with Jefferson. Soon after the election process had started it became clear that the opposition to the Embargo Act, which the Federalists were hoping to exploit, was not as widespread as they first thought. This was perfectly apparent in the final electoral voting which left Madison with 122 while Pinckney only received 47. This defeat marked the end of Pinckney’s run in politics.
Throughout the time that I spent researching Charles C. Pinckney, there was no real ground breaking things he did, because he was never elected, but he still lived a very rich life. From being a lawyer when he was younger to becoming a top officer in the Continental Army I could tell that he was a not a selfish person. Pinckney helped out his state of South Carolina as much as he could, which included helping it transform from a Royal Colony to an independent state. During the war and at the Constitutional Convention he became friends and well acquainted with Washington. During Washington’s term in office he denied many offers to join him, which made me wonder why he would run for president so many times down the road. Obviously one of the biggest things that he did was when he was the Minister to France. The French tried to make the US pay them a bribe to stop attacking their ships and like any other great American he exclaimed “No. Not a sixpence” and protected the morality of the US. I think that Pinckney lived a very meaningful life to the politics of America even though he never served as the president.
For the opening “scene” of my video I flashed the quote about friendship by Socrates because after all of my research I decided to go off the premise of Pinckney and Washington being friends. They both served together in the Revolutionary War, as shown by the two pictures of them in their war attire, and Washington asked Pinckney to be the Secretary of War and the Secretary of State. This might make the viewer view Pinckney more as a student of Washington rather than a Federalist. The reason that I would want the viewer to think in this way is because at the time, especially after Adams, most Americans were not open to the idea of the Federalists. I then followed this point up with a quote from a The Washington Federalist, which included the word “friend” in its title that again will draw the relationship with Washington into viewer’s thoughts. The content of the quote is pretty self-explanatory as it praises the honor and character of Pinckney and the support he had from the Federalists. Going along with the theme of the video I included a quote from the New-England Palladium because it included the words “whole American Party”. These words also take away from the Federalist label that went along with his campaign and focused on his plan to “preserve the Union, and to prevent a calamitous War…” I had to include his famous saying of “not a sixpence” which was later translated to “Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute.” I think that that saying really grasps his overall love for America and what he was willing to do to stand up and protect it. Even if the viewer did not know exactly what Pinckney said the image of the coin is almost a symbol of American prosperity and morality by itself. I ended with the picture of the United States Constitution because I felt like it would leave a lasting picture of Pinckney’s involvement with the government. I thought that if this was left in the viewers mind they would associate the greatness of the US Constitution with Pinckney himself. Lastly, the music that I chose to use was called “The Presidents March in 1789” but then was changed to “Hail Columbia”. I chose this song because it was originally made for George Washington when he was president, and as stated before I am trying as best I can to tie Pinckney to Washington.
Overall, I would say that I tried to make my video a lot more up front, using short “catch phrases”, than the others before me. I decided to do this because if a viewer has to look deep and think deeply about a subject they are watching then they will most likely stop paying attention. It was my goal to make this ad as viewer friendly as possible but still keep the historical structure of the project itself. I hope you like it!
Articles:
New England Palladium, Boston, Massachusetts, October 18, 1808. No Headline
Washington Federalist, Georgetown, District of Columbia, October 29, 1808. “To the Friends of the Union”
http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/HistArchive/?p_product=EANX&p_theme=ahnp&p_nbid=D68A4DRKMTMzMDUzODU3My40NTU1ODQ6MToxMjoxMzcuMTY1LjI3LjM&p_action=doc&s_lastnonissuequeryname=5&d_viewref=search&p_queryname=5&p_docnum=8&p_docref=v2:1044E89127FECCD0@EANX-106F34795946C909@2381720-106F3479CBD0237E@2-106F347B1F28A483@To+the+Friends+of+the+Union
Websites:
A Biography of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/B/ccpinckn/ccpinckn.htm
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
http://www.history.army.mil/books/RevWar/ss/pinckneycc.htm
Song:
Archiving Early America
http://www.earlyamerica.com/music/gw-life.htm
Images:
Charles C. Pinckney
http://www.history.army.mil/books/RevWar/ss/p119.jpg
Google Images
“Millions for Defense, not a cent for tribute” Coin
http://www.anythinganywhere.com/commerce/exo/usa-ht.htm
“USA, Hard Times Tokens”
US Constitution Signatures
Google Images
George Washington
http://www.georgewashingtonchapter.com/images/portrait_of_george_washington.jpg
Google Images
American Colonies
http://fg.ed.pacificu.edu/sweb/fong/images/112.JPG
Google Images