James Madison. Thomas Jefferson. Alexander Hamilton. John Jay. Charles Pinckney. Wait, who? Those who have studied U.S. history will recognize the first four names as major contributors to the U.S. Constitution. Far less know is Charles Pinckney, though he also made major contributions to the document.

Perhaps because he enunciated the ideas, but others actually wrote them down, he lacks credit for them. A few of the concepts he pushed through were: two separate legislative chambers (House and Senate), an independent chief executive (President), separation of church and state (no religious requirement to hold office).

Unfortunately, as a slave-holder, the mere idea of freedom for everyone in the new nation was incomprehensible to him. He even threatened to convince southern states to withhold ratification of the constitution if it banned slavery. That stand would eventually cost half of a million Americans their lives.

The actual site has little to see (as evidenced by the few photos I took). The house featured on the park website, and holding the Visitor's Center, is not the house he lived in. The plantation was sold shortly after his death, and the original house replaced with the one there today. Inside, each room does feature information posters covering much of Pinckney's life, along with information about some of his close relatives. The fields around the house represent only a small part of the original plantation lands.