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Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was an American Revolutionary War veteran, South Carolina legislator and two-time presidential candidate.

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Born on February 25, 1746, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was elected to the South Carolina Assembly in 1769, marking his entrance into public service. He continued to serve as a South Carolina legislator for several years thereafter, and, during the American Revolution, worked as an aide for General George Washington. In 1783, Pinckney became a brigadier general. Four years later, he participated in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 alongside his cousin, Charles Pinckney. In 1796, Pinckney was named U.S. minister to France (though he wasn't recognized by the French Directory) and participated in the XYZ Affair, an unsavory diplomatic incident. In the late 1790s, he was named a major general. Pinckney ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. presidency in 1804 and 1808 (both times the Federalist Party's candidate), and worked as an attorney in his later years. He died in Charleston, South Carolina, on August 16, 1825.