A look at the rise and decline of the Pinckney family whose members were present at every major point in Charleston's history.

Charleston's greatest years paralleled the rise to influence, the heyday, and the decline of the Pinckney family... Charleston dominated the intellectual and commercial life of what is now known as the Deep South. It gave Carolina its leaders and decided questions for the rest of the colony and state... The city was also a great proslavery center, and it was this fact, plus the gradual inward-turning, past-oriented attitude that led to the decline of its influence on contemporary civilization.