“A State a Week”
South Carolina
History.
Early years
Arcadia Plantation, circa 1893, Georgetown County
The colony of Carolina was settled by British settlers, mostly from Barbados. King Charles gave
eight aristocrats a royal charter to settle Carolina (Carolina is Latin for "Charles land") because
earlier they had helped him regain his throne. Parts of Carolina (mostly the coastal areas) were
colonized earlier by Spain (see Fort Caroline), but battles between the Spanish and the Native
Americans caused the Spanish people to retreat to Florida, Cuba, Mexico, and Central and South
America. Carolina was settled to make profit from trade and also by selling land. John Locke, an
English philosopher, wrote a constitution for the colony that covered topics such as land divisions
and social rankings. In the early years, not many people bought land there, so the proprietors
lowered the price on some portions.
Carolina did not develop as planned. It split into northern and southern Carolina, creating two
different colonies. It separated because of political reasons as the settlers wanted political power.
In 1719 settlers in southern Carolina seized control from its proprietors. Then, in 1729, Carolina
became two royal colonies- North Carolina and South Carolina. Farmers from inland Virginia
settled northern Carolina. They grew tobacco, and sold timber and tar, both categories of naval
supplies needed by England. The northern Carolina coast lacked a good harbor, so many of the
farmers used Virginia's ports to conduct their trade.
Southern Carolina prospered from the fertility of the Low Country and the harbors, such as that at
Charles Town (later Charleston). Settlements spread, and trade in deerskin, lumber, and beef
thrived. Rice cultivation was developed on a large scale with the help of skills and techniques of
slaves imported from rice-growing regions of Africa. They created the large earthworks of dams
and canals required to irrigate the rice fields. In addition, indigo became a commodity crop, also
developed with the skills of African slaves. The cultivation and processing of indigo, a blue
flowering plant, was developed here by a young English woman, Eliza Lucas, a planter's daughter
who had come with her father, also a military officer, from the Caribbean. She took over managing
the plantation when he was assigned elsewhere. Indigo became an important commodity crop for
the dyeing of textiles. Slave labor was integral to the economic success of rice and indigo as
commodity crops. In South Carolina, the number of slaves exceeded those of Anglo-European
colonists by the time of the Revolution, a characteristic of the state through the American Civil
War.
The American Revolution
On March 26, 1776, the colony adopted the Constitution of South Carolina becoming the first
republic in America. John Rutledge was elected as the state's first president. He was succeeded by
Rawlins Lowndes who served March 6, 1778 – January 9, 1779. On February 5, 1778, South
Carolina became the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation, the initial governing
document of the United States. However, in 1780, South Carolinian loyalists to the British crown
helped British troops recapture South Carolina from the previously successful rebels. On January
17, 1781, the Battle of Cowpens won by the American forces, marked the beginning of the decline
in British fortunes. In 1782 they decided to evacuate their troops by the end of the year.
Thousands of Loyalists and slaves left with them.
The current United States Constitution was proposed for adoption by the States on September 17,
1787, and South Carolina was the 8th state to ratify it, on May 23, 1788.
The American Revolution caused a shock to slavery in the South. Many thousands of slaves fled to
British authorities to obtain freedom; and many of those left with the British in the last days of the
war. Others secured their freedom by escaping to perceived friendlier locations during the turmoil.
Estimates are that 25,000 slaves (30% of those in South Carolina) fled, migrated or died during the
disruption of the war.
This historic home is at "The Battery," a neighborhood/park area at the Downtown historic district
of Charleston – a well-known historical city in South Carolina. "The Battery" is also known as White
Point Gardens.
The Federal Period
South Carolina politics between 1783 and 1795 were marred by rivalry between a Federalist elite
supporting the central government in Philadelphia and a large proportion of common people. The
latter were often members of 'Republican Societies', and they supported the RepublicanDemocrats, headed by Jefferson and Madison. This party wanted more democracy in the US,
especially in South Carolina.
Most people supported the French Revolution (1789–1795), as the French had been allies and
they were proud of their own revolution. Charleston was one of the most French-influenced cities
in the USA. Leading South Carolina figures, such as governors Charles Pinckney and William
Moultrie, backed with money and actions the French plans to further their political, strategic, and
commercial goals in North America. This pro-French stance and attitude of South Carolina ended
soon because of the XYZ Affair.
Antebellum
Millford Plantation (1839–41), one of the best examples
of Greek Revival architecture in the United States
Antebellum South Carolina did more to advance nullification and secession than any other
Southern state. In 1832, a South Carolina state convention passed the Ordinance of Nullification,
declaring the Federal tariff laws of 1828 and 1832 unconstitutional, null and not to be enforced in
the state of South Carolina after February 1, 1833. This led to the Nullification Crisis, in which U.S.
President Andrew Jackson received congressional authorization, through the Force Bill, to use
whatever military force necessary to enforce Federal law in the state. This was the first U.S.
legislation denying individual states the right to secede. As a result of Jackson's threat of force, the
South Carolina state convention was re-convened and repealed the Ordinance of Nullification in
March.
Anti-abolitionist feelings ran strong in South Carolina. In 1856, South Carolina congressman
Preston Brooks entered the United States Senate chamber and, with a metal-tipped cane, beat
Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner. He drew blood and injured Sumner badly enough that the
latter was unable to serve for several months. Brooks was retaliating for a speech Sumner had just
given in which he attacked slavery and insulted South Carolinians. Brooks resigned his seat but
received a hero's welcome on returning home.
The Civil War
On December 20, 1860, when it became clear that Abraham Lincoln would be the next president,
South Carolina became the first state to declare its secession from the Union. On April 12, 1861,
Confederate batteries began shelling Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, and the American Civil
War began. The Union Navy effectively blockaded Charleston and seized the Sea Islands. Planters
had taken their families (and sometimes slaves) to points inland for refuge.
The Union Army set up an experiment in freedom for the ex-slaves, in which they started
education and farmed land for themselves. South Carolina troops participated in major
Confederate campaigns, but no major battles were fought inland. General William Tecumseh
Sherman marched through the state in early 1865, destroying numerous plantations, and captured
the state capital of Columbia on February 17. Fires began that night and by next morning, most of
the central city was destroyed. South Carolina suffered 18,666 military deaths during the Civil War,
which was nearly one-third of the white male population of fighting age.
Coastal towns and cities often have hurricane-resistant Live oaks overarching the streets in historic
neighborhoods, such as these on East Bay Street, Georgetown.
Reconstruction
After the war, South Carolina was restored to the United States during Reconstruction. Under
presidential Reconstruction (1865–66), freedmen (former slaves) were given limited rights. Under
Radical reconstruction (1867–1877), a Republican coalition of freedmen, carpetbaggers and
scalawags was in control, supported by Union Army forces. The withdrawal of Union soldiers as
part of the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction. White Democrats used paramilitary groups
such as the Red Shirts to intimidate and terrorize black voters. They regained political control of
the state under conservative white "Redeemers" and pro-business Bourbon Democrats.
Until the 1868 presidential election, South Carolina's legislature, not the voters, chose the state's
electors for the presidential election. South Carolina was the last state to choose its electors in this
manner. On October 19, 1871 President Ulysses S. Grant suspended habeas corpus in nine South
Carolina counties under the authority of the Ku Klux Klan Act. Led by Grant's Attorney General
Amos T. Akerman, hundreds of Klansmen were arrested while 2000 Klansmen fled the state. This
was done in order to suppress Klan violence against African American and white voters in the
South.