STANDARD INDICATOR 8-3.1
TENSIONS BETWEEN THE
UPCOUNTRY & LOWCOUNTRY
TENSION BETWEEN
UPCOUNTRY & LOWCOUNTRY
1. Surfaced during the Regulator
Movement
2. Increased due to the Revolutionary
War
3. Continued to grow as differences
between the two regions developed
4. Upcountry: Northwestern part of state,
original home of Cherokee
5. Lowcountry: area along Atlantic coast,
first area settled in state
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
UPCOUNTRY & LOWCOUNTRY
Lowcountry
• Patriots
• Elite planters
• Wealthy & civilized
• Plantation farming
• Cash crops (rice &
indigo)
• Many slaves
• Slave main labor
source
Upcountry
• Loyalists
• Traders & woodsmen
• Poor & uncivilized
• Subsistence farming
• Staple crops (food &
small amounts of flax)
• Few slaves
• Farmers & slaves
worked together
Differences Continued
Lowcountry
• Strong support for
slavery
• Economy & social
status depended on
slavery
• Small white population
• Large slave population
• Controlled politics &
government
Upcountry
• Little support for
slavery
• Economy & social
class depended on
their hard work &
determination
• Large white
population
• Small slave
population
• Little political power
Differences Continued
Lowcountry
• Greater
representation in
legislature
• Greater influence
• Center of government
& business
• Charleston capital
Upcountry
• Little representation
in legislature
• Little influence
• Had to travel too far
to present issues to
legislature or argue
court cases
A.R. War Economically affected SC
1. Upcountry & Lowcountry suffered
2. Fighting destroyed countryside &
slaves
3. Livestock & goods were taken by
British
4. After war economy was slow to
improve
Reasons for Economic Suffering of
Lowcountry
1. No British subsidies
2. No protected markets
3. Britain developed new sources of raw
materials and markets for goods
4. Planters could not pay debts to British
creditors
5. US & SC governments could not pay for
goods they had commandeered from citizens
6. Poor crop yields
• (Economic problems would continue until the
early 1800’s when cotton became new cash
crop)
Political Tensions Between Upcountry
& Lowcountry are Eased When….
1. 1785: Legislature created counties and
county courts
2. 1786: capital moved to Columbia in center
of state
(Political tension still exists since the
Lowcountry maintained its majority control in
legislature)
Equal representation
1. Why did the Lowcountry agree to
share power?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin
Cotton became a cash crop in Upcountry
Slavery increases in the Upcountry
Lowcountry agrees to share power in
legislature
How Inventions
changed history
(for better of for worse) (5:15)
Equal representation
Legislature passed the Compromise of 1808:
this act
1. Reapportioned the house
2. Representation based equally on white
population & amount of taxable property
(including slaves)
Low & Up Countries had their share of slaves &
political power