Introduction to History of South Carolina
Prehistoric peoples who roamed the Atlantic coast reached what is now South Carolina possibly 10,000 to 15,000 years ago. By the time European explorers arrived in the 16th century A.D. , the area was occupied by a number of Indian tribes. The most prominent were the Catawabas, Cherokees, Cusabos, and Yamasees.
Important dates in South Carolina1521 Francisco Gordillo of Spain explored the Carolina coast.1670 English settlers established the first permanent white settlement in South Carolina, at Albemarle Point.1719 South Carolina became a separate royal province.1780 American forces won the Battle of Kings Mountain, a turning point in the Revolutionary War.1788 South Carolina became the 8th state on May 23.1832 South Carolina passed the Ordinance of Nullification.1860 South Carolina seceded from the Union on Dec. 20.1861 The Civil War began on April 12 when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter.1868 South Carolina was readmitted to the Union.1877 Reconstruction ended in South Carolina.1895 South Carolina adopted its present constitution.1953 Operations began at the Savannah River Plant, which produces nuclear materials.1964 South Carolina voted for Barry M. Goldwater, the first Republican presidential candidate to carry the state since the Reconstruction.1970 Three blacks won election to the state House of Representatives. They became the first blacks to serve in South Carolina's House since 1902.1974 James B. Edwards became the first Republican to be elected governor since 1874.1983 The Reverend I. DeQuincey Newman became the first black elected to the state Senate since 1888.1989 Hurricane Hugo struck South Carolina, killing 18 people and causing $5 billion in property damage.2003 Congaree National Park, the first national park in the state, was established.Exploration and Settlement
The first Europeans known to visit the area were Spaniards, in 1521. They were sent to explore the Atlantic coast by Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón, a government official of Santo Domingo (Hispaniola). In 1526 a group of colonists led by de Ayllón attempted to establish a settlement near the site of what is now Georgetown, but de Ayllón died and the expedition returned to Santo Domingo within a few months. In 1562 French Huguenots attempted settlements at Port Royal, but also failed. The Spanish returned in 1566 and built a fort on Parris Island; they abandoned it 20 years later.
In 1629 Charles I of England granted Sir Robert Heath a large tract of land, which Charles named “Carolana,” along the southeastern coast of North America. However, the land, which included all of present-day South Carolina and Georgia and part of North Carolina, was not settled and the grant was forfeited.
In 1663 Charles II granted the same territory to eight of his supporters and renamed it These men, the Lords Proprietors of the Province of Carolina, established the first permanent settlement, in 1670, at Albemarle Point on the Ashley River. They named it Charles Town (later Charleston) after the king. In 1680 it was moved to the present site to provide a better harbor for ships. North Carolina became a separate province in 1711, Georgia in 1733.
Colonial Period
During the early years of colonization, South Carolina prospered. The population grew as settlers came from the West Indies, New England, and Europe. Rice and, later, indigo became important export crops, and large numbers of slaves were imported to work on the plantations. Charles Town, the capital, became a thriving center of trade and culture.
At the same time, however, a number of grievances arose between the colonists and the lords proprietors. The proprietors arbitrarily changed laws and raised rents. They also failed to aid the colonists during their struggle against the Spanish, French, Indians, and pirates. South Carolinians were particularly resentful that the proprietors offered no help during their war against the Yamasee Indians (1715–17). In 1719 South Carolina renounced the authority of the proprietors and petitioned George I to take control. While the matter was being settled, the province was ruled by a provisional governor. South Carolina became a crown colony in 1729 when George II acquired the rights of the proprietors.
The next several decades were marked by the development of the colony. To attract more settlers, several townships were established in inland areas, and new settlers were given free land, tools, and food. By 1760 there were settlements scattered throughout the colony. During this period many Germans and Scotch-Irish came to South Carolina and settled in the Up Country (Piedmont) region.
The Up Country farmers soon came to resent the political power of the Low Country aristocrats (the planters and merchants of the coastal region) and eventually began to demand equal representation in the government. Some reforms were adopted, but bitter feelings between the two sections continued for more than a century.
The Revolution and Statehood
By the 1770's relations between the colonies and Great Britain had deteriorated and many colonists advocated rebellion. In 1774 South Carolina elected delegates to the Continental Congress. In 1775 a revolutionary government was established at Charles Town, even though many Carolinians still supported Great Britain. Later that year the last royal governor fled. In June, 1776, a British fleet attacked but was driven off by the defenders of Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island, outside Charles Town. South Carolina declared itself an independent state on July 4, 1776, when its delegates to the Continental Congress voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence. A constitution was adopted in 1778, and John Rutledge was chosen as the state's first governor.
In 1780 British troops captured Charles Town and defeated Continental forces at Camden. Later, Continental victories at Kings Mountain (1780) and Cowpens (1781) contributed to the British surrender at Yorktown in October, 1781. ( However, British forces remained in Charles Town during the peace negotiations and did not leave until December, 1782. South Carolina's military leaders during the Revolutionary War included Francis Marion, Thomas Sumter, William Moultrie, and Andrew Pickens.
The state's delegation to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 included John Rutledge and Charles Pinckney. South Carolina was the eighth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution (May 23, 1788). Meanwhile, the capital had been moved from Charleston (as it has been spelled since 1783) to Columbia, in the central part of the state, to make it more accessible to persons living in the Up Country. A state constitution adopted in 1790 and an amendment passed in 1808 gave the Up Country equal representation in government.
The invention of the cotton gin (1793) changed the course of South Carolina's history. Cotton was well suited to the state's climate and soil and soon became the leading export crop. It proved to be so profitable that most farmers gave up raising other crops, although rice continued to be an important crop in the coastal region. As a result of the concentration on agriculture, there was little manufacturing in the state. Cotton plantations sprang up, and the slave trade, which had been prohibited for a while, was reopened for several years. By 1820 black slaves outnumbered whites by 30,000. The state's economy came to depend almost entirely on cotton, rice, and slave labor.
Despite the large slave population, the only serious attempt to overthrow white rule occurred in 1822. Several thousand slaves led by Denmark Vesey, a free black, planned an uprising, but the plot fell through and the leaders were hanged. ( During the 1820's, however, a long period of prosperity came to an end. Poor farming methods and floods destroyed large areas of topsoil, causing many farmers to migrate westward. The state's economy was also hurt by high tariff rates, which caused the price of cotton to drop rapidly.
Nullification
In the South during the first half of the 19th century, there was increasing resentment toward the North over federal tariff laws. In South Carolina the General Assembly declared the tariff of 1828 to be unconstitutional and drew up a formal protest, but took no direct action. The issue came to a head in 1832 when a new federal tariff was enacted. The South Carolina General Assembly called a convention, which passed the Ordinance of Nullification, declaring the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 to be null and void. It further stated that South Carolina would secede from the Union if the federal government tried to enforce the tariff laws. A crisis was avoided when Congress reduced the tariffs. (
Leading spokesmen for the South during the tariff controversy included South Carolinians John C. Calhoun and Robert Y. Hayne.
Civil War and Reconstruction
Meanwhile, resentment between the North and the South increased over the slavery issue, and by 1860 a crisis was imminent. South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union (December 20, 1860). The first Civil War action occurred when Confederates fired on Fort Sumter, outside Charleston, in April, 1861. Charleston was the South's main supply port until Union ships blockaded the harbor in 1863. In 1865 Union forces burned Columbia and ravaged other sections of the state.
During the Reconstruction period after the war, the state was placed under military rule. In 1868 a new constitution was enacted, the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified by South Carolina, and the state was readmitted to the Union. However, federal troops continued to occupy the state in support of a succession of governments controlled by “carpetbaggers” (Northerners), (Southern collaborators), and freedmen (former slaves). The election of Wade Hampton, a former Confederate officer, as governor in 1876 ended Reconstruction in South Carolina and began nearly a century of rule by the Democratic party. Federal troops were withdrawn from all Southern states in 1877.
Under Hampton, South Carolina began to recover, but an economic depression in the 1880's caused widespread discontent and a renewal of the conflict between Up Country and Low Country. The farmers still resented the political power of the Low Country planters and businessmen, and, led by Benjamin R. Tillman, they formed a “farmers' movement” to work for a larger voice in state government. The movement resulted in the election of Tillman as governor in 1890. His administration enacted laws beneficial to farmers, reformed the tax structure, and expanded the educational system.
During this period, blacks constituted a majority of the population and racial tensions were high. To prevent the black population from gaining a political majority, white politicians wrote a new state constitution that disenfranchised blacks.
20th Century
By 1900, although industrialization (mainly textile manufacturing) was increasing, South Carolina was still mainly dependent on agriculture. During the early years of the century the state underwent a general economic decline. Rice had ceased to be a major crop and cotton suffered from the effects of soil depletion and the boll weevil. Thereafter, although tobacco emerged as a profitable crop, agriculture decreased in economic importance.
After World War I there was a large black migration to northern states, and by 1930 whites outnumbered blacks in the state for the first time in more than a century. World War II brought increased prosperity as textiles and food products were in great demand. There was rapid industrialization in the postwar period, as many new industries were attracted by the state's abundant raw materials and low-cost labor.
During the years following the war, South Carolina was the scene of much racial discord as blacks began to demand civil rights. In the Presidential election of 1948 the state cast its electoral votes for its governor, J. Strom Thurmond, who ran on a segregationist platform. When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that public schools must be desegregated, South Carolina was among the states that refused at first to comply. The state began integrating its schools in 1963. In 1970 three black representatives were elected to the previously all-white state legislature.
In the early 1970's a program was initiated by the state to improve all levels of public education. During the late 1970's all municipalities and most counties were reorganized as required by a series of laws, enacted by the legislature in 1975, aimed at modernizing local government. The economy suffered during the national recession of the early 1980's but had rebounded by the late 1980's. In 1989 Hurricane Hugo caused widespread damage, especially in the Charleston area.
In 2003, Congaree Swamp National Monument was changed to Congaree National Park, making it the first national park in the state.