A Royal Colony

Chapter 6South Carolina History

Changes in a Royal Colony

When South Carolina became a royal colony, there were some major changes. One of those changes was the creation of Georgia. It was created to be a buffer zone between SC and Spanish Florida, as well as hostile Native Americans, and also to be a social experiment, giving prisoners and debtors a second chance. One condition was that slavery would not be allowed.

Changes in a Royal Colony

Georgia provided a sense of security for South Carolina, but also caused problems. Less land was available to SC settlers, and colonists were also afraid that Georgia would provide a safe haven for runaway slaves. The biggest complaint was that Georgia created competition for SC in the rice market.

Carolina Gold

Mercantilism

South Carolina was part of an economic policy called mercantilism (pronounced MER can til ism). Through mercantilism, the mother country tries to export more products than it imports. England was trying to get rich by selling more goods than it was buying from the colonies.

Mercantilism

South Carolina had a lot of natural resources (wood, animal skins, cash crops) which meant that England no longer had to buy these items from other European countries. The colony would send raw materials (like wood) to England, who would make finished products (like tables and chairs) and sell them back to the colonies and to other countries.

Mercantilism

England had very strong rules about trade. Rice was on the list of items that could be sold only to England; however, they didn’t enforce the law on South Carolina’s rice, which (along with indigo) helped to make the colony very rich.

Eliza Lucas Pinckney

Eliza Lucas Pinckney had a major impact on Carolina economy. England highly valued the blue dye and offered to pay subsidies (bonuses) to anyone who would grow it. Eliza experimented with the plant and eventually learned the secret to growing it. With this knowledge, indigo became a major cash crop for South Carolina.

Eliza Lucas Pinckney

Skeins of thread dyed with indigo.

Slavery and Plantations

The first Africans to come to America were explorers that came over with the Spanish, they were NOT slaves. As South Carolina’s demand to grow rice and indigo increased, the need for slave labor rose. A triangle trade route was established between England, Africa, and the Carolinas that brought many slaves to Charles Town, South Carolina.

Regional Differences

As South Carolina developed, the geographic differences caused a separation of two main regions, the Up county and the Low Country. The different cultures, lifestyles, and belief systems that developed there eventually led to major problems that can be seen during the American Revolution.

Low Country

The Low Country of South Carolina became known as the “tidewater region” because the rivers rose and fell with the tides. This was very helpful to rice plantations that needed to flood their fields.

Same location at

low tide and at high tide

Low Country

Many of the Low Country settlers were planters and there were many plantations. Their plantations had many slaves that grew rice and indigo.

Rice trunk

Young rice in a flooded field

Low Country

Low Country was settled first, it had the largest population, which made it the colony’s most important region. The majority of the Low Country population was slaves.Most of the Assembly members were from here, which means the plantation owners had a lot of influence in making laws. All of the courts and the majority of wealth were located here until the passage of the Circuit Court Act of 1769.

Hopsewee Plantation

Up Country

The largest part of the colony was known as the Up Country. It was the area that was located away from the coast. The Up County had a majority white population and only a few slaves.Settlers were usually subsistence farmers but there were some small plantations. Because there wasn’t a lot of money to pay for an education, the people in this region were usually less educated than in the Low Country.

Upstate homestead

Colonial Education

According to the colonial leaders of SC, the parents were responsible for education. There was something called a “free school” but students had to pay a tuition to go.There were three main reasons that South Carolina children didn’t go to school. First, there were no free schools where children needed them. Second, parents could not afford tuition or simply needed the children at home. Third, parents did not value education because they could not read or write themselves.Slave owners did not want slaves to be educated because they felt it would lead to revolts.

Up Country

There were no courts, jails, or sheriffs in the Up Country until the passage of the Circuit Court Act of 1769. Settlers often feared attacks by Indians, and got little help from the Low Country because they were not adequately represented in Assembly.

The Regulator Movement

The Up Country began to get tired of having to travel all the way to Charles Town to go to court or to get help with a legal problem. “The Regulators” were self appointed vigilantes (people who took the law into their own hands) who felt it was necessary to help establish law and order in the Upstate.

The Regulator Movement

The Regulator Movement worked for awhile, but stopped after awhile. The Regulators used their position to settle old scores. Innocent people started to get hurt and sometimes killed.

The Regulator Movement

Law and order was finally established in the Up Country by the Circuit Court Act of 1769 . First, it ended the Regulator movement. Second, it established seven districts with courthouses. Third, it gave each district a jail, a sheriff, and a courthouse. Fourth, a judge rode in a circuit (a circle like pattern) visiting the courts.

Seven Judicial districts

Electrical circuit

Native American Relationships

Native American relationships with the colonists continued to be mixed. Although the Cherokee had the best relationship with the colonists, it began to get strained when people moved to the Up Country, an area that had up until that point been Cherokee land.

Native American Relationships

South Carolina was basically at peace with the Native Americans. The Catawba were very friendly and actually helped protect colonists from attacks from hostile tribes. However, the Catawba were nearly wiped out from a small pox epidemic, and by 1760, less than 500 Catawba remained. Skeletons at a Native

American burial site.

Native American Relationships

France and England constantly fought over rights for land. By 1729, the Cherokee relationship with South Carolina colonists began to get bad as French fur traders came into the area and tried to create a treaty with the Cherokee. South Carolina needed to create an alliance with the Cherokee to keep them from joining sides with the French.

Native American Relationships

Sir Alexander Cuming, went to talk with the Cherokee, and he actually created a misunderstanding. He persuaded the Cherokee to enter into a treaty. The Cherokee thought that they were now allies with the British and that they were still equals. The British thought the Native Americans were now subjects of the King of England.

As Sir Alexander Cuming spoke lighting flashed in the sky.

Native American Relationships

The Cherokee realized their mistake with the treaty when settlers started to take their land and build forts. Another treaty lasted for awhile until Governor William Lyttelton took office. Gov. Lyttleton did not get along with the Cherokee and he tried to force them to do what he wanted rather than working the problems out with them.

Examples of colonial forts

The Cherokee WarWhen Gov. Lyttleton imposed an embargo preventing colonists from trading with the Cherokee, they felt Gov. Lyttleton had violated trade agreements. Thirty-one Cherokee chiefs went to Gov. Lyttleton to try to work things out, he took them hostage. The Cherokee attacked near by forts in response, which made the British so angry, they killed the chiefs and directly lead to the Cherokee War.

The Cherokee War

The following retaliation for the deaths of the chiefs began the Cherokee War (1759-1763). The Cherokee War occurred entirely within South Carolina and happened at the same time as the French and Indian War (1753-1763). The fighting lasted until 1761 but a treaty was not signed until 1763.

Stono Rebellion

The slave population in South Carolina was continually growing. The Assembly began to worry about there being too many slaves in the colony, but slaves were so important to plantations, there was little they could do.

Stono Rebellion

Soon, the cruel system of slavery, and Spanish law that gave freedom to any slave who reached Florida led to the slave revolt known as the Stono Rebellion. Between sixty and eighty slaves were involved in this revolt that took place near the Stono River in Charles Town. By the end of the revolt, twenty whites and at least forty slaves were dead.

Stono Rebellion

As a result of the Stono Rebellion, the Slave Code was established. It set penalties for any owner that was too harsh or demanding. It also imposed the strict laws on slaves, like preventing slaves from assembling without permission, as well as making educating slaves illegal. Slave codes did not end revolts, but it limited their success.

Spikes, called cheveax de frise, appeared on gates in Charleston after

the Stono Rebellion as protection from future slave revolts.

Colonial Life

South Carolina had difficulties supporting itself financially because of numerous diseases, high infant mortality rate, wars with Native Americans, and poor sanitation killed many of the colonists. South Carolina’s population continued to grow in spite of the death rate being higher than the birth rate because of the massive number of immigrations of slaves and European settlers.