History of South Carolina

South Carolina is one of the thirteen original states of the. Its history has been remarkable for an extraordinary commitment to political independence, whether from overseas or federal control. As a cornerstone of and the, as the powder keg of the , as the home of , and as the heart of the  movement, South Carolina's history has been the epitome of decentralization  in the U.S.

Although the area that is now the contemporary of  has been populated since at least 13,000 BC (when tool-making  began to leave material remains), the documented history of South Carolina begins in 1540 with the visit of.

The of  was first settled at  in 1670, mostly by immigrants from the (one of many) English colony of. There was discontent with the from the earliest years of the colony. Colonists overthrew the proprietors after the of 1715-1717. In 1719 the colony was officially made a, although the Lords Proprietors held their rights until 1729.

Differences between the northern and southern parts of Carolina were recognized during proprietary rule. Separate governors were established for each section. The de facto separation of the two colonies was made official when they were admitted as crown colonies in 1729.

South Carolina declared independence from and set up its own government on,. It joined the United States by signing the. For two years its president was, who became governor. On, , South Carolina became the first state to ratify the first constitution of the U.S., the.



With the election of on an anti-slavery platform in 1860, South Carolina immediately and with considerable unanimity decided to secede. On, it became the first state to leave the Union. In February it joined the. In April the began when Confederate forces attacked the American fort at, in ,.

After the defeat, South Carolina underwent. Freed African Americans and poor whites benefited during Reconstruction, when they expanded the franchise, created and funded a public school system, and created social welfare institutions. The constitution they passed was kept nearly unaltered for 27 years, and most legislation passed during the Reconstruction years lasted longer than that. . African American gains were short-lived. As white planters returned to dominance, they passed, especially severe in South Carolina, to create public segregation and control movement of African American laborers. The whites passed laws that effectively disfranchised African Americans by the turn of the century. Although a majority in the state from before the Civil War, African Americans suffered much diminished civil rights until they won restored protection under the Act of 1964 during the administration of President Lyndon Johnson.

From 1865 to 1940 the state was poor. Educational levels were low as public schools were underfunded, especially for African Americans. Most people lived on farms and grew cotton. The more affluent were landowners, who subdivided the land into farms operated by tenant farmers or, along with land operated by the owner using hired labor. Gradually more industry moved into the, with textile factories that turned the raw cotton into yard and cloth for sale on the national market.

Politically the state was part of the. Because African Americans were disfranchised, despite the fact they paid taxes and supported other citizen obligations, no black officials were elected between 1900 and the late 1960s. Whites rigidly enforced in the  era, limiting African Americans' chances for education, representation and free public movement. The Civil Rights laws of the 1960s ended segregation and protected voting rights of African Americans and other minorities.

The cotton regime ended by the 1950s. As factories were built across the state, the great majority of farmers left agriculture. By 2000 South Carolina voted solidly in presidential elections, but state and local government elections were contested by the two parties. The population continued to grow, reaching 4 million in 2000, as coast areas became prime locations for tourists and retirees. With a rate of 13.5%, the state was only slightly worse than the national average of 11.7%.

Colonial period
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By the end of the 16th century, the and  had left the area of  after several reconnaissance missions and failed  attempts. In 1629, granted his attorney general a charter to everything between latitudes 36 and 31. He called this land the Province of Carlana, which would later be changed to "Carolina" for pronunciation, after the Latin form of his own name. In 1663, gave the land to eight nobles, the, who ruled the  as a proprietary colony. After the of 1715-1717 the Lords Proprietors came under increasing pressure and were forced to relinquish their charter to the crown in 1719. The proprietors retained their right to the land until 1729 when the colony was officially split into the provinces of and, crown colonies.

In April 1670 settlers arrived at Albemarle Point, at the junction of the and, and founded , named in honor of King Charles II.

Throughout the, the Carolinas participated in many wars against the Spanish and the , including the and  tribes. In its first decades, South Carolina's plantations were relatively small and the colony's wealth came from Indian trade, mainly in and. In the first decades of the 18th century, rice plantations began to flourish along the coast. After the Yamasee War the backcountry's Indian population was greatly reduced.

The low country was built up first, dominated by wealthy men who became owners of large amounts of land on which they created s. They first transported white indentured servants as laborers, mostly teenage boys and girls from England who came to work off their passage in hopes of buying their own land. Planters also imported African laborers to the colonies. In the early years boundaries were fluid between indentured laborers and slaves, but gradually the terms of enslavement became more rigid. Before the beginning of the 18th century, the planters began to rely chiefly on enslaved Africans for labor.

By contrast, the newly emptied backcountry was settled largely by migrants from  and. The Scots-Irish constituted the largest and last group of immigrants from the British Isles before the Revolution. They settled in the backcountry throughout the South and relied on subsistence farming. They mostly did not own slaves. Political tensions between the lowcountry and upcountry became a recurring theme for generations.

Coastal planters earned wealth from two major : rice and indigo, both of which relied on cultivation by labor. Exports of these crops led South Carolina to become one of the wealthiest colonies prior to the Revolution. Near the beginning of the 18th century, planters began rice culture along the coast, mainly in the and  areas. Enslaved Africans brought the rice varieties and cultivation techniques when they were imported from West African and Sierra Leone, rice growing regions. The best rice became known as Carolina Gold, both for its color and its ability to produce great fortunes for plantation owners. 

began indigo culture and processing in coastal South Carolina in the 1740s. An "Indigo Bonanza" followed, with South Carolina production approaching a million pounds in the late 1750s. This growth was stimulated by a British bounty of six pence per pound. 

In addition the colonial economy depended on (primarily deerskins), and naval stores and. Coastal towns began shipbuilding to support their trade, using the prime timbers of the.

Until about 1830, South Carolina had the largest ish population in the United States and all of North America. Chiefly Sephardic Jews who had immigrated from London and the Barbados, most of them lived in Charleston, the center of finance and trade in the colony. (see and the History of Jews in South Carolina).

Revolutionary War


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Prior to the, the began taxing American colonies to raise , particularly outraging South Carolinians with the Townsend Acts that taxed tea, , wine, , and oil. To protest the Stamp Act, South Carolina sent wealthy planter, twenty-six-year-old lawyer , and  to the , held in 1765 in. Other taxes were removed, but taxes remained. Soon South Carolinians, like the, began to dump tea into the Charleston Harbor, followed by and.

South Carolina declared independence from Great Britain and set up its state government on March 15, 1776. Many of the South Carolinian battles fought during the American Revolution were with Carolinians and the Cherokee tribe which had allied itself with the British. This was to General 's advantage, as his strategy was to march his troops north from and sandwich  in the North. Clinton alienated Loyalists and enraged by attacking and nearly  a fleeing army of Patriot soldiers who posed no threat. He also threatened to take away the of Patriot  unless they took up arms against their fellow Americans.

On, , at , Pickens led a body of North and South Carolinians and attacked British Major and his body of American loyalists on a hilltop. This was a major victory for the patriots, especially because it was won by and not trained Continentals. Kings Mountain is considered to be the turning point in the southern campaigns since it forced General to split his troops, making his plan for a major push north impossible. Patriots regained control of and South Carolina with untrained militiamen by trapping Colonel  troops along a river.

In 1787, John Rutledge,, , and went to Philadelphia where the  was being held and constructed what served as a detailed outline for the. The federal Constitution was ratified by the state in 1787., The new state constitution was ratified in 1790 without the support of the Upcountry.

Antebellum South Carolina
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Due to the invention of the in 1786, the economies of Upcountry and Lowcountry became fairly equal in wealth. The Lowcountry could grow long staple cotton, but the Upcountry's soil could only grow short staple cotton. Lowcountry cotton had been easier to separate by hand until 's cotton gin made it as easy to process short staple Upcountry cotton. The invention led farmers to require a larger number of workers to expand their cotton holdings. Upcountry planters increased their importing of enslaved Africans. At the beginning of the 19th century, the population in South Carolina numbered 200,000 whites and 150,000 African Americans, almost all enslaved.

To avoid the dangers of corruption in Charleston, the capital was moved to. Before the, the state's Congressmen voted to prevent Northern industry from exporting any goods, leading to inter-sectional tensions. After the war, however, proclaimed the need for more industry, and proposed higher protective tariffs. He later reversed course.

In 1828, John C. Calhoun decided that constitutionally, the state government of each state within that state had more power than the federal government. Consequently, if a state deemed it necessary, it had the right to "nullify" any federal law within its boundaries. When in 1832, South Carolina's houses quickly "nullified" the hated federally mandated tariffs, President Andrew Jackson declared this an act of open rebellion and ordered U.S. ships to South Carolina to enforce the law.

Calhoun resigned as vice president, planning on becoming a senator in South Carolina to stop its run toward secession while solving the problems inflaming his fellow Carolinians. Before federal forces arrived at Charleston, Calhoun and agreed upon a compromise tariff that would lower rates over 10 years.

Because of their massive investment in enslaved African Americans and recognition they were outnumbered, slaveholding whites grew increasingly anxious about the institution of slavery during the antebellum period. In 1822, free black craftsman and preacher was convicted for having masterminded a plan to overthrow Charlestonian whites with a band of slaves and free blacks. Alarmed, whites established, forbade any teaching of slaves, and prohibited the assembly of large numbers of African Americans. Since the mere presence of free blacks posed a challenge to the slave society, South Carolina legislators required slaveholders to petition the state legislature for specific permission in order to free any slaves (rather than allowing manumission through wills or deeds, as had been the case before.) White communities suffered periodic rumors of slave insurrections, but there was relatively little violence, considering the conditions under which slaves lived.

By 1860 the population of the state was 703,620, with 57% or slightly more than 402,000 classified as enslaved African Americans. Free blacks numbered slightly less than 10,000. Most of the free blacks lived in Charleston, where they could support themselves as artisans, craftsmen and laborers.

American Civil War
See the main article .

Prewar tensions
Very few South Carolina whites saw as an option. Whites feared that if blacks, the vast majority in most parts of the state, were freed, they would try to "Africanize" the whites' cherished and [[culture].  This was what they believed had happened after slave revolutions in some areas of the West Indies. Carolinian leaders were divided between devoted  who opposed any sort of, and those who believed secession was a state's right.

noted that the dry and barren West could not support a plantation system and would remain slaveless. Calhoun proposed that should not exclude slavery from  but let each  choose for itself whether it would allow slaves within its borders. After Calhoun's death in 1850, however, South Carolina was left without a leader great enough in national standing and character to prevent more militant Carolinian factions' desire to secede immediately. argued against Charleston publisher, who advocated immediate secession and, if necessary, independence. Butler won the battle, but Rhett outlived him.

When people began to believe that would be elected President, states in the  organized conventions to discuss options. States with strong pro-secession movements, such as and, sent delegates who advised the Carolinians to "take the lead and secede at once." On, , South Carolinians in Charleston voted to secede from the Union. President declared the secession illegal but did not act to stop it.

Fort Sumter
Six days later, on the day after Christmas,, commander of the U.S. troops in Charleston, withdrew his men against orders into the island fortress of in Charleston Harbor. South Carolina militia swarmed over the abandoned mainland batteries and trained their guns on the island. Sumter was the key position to preventing a naval invasion of Charleston, so the Confederacy could not afford to allow federal forces to remain there indefinitely. More important, having a foreign country (the USA) control its largest harbor meant that the Confederacy was not really independent--which was Lincoln's point.

On, a congress of seven cotton states met in , and approved a new constitution for the. Lincoln argued that the United States were "one nation, indivisible," and denied the Southern states' right to secede. South Carolina entered the Confederacy on, thus ending fewer than six weeks of being an independent State of South Carolina. Virginia politician told Charleston that the only way to get Old Dominion to join the Confederacy was for South Carolina to instigate war with the United States. The obvious place to start was right in the midst of Charleston Harbor.

About 6,000 men were stationed around the rim of the harbor, ready to take on the 60 men in Fort Sumter. At 4:30 a.m. on, after two days of intense negotiations, and with Union ships just outside the harbor, the firing began. The decision was made by President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet. is usually credited with being given the honor firing the first shot. Thirty-four hours later, Anderson's men raised the white flag and were allowed to leave the fort with colors flying and drums beating, saluting the U.S. flag with a 50-gun salute before taking it down.

Civil War devastates the state
The South was at a disadvantage in number, weaponry, and maritime skills--few southerners were sailors. Federal ships sailed south and blocked off one port after another. As early as November, Union troops occupied the Sea Islands in the area, establishing an important base for the men and ships who would obstruct the ports at Charleston and. When the plantation owners, many of whom had already gone off with the, fled the area, the Sea Island slaves became the first "freedmen" of the war. The Sea Islands became the laboratory for Northern plans to educate the for their eventual role as full American citizens.

Despite South Carolina's important role in the start of the war, and a long unsuccessful attempt by the Union to take Charleston from 1863 onward, few military engagements occurred within the state's borders until 1865. Having completed his March to the Sea at Savannah, took his Army to Columbia, then north into North Carolina. There was little resistance to his advance. Sherman's 1865 march through the Carolinas resulted in the burning of Columbia and numerous other towns.

Poverty would mark the state for generations to come. Among the reasons were that South Carolina lost 12,922 men to the war, 23% of its male white population of fighting age, the highest percentage of any state in the nation.

On, , with the Confederate forces finally evacuated from Charleston, the black marched through the city. At a ceremony at which the U.S. flag was once again raised over Fort Sumter, former fort commander Robert Anderson was joined on the platform by two men: African American Union hero and the son of.

Reconstruction 1865-1877
African-Americans had long comprised the majority of the. They began to play a prominent role in the South Carolina government for the first time during. Despite the anti-Northern fury of their prewar and wartime politics, most South Carolinians, including the state's leading opinion-maker,, believed that white citizens would do well to accept 's terms for full reentry to the Union. However, the state legislature, in 1865, passed "," angering Northerners, who accused the state of imposing semi-slavery on the. The South Carolina black codes have been described:
 * "Persons of color contracting for service were to be known as "servants," and those with whom they contracted, as "masters." On farms the hours of labor would be from sunrise to sunset daily, except on Sunday. The negroes were to get out of bed at dawn. Time lost would be deducted from their wages, as would be the cost of food, nursing, etc., during absence from sickness. Absentees on Sunday must return to the plantation by sunset. House servants were to be at call at all hours of the day and night on all days of the week. They must be "especially civil and polite to their masters, their masters' families and guests," and they in return would receive "gentle and kind treatment." Corporal and other punishment was to be administered only upon order of the district judge or other civil magistrate. A vagrant law of some severity was enacted to keep the negroes from roaming the roads and living the lives of beggars and thieves."

The Black codes outraged northern opinion and apparently were never put into effect in any state.

After winning the 1866 elections, the took control of the Reconstruction process. The Army registered all male voters, and elections returned a Republican government comprised of a coalition of Freedmen, and. The federally mandated new Constitution of 1868 brought democratic reforms. Scalawags supported it, but most whites viewed the Republican government as representative of black interests only and were largely unsupportive. Laws forbidding former Confederates, virtually the entire native white male population, from bearing arms only exacerbated the tensions, especially as rifle-bearing black militia units began drilling in the streets of South Carolina towns. Adding to the interracial animosity was many whites' sense that their former slaves had betrayed them. Before the war, most slaveholders had convinced themselves that that they were treating their slaves well and had thus earned their slaves' loyalty. When the Union Army rolled in and slaves deserted by the thousands (though many did not), slaveholders were stunned. The black population scrambled to enjoy and preserve its new rights while the white population attempted to claw its way back up the social ladder by denying blacks those same rights.

The 1876 gubernatorial election
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The raids began shortly thereafter, terrorizing and murdering blacks and black sympathizers in an attempt to reestablish. Most of the state's "better element" showed little tolerance for such violence, especially as it was undertaken anonymously. They largely squelched the movement locally after a few years. In 1876, Piedmont towns were the site of numerous demonstrations by the &mdash;white determined to win the upcoming  by any means possible. Named for their trademark red shirts (worn to mock the historic "waving of the bloody shirt" of the radical ), the Red Shirts turned the tide in South Carolina, convincing whites that this could indeed be the year they regain control. Before the election, Republican Governor asked  for assistance. President sent 1,100 federal troops to keep order and ensure a "fair" election.

Using as a model the ", which had redeemed that state in 1874, South Carolina Redeemers employed intimidation, persuasion, and control of the blacks. Armed with heavy pistols and rifles, they rode on horseback to every Republican meeting, and demanded a chance to speak. The Red Shirts milled among the crowds.  Each selected a black man to watch, privately threatening to shoot him if he raised a disturbance.  The Redeemers organized hundreds of rifle clubs.  Obeying proclamations to disband, they sometimes reorganized as missionary societies or dancing clubs -- with rifles. They set up an ironclad economic boycott against Black activists and Scalawags who refused to vote the Democratic ticket, turning them out of employment and avoiding all contacts with them. They beat down the opposition — but always just within the law.  Only a few  drew blood.  Wade Hampton made more than forty speeches across the state. Thousands of Black Republicans joined his cause; donning the Red Shirts, they paraded with the whites. Most Scalawags "crossed Jordan," as switching to the Democracy was called.

On election day, there was trickery and intimidation on all sides, employed by both parties, and the returns were disputed all the way to Washington, where they played a central role in the. Both parties claimed victory. For a while, two separate state assemblies did business side by side on the floor of the State House (their Speakers shared the Speaker's desk, but each had his own gavel), until the Democrats moved to their own building. There the Democrats continued to pass resolutions and held forth with the state's business, just as the Republicans were doing. The Republican State Assembly tossed out results of the tainted election and reelected Chamberlain as governor. A week later, General Wade Hampton III took the oath of office for the Democrats.

Finally, after months of this, and a couple of near shoot-outs in April 1877, President, in return for the South's support of his own convoluted presidential "victory" over , withdrew federal troops from Columbia. At this point, the Republican government dissolved and Chamberlain headed back north, as Wade Hampton and his Redeemers took control.

Conservative rule 1877-1890
The Democrats were led by General and other former Confederate veterans who espoused a return to the policies of the antebellum period. Known as the Conservatives, or the, they favored a minimalist approach by the government and a conciliatory policy towards blacks while maintaining. Also of interest to the Conservatives was the restoration of the to its prominent prewar status as the leading institution of higher education in the state and the region.

Once in power, the Democrats quickly consolidated their position and sought to repair the damage done to the state by the Radical Republicans. They pressured Republicans to resign from their positions and within a year both the legislative and judiciary were firmly in the control of the Democrats. They launched investigations into the corruption and frauds committed by eminent Republicans during Reconstruction. All charges were dropped when the Federal government dropped its charges against the white participants of the during the 1876 election campaign.

With their position secure, the Democrats next tackled the state debt. Massive corruption and the squandering of the resources of the state by the Republicans during Reconstruction caused the state debt to spiral out of control. When the Radical Republicans came to power in 1868, the debt stood at $5.4 million and in 1877 when the Radicals lost the reigns of state government, the debt had risen to $18.5 million. Many Democrats from the upcountry, led by, pushed for the entire state debt to be canceled, but he was bitterly opposed by those from Charleston who were the chief holders of the bonds. A compromise moderated by Wade Hampton was achieved and by October of 1882, the state debt was reduced to $6.5 million.

Other legislative accomplishments by the Conservatives went to its primary benefactors, the planting and business class. Taxes across the board were reduced and funding was cut for programs that generally assisted the blacks. Oral contracts were made to be legally binding, breach of contract was enforced as a criminal offense, and those who were in debt to planters could be forced to work off their debt. In addition, the University of South Carolina along with were reopened and generously supported by the state government.

By the late 1880's, the swept through the state and raised the awareness of the farming class to assert their political rights. They pressured the legislature to establish an agriculture college. Reluctantly the legislature complied by adding an agriculture college to the University of South Carolina in 1887. However, engaged in  to provoke the farmers into demanding a separate agriculture college completely isolated from the politics in Columbia. The Conservatives finally relented in 1889.

Tillman era 1890-1914
In 1890, Ben Tillman set his sights on the of that year. The farmers of the state rallied behind his candidacy and Tillman easily defeated the Conservative nominee,. The Conservatives failed to grasp the strength of the farmers' movement in the state. They no longer engendered automatic respect for having fought in the Civil War. Not only that, but Tillman's "humorous and coarse speech appealed to a majority no more delicate than he in matters of taste."

The Tillman movement succeeded in enacting a number of Tillman's proposals and pet projects. Among those was the crafting of a new state constitution and a for alcohol. Tillman held a "pathological fear of Negro rule" and devised a new constitution as a means to of voting rights without violating the. After the promulgation of the Constitution of 1895, the usual black vote dropped from approximately 15,000 to under 5,000. Blacks were also excluded from the Democratic primary. The state Dispensary, described as "Ben Tillman’s Baby", was never popular in the state, and violence broke out in over its enforcement. In 1907, the Dispensary Act was repealed. In 1915 the legal sale of alcohol was prohibited by referendum.

Tillman's influence on the politics of South Carolina began to wane after his ascension to the U.S. Senate in 1895. The Conservatives recaptured the legislature in 1902. Aristocratic planter won the. They made no substantial changes and in fact Heyward continued to enforce the Dispensary Act at great difficulty. The state continued its rapid pace of industrialization and this gave rise to a new class of voters, the cotton mill workers.

In 1910 sharecroppers and mill workers coalesced behind the candidacy of Tillmanite in the. They believed that Blease was making them an important part of the political force of the state. Once in office, however, Blease never initiated any policies that were beneficial to the mill workers or poor farmers. Instead, his four years in office were highly erratic in behavior. This helped to pave the way for a progressive,, to win the.

Economic booms and busts
In 1886, Atlanta publisher, speaking before a New York audience, proclaimed his vision of a "", a South based on the Northern economic model. By now, the idea had already struck some enterprising South Carolinians that the they were shipping north could also be processed in South Carolina. The idea was not entirely new to South Carolinians; in 1854, De Bow's Commercial Review of the South & West, founded by Charleston-born, had boasted to of South Carolina's potential for , citing its three lines of s, inexpensive raw materials, nonfreezing rivers, and labor pool.

These advantages persisted after the. By the end of the 19th century, the industry was exploding across South Carolina, particularly upstate because of its -turning rivers. It brought relief from the depressed sharecropper economy. For whites, things were looking up. In 1902, the Low Country hosted the, drawing visitors from around the , with the hope of impressing them with the idea that the state was on the rebound. On, President , whose had attended school in Columbia, made an appearance. He spoke to reconciliation of still simmering animosities between the North and the South.

In South Carolina, things continued to improve with the election of progressive Governor in 1914. The expansion of brightleaf around 1900 from North Carolina brought an agricultural boom. This was broken by the Depression, but the tobacco industry recovered and prospered until near the end of the 20th century. In 1919, the invasion of the destroyed the state's cotton crop. Despite its not having paid well since before the, cotton was still the state's primary crop.

Together with persistent racial segregation, underfunding of public education and limited opportunities, the failure of cotton led thousands of both black and white laborers to migrate to northern cities to seek better jobs and lives.

The expansion of during and after WWII, followed by domestic and foreign investment in manufacturing, have helped revitalized the state.

Desegregation
Compared to hot spots such as Mississippi and Alabama, went rather smoothly during the 1950s and 1960s in South Carolina. And yet, as early as 1948, when ran for  on the  ticket, South Carolina whites were showing their discontent with the Democrats' post– continuation of the 's federalization of power. The process began in in 1961, when nine black  students took seats at the whites-only  counter at a downtown  and refused to leave. When arrested them, the students were given the choice of paying $200  or serving 30 days of hard labor in the  jail. The, as they became known, chose the latter, gaining national attention in the because of their decision to use the "jail, no bail" strategy.

When the time came for to allow  into its classes in 1962, after the state and the college's board of trustees had exhausted all legal recourse to prevent it, word went out from influential whites that no violence or otherwise unseemly behavior would be tolerated. Gantt's entrance into the school occurred without incident, and the, ,  praised the state's handling of the crisis, with an article titled "Desegregation with Dignity: The Inside Story of How South Carolina Kept the Peace". Twenty years later, Gantt would go on to serve as of.

In 1964, 's platform galvanized South Carolina's conservative Democrats and led to major defections into the Republican Party, most notably Thurmond. Unfortunately, the in 1968 made one great exception to the state's peaceful desegregation. Three students were killed and more than 30 others by police overreacting to the violence of students protesting a segregated  alley.

In 1970, when South Carolina celebrated its Tricentennial, more than 80% of its residents had been born in the state. Since then, however, Northerners have discovered South Carolina's courses and. The state, particularly the coastal areas but increasingly inland as well, has become more popular as a tourist destination and magnet for new arrivals. Even some descendants of black Carolinians who moved out of the South during the Jim Crow years have moved back. Despite these new arrivals, about 69% of residents are native born.

Recent events
In the 1970s, South Carolina elected its first Republican governor since Reconstruction. In 1987 and 1991, the state elected and reelected Governor Caroll Campbell, another Republican. Republican, a former Democrat who claimed to have undergone a spiritual rebirth that caused him to reconsider his views, ran for governor as a Republican and won. As governor, Beasley surprised everyone and risked the wrath of Southern traditionalists by announcing, in 1996, that as a he could not justify keeping the Confederate  flying over the State House, since he knew that it offended black South Carolinians. Traditionalists were further shocked when, of , announced that he held the very same view.

Beasley went into the 1998 elections with such an edge in that the top two Democratic candidates did not even bother to run. Remarkably, Beasley was brought down by the Democrats' third stringer, Lancaster State Assemblyman. Hodges, a former opponent of legalized, now attacked Beasley's opposition to the creation of a state and to the continued growth of  in the state. Hodges painted these as salvation tax base for.

Despite Hodge's unwillingness to join Beasley in his opposition to the flying of the Confederate battle flag, the, though at the same time demanding a of the state over that very same issue, announced its support for Hodges. In 1998, 90% of African American Carolinians voted for Hodges, causing the election to swing his way. By 's reckoning, the Collins Company, maker of video gambling machines, had given at least $3.5 million in donations to Hodge's campaign. Others claim the numbers went more than twice that high.

After the election, however, with public opinions steadfastly against video gambling, Hodges asked for a statewide on the issue. He claimed that he would personally join the expected majority in saying "no" on legalized gambling, but vowed not to against it. in both parties suggested that Hodge's to Collins and other members of the state's multibillion-dollar gambling  were keeping him from campaigning against legalized gambling. The idea of a referendum would have worked, except that holding one would have violated the, which makes no provision for them except for ratification of to the constitution itself. State legislators shut down the state's video casinos soon after Hodges took office. They were aided in this action by the public outcry after a Georgia woman killed her 10-day-old by leaving her in a sweltering  while she gambled in a.

Upon his election, Hodges announced that he agreed with Beasley's increasingly popular on the Confederate flag issue, and supported the flag's transfer to a Confederate  on the State House's grounds. Many Carolinians agreed with this position as the only solution. Further, they admired Hodges' solution to shipments to the state.

Nonetheless, Hodges alienated voters sufficiently so that in 2002, most of the state's major newspapers supported  to replace him. Hodges was held responsible for the state's mishandling of the evacuation in 1999. The lack of in the 2000 and 2001 seasons did not give Carolinians a chance to see if Hodge's post-Floyd revisions  would work.

In 2002, South Carolinians were surprised to learn that most of the funds from Hodges' "South Carolina Education Lottery" were used to pay for college, rather than to improve the and  , , and. Hodges had criticized these severely in his campaign for the lottery.

Critics, including leaders at Hodge's church, the, denounced the lottery as taxing the to pay for services for the. In addition, Hodges insisted that a full $3 million be sent to, , Morris College, , and Vorhees College, all with a significant number of non-South Carolinian students.

In the lottery's first year, Hodges and his supporters awarded $40 million for "LIFE Scholarships", granted to any South Carolinian with a B average, in the top 30% of the student's high school class, and an 1,100  score. He and his supporters also awarded $5.8 million for "HOPE Scholarships", which had even lower standards. In 2002, Hodges and legislators were chagrined to learn that only about 40% of the LIFE scholars were able to maintain the necessary 3.0 needed to renew their  for sophomore years. Hodges lost his campaign for reelection in 2002 against Republican moderate, former U.S. from Sullivan's Island.

Textbooks and surveys

 * Edgar, Walter. South Carolina: A History, (1998) the standard scholarly history
 * Edgar, Watler, ed. The South Carolina Encyclopedia,, 2006 ISBN 1-57003-598-9, the most comprehensive scholarly guide
 * Rogers Jr. George C. and C. James Taylor. A South Carolina Chronology, 1497-1992 2nd Ed. (1994)
 * Wallace, David Duncan. South Carolina: A Short History, 1520-1948 (1951) standard scholarly history
 * WPA. South Carolina: A Guide to the Palmetto State (1941)
 * Wright, Louis B. South Carolina: A Bicentennial History' (1976)

Scholarly secondary studies: to 1865

 * Orville Vernon Burton; In My Father's House Are Many Mansions: Family and Community in Edgefield, South Carolina. (1985) online edition
 * Clarke, Erskine. Our Southern Zion: A History of Calvinism in the South Carolina Low Country, 1690-1990 (1996)
 * Channing, Steven. Crisis of Fear: Secession in South Carolina (1970)
 * Coit, Margaret L. John C. Calhoun: American Portrait (1950)
 * Crane, Verner W. The Southern Frontier, 1670-1732 (1956)
 * Ford Jr., Lacy K. Origins of Southern Radicalism: The South Carolina Upcountry, 1800-1860 (1991)
 * Johnson Jr., George Lloyd. The Frontier in the Colonial South: South Carolina Backcountry, 1736-1800 (1997)
 * Rogers, George C. Evolution of a Federalist: William Loughton Smith of Charleston (1758-1812) (1962)
 * Roper, L. H. Conceiving Carolina: Proprietors, Planters, and Plots, 1662-1729 Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 1-4039-6479-3.
 * Schultz Harold S. Nationalism and Sectionalism in South Carolina, 1852-1860 (1950)
 * Sinha, Manisha. The Counterrevolution of Slavery: Politics and Ideology in Antebellum South Carolina (2000)
 * Smith, Warren B. White Servitude in Colonial South Carolina (1961)
 * Wood, Peter H. Black Majority: Negroes in Colonial South Carolina from 1670 Through the Stono Rebellion (1996)

Scholarly secondary studies: since 1865

 * Bass, Jack and Marilyn W. Thompson. Ol' Strom: An Unauthorized Biography of Strom Thurmond,. (2003)
 * David L. Carlton, Mill and Town in South Carolina, 1880-1920 (1982
 * Clarke, Erskine. Our Southern Zion: A History of Calvinism in the South Carolina Low Country, 1690-1990 (1996)
 * William J. Cooper Jr., The Conservative Regime: South Carolina, 1877-1890 (1968).
 * Lacy K. Ford, "Rednecks and Merchants: Economic Development and Social Tensions in the South Carolina Upcountry, 1865-1900," Journal of American History, LXXI (September 1984), 294-318; in JSTOR
 * Kantrowitz, Stephen. Ben Tillman & the Reconstruction of White Supremacy (2002)
 * Kantrowitz, Stephen. "Ben Tillman and Hendrix McLane, Agrarian Rebels: White Manhood, 'The Farmers,' and the Limits of Southern Populism." Journal Title: Journal of Southern History. Volume: 66. Issue: 3. (2000) pp. 497+. in JSTOR online edition
 * Keyserling, Harriet. Against the Tide: One Woman's Political Struggle. University of South Carolina Press, 1998.


 * Peirce, Neal R. The Deep South States of America: People, Politics, and Power in the Seven Deep South States; (1974) solid reporting on politics and economics 1960-72
 * Simon, Bryant. A Fabric of Defeat: The Politics of South Carolina Millhands, 1910-1948 (1998)
 * Simkins, Francis Butler. The Tillman Movement in South Carolina (1926)
 * . Pitchfork Ben Tillman: South Carolinian (1944)
 * , and Robert Hilliard Woody. South Carolina during Reconstruction (1932).
 * Slap, Andrew; "The Spirit of '76: The Reconstruction of History in the Redemption of South Carolina" in The Historian. Volume: 63. Issue: 4. 2001. pp 769+ online in JSTOR on 1876
 * Tullos, Allen Habits of Industry: White Culture and the Transformation of the Carolina Piedmont (1989)
 * Williamson Joel R.  After Slavery: The Negro in South Carolina during Reconstruction, 1861-1877 (1965)
 * Zucek, Richard, State of Rebellion: Reconstruction in South Carolina U of South Carolina Press, 1996

Local studies

 * Bass, Jack and Jack Nelson.The Orangeburg Massacre,. Mercer University Press, 1992.
 * Burton, Orville Vernon. In My Father's House Are Many Mansions: Family and Community in Edgefield, South Carolina (1985), new social history
 * Carlton, David L. Mill and Town in South Carolina, 1880-1920 (1982)
 * Doyle, Don H. New Men, New Cities, New South: Atlanta, Nashville, Charleston, Mobile, 1860-1910 (1990)
 * Huff, Jr., Archie Vernon. Greenville:  The History of the City and County in the South Carolina Piedmont (1995)
 * Moore, John Hammond. Columbia and Richland County:  A South Carolina Community, 1740-1990 (1993)
 * Pease, William H. and Jane H. Pease. The Web of Progress: Private Values and Public Styles in Boston and Charleston, 1828-1843 (1985),
 * Rose, Willie Lee.  Rehearsal for Reconstruction: The Port Royal Experiment (1964)

Primary documents

 * Pike, James Shepherd, The Prostrate State: South Carolina Under Negro Government(New York, 1874). hostile report on Reconstruction full text online at Making of America, University of Michigan
 * Salley, Alexander S. ed. Narratives of Early Carolina, 1650-1708 (1911)
 * Woodmason Charles. The Carolina Backcountry on the Eve of the Revolution Edited by Richard J. Hooker. (1953), a missionary reports