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  1. Introduction
  2.  
  3. The Carolina colony was chartered by England’s King Charles II in 1663, and the first settlers arrived in the vicinity of present-day Charleston in 1670. Many came from Barbados and sought to replicate the slavery-based plantation system with which they were familiar. They found rice to be a suitable crop, and as rice plantations thrived, wealthy planters came to dominate the colony’s economy and legislature. In 1719 the Carolina colony was divided and South Carolina became a separate colony. Proprietary government ended and the colony came under royal control. South Carolina was closely connected with the Atlantic World through immigration, trade, and kinship ties. Immigrants from Europe, the West Indies, and the northern colonies gave South Carolina the most diverse European population of any North American colony. The majority of the population, however, consisted of enslaved Africans, and there was also a substantial Native American presence until the end of the American Revolution. Important issues in the historiography of South Carolina include the colony’s relationship to the West Indies, particularly the extent of the latter region’s influence on South Carolina’s development; South Carolina’s influence on other mainland colonies; and relations between South Carolina and Native Americans, a topic that received little attention until the 1990s, and one that merits further examination. Slavery is another important, and a more thoroughly examined, theme, and includes aspects such as the contributions of Africans to rice cultivation, the persistence of African culture among slaves, and slave revolts and resistance. The development of the colony’s plantation system and the concurrent rise of the wealthy lowcountry planters to political dominance in South Carolina are two other important and interrelated topics. There is some debate over the extent to which the planter elite maintained its political dominance over the small farmers who made up the majority of the state’s white population amid the democratizing trends of the Jeffersonian and Jacksonian eras. South Carolina’s strained relationship with the federal government during the first half of the 19th century is another important issue, and the consensus among historians is that the state’s policies were shaped by the desire to preserve slavery, which led eventually to South Carolina’s secession and the Civil War. After the war, social changes caused by the emancipation of slaves, along with the physical devastation and economic difficulties resulting from the conflict, shifted the focus of South Carolinians toward domestic issues.
  4.  
  5. General Overviews
  6.  
  7. Several works cover broad spans of South Carolina history. Some focus on specific eras, while others span several periods of the state’s history. Edgar 1998 provides the greatest breadth of coverage, from the colonial era through the late 20th century. Coverage of the post-Reconstruction decades is often thin, but Edgar 1992 devotes necessary attention to most of that period, so that these two volumes together provide a thorough examination of South Carolina history. Alleyne and Fraser 1988 focuses on the links between Barbados and colonial South Carolina, and explores the persistence of Barbadian influence. Weir 1983 provides broad coverage of the colonial era, with the bulk of its emphasis on political issues, while Klein 1990 likewise addresses largely political matters from the late colonial era through the first decades of the American republic, with an emphasis on the importance of slavery in linking the backcountry with the lowcountry. The lowcountry economy is the subject of Coclanis 1989, a study that begins with the colony’s founding and continues into the early 20th century, tracing the transition from an agricultural system based on slave labor to a more diversified economy in which manufacturing played an increased role. Graham and Moore 1994 focuses on state politics from the early years of the American republic into the late 20th century, and notes the importance of social and economic issues on the state’s political culture. Online primary and secondary sources that cover the full range of South Carolina’s history supplement all of these works and are available through the Avery Research Center Digital Collections, the Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World Program, the South Carolina Digital Library, the Lowcountry Digital History Initiative, the South Carolina Historical Society, and the University of South Carolina Libraries Digital Collections.
  8.  
  9. Alleyne, Warren, and Henry Fraser. The Barbados-Carolina Connection. London: Macmillan Caribbean, 1988.
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  11. Discusses the connections between South Carolina and Barbados. In addition to the links established when many Barbadians settled in the newly founded colony, the authors present evidence of other ties, such as architecture and peculiarities of language.
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  13. Avery Research Center Digital Collections.
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  15. This site includes documents, oral histories, photographs, artifacts, and examples of South Carolina’s material culture and art.
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  17. Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World Program.
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  19. Emphasizing the connections between the South Carolina lowcountry and the larger Atlantic World, this collection includes a broad range of primary and secondary material covering topics such as the Civil War, African American history, and the history of the state’s Jewish community.
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  21. Coclanis, Peter A. The Shadow of a Dream: Economic Life and Death in the South Carolina Lowcountry, 1670–1920. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
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  23. Analyzes the factors that led to South Carolina’s economic growth, beginning with the success of rice production in the colonial era, the decline of the rice industry as a result of competition from other regions, and subsequent economic changes in the state.
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  25. Edgar, Walter B. South Carolina in the Modern Age. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1992.
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  27. Provides an overview of South Carolina history from the Progressive Era in the late 19th century through the Depression, New Deal, and the changes brought about by the civil rights movement and the economic transformation away from agriculture.
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  29. Edgar, Walter B. South Carolina: A History. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1998.
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  31. A comprehensive narrative of the history of South Carolina from its founding in 1670 to the late 20th century. Reflecting the existing historiography, the bulk of this work focuses on the colonial period through Reconstruction, although Edgar provides solid if less detailed coverage of the state’s later history.
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  33. Graham, Cole Blease, Jr., and William V. Moore. South Carolina Politics and Government. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994.
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  35. Examines the continuity of the state’s political culture from its roots in the early national period and its adjustments to the challenges posed by economic and social change in the modern era. The volume also devotes considerable attention to South Carolina’s political institutions.
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  37. Klein, Rachel N. Unification of a Slave State: The Rise of the Planter Class in the South Carolina Backcountry, 1760–1808. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1990.
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  39. Argues that colonial-era divisions between small farmers in the South Carolina backcountry and wealthy planters in the lowcountry, though never eliminated, were largely overcome by the two groups’ shared commitment to slavery.
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  41. Lowcountry Digital History Initiative.
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  43. Focusing on the history of the lowcountry region, digitized materials range from biographical information to business records and photographs.
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  45. South Carolina Digital Library.
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  47. Consisting of over 200,000 digitized items from more than forty South Carolina libraries, museums, and archives, this collection includes both primary and secondary sources covering numerous aspects of the state’s history.
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  49. South Carolina Historical Society.
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  51. Digitized materials include personal journals, collections of family documents, and oral histories.
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  53. University of South Carolina Libraries Digital Collections.
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  55. A broad array of documents, books, photographs, maps, and films representing all periods of South Carolina history are included in the collection.
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  57. Weir, Robert M. Colonial South Carolina: A History. Millwood, NY: KTO, 1983.
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  59. Weir analyzes the many important issues of the colonial era, including the transition from proprietary to royal government, the enslavement of Native Americans and Africans, the rising power of the colonial legislature, and tensions between the wealthy lowcountry planters and small farmers in the backcountry.
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  61. Reference Works
  62.  
  63. The South Carolina Encyclopedia (Edgar 2006) is the only comprehensive reference work on the state.
  64.  
  65. Edgar, Walter B., ed. The South Carolina Encyclopedia. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2006.
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  67. A single-volume reference work containing over 1,900 entries on significant individuals, events, and issues in South Carolina history. Each entry contains a list of references to direct readers to additional sources on the subject.
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  69. Anthologies
  70.  
  71. Some key aspects of South Carolina’s history are examined in anthology form. Lippy 1993 deals with one of the most important elements in shaping South Carolina from the colonial era to the present: religion. The essays in this volume cover the various religious denominations in the state and their histories. Shields 2009 contains several essays that discuss the material culture of Charleston in the colonial era. Chesnutt and Wilson 1991 focus more broadly on a variety of key topics from race to politics.
  72.  
  73. Chesnutt, David R., and Clyde N. Wilson, eds. The Meaning of South Carolina History: Essays in Honor of George C. Rogers, Jr. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1991.
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  75. Race relations, political issues, and economic and labor topics are the focus of the twelve essays in this volume.
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  77. Lippy, Charles H., ed. Religion in South Carolina. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1993.
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  79. A collection of fourteen essays that demonstrate the religious diversity of South Carolina by examining the various religious denominations and their history from the colonial period to the late 20th century, along with African American religious beliefs.
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  81. Shields, David S., ed. Material Culture in Anglo-America: Regional Identity and Urbanity in the Tidewater, Lowcountry, and Caribbean. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2009.
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  83. Chapters focusing on Charleston argue that merchants and artisans were more important in shaping the city’s development and society than were the planters, and that British influence on Charleston’s material culture reflected the city’s role as a center of imperial trade.
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  85. Bibliographies
  86.  
  87. Easterby 1950 is valuable for those seeking older material on South Carolina history. More recent efforts to produce updated bibliographies have been widely judged as inadequate.
  88.  
  89. Easterby, James H. Guide to the Study and Reading of South Carolina History: A General Classified Bibliography. Columbia: Historical Commission of South Carolina, 1950.
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  91. A thorough listing of published primary and secondary sources for the years prior to its publication.
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  93. Journals
  94.  
  95. Published quarterly by the South Carolina Historical Society since 1900, the South Carolina Historical Magazine covers all aspects of the state’s history.
  96.  
  97. South Carolina Historical Magazine. 1900–.
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  99. Until the late 20th century, most articles focused on South Carolina history from the colonial era through Reconstruction; since then, much more attention has been given to more recent historical events. Early issues of the magazine are still useful, as they contain numerous primary sources.
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  101. Primary Sources
  102.  
  103. Several collections of published and online primary sources provide a firsthand look at the history of South Carolina. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database contains a wealth of information and statistical data on the slave trade in South Carolina. Information on virtually any topic, and from any period of the state’s history, can be found in various newspaper databases, including the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Early American Newspapers, 1690–1922, and ProQuest Historical Newspapers. Similarly broad historical coverage is accessible through the digital collections of the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, and the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina; however, only a fraction of the documents held by these archives have been digitized. More specific information on a wide range of topics during the colonial and Revolutionary eras is contained in Laurens 1968–2002. Two published collections of documents focus on the Revolution, with the majority of the contents concerning South Carolina. Greene 1991–2005 provides the American view of the war in the South, and is well complemented by Cornwallis 2010. For the early national period, Calhoun 1959–2003 is a valuable resource, particularly with regard to state and federal political issues.
  104.  
  105. Calhoun, John C. The Papers of John C. Calhoun. 28 vols. Edited by Clyde N. Wilson, et al. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1959–2003.
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  107. Covering the period 1801–1850, this collection of documents illuminates Calhoun’s life, political career, and important issues such as Nullification and the Mexican-American War.
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  109. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers.
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  111. Spanning the years 1836–1922, this digitized collection from the Library of Congress includes over 120 newspapers published in towns and cities throughout South Carolina.
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  113. Cornwallis, Charles. The Cornwallis Papers: The Campaigns of 1780 and 1781 in the Southern Theatre of the American Revolutionary War. 6 vols. Edited by Ian Saberton. Uckfield, UK: Naval and Military Press, 2010.
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  115. These volumes, containing extensive correspondence to and from Lord Cornwallis and other officers, provide a detailed account of the Revolutionary War in South Carolina from the British perspective.
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  117. Early American Newspapers, 1690–1922.
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  119. Nearly fifty South Carolina newspapers, dating to 1735, are included in this collection. A fee is required to access the database.
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  121. Greene, Nathanael. The Papers of General Nathanael Greene. Vols. 6–13. Edited by Richard K. Showman, Dennis Conrad, and Roger N. Parks. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991–2005.
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  123. This portion of the Greene Papers covers the years when Greene commanded the Continental Army in the South, 1780–1783, and provides detailed information on the Revolution in South Carolina.
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  125. Laurens, Henry. The Papers of Henry Laurens. 16 vols. Edited by David R. Chesnutt and C. James Taylor. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1968–2002.
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  127. The correspondence and other documents in these volumes cover the years 1746–1792, and contain valuable information regarding the life, economic pursuits, and Revolutionary activities of the most prominent South Carolinian of the era.
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  129. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
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  131. This site, which requires a subscription fee, provides complete copies and press runs of major newspapers from the 18th century to the present.
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  133. Scott, Robert N., ed. The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. 128 vols. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1880–1901.
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  135. Consisting of military reports, records, and correspondence, this vast collection contains information on Civil War events in South Carolina, as well as accounts of the activities of South Carolina officers and troops serving outside the state.
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  137. South Carolina Department of Archives and History.
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  139. Representing only a small portion of the State Archives’ document collections, this site included digitized court and legislative records, wills, and Confederate veterans’ records.
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  141. Southern Historical Collection.
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  143. This collection within the University of North Carolina Libraries Digital Collection, spanning the full breadth of Southern history, includes a significant amount of material on South Carolina; a substantial amount of the archival holdings are available online.
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  145. Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database.
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  147. This database contains material on over 35,000 voyages of slave-trading vessels, and provides information on voyages, numbers of slaves transported, and the names of over 91,000 slaves, covering Africa, Europe, and the Americas.
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  149. The Colonial Era
  150.  
  151. During the colonial era, South Carolina grew from a small coastal enclave to the wealthiest of Britain’s colonies on the North American mainland. Wealthy rice planters dominated the colony politically and economically, although by 1775 most whites lived in the backcountry and slaves constituted the majority of South Carolina’s population.
  152.  
  153. Native American History
  154.  
  155. Relations between Native Americans and colonists were profoundly influential in shaping South Carolina’s development. Early encounters and their generally harmful effects on the Natives of the coastal region are examined in Waddell 1980. By the early 18th century, colonial-Native relations began to deteriorate because of the extensive English demand for Native slaves, as detailed in Gallay 2002. However, Snyder 2010 argues that slavery had existed among Natives in various forms before European contact. Nevertheless, the enslavement of Natives was one of the disputes between Natives and settlers that resulted in major conflict, as addressed in Ramsey 2010. This volume also extends to colonial relations with Native groups in the backcountry as settlements expanded inland. Merrell 1989 provides a valuable study in how colonial expansion influenced the growth and decline of the Catawba nation in the South Carolina interior. Hatley 1993 analyzes the effects of contact between South Carolinians and the Cherokee nation as colonists moved farther westward, and how initially positive relations devolved into hostility by the eve of the American Revolution. The most important consequence of this growing tension was the Cherokee War of 1759–1761, which is the focus of Tortora 2015; the author demonstrates the importance of this previously understudied conflict in shaping the future course of the Cherokee nation and the South Carolina colony.
  156.  
  157. Gallay, Alan. The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South, 1670–1717. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002.
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  159. Argues that during the first decades of settlement the trade in Native slaves was the mainstay of South Carolina’s economy, encouraging violence across the Southeast among Native groups that captured and sold other Natives into slavery, and ultimately provoking the Yamasee War.
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  161. Hatley, Tom. The Dividing Paths: Cherokees and South Carolinians through the Era of Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
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  163. This volume assesses the impact of European contact on the Cherokees, the early bonds forged between the Cherokees and colonists, and the eventual conflicts culminating in the American Revolution that resulted in mutual hostility.
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  165. Merrell, James H. The Indians’ New World: Catawbas and Their Neighbors from European Contact through the Era of Removal. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989.
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  167. Traces the development of the Catawba nation through the consolidation of small Native groups who grew to dominate much of South Carolina in the 18th century. Warfare and disease reduced the Catawbas to a remnant by the 1750s, but they survived by maintaining good relations with their colonial neighbors.
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  169. Ramsey, William L. The Yamasee War: A Study of Culture, Economy, and Conflict in the Colonial South. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2010.
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  171. Examines the causes, course, and consequences of the war between the Yamasees and South Carolina. Argues that South Carolina’s success in winning the Cherokees to the colony’s side, along with the inability of the Yamasees and their allies to procure firearms and ammunition, led to the Natives’ defeat.
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  173. Snyder, Christina. Slavery in Indian Country: The Changing Face of Captivity in Early America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010.
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  175. Examines the origins of Native enslavement in the South, arguing that it can be traced back to Mississippian culture, and that Native groups executed war captives or held them as laborers in accordance with their own needs, social practices, and particular circumstances.
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  177. Tortora, Daniel J. Carolina in Crisis: Cherokees, Colonists, and Slaves in the American Southeast, 1756–1763. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2015.
  178. DOI: 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469621227.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  179. Focuses on the role of the Cherokee War of 1759–1761 in shaping South Carolinians’ attitudes toward Native Americans, slavery, and the imperial relationship with Great Britain. Also argues that the Cherokee War unified the linguistically linked but previously loosely affiliated Native groups in the backcountry into a more cohesive Cherokee nation.
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  181. Waddell, Gene. Indians of the South Carolina Lowcountry, 1562–1751. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1980.
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  183. Identifies nineteen Indian nations that inhabited the South Carolina lowcountry at the time of European colonization, and discusses how war, epidemic disease, and enslavement forced these Natives to migrate or unite with other nations, leading to their elimination as separate nations.
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  185. African American History
  186.  
  187. African American slaves were crucial to South Carolina’s economic development. Wood 1974 provides a thorough study of the development of slavery in the colony and slaves’ importance in the development of rice cultivation. Taking this argument farther, Carney 2001 asserts that slaves brought their knowledge of rice cultivation from Africa, and that it was their knowledge that enabled rice to be grown successfully in the colony. The slave trade that brought Africans to South Carolina is the focus of Littlefield 1991, which demonstrates the efforts that planters undertook to choose the most suitable slaves. This work is supplemented by Morgan 1998a, an essay that emphasizes economic aspects of the slave trade. Morgan 1982 examines the task system employed on South Carolina plantations and the unsupervised space it provided for slaves; this was followed by the more detailed study in Morgan 1998b, which studies the role of crops and labor systems in shaping slaves’ culture. In a more narrow look at one parish, Joyner 1984 similarly concludes that the task system enabled slaves to preserve aspects of their African heritage. Morgan 2004 asserts that enslaved women had less leverage, and were exploited by planters for both their labor and their ability to increase the number of slaves through reproduction. The Stono Rebellion of 1739, a slave insurrection that led to the implementation of more restrictions on South Carolina’s slaves, is the focus of Smith 2005. The Africans in America website includes a substantial amount of material on African Americans in South Carolina, as does the website In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience.
  188.  
  189. Africans in America. Boston: WGBH Educational Foundation.
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  191. This extensive resource includes primary sources and articles spanning the colonial era through the Civil War, many relating to South Carolina.
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  193. Carney, Judith A. Black Rice: The African Origins of Rice Cultivation in the Americas. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001.
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  195. Asserts that the success of rice as a staple crop in South Carolina was not the result of planters’ efforts, but was instead dependent on the skills brought from Africa by slaves already familiar with rice cultivation and whose knowledge, ranging from irrigation to food preparation, proved essential to the development of profitable rice production.
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  197. In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience. New York: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
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  199. This website provides access to primary and secondary sources related to the African diaspora, including material on the transatlantic and domestic slave trade, the experiences of runaway slaves, and voluntary migration after emancipation.
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  201. Joyner, Charles. Down by the Riverside: A South Carolina Slave Community. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1984.
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  203. Analyzes slavery in All Saints Parish and concludes that despite the harsh conditions they faced, African Americans took advantage of the task system of labor to achieve a measure of independence and succeeded in preserving many elements of African culture.
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  205. Littlefield, Daniel C. Rice and Slaves: Ethnicity and the Slave Trade in Colonial South Carolina. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991.
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  207. Argues that South Carolina planters and slave traders were well aware of differences among Africans and preferred to import and purchase people from certain regions of Africa for employment as plantation laborers.
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  209. Morgan, Philip D. “Work and Culture: The Task System and the World of Lowcountry Blacks, 1700–1880.” William & Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., 39.4 (October 1982): 563–599.
  210. DOI: 10.2307/1919004Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  211. Discusses the task system on rice plantations, its suitability to rice production, and the autonomy it provided for slaves. Notes that slaves who labored under the task system were able to use free time to produce their own crops and acquire property, and thus clung to the system after emancipation.
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  213. Morgan, Kenneth. “Slave Sales in Colonial Charleston.” English Historical Review 113.453 (September 1998a): 905–927.
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  215. Examines slave importation to Charleston, where the majority of North American mainland slaves were imported. Argues that centralization of the slave trade in the city was economically efficient, and discusses various aspects of the trade, including the many participants.
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  217. Morgan, Philip D. Slave Counterpoint: Black Culture in the Eighteenth-Century Chesapeake and Lowcountry. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998b.
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  219. Morgan examines the effects of slavery in two colonial regions, showing how the environment and particular crop produced affected slaves and masters. In addition to discussing interactions between slaves and their owners, Morgan also assesses how slaves successfully overcame the restrictions of bondage to create their own unique culture.
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  221. Morgan, Jennifer L. Laboring Women: Reproduction and Gender in New World Slavery. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.
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  223. Asserts that female slaves played a key role in the growth of a slavery-based economy, with women serving as part of the labor force as well as a means of increasing the number of slaves through reproduction; in promoting the latter, planters created a dehumanized image of enslaved women.
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  225. Smith, Mark M. Stono: Documenting and Interpreting a Southern Slave Revolt. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2005.
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  227. Combining primary sources with four essays on the 1739 slave revolt, Smith provides material to support the contention that the Stono Rebellion was the key factor in the increasing harshness and racism of slavery in the colony.
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  229. Wood, Peter H. Black Majority: Negroes in Colonial South Carolina from 1670 through the Stono Rebellion. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974.
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  231. Wood traces the history of slavery in South Carolina and the role of slaves in developing rice cultivation in the colony, and discusses how the Stono Rebellion of 1739 led to the establishment of a harsher system of slavery that severely restricted the lives of slaves.
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  233. Politics
  234.  
  235. The political system in colonial South Carolina was dominated by the planter aristocracy. The development of this group and their use of economic success to secure and maintain political power is the focus of Waterhouse 1989. The efforts of an important royal governor to advance the interests of the colony in conjunction with the planter-dominated legislature while fulfilling his obligations to the British government in London is examined in Robinson 1996. The triangular relationship between British influence, colonial political leadership, and slaves is the focus of Olwell 1998.
  236.  
  237. Olwell, Robert. Masters, Slaves, and Subjects: The Culture of Power in the South Carolina Low Country, 1740–1790. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998.
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  239. Situates the relationship between masters and slaves within the context of the British Empire, arguing that British influences in areas such as the law, the Anglican Church, and the economy shaped the development of slavery and reinforced planter dominance in South Carolina.
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  241. Robinson, W. Stitt. James Glen: From Scottish Provost to Royal Governor of South Carolina. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996.
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  243. Discusses the role of Royal Governor James Glen in South Carolina. As the longest serving royal governor of the colonial era, Glen shaped Indian policy, skillfully balanced royal authority with the power of the colonial legislature, and did much to contribute to the colony’s development.
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  245. Waterhouse, Richard. A New World Gentry: The Making of a Merchant and Planter Class in South Carolina, 1670–1770. New York: Garland, 1989.
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  247. A study of the rise of the dominant planter class. The author shows that those able to take advantage of economic opportunities in South Carolina quickly came to dominate the colony’s politics. Waterhouse also discusses the lives enjoyed by members of this wealthy elite.
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  249. Social and Economic Development
  250.  
  251. South Carolina quickly developed an economy and society that were unique on the North American mainland. Historians continue to debate how much of the colony’s character was shaped by early immigrants from Barbados. Dunn 1971 asserts that while Barbadians were important to South Carolina’s development, settlers from other island colonies were also influential. Greene 1987 argues for the importance of the Barbados connection, and notes the island’s influence, transmitted through South Carolina, on other southern colonies. Disputing these opinions, Bull 1995 puts forth evidence to show that the Barbados-South Carolina ties have been exaggerated. Menard 1994 shifts the focus to the economic pursuits of the early settlers, arguing that those who arrived in the colony with their own capital or who were able to secure financial resources locally were those who became successful planters. Morgan 1995 examines another economic issue, the rice trade and the skills needed to succeed in exporting that commodity. Continuing the focus on factors leading to economic success, Edelson 2006 argues that planters demonstrated great flexibility in adapting their agricultural practices to South Carolina’s environment. Immigrants also had to adapt in order to assimilate, and Hagy 1993 asserts that Charleston’s Jews did so with great success, while von Ruymbeke 2006 shows that French Huguenots found assimilation a more difficult process. Ernst and Merrens 1973 address the issue of the lack of urbanization in the southern colonies; using Camden as an example, the authors assert that the town fulfilled all the functions of a backcountry urban center despite a small population.
  252.  
  253. Bull, Kinloch. “Barbadian Settlers in Early Carolina: Historical Notes.” South Carolina Historical Magazine 96.4 (October 1995): 329–339.
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  255. Bull argues that the influence of settlers from Barbados in South Carolina was less than generally believed, noting that many immigrants reported as having arrived from Barbados had only stopped at the island briefly and their journeys had originated elsewhere.
  256. Find this resource:
  257. Dunn, Richard S. “The English Sugar Islands and the Founding of South Carolina.” South Carolina Historical Magazine 72.2 (April 1971): 81–93.
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  259. Argues that settlers from the West Indies were extremely influential in the establishment of South Carolina and its plantation economy. In addition to immigrants from Barbados, Dunn also notes that newcomers from Bermuda, the Bahamas, and Jamaica helped to shape the colony.
  260. Find this resource:
  261. Edelson, S. Max. Plantation Enterprise in Colonial South Carolina. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006.
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  263. Asserts that South Carolina’s planter elite flexibly blended English agricultural practices, the skills and labor of their slaves, and adaptation to the local environment to achieve economic success, and sought to use their wealth to attain status within the British Empire.
  264. Find this resource:
  265. Ernst, Joseph A., and H. Roy Merrens. “‘Camden’s Turrets Pierce the Skies!’: The Urban Process in the Southern Colonies during the Eighteenth Century.” William & Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., 30.4 (October 1973): 549–574.
  266. DOI: 10.2307/1918595Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  267. The authors maintain that function rather than population should be used to define urban centers. Using Camden, South Carolina, as their primary example, the authors cite Camden’s location on land communication routes and its churches, courthouse, jail, and merchant activity as evidence that the town served as a regional urban center.
  268. Find this resource:
  269. Greene, Jack P. “Colonial South Carolina and the Caribbean Connection.” South Carolina Historical Magazine 88.4 (October 1987): 192–210.
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  271. The author argues that South Carolina developed according to the plantation model that originated in Barbados. Greene further asserts that this social and economic model was transmitted to British colonies in Georgia, East Florida, West Florida, and the Cape Fear area of North Carolina.
  272. Find this resource:
  273. Hagy, James. This Happy Land: The Jews of Colonial and Antebellum Charleston. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1993.
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  275. This study of the Jewish community in Charleston finds that Jews had adapted well to the cultural norms of South Carolina. Hagy examines their occupations, lives, and religious views.
  276. Find this resource:
  277. Menard, Russell R. “Financing the Lowcountry Export Boom: Capital and Growth in Early South Carolina.” William & Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., 51.4 (October 1994): 659–676.
  278. DOI: 10.2307/2946923Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  279. Asserts that while some early settlers who rose to become prominent planters did so because they arrived in the colony with substantial capital, many others began as small planters who developed their plantations and acquired slaves through local sources of financing and reinvestment of their profits.
  280. Find this resource:
  281. Morgan, Kenneth. “The Organization of the Colonial American Rice Trade.” William & Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., 52.3 (July 1995): 433–452.
  282. DOI: 10.2307/2947294Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  283. Discusses the profitable rice trade in which the commodity was shipped, primarily from Charleston, to markets in Britain, the West Indies, and many European nations. Morgan explains how the complexities of such an expansive trade were overcome by the acumen of the numerous business people involved in the trade.
  284. Find this resource:
  285. von Ruymbeke, Bertrand. From New Babylon to Eden: The Huguenots and Their Migration to Colonial South Carolina. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2006.
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  287. Examines the first generation of French Protestant settlers in South Carolina and the difficulties they faced in establishing new lives in the colony, arguing that their assimilation into an English colony was a slow process.
  288. Find this resource:
  289. Religion
  290.  
  291. The Church of England was the predominant religious institution in colonial South Carolina, and Bolton 1982 argues that despite the settlement of large numbers of dissenters in the backcountry, the church remained successful and influential before the Revolution. Little 2013 concedes Anglican success, but asserts that dissenters responded to the dominance of the established church with a strengthened commitment to their own beliefs, often expressed through revivals. Clarke 1996 challenges the view of Anglican dominance, providing evidence that members of Calvinist denominations equaled Anglicans in accumulating wealth and political power.
  292.  
  293. Bolton, S. Charles. Southern Anglicanism: The Church of England in Colonial South Carolina. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1982.
  294. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  295. Argues that the Anglican Church in South Carolina was a thriving institution during the colonial era, in part due to strong lay control that led to the appointment of qualified and respected clergy members.
  296. Find this resource:
  297. Clarke, Erskine. Our Southern Zion: A History of Calvinism in the South Carolina Low Country, 1690–1990. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1996.
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  299. Asserts that Calvinist denominations claimed as many members in the lowcountry as did the established Anglican church, and that Calvinist South Carolinians equaled or exceeded Anglicans in economic success and political influence.
  300. Find this resource:
  301. Little, Thomas. The Origins of Southern Evangelicalism: Religious Revivalism in the South Carolina Lowcountry, 1670–1760. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2013.
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  303. Challenging the prevailing view that religion was relatively unimportant to many residents of the South Carolina lowcountry, the author argues that dissenting denominations responded to Anglican dominance with renewed religious commitment and revivals long before the Great Awakening.
  304. Find this resource:
  305. The American Revolution
  306.  
  307. Beginning in 1780 with the British capture of Charleston, South Carolina became the center of fighting in the American Revolution. Several of the war’s most important battles were fought in the state, and several histories cover both the military aspects of the Revolution and its broader effects. Buchanan 1997 provides a thorough account of the campaigns and battles, while Nadelhaft 1981 examines the social and political dimensions of the conflict and the undermining of planter dominance. Lambert 1987 focuses on South Carolina’s loyalists and adheres to the traditional argument that the British erred in expecting large numbers of loyalists to assist them. Challenging this view, Piecuch 2008 asserts that loyalists were numerous in South Carolina, but the British failed to support and utilize them properly; the volume also expands the study of loyalists to include slaves and Native Americans.
  308.  
  309. Buchanan, John. The Road to Guilford Courthouse: The American Revolution in the Carolinas. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1997.
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  311. A detailed account of the military history of the Revolution in South Carolina through the Battle of Cowpens in January 1781.
  312. Find this resource:
  313. Lambert, Robert Stansbury. South Carolina Loyalists in the American Revolution. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1987.
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  315. Examines the motivations of South Carolina loyalists, their role in the Revolution, and their experiences in the immediate postwar period. Supports the traditional view that the British strategy to reconquer the southern colonies failed because officials in London overestimated the amount of loyalist support in the region.
  316. Find this resource:
  317. Nadelhaft, Jerome I. The Disorders of War: The Revolution in South Carolina, 1776–1860. Orono: University of Maine at Orono Press, 1981.
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  319. Describes how South Carolina’s planter and merchant elite led the colony into the Revolution, and made concessions to backcountry settlers and Charleston artisans to gain their support. Nadelhaft argues that the state’s constitution of 1790 represented a victory for small farmers and artisans in gaining a share of political power.
  320. Find this resource:
  321. Piecuch, Jim. Three Peoples, One King: Loyalists, Indians, and Slaves in the Revolutionary South, 1775–1782. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2008.
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  323. Addressing the Revolution from the perspective of Britain’s supporters, this volume focuses primarily on South Carolina. The author challenges the traditional view that British officials overestimated their support in the South, arguing instead that British policy errors and harsh rebel retaliation against the Crown’s allies resulted in Britain’s failure.
  324. Find this resource:
  325. Early National/Antebellum Period
  326.  
  327. The decades between the American Revolution and the Civil War saw a transition in the South Carolina economy from rice to cotton and a growing resistance to federal authority, particularly as it represented a threat to slavery.
  328.  
  329. Politics
  330.  
  331. South Carolina politics in the early national era were marked by commitments to states’ rights and the preservation of slavery. These beliefs were important in the state’s ratification of the US Constitution, as demonstrated in Bradford 1988. Despite the new system of government, Greenberg 1977 argues that political power in the state remained in the hands of the wealthy planters. McCurry 1995 supports this view, asserting that both gender relations and religion reinforced planter authority. The Charleston elite also relied on visual elements such as architecture to signify their status, according to McInnis 2005. As a result, as asserted in Sinha 2000, the planter class continued to use its authority to uphold slavery. This view, however, is not universal; Ford 1988 questions the view that planter authority was unchallenged, arguing that in the Jacksonian era, South Carolina shared in the national trend toward a more democratic form of politics. Barnwell 1982 expresses the more common assertion of planter dominance, and emphasizes planters’ commitment to slavery in exacerbating sectional tensions before the Civil War. Davis 2001 examines the movement toward secession through the life of Robert Barnwell Rhett, while Bartlett 1993 discusses the influence of slavery and southern regionalism in thwarting the national political ambitions of another South Carolinian, John C. Calhoun.
  332.  
  333. Barnwell, John. Love of Order: South Carolina’s First Secession Crisis. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982.
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  335. Discusses South Carolina’s response to national efforts to restrict the spread of slavery and to the Compromise of 1850. Barnwell asserts that white South Carolinians saw such measures as a threat to slavery, and that the planter-dominated legislature rejected compromise in favor of a rigid defense of slavery.
  336. Find this resource:
  337. Bartlett, Irving H. John C. Calhoun: A Biography. New York: W. W. Norton, 1993.
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  339. Portrays Calhoun as a man of honor who became increasingly committed to slavery and regional interests. Argues that Calhoun’s desire to win the presidency affected his career, because his beliefs made it difficult for him to achieve national political success in the increasingly democratic environment of the early 19th century.
  340. Find this resource:
  341. Bradford, M. E. “Preserving the Birthright: The Intention of South Carolina in Adopting the U.S. Constitution.” South Carolina Historical Magazine 89.2 (April 1988): 90–101.
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  343. Analyzes the debates surrounding the ratification of the Constitution in South Carolina. Opponents disliked the Constitution’s strengthening of federal power and feared that northern states would dominate the new government. Federalists successfully argued that the Constitution would provide security for South Carolina, protect its commercial interests, and preserve slavery.
  344. Find this resource:
  345. Davis, William C. Rhett: The Turbulent Life and Times of a Fire-Eater. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2001.
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  347. This biography of Robert Barnwell Rhett, South Carolina’s leading advocate of secession, portrays Rhett as a skilled politician who consistently supported the expansion of slavery and opposed federal policies that might endanger that institution.
  348. Find this resource:
  349. Ford, Lacy K., Jr. Origins of Southern Radicalism: The South Carolina Upcountry, 1800–1860. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
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  351. Disputes the view that South Carolina was unique among the states in the antebellum era. Instead, Ford argues that South Carolina had much in common with other southern states, including the spread of the cotton economy and an increasingly democratic political system that challenged elite control in the Jacksonian era.
  352. Find this resource:
  353. Greenberg, Kenneth S. “Representation and the Isolation of South Carolina, 1776–1860.” Journal of American History 64.3 (December 1977): 723–743.
  354. DOI: 10.2307/1887238Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  355. Argues that despite the trend toward democracy and direct representation occurring in other states, South Carolinians clung to the idea of virtual representation, in which elected legislators sought to promote the common good over local interests. This allowed wealthy planters to continue to dominate the state legislature.
  356. Find this resource:
  357. McCurry, Stephanie. Masters of Small Worlds: Yeoman Households, Gender Relations, and the Political Culture of the Antebellum South Carolina Low Country. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
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  359. McCurry argues that gender relationships within families, supported by religious institutions, both reflected and shaped South Carolina’s concept of hierarchical society and politics, including small farmers’ acceptance of planter rule.
  360. Find this resource:
  361. McInnis, Maurie D. The Politics of Taste in Antebellum Charleston. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005.
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  363. This study discusses how prominent Charleston residents signified their elite status through the use of visible items, such as architecture and furnishings, and used elements such as landscape design to separate themselves from lower-class whites and slaves.
  364. Find this resource:
  365. Sinha, Manisha. The Counterrevolution of Slavery: Politics and Ideology in Antebellum South Carolina. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000.
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  367. Analyzes the efforts of South Carolina’s planter leadership to protect slavery through their emphasis on states’ rights and their belief that the US Constitution protected slavery. The author also argues that these views fueled the secession movement in the state.
  368. Find this resource:
  369. Nullification and Secession
  370.  
  371. In 1832, South Carolina unsuccessfully attempted to nullify a new federal tariff law, arguing that state interests took precedence when they would be harmed by national legislation. Freehling 1968 asserts that there was a strong and overlooked link between tariff nullification and slavery. Lander 1980 similarly connects opposition to the Mexican-American War in South Carolina to fears regarding the possible effect of the conflict on slavery. Supporting these views, Channing 1970 argues that South Carolinians’ fear that Republicans would pursue abolitionist policies resulted in the state’s secession.
  372.  
  373. Channing, Steven. Crisis of Fear: Secession in South Carolina. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1970.
  374. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  375. Asserts that advocates of secession in 1860 feared that the success of the Republican Party would lead to the abolition of slavery and therefore result in the destruction of the state’s economy and slavery-based social system.
  376. Find this resource:
  377. Freehling, William W. Prelude to Civil War: The Nullification Controversy in South Carolina, 1816–1836. New York: Harper & Row, 1968.
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  379. Argues that the Nullification Crisis of 1832 involved more than a dispute over tariff policy; it was linked to slavery, which might be threatened by expanded federal authority over the states. In an effort to gain support for their opposition to the tariff, South Carolinians downplayed the slavery issue.
  380. Find this resource:
  381. Lander, Ernest McPherson, Jr. Reluctant Imperialists: Calhoun, the South Carolinians, and the Mexican War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1980.
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  383. Lander maintains that South Carolinians were divided over the issue of war with Mexico. He cites Senator John C. Calhoun’s abstention on the congressional vote for war and his concern that the war would have negative consequences for slavery; Lander also notes that the state had difficulty recruiting troops.
  384. Find this resource:
  385. African American History
  386.  
  387. Slavery remained the basis of South Carolina’s economy in the early 19th century. Chaplin 1992 discusses the growth of rice plantations and the consequences with regard to strengthening both slavery and the planter class. While some historians have argued that the South’s plantation economy cannot be considered capitalist, Dusinberre 1996 refutes this interpretation. Slaves’ resistance to bondage gave rise to the 1822 Denmark Vesey conspiracy to organize a rebellion. Although some historians have questioned that such a plot actually existed, Egerton 1999 makes a convincing case that the conspiracy was real, while Lofton 1969 focuses on the ramifications of the event in the state. Koger 1985 focuses on free blacks and their ownership of slaves, asserting that these people used slaves in much the same manner as white slave owners. Myers 2011 also examines free blacks with a focus on women that adds a new dimension to the understanding of race relations. As demonstrated in Lerner 2004, not all South Carolinians supported slavery; Lerner argues that the Grimke sisters simultaneously struggled for abolition and women’s rights.
  388.  
  389. Chaplin, Joyce E. “Tidal Rice Cultivation and the Problem of Slavery in South Carolina and Georgia, 1760–1815.” William & Mary Quarterly, 3d ser. 49.1 (January 1992): 29–61.
  390. DOI: 10.2307/2947334Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  391. Asserts that the expansion of rice cultivation to tidal lowlands demanded capital and labor that were only available to the planter elite, thus allowing them to increase their profits and power. This innovation also reinforced the institution of slavery due to the large number of workers required on such plantations.
  392. Find this resource:
  393. Dusinberre, William. Them Dark Days: Slavery in the American Rice Swamps. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
  394. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  395. Discusses the workings of rice production, the benefits planters derived from their profits, and the condition of slaves. The author argues the plantation economy was not a precapitalist system, asserting that it was indeed capitalist and that planters’ desire for profits resulted in harsh conditions for their slaves.
  396. Find this resource:
  397. Egerton, Douglas R. He Shall Go Out Free: The Lives of Denmark Vesey. Madison, WI: Madison House, 1999.
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  399. The author challenges the views of some historians that the slave conspiracy led by free black Denmark Vesey was a figment of white South Carolinians’ imagination, arguing that the conspiracy was real and that Vesey and his followers hoped to escape to Haiti.
  400. Find this resource:
  401. Koger, Larry. Black Slaveowners: Free Black Masters in South Carolina, 1790–1860. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1985.
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  403. Koger observes that the number of free black slave owners, most of mixed racial ancestry, increased substantially between 1820 and 1840 before rapidly declining. He argues that while some free blacks acquired slaves to free relatives from bondage to whites, most utilized slaves for profit.
  404. Find this resource:
  405. Lerner, Gerda. The Grimke Sisters from South Carolina: Pioneers for Women’s Rights and Abolition. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004.
  406. DOI: 10.5149/9780807868096_lernerSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  407. The author examines the lives of South Carolina sisters Angelina and Sarah Grimke, arguing that the Grimkes’ fight for the abolition of slavery was also a battle for women’s rights.
  408. Find this resource:
  409. Lofton, John. Insurrection in South Carolina: The Turbulent World of Denmark Vesey. Yellow Springs, OH: Antioch, 1969.
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  411. Situating the Denmark Vesey slave conspiracy within the context of race relations in Charleston, Lofton narrates the events of the Vesey incident and discusses the conspiracy’s effects in the state.
  412. Find this resource:
  413. Myers, Amitra Chakrabarti. Forging Freedom: Black Women and the Pursuit of Liberty in Antebellum Charleston. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011.
  414. DOI: 10.5149/9780807869093_myersSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  415. Explores the lives of free black women in Charleston in the decades before the Civil War. The author argues that free black women sought to preserve their personal and economic independence through the acquisition of property and strategic alliances with those in a position to assist them, including whites.
  416. Find this resource:
  417. The Civil War
  418.  
  419. South Carolina was the first state to secede and the war began at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Stokes 2015 provides the only recent overview of South Carolina in the Civil War. An older but still valuable study, Cauthen 1950 focuses on the state’s politics immediately preceding and during the war. One of two major campaigns conducted in the state, the 1863 Union attack on Charleston, is examined in great detail in Wise 1994. The second campaign, General William T. Sherman’s march through the state’s interior in 1865, is addressed by Lucas 2000 with a focus on events in Columbia. Approaching the same topic more generally, Stokes 2012 emphasizes the effects of the campaign on South Carolina’s inhabitants.
  420.  
  421. Cauthen, Charles Edward. South Carolina Goes to War, 1860–1865. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1950.
  422. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  423. Focusing on political history, the author narrates the rise of the secessionist movement and argues that it enjoyed broad popular support; political management of the state’s war effort is also examined.
  424. Find this resource:
  425. Lucas, Marion B. Sherman and the Burning of Columbia. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2000.
  426. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  427. Examines the reaction of officials and civilians in Columbia to the approach of General William T. Sherman’s Union army, and argues that Sherman’s troops were not solely responsible for the burning of the city, as Confederate attempts to burn stores of cotton contributed to the conflagration.
  428. Find this resource:
  429. Stokes, Karen. South Carolina Civilians in Sherman’s Path: Stories of Courage amid Civil War Destruction. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2012.
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  431. Describes how Union general William T. Sherman’s march through South Carolina produced a wave of destruction that caused much suffering for state residents in his army’s path.
  432. Find this resource:
  433. Stokes, Karen. Confederate South Carolina: True Stories of Civilians, Soldiers and the War. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2015.
  434. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  435. Examines the roles of South Carolinians in the Civil War and the conflict’s effect on their lives.
  436. Find this resource:
  437. Wise, Stephen R. Gate of Hell: Campaign for Charleston Harbor, 1863. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1994.
  438. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  439. Wise’s comprehensive account of the Union effort to capture Charleston in 1863 emphasizes the strategic and symbolic importance of the campaign for both sides and the role of black soldiers in the Union army.
  440. Find this resource:
  441. Reconstruction
  442.  
  443. The period of federal Reconstruction in South Carolina, 1865–1877, was marked by controversy and violence as former slaves struggled to protect their newly achieved freedom while whites attempted to maintain their supremacy. Williamson 1965 examines the efforts of former slaves to secure their rights during this era, while Holt 1977 focuses more narrowly on the political aspects of this struggle. Similarly, Saville 1994 emphasizes one aspect of blacks’ fight for equality, in this case, the economic dimension. Schwalm 1997 devotes attention to the role of gender in this issue, an element that had previously received little attention. Utilizing a biographical approach, Miller 1995 explores the African American experience during and after Reconstruction through the life of the black politician Robert Smalls. The white backlash against Reconstruction and African Americans’ efforts to achieve equality is explored broadly in Zuczek 1996. A key aspect of this topic, the role of the Ku Klux Klan in preserving white supremacy, is addressed in Williams 1996.
  444.  
  445. Holt, Thomas. Black over White: Negro Political Leadership in South Carolina during Reconstruction. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1977.
  446. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  447. Holt challenges the view that freed African Americans in post–Civil War South Carolina were manipulated by carpetbaggers from the North, instead arguing that black leaders during Reconstruction were capable individuals who led their own fight for political equality but were often undermined by divisions among themselves.
  448. Find this resource:
  449. Miller, Edward A. Gullah Statesman: Robert Smalls, from Slavery to Congress, 1839–1915. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995.
  450. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  451. Chronicles the life of an important African American leader during and after Reconstruction. The author discusses Smalls’ role in forming South Carolina’s Republican Party and promoting public education, along with his efforts to retain a modicum of political power for blacks in his home region of Beaufort after Reconstruction.
  452. Find this resource:
  453. Saville, Julie. The Work of Reconstruction: From Slave to Wage Laborer in South Carolina, 1860–1870. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
  454. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  455. Primarily focuses on the economic aspects of Reconstruction as former slaves sought resources to establish themselves economically and struggled to develop their own work patterns. Saville notes the importance of black organizations such as churches and militia units and community events in creating a post-slavery African American culture.
  456. Find this resource:
  457. Schwalm, Leslie A. A Hard Fight for We: Women’s Transition from Slavery to Freedom in South Carolina. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.
  458. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  459. Asserts that gender has been overlooked both in studies of slavery and in the lives of freed people after the Civil War. Schwalm argues that gender was at the heart of African Americans’ struggle to assert a measure of control over their own lives before and after obtaining their freedom.
  460. Find this resource:
  461. Williams, Lou Falkner. The Great South Carolina Ku Klux Klan Trials, 1871–1872. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1996.
  462. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  463. Discusses the violent campaign of South Carolina’s Ku Klux Klan against African Americans, the arrest of many Klan members in 1871, and their subsequent trials. Williams argues that the government’s failure to hold the Klansmen accountable became legal precedent for subsequent cases that restricted African Americans’ civil rights.
  464. Find this resource:
  465. Williamson, Joel. After Slavery: The Negro in South Carolina during Reconstruction. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1965.
  466. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  467. Examines the efforts of black South Carolinians to secure their freedom during Reconstruction, the whites who assisted them, and whites who opposed them, often with violence. Williamson argues that this violence laid the foundations for racial segregation that persisted for the next century.
  468. Find this resource:
  469. Zuczek, Richard. State of Rebellion: Reconstruction in South Carolina. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1996.
  470. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  471. Focuses on white opposition to federal Reconstruction policies, arguing that this resistance represented a continuation of the Civil War in its use of violence. The author follows this opposition through the reestablishment of white authority under Wade Hampton and the imposition of policies to restrict the rights of African Americans.
  472. Find this resource:
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