South Carolina

South Carolina is one of the original states of the United States of America, and its history has been remarkable for an extraordinary commitment to political independence, whether from overseas or federal control. As a cornerstone of mercantilism and the slave trade, as the powder keg of the American Civil War, as the home of Jim Crow, and as the heart of the Dixiecrat movement, South Carolina's history has been the epitome of decentralization (federalism) in the U.S.

Although the contemporary U.S. state of South Carolina has been populated since approximately 13,000 BC (when tool-making nomads began to leave material remains), the documented history of South Carolina begins in 1540 with the visit of Hernando de Soto. The royal colony of Carolina (1712) was settled by immigrants from Pennsylvania and Virginia who followed the frontier, in the northern parts, while the southern parts were populated by wealthy English planters. As well, this southern part was more fully developed. For this reason, the Province of South Carolina was distinguished from the Province of North Carolina in 1719.

South Carolina declared independence from Great Britain and set up its own government on March 15, 1776. It joined the United States by signing the Declaration of Independence. For two years its president was John Rutledge who became governor. On February 5, 1778, South Carolina became the first state to ratify the first constitution of the U.S., the Articles of Confederation.
An 1861 engraving of Fort Sumter before the attack that began the Civil War.
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An 1861 engraving of Fort Sumter before the attack that began the Civil War.

Disputes over slavery (as well as other economic matters such as tariff levels) led it to be the first state to secede from the U.S. on December 20, 1860, precipitating the American Civil War with the shelling of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. After the Confederate defeat, South Carolina was occupied during Reconstruction. Freed slaves benefited from this, gaining numerous civil rights; however, the gains were short-lived, and were eventually taken away by the Jim Crow laws that were especially severe in South Carolina. Civil rights for South Carolina's African Americans would remain diminished until the Civil Rights struggle of the mid-20th century.

 

-- Courtesy of Wikipedia

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