Topic 1.4: Government and the Break-up of Carolina
Introduction
So far we have referred to Carolina instead of South Carolina. That is because Carolina was originally North and South Carolina combined. So, how did we go from one Carolina to a North and South Carolina? The simple answer… politics. Keep reading to find out the details!
Political Elite
Carolina’s government became more democratic during the colonial period. Carolina began as a proprietary colony when the land and political control over the land was granted to the eight Lords Proprietors by the king. In order to attract more settlers the proprietors began to share some of the political control of the colony with property owners. Carolina developed a political elite - the wealthiest and largest plantation owners. Other colonies also developed a political elite based on economic status.
Just as in the other colonies, in Carolina there was a legislative assembly established to make laws, including tax laws, for the colony. Most English colonies had a bicameral (two house) assembly. In Carolina, the Proprietors and the elite had greater representation in the government than did the common people. The Grand Council decided that the representatives of the Proprietors, the colonial elite and the common people - should have equal voice in the government even though this representation would not be proportional to their numbers in the population. Later a separate house was established as the Commons House of Assembly to represent the people.
Royal Colonies
By the end of the 1600s, most English colonies founded as joint stock companies had become royal colonies. This meant the king (NOT proprietors) appointed the governor. Most often this change was the result of the king’s desire to control the wealth or to limit the independence of the colony. South Carolina became a royal colony at the invitation of the colonists. Tension between the colonists and the Proprietors grew because the colonists felt neglected by the absentee landlord who collected rent but offered them little protection. The Proprietors thought that the colonists were disobedient and they were making little profit. The Council protested to the king about the neglect of the proprietors and appealed to the king to make Carolina a royal colony. The king made Carolina a royal colony and it was split into North and South Carolina. South Carolina continued to have self-government through their representative assembly but now had a governor who was appointed by the king. The power of the royal governor was limited because colonial assemblies controlled the taxes that paid the governor’s salary. Most often the king and Parliament left the colonies alone to control their own local government.
The Upside of Being Royal
South Carolina enjoyed some economic advantages as a result of becoming a royal colony. The English government increased subsidies for naval stores and allowed merchants to sell rice directly to foreign countries. The English government through the royal governor established townships in the backcountry to encourage migration. Settlers moved there to establish subsistence farms. This intensified the animosity between the Lowcountry and the backcountry.
Lowcountry Vs. Backcountry
The first white settlers to move to the backcountry were traders and woodsmen, so they were viewed by the Lowcountry elite as “uncivilized.” As the first area settled, the Lowcountry along the Atlantic coast surrounding Charleston was the home of plantation owners who grew rich from the export of rice and indigo. As more coastal settlers moved inland and immigrants such as the Scotch Irish and Germans settled in the upstate, the backcountry’s white population grew to outnumber the Lowcountry.
Although the backcountry had a larger white population, they continued to have much less representation in the Assembly. Although they paid taxes, the backcountry folk got little in return from their colonial government. They had no law enforcement so backcountry settlers took the regulation of society into their own hands in what was called the Regulator movement. Because there were no courts, the Regulators operated as vigilantes. This movement to provide law and order through “self- regulation” turned lawless. The “guilty” were hanged or beaten to death without a jury trial, violating their rights as Englishmen. Eventually the government of South Carolina came to the aid of the backcountry settlers by setting up seven circuit courthouses around the colony to provide justice, law and order in the region. However representation in the General Assembly was still disproportional and the tensions between the Lowcountry and the backcountry continued.
So far we have referred to Carolina instead of South Carolina. That is because Carolina was originally North and South Carolina combined. So, how did we go from one Carolina to a North and South Carolina? The simple answer… politics. Keep reading to find out the details!
Political Elite
Carolina’s government became more democratic during the colonial period. Carolina began as a proprietary colony when the land and political control over the land was granted to the eight Lords Proprietors by the king. In order to attract more settlers the proprietors began to share some of the political control of the colony with property owners. Carolina developed a political elite - the wealthiest and largest plantation owners. Other colonies also developed a political elite based on economic status.
Just as in the other colonies, in Carolina there was a legislative assembly established to make laws, including tax laws, for the colony. Most English colonies had a bicameral (two house) assembly. In Carolina, the Proprietors and the elite had greater representation in the government than did the common people. The Grand Council decided that the representatives of the Proprietors, the colonial elite and the common people - should have equal voice in the government even though this representation would not be proportional to their numbers in the population. Later a separate house was established as the Commons House of Assembly to represent the people.
Royal Colonies
By the end of the 1600s, most English colonies founded as joint stock companies had become royal colonies. This meant the king (NOT proprietors) appointed the governor. Most often this change was the result of the king’s desire to control the wealth or to limit the independence of the colony. South Carolina became a royal colony at the invitation of the colonists. Tension between the colonists and the Proprietors grew because the colonists felt neglected by the absentee landlord who collected rent but offered them little protection. The Proprietors thought that the colonists were disobedient and they were making little profit. The Council protested to the king about the neglect of the proprietors and appealed to the king to make Carolina a royal colony. The king made Carolina a royal colony and it was split into North and South Carolina. South Carolina continued to have self-government through their representative assembly but now had a governor who was appointed by the king. The power of the royal governor was limited because colonial assemblies controlled the taxes that paid the governor’s salary. Most often the king and Parliament left the colonies alone to control their own local government.
The Upside of Being Royal
South Carolina enjoyed some economic advantages as a result of becoming a royal colony. The English government increased subsidies for naval stores and allowed merchants to sell rice directly to foreign countries. The English government through the royal governor established townships in the backcountry to encourage migration. Settlers moved there to establish subsistence farms. This intensified the animosity between the Lowcountry and the backcountry.
Lowcountry Vs. Backcountry
The first white settlers to move to the backcountry were traders and woodsmen, so they were viewed by the Lowcountry elite as “uncivilized.” As the first area settled, the Lowcountry along the Atlantic coast surrounding Charleston was the home of plantation owners who grew rich from the export of rice and indigo. As more coastal settlers moved inland and immigrants such as the Scotch Irish and Germans settled in the upstate, the backcountry’s white population grew to outnumber the Lowcountry.
Although the backcountry had a larger white population, they continued to have much less representation in the Assembly. Although they paid taxes, the backcountry folk got little in return from their colonial government. They had no law enforcement so backcountry settlers took the regulation of society into their own hands in what was called the Regulator movement. Because there were no courts, the Regulators operated as vigilantes. This movement to provide law and order through “self- regulation” turned lawless. The “guilty” were hanged or beaten to death without a jury trial, violating their rights as Englishmen. Eventually the government of South Carolina came to the aid of the backcountry settlers by setting up seven circuit courthouses around the colony to provide justice, law and order in the region. However representation in the General Assembly was still disproportional and the tensions between the Lowcountry and the backcountry continued.
Content information was obtained from the South Carolina state standards support document for eighth grade Social Studies. This document can be located at http://www.ed.sc.gov/agency/se/Instructional-Practices-and-Evaluations/documents/Grade8SupportDocument.pdf .All images were obtained from Google.com and were labeled as Free to Use or Share.