Moving to South Carolina, Columbia, Charleston, Greenville
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South
Carolina, the Palmetto State, was one of the original 13 U.S. states.
Located on the Atlantic coast, it is bounded by North Carolina on the
north and Georgia on the southwest. One of the smaller states, it ranks
40th in land area. The capital of South Carolina is Columbia, located
in the geographic center of the state. The state's name is derived from
Charles I of England, who granted "Carolina" in 1629 to Sir Robert Heath.
The first permanent European settlement was at Charles Town--renamed Charleston
in 1783--in early 1670. South Carolina assumed a position of political
and social leadership during the colonial, revolutionary, and antebellum
periods. The post-Civil War era and the early 20th century witnessed a
severe social and economic decline in the state, but the rise of the New
South in the last few decades has renewed the state's vitality.
LAND AND RESOURCES
South Carolina can be divided into three physiographic regions. The Coastal
Plain, the largest and geologically youngest region, extends from the
Sea Islands inland to the Sand Hills. The topography is flat near the
coast but more rolling in the interior, where elevations reach 92 m (302
ft). Sandy barrier islands, many of which are being eroded, and salt marshes,
covered by salt-marsh grass and black needle rush, constitute the common
coastal environment. Old beach ridges are covered with maritime forests
of palmetto (the state tree), live oak, loblolly pine, and wax myrtle.
In the outer Coastal Plain, especially along rivers, numerous swamps support
bald cypress, swamp tupelo, water oak, and willow trees. A physiographic
feature unique to the plain is the many Carolina Bays, whose origin is
still unknown. These elliptical bogs or lakes have a northwest-southeast
axis and are bordered, predominately on the eastern quadrant, by a sand
rim. Characteristic vegetation includes sweet and red bay (for which the
feature is named), cypress, loblolly pine, and sweet gum. The Coastal
Plain culminates in the Sand Hills, which extend from Aiken northeastward
through Columbia to Cheraw. The sandy soils of these hills support scrub
oak, blackjack oak, and longleaf pine.
The Piedmont rises from the fall line, which marks the boundary with the
Coastal Plain, to an elevation of about 427 m (1,401 ft). Streams have
cut deeply into the surface and left a rolling-to-hilly topography. Severe-to-moderate
erosion, which followed extensive agricultural clearing, removed much
of the topsoil and left the heavy red-clay subsoil now characteristic
of the region. Native vegetation is basically hardwood: black, white,
and red oak; pignut hickory; and dogwood. Shortleaf pine also grows in
the Piedmont. Along streams cottonwood, yellow poplar, willow, sycamore,
and sweet gum are common. The loblolly pine, which is not native to the
Piedmont, has been widely planted for pulpwood.
The Blue Ridge Mountains occupy a small portion of the northwest corner
of the state. Elevations vary from 427 m (1,401 ft) to 1,085 m (3,560
ft) at Sassafras Mountain, the highest point in South Carolina. The thin,
well-drained soils of the steep slopes are clayey to loamy.
Drainage
Cutting across the physiographic provinces, which rise in elevation northwestward
from the coast, are the southeastward-flowing river systems, including
the Savannah, Black, Edisto, Pee Dee, and Santee. The most extensive drainage
basin is that of the Santee and its tributaries. The state's largest lakes
are Clark Hill and Hartwell reservoirs and Lakes Marion, Moultrie, and
Murray.
Climate
Average temperatures in January vary from 11 degrees C (51 degrees F)
in Charleston to 7 degrees C (44 degrees F) in Greenville-Spartanburg.
July averages are 26 degrees C (79 degrees F) in Greenville-Spartanburg
and 28 degrees C (82 degrees F) in Charleston. The mean annual precipitation
throughout the state totals 1,295 mm (51 in). Adequate rainfall complements
a growing season of 290 days on the southern coast and more than 200 days
in the northwest. Hurricanes occasionally threaten the coast.
Animal Life
The abundance of white-tailed deer permits a long hunting season. Fox,
mink, muskrat, opossum, otter, rabbit, raccoon, skunk, and squirrel are
protected species in South Carolina. Duck, geese, quail, and wild turkey
attract hunters, and a wide variety of freshwater and saltwater fish is
found in South Carolina's waters.
Resources
Forests cover approximately 60 percent of South Carolina. Metallic minerals,
including gold, were once mined there, but major resources today are limestone,
sand, and gravel in the Coastal Plain, kaolin or china clay mined principally
in Aiken County, granite in the Piedmont, and various clays for brick
and tile mined in many areas. Other minerals include vermiculite, kyanite,
and sericite. Petroleum deposits may lie off the South Carolina coast.
Many rivers provide hydroelectric power.
PEOPLE
About 31 percent of South Carolina's population are nonwhite--one of the
highest percentages in the nation. Most of the state's nonwhites are black.
About 45 percent of the population live in the areas of Charleston, Greenville,
Spartanburg, and Columbia. Major growth continues in those areas and along
the northeastern coast.
South Carolina's growth rate through the 20th century has lagged behind
that of the United States as a whole. This resulted from net out-migration,
which characterized the state until the 1970s. Between 1960 and 1970,
the out-migration was 153,000. About 44,000 whites moved into South Carolina,
but 197,000 blacks left. From 1970 to 1980, however, the state's population
increased by more than 20 percent, almost twice the national average of
11.4 percent. From 1980 to 1990, South Carolina continued to grow at a
rate slightly above the national average. The largest religious group
is the Southern Baptists. Methodists and Presbyterians form the other
major denominations in the state.
Education
Antebellum education was provided by private academies. Despite the 1868
constitution's commitment to free education for all children, public education
did not begin in South Carolina until ratification of the 1895 constitution.
It provided for the allocation of school funds and establishment of a
state board of education.
In per-pupil expenditures South Carolina ranks among the lower 20 percent
of states in the nation; however, South Carolina's per-capita income also
is lower than that in many other states. Despite such factors, significant
improvements have been made in public education. These include special
programs for exceptional children, kindergartens for all children, student
achievement measurements at various stages, and adult education programs.
South Carolina's institutions of higher education include Furman University
and Bob Jones University, both in Greenville, and several state institutions
(see South Carolina, state universities and colleges of). The state's
technical education program, begun in 1969, provides job training for
high school graduates to meet the needs of new industries.
Cultural and Historical Sites
Major museums in South Carolina include Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston,
the Columbia Museum of Art and Gibbes Planetarium, and the religious art
collection at Bob Jones University in Greenville. The Charleston Museum
(established 1773) is the oldest public museum in the United States. County
and regional museums complement these. Many antebellum homes, plantations,
and gardens are open to the public.
National and state historical parks include Fort Sumter, where the Civil
War began, and Kings Mountain National Military Park. A number of state
parks have been established in South Carolina. Popular resorts are located
along the Atlantic coast, especially on the section known as the Grand
Strand (near Myrtle Beach), on the offshore Sea Islands, and in the mountains.
Communications
A leading state newspaper is the Charleston News and Courier (founded
1803). The South Carolina Educational Radio Network has won national broadcasting
awards, and the state's educational television system is highly regarded.
ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
South Carolina's economy traditionally has been based on agriculture,
principally rice and cotton. Recently, however, manufacturing has been
increasing in importance. Before the Civil War, industry in South Carolina
was limited to a few cotton spindles, but in the late 1880s textile mills
began locating in the Piedmont. By the early 20th century the state had
become a leading cotton manufacturer, and in 1940 about 75 percent of
the state's industrial workers were employed in the textile industry.
Imaginative tax legislation, the work of the State Development Board,
and the passage of a right-to-work law in 1954 created an amenable environment
for industry.
Manufacturing
South Carolina's principal industry remains textiles. Most textile mills
are located in the northwestern part of the state. The industry has been
hurt in recent years by foreign competition, however, creating a situation
that has brought about some manufacturing diversification in the state.
Other leading industries include chemicals, nonelectrical machinery, paper
and paper products, and food and food products.
Agriculture
South Carolina's major agricultural commodities are cattle, broiler chickens,
tobacco, soybeans, dairy products, and corn. Cotton, traditionally a leading
crop, is still valuable, as are wheat and peaches. Major commercial fishing
species are various saltwater fish and shellfish. About two-thirds of
the state is covered by forests, most of which are classified as commercial
timberland.
Mining
South Carolina has a small mining industry, producing only nonfuel minerals.
It is a leading producer of vermiculite and mica (scrap). Other commercial
minerals are gold, kaolin (and other types of clays), cement, stone, and
sand.
Energy
South Carolina's energy sources include nuclear power plants; coal, oil,
and gas-burning plants; and hydroelectric plants. Large hydroelectric
installations include the Santee-Cooper project and the Lake Murray dam.
A large nuclear reprocessing and storage plant is located on the Savannah
River. Because of the concentration of nuclear facilities, nuclear energy
and radioactive waste materials were at the center of some controversy
in the state in the early 1980s. In 1993 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
identified three nuclear units that required additional analysis to determine
their safety.
Tourism
Tourism is the second-largest industry in the state. Most of the vacation
spending is at Charleston and the resorts of Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head
Island. Other major attractions are the Cowpens National Battlefield and
Fort Sumter and Kings Mountain military sites.
Transportation
Interstate highways in South Carolina include I-26, which crosses the
state in a northwest-southeast direction, and I-95, running north and
south. Railroad facilities include freight service and limited Amtrak
passenger service. The major port is at Charleston, and the Atlantic Intracoastal
Waterway is a major inland thoroughfare. Important airports are at Charleston,
Columbia, and Greenville-Spartanburg.
GOVERNMENT
South Carolina state government, based on the 1895 constitution, has three
branches. Legislative authority rests with the general assembly, composed
of the house of representatives and the senate. The 124 representatives
serve 2-year terms, and the 46 senators serve 4-year terms. The executive
branch includes the governor, the lieutenant governor, and seven constitutional
officers; each serves a 4-year term, but the governor is limited to two
consecutive terms. Judicial authority is vested in the supreme court,
composed of the chief justice and four associate justices. The justices,
elected by the legislature, serve staggered 10-year terms. The legislative
branch wields the greatest power, controlling appropriations, finances,
and appointments to the state courts and to boards, commissions, and agencies.
The governor has limited power, including a line-item veto that can be
overturned by a two-thirds vote of those present in each legislative house.
The state is represented in the U.S. Congress by six representatives and
two senators. The county is the unit of local government, supplemented
by special districts such as school and fire districts.
For many decades following Reconstruction, South Carolina was staunchly
Democratic. In return, the Democrats did not interfere with the state's
racial status quo. During the Truman presidency, however, challenges to
Democratic dominance began to arise. In 1964, Sen. Strom Thurmond, who
had captured South Carolina's electoral votes as the candidate of the
States' Rights Democrats in 1948, switched to the Republican party. Rejecting
the liberalism of the national Democratic party, the state has voted Republican
in every national election since 1964 except that of 1976. A Republican
(James B. Edwards) was elected governor in 1974, and Republicans have
maintained some strength in later state elections.
HISTORY
About 25 or 30 distinct native tribes lived in South Carolina at the time
of first European contact. The major groups were the Cherokee, the Catawba,
and the Yamasee. By 1800 virtually all had been driven from the state.
Francisco Gordillo was the first European to visit South Carolina in 1521.
The Spanish attempted the first European settlement near present-day Georgetown
in 1526, but it failed after 9 months. In 1663, King Charles II of England
granted the territory that now comprises both North and South Carolina
to eight lords proprietors, one of whom was Anthony Ashley Cooper, later
1st earl of Shaftesbury. The first permanent settlement, at Charles Town
(Charleston) on the Ashley River, was established by the English in 1670.
(It was moved in 1680 to the peninsula between the Cooper and Ashley rivers.)
At first the new colony of Carolina was economically dependent on furs
and skins from the Indian trade and on forest products such as lumber,
resin, and turpentine. By the end of the 17th century, experiments with
rice cultivation proved successful, and it became the leading crop of
colonial Carolina--complemented after 1744 by indigo. The wealth derived
from these crops supported the colony's cultural and intellectual efflorescence.
Settlement spread from Charles Town south toward Beaufort (founded 1710),
north toward Georgetown (1735), and inland along the rivers.
By the 1750s, Germans and Scottish-Irish from Pennsylvania and Virginia
were settling the Piedmont on small, subsistence farms in contrast to
the coastal plantations. The pre-Revolutionary period (1725-75) was a
prosperous one based on pelts and the rapidly expanding rice and indigo
crops. The Southern Indian trade and agricultural exporting centered on
Charleston, which became an increasingly rich and important port. The
colony became more and more independent as the British did little to exercise
control.
South Carolina was early in showing an independent spirit. In 1693 the
colony won the right to initiate legislation in the colonial commons house.
In 1704 an act that would have required members of the colonial assembly
to adhere to the rites of the Church of England was defeated. The church
was, however, made official in 1706 and remained so until 1778. In 1719
the populace rebelled against the British proprietors and their reactionary
policies, expelling them and electing James Moore as governor. As a result
the British crown assumed (1729) jurisdiction, and North and South Carolina
were constituted as separate colonies. A survey of the boundary between
the two, begun in 1735, was not completed until 1815.
The Revolutionary War, after the British repulse at Charleston in 1776,
temporarily bypassed South Carolina. Then the British captured Charleston
on May 12, 1780. The numerous battles and skirmishes fought in the state
after 1780 included important American victories at Kings Mountain and
Cowpens (see Cowpens, Battle of).
South Carolina was the eighth state to ratify the federal Constitution,
on May 23, 1788. To mollify Piedmont settlers, who demanded increased
representation, the General Assembly agreed in 1786 to move the capital.
Columbia was established as the new seat of government. In the first federal
census of 1790, South Carolina's population of 249,073 ranked 7th. Nonwhites
accounted for 43.7 percent of the total and were concentrated in the low
country around Charleston.
Of major economic importance was the adoption at the end of the 18th century
of short-staple, green-seed cotton. It was grown increasingly in the interior,
and the cotton gin, greater European demand, and improved transportation
(the canal system and river improvements began in 1795) made it a viable
economic staple. Its success turned many Piedmont farmers into slave-holding
planters and unified the state economically, socially, and politically.
During the 1820s and '30s cotton prices collapsed, and the state's economy
and population growth stagnated. Blaming these problems on the national
tariff policies, South Carolina--led by Vice-President John C. Calhoun--asserted
its right to nullify federal legislation. In 1832 a special state convention
nullified the Tariff Act of that year. President Andrew Jackson responded
to this action with a Force Act. The nullification crisis was resolved
by compromise, but state rights sentiment continued to grow in South Carolina.
Dissatisfaction culminated in the convention that, on Dec. 20, 1860, voted
to remove South Carolina from the Union, the first Southern state to secede.
The Civil War began on Apr. 12, 1861, with the firing on Fort Sumter in
Charleston Harbor. Beaufort and Port Royal fell to Union forces on Nov.
7, 1861, but not until Sherman's invasion of the state at the beginning
of 1865 was the impact of war felt. Severity of property loss, however,
paled before the mortality figures for South Carolina: about 25 percent
of the 63,000 who served were killed.
Reconstruction was hard on South Carolina, and corrupt officials left
the state with heavy debts. The election of Wade Hampton (1818-1902) as
governor in 1876 and removal of federal troops by President Rutherford
Hayes ended congressional Reconstruction.
Poor cotton prices and severe soil erosion after 1880 stymied economic
improvement, and agricultural distress led to political success for the
farmers' movement. Its leader, Benjamin Ryan Tillman, was elected to the
governor's post (1890-94) and the U.S. Senate (1895-1918). A state constitutional
convention in 1895 largely disenfranchised blacks. Strong populist leanings
characterized politics for decades.
By 1910 rice production had virtually disappeared, although cotton remained
the state's leading crop into the 1950s. During the late 19th century
the tenant system developed, and in 1930 it characterized 65 percent of
the state's farms. During the early 20th century urban concentrations
developed around Piedmont textile centers such as Greenville and Spartanburg,
and the out-migration of blacks reduced their percentage of the population.
World War I temporarily revived agricultural fortunes, but an economic
depression, which lasted for two decades, and infestation by the boll
weevil, which destroyed half the cotton crop, began in 1921. World War
II was a watershed in South Carolina's history, enormously increasing
emphasis on industrialization. By the early 1950s the state was actively
seeking industry to complement the textile mills that had virtually monopolized
the nonagricultural sector of its economy. This, complemented by a diversifying
agricultural base, underpinned an expanding economy.
Despite the 1954 Supreme Court decision (see Brown v. Board of Education
of Topeka, Kansas), South Carolina initially resisted racial integration,
but in the 1960s school integration was achieved. Hurricane Hugo in 1989
did much damage in a dozen of the state's counties.
John J. Winberry
Bibliography: Carlton, David, Mill and Town in South Carolina, 1880-1920
(1982); Federal Writers' Project, South Carolina: A Guide to the Palmetto
State (1941; repr. 1971); Guess, William, South Carolina (1960); Lander,
Ernest M., South Carolina: An Illustrated History of the Palmetto State,
ed. by Amy Adelstein (1988); Littlefield, D. C., Rice and Slaves (1981);
Simkins, F. B., and Woody, R. H., South Carolina during Reconstruction
(1932; repr. 1966); Su, T. T., The South Carolina Economy (1970); Wallace,
David D., South Carolina: A Short History, 1520-1948 (1951; repr. 1984);
Williams, G. C., A Social Interpretation of South Carolina (1946).
(c) 1996 Grolier, Inc.
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