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South Carolina | Perspective

Loyalists

Interviewees:
  • Elizabeth Chew
    • CEO, South Carolina Historical Society
  • Melina Testin
    • Education Coordinator, South Carolina Historical Society

Loyalism was unusually strong in South Carolina, making the Revolution there look as much like a civil war as a war for independence. Roughly a quarter of the white population actively opposed the Patriots, especially in the poorer, politically marginalized backcountry, where resentment of Low Country elites pushed many residents toward the British. Loyalist South Carolinians fought their fellow South Carolinians at Cowpens, Kings Mountain, and many smaller engagements, helping make the state the site of more battles than nearly any other and prolonging the war.

South Carolina was among the wealthiest of the thirteen colonies and the only one where enslaved Black people formed a majority, producing an extraordinarily stratified society divided between Low Country planters and a poorer, marginalized backcountry. It moved toward independence early, building a shadow government and adopting its own constitution in March 1776, months before the Declaration arrived. During the week before the Continental Congress approved the Declaration, Patriots had repelled the British navy at the Battle of Sullivan's Island—still commemorated as Carolina Day. As in many colonies, the Revolution in South Carolina looked as much like a civil war as a war for independence. Roughly a quarter of white residents actively opposed it, and Loyalists fought neighbors at Kings Mountain and Cowpens. Few states saw more battles or greater upheaval. Elite women left a rich documentary record illuminating the complexities of their wartime lives. Throughout the war, Catawba, Cherokee, and Creek struggled with complicated diplomatic choices. In 1782, roughly 5,000 formerly enslaved South Carolinians departed with the British.

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About

How was national independence anticipated, debated, and enacted in each of the original 13 states during the American Revolution?

How has national independence, particularly the ideas articulated in the Declaration of Independence, been remembered and invoked over the last 250 years?

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