The slave trade continued in South Carolina until the constitutionally set limit of 1808. The "middle passage" for slaves from Africa to the New World was full of hazards. Many slaves did not survive the voyage, and their bodies were thrown overboard, as illustrated in this crude engraving.
Courtesy of the South Carolniana Library.
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Antebellum Charleston was famed for its racing, and for the devotion that its citizens showed to breeding and racing horses, making the contests extravagant betting and drinking events. Here the...
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This relief map of what is now Parris Island shows the distribution of the land among the large plantation owners around 1820. Courtesy of the United States Marine Corps, Parris Island Museum.
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Legareville was a summer resort community of the early 19th century, where planters and their families could retreat from the heat and disease of their plantations and enjoy cooling breezes. This 1919...
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Runaway slaves were a constant problem in maintaining a workforce of unfree laborers. Slaves ran away because of mistreatment, out of a desire for freedom, or often simply to be reunited with husbands...
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The lands added to the nation through the conquests of the Mexican War raised anew the question of whether or not slavery would be allowed to expand into the new territories of the west. For two years...
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"Southern Chivalry - Argument versus Clubs," a cartoon by I.L. Magee, illustrated the strong feelings of revulsion that Northerners expressed over the Sumner-Brooks affair. The question of expansion...
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The legislature of South Carolina retained a great deal of authority over many aspects of everyday life. Roads could not be built, ferries across rivers could not be established, slaves could not be...
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The Webster-Hayne Debate. Bitter sectional disputes emerged during the presidency of Andrew Jackson: the issues that divided north from south, and sometimes east from west, included the disposal of...
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The front page of the short-lived "Union and States' Rights Gazette" illustrates the complexity of South Carolina politics even though many outsiders thought the state unified behind opposition to the...
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The Chester Volunteers, Captain Robert Mills Dunovants's company of the Palmetto Regiment, were one of the many South Carolina military units who made up the army that fought in the War with Mexico...