WEBVTT NOTE 22. Slavery in South Carolina 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.000 Volume 2, Chapter 22, Slavery in South Carolina 2 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:17.000 South Carolina distinguished itself in the 18th century for being the first southern colony to develop a great agricultural staple other than tobacco. 3 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:29.000 First grown in South Carolina in 1694, rice very rapidly became the staple of the colony, with the Port of Charleston the center of the rice trade. 4 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:35.000 So successful was the expansion of rice grown on large plantations in the coastal swamps 5 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:44.000 that Britain added it to the enumerated list of commodities as early as the Navigation Act of 1704. 6 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:52.000 By 1722, South Carolina was exporting nine million pounds of rice per year. 7 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:58.000 And by 1750, the total had increased to 27 million. 8 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:06.000 By mid-century, South Carolina had begun to grow another staple crop, which rose swiftly to second rank beneath rice. 9 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:19.000 This was indigo dye, introduced successfully into the colony in 1744 by Eliza Lucas, who later married Chief Justice Charles Pinckney. 10 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:25.000 Also grown on lowland swamps, indigo proved a natural seasonal complement to rice, 11 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:34.000 and large plantations intensively staffed with Negro slaves proved to be ideal for combining the two products. 12 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:44.000 By the mid-1750s, indigo production in the colony was in high gear and 500,000 pounds were being exported annually. 13 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:53.000 The rice and indigo plantations differed significantly from the tobacco plantations of Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay area. 14 00:01:53.000 --> 00:02:04.000 The former were smaller, more concentrated, and more intensively cultivated. That is, they required considerably more slaves per acre. 15 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:11.000 Hence, the proportion of Negro slaves to whites became considerably higher in South Carolina. 16 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:18.000 In 1750, the Southern colonies had the following ratio of Negroes to whites. 17 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:36.640 In Thousands, Maryland, Negros 49, Whites 115, Virginia, Negros 141, Whites 199, North 18 00:02:36.640 --> 00:02:49.400 South Carolina, Negroes 34, whites 76, South Carolina, 39, 25. 19 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:56.520 As we can see, the tobacco colonies had considerably fewer Negroes than whites, whereas Negro slaves 20 00:02:56.520 --> 00:03:01.120 outnumbered whites in South Carolina by a good margin. 21 00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:07.520 South Carolina cultivation taking place in swampland was also much unhealthier than the 22 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:13.760 tobacco growing of the upper south. The plantation owners, more fortunate than their slaves, 23 00:03:13.760 --> 00:03:20.360 could escape the malarial climate and did so choosing to live in mansions in Charleston 24 00:03:20.360 --> 00:03:27.200 rather than on their estates. This contrasted to the decentralized plantation life of the 25 00:03:27.200 --> 00:03:57.200 Another and more important reason for the intensive growth of Charleston was the shallowness of the rivers, which prevented ships from going directly to the plantation wharves, as in the upper south, hence a central port became economically necessary. Rice and indigo cultivation became economic only through the large-scale use of slaves, but indigo needed an additional subsidy to become profitable. 26 00:03:57.200 --> 00:04:06.200 Great Britain in 1748 granted a bounty of six pence for each pound of indigo exported to England. 27 00:04:06.200 --> 00:04:13.200 There were slave plots and insurrections in many American colonies, but the especial brutality toward 28 00:04:13.200 --> 00:04:20.200 and the high concentration of slaves made South Carolina the focal point for slave rebellion. 29 00:04:20.200 --> 00:04:27.200 Slave Rebellion. As early as 1702, the South Carolina Assembly reprimanded the constables 30 00:04:27.200 --> 00:04:33.200 of Charleston for negligence in controlling the slaves, reprimanded a William Harvey of 31 00:04:33.200 --> 00:04:39.340 the city for allowing cabals of Negroes at his house, and listened to the saga of a Negro 32 00:04:39.340 --> 00:04:45.600 slave who had threatened his master with a general slave revolt in the colony. In the 33 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:51.840 In the spring of 1711, the South Carolinians were terrified by an uprising of several armed 34 00:04:51.840 --> 00:04:59.840 Negroes. Led by a slave named Sebastian, they plundered the plantations of their oppressors. 35 00:04:59.840 --> 00:05:04.960 Presumably the fear came not from the few marauders, but from the apprehension that 36 00:05:04.960 --> 00:05:11.280 they might light the spark of a general slave revolution in the colony. Governor Robert 37 00:05:11.280 --> 00:05:18.560 Bert Gibbs lamented to the assembly how insolent and mischievous the Negroes are become and 38 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:24.320 recommended some exemplary form of punishment as well as a possible improvement in the slave's 39 00:05:24.320 --> 00:05:32.800 subsistence standard. In 1713, a slave plot in the Goose Creek section was betrayed and 40 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:39.800 stamped out, the assembly rewarding the Negro informer with a gift of five pounds sterling. 41 00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:46.960 A plan for a massive slave revolt goaded by an economic depression was uncovered in 1720, 42 00:05:46.960 --> 00:05:52.840 and a considerable number of Negroes were arrested, burned, hanged or banished. 43 00:05:52.840 --> 00:05:58.280 A report to the King the following year declared in horror that the black slaves have lately 44 00:05:58.280 --> 00:06:03.820 attempted and were very near succeeding in a new revolution which would probably have 45 00:06:03.820 --> 00:06:10.820 have been attended by the utter extirpation of all Your Majesty's subjects in this province. 46 00:06:12.100 --> 00:06:19.100 In 1729, a severe epidemic of influenza decimated the ranks of the South Carolina Negroes. Perhaps 47 00:06:20.500 --> 00:06:26.940 goaded by this extra burden, the slaves planned another massive revolt the following year. 48 00:06:26.940 --> 00:06:32.540 But the Negroes differed over tactics, some urging each group of slaves to destroy its 49 00:07:02.540 --> 00:07:09.420 The same year, several runaway slaves committed robberies, and the governor offered the very 50 00:07:09.420 --> 00:07:18.780 large reward of twenty pounds a head for each slave captured. In 1731 and 1732, some runaway 51 00:07:18.780 --> 00:07:25.680 slaves were shot and several other negroes killed or executed. Furthermore, the colony 52 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:30.840 Many fretted over the flight of some slaves to freedom in the Spanish town of St. Augustine 53 00:07:30.840 --> 00:07:32.080 in Florida. 54 00:07:32.080 --> 00:07:38.120 Indeed, the War of England, under Spain, led the embittered Spaniards to offer freedom 55 00:07:38.120 --> 00:07:40.760 to the slaves of the English. 56 00:07:40.760 --> 00:07:48.480 The official policy of welcome to Negro refugees began in the fall of 1733, when the Spanish 57 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:54.560 crown announced that all fugitive slaves reaching Florida would be permitted to remain there 58 00:07:54.560 --> 00:08:04.200 In 1738 a group of liberated Negroes was established in a town north of St. Augustine and the policy 59 00:08:04.200 --> 00:08:08.320 of welcome to fugitives was again proclaimed. 60 00:08:08.320 --> 00:08:15.060 The attractiveness of St. Augustine coupled with a severe famine in 1737 led the Negroes 61 00:08:15.060 --> 00:08:17.720 to a series of uprisings. 62 00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:24.280 In the latter year three slaves were arrested for conspiracy against the peace of this government. 63 00:08:24.280 --> 00:08:31.040 Complaints mounted by flight of slaves, individuals and groups, to the haven of St. Augustine. 64 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:37.680 Indeed, a virtual state of guerrilla warfare erupted, with much assassination of masters 65 00:08:37.680 --> 00:08:46.080 and uncovering of slave conspiracies. In late 1738, a group of South Carolina slaves rebelled 66 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:53.080 and fought their way through English America to reach freedom in Florida. 67 00:08:53.080 --> 00:09:02.480 In early 1739, a great slave plot was uncovered for massive armed uprising in flight to Florida. 68 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:07.960 But slave flights continued and one group was joined by two whites. In April, the South 69 00:09:07.960 --> 00:09:13.440 Carolina legislature passed a bill for more effective suppression of slave revolts, but 70 00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:20.560 this did not stop a revolt by about twenty slaves, led by one Jimmy at Stono, twenty 71 00:09:20.560 --> 00:09:30.560 The Rebels raided an arsenal, killing two guards, appropriated considerable arms and 72 00:09:30.560 --> 00:09:36.440 ammunition, and made their way south. The embittered slaves burned several buildings 73 00:09:36.440 --> 00:09:42.240 and killed all whites in their path, except an innkeeper named Wallace, who was known 74 00:09:42.240 --> 00:09:49.560 to be a good man and kind to his slaves. The Jimmy Rebellion ignited a spark among the 75 00:10:19.560 --> 00:10:27.220 and another lengthy skirmish, but ten Negroes managed to escape to freedom. Negro and Indian 76 00:10:27.220 --> 00:10:35.860 slaves who informed on the refugees were rewarded very handsomely by the government. In mid-1740, 77 00:10:35.860 --> 00:10:41.960 another major slave plot, this time centering in Charleston, was betrayed in advance by a 78 00:10:41.960 --> 00:10:49.140 slave named Peter, so that an uprising of nearly two hundred virtually unarmed slaves 79 00:10:49.140 --> 00:10:55.720 was confronted by an armed troop. The result could only be a rout. Fifty of the recaptured 80 00:10:55.720 --> 00:11:01.980 Negroes were hanged in batches of ten a day to intimidate the other Negroes. The betrayer, 81 00:11:01.980 --> 00:11:10.140 Peter, was rewarded with clothing and cash. During 1740 and 1741, many fires broke out 82 00:11:10.140 --> 00:11:17.100 in Charleston, some of which, at least, were examples of Negro protest. A Charleston grand 83 00:11:17.100 --> 00:11:47.100 In July, 1937, a German jury in March 1740 denounced the activities of such white friends of Negro freedom as Hugh Bryan, who wrote a monograph warning the government of the destruction of Charleston and deliverance of the Negroes from their servitude. Bryan's book was forcibly suppressed by the government. Joining Hugh Bryan in a call for Negro liberation were Jonathan Bryan, William Gilbert and Robert Ogle. 84 00:11:47.100 --> 00:11:52.540 After out of fire to its privileged position, the Charleston government executed a woman 85 00:11:52.540 --> 00:11:59.140 for committing arson, even burned a man to death in August 1741 for setting fire to a 86 00:11:59.140 --> 00:12:06.660 house supposedly with the evil intent of burning down the remaining part of the town, and convicted 87 00:12:06.660 --> 00:12:11.260 two slaves of setting fire to Charleston's arsenal. 88 00:12:11.260 --> 00:12:17.080 In addition to brutal repression, South Carolina tried to alleviate the pressure of slave rebellion 89 00:12:17.080 --> 00:12:24.720 and in other ways. Laws were passed requiring better food and clothing for slaves and magnanimously 90 00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:32.040 limiting slave working hours to 15 a day. Also, the frightened South Carolinians placed 91 00:12:32.040 --> 00:12:38.400 a high tariff on importing slaves and used the revenue to subsidize the immigration of 92 00:12:38.400 --> 00:12:44.800 white Protestants in order to redress the growing preponderance of Negroes in the colony. 93 00:12:44.800 --> 00:12:52.920 The importation of slaves stopped completely from 1740 to 1744 and opened again only when 94 00:12:52.920 --> 00:13:00.180 the slave traders of Bristol, England vehemently complained. But South Carolina partially conceded 95 00:13:00.180 --> 00:13:06.920 in its efforts and colonial South Carolina never had quite so heavy a preponderance of 96 00:13:06.920 --> 00:13:15.680 of Negros after 1740. In that year, Negros in South Carolina totaled some 30,000 and 97 00:13:15.680 --> 00:13:26.280 whites approximately 15,000, while the figures for 1750 are about 39,000 Negros and 25,000 98 00:13:26.280 --> 00:13:33.560 whites. South Carolina did not scruple to enlist Indians to crush the Negro slaves. In 99 00:13:33.560 --> 00:13:40.560 In 1744, the government asked some Indians to apprehend armed runaway slaves who had 100 00:13:40.560 --> 00:13:48.920 formed a base in the woods. Another slave plot was brewing in 1748. It was again uncovered 101 00:13:48.920 --> 00:13:56.000 before ripening. In 1751, South Carolina found it necessary to provide the death penalty 102 00:13:56.000 --> 00:14:02.440 for slaves even attempting to poison white people, an act which had lately been occurring 103 00:14:02.440 --> 00:14:21.440 A 4-pound reward was offered to any Negro informer whose tale led to conviction. In 1759, another major revolt occurred in South Carolina, and in 1761, Negroes returned to systematic poisoning of their white masters. 104 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:27.440 A Negro rebellion broke out in 1765, but was suppressed by the militia. 105 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:47.440 Another anticipated revolt at the end of that year was thwarted by massive precautionary measures, including militia patrols, the importation of a number of Indians to terrorize the Negro slaves, and putting up-country settlers, as well as North Carolinians, on the alert. 106 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:52.440 A hundred slaves did manage to escape, however, to the swamps of Colleton County.