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RAMSAY'S HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
From ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT IN 1670 TO THE YEAR 1808.
by David Ramsay, M.D. 
Preface dated "Charleston, December 31st, 1808"
Published in 1858, by W.J. Duffie, Newberry, S.C.  
Reprinted in 1959, by The Reprint Company, Spartanburg, S.C.   
Volume I, CHAPTER III, pp 46-53

CIVIL HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA.  CHAPTER III. 
The Revolution in 1719, from Proprietary to Royal Government. 
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In the meantime, the delegates of the people were occupied in regulating
public affairs. They took a dislike to the name of Convention, as different
From that of the other regal governments in America, and voted themselves an
Assembly, and assumed the power of appointing all public officers. In place of
Nicholas Trott, they made Richard Allein Chief Justice. Another person was
appointed provincial secretary, in the room of Charles Hart. But William Rhett
and Francis Yonge secured to themselves the same offices they held from the
proprietors. Col. John Barnwell was chosen agent for the province, and
embarked for England with instructions and orders to apply to the king, and
lay a state of their public proceedings before him, and to beseech his majesty
to take the province under his immediate care and protection. A new duty law
for raising money to defray the various expenses of government was passed.
Orders were given for the immediate repairs of the fortifications at
Charlestown; and William Rhett was nominated inspector-general of the
projected repairs. To their new Governor they voted two thousand five hundred
pounds, and to their Chief Justice eight hundred pounds current money, as
yearly salaries. To their agent in England they transmitted one thousand
pounds sterling. To defray these and the other expenses of government, an act
was passed for laying a tax on lands and negroes, to raise thirty thousand
pounds Carolina money, for the service of the current year. 

When they began to levy the taxes imposed by this act, Johnson and some of his
party refused to pay; giving for reason that the act was not made by lawful
authority. On account of his particular circumstances, Johnson was excused;
but they resolved to compel every other person to submit to their
jurisdiction, and obey their laws. They seized the effects or negroes of such
as refused - sold them at public auction - and applied the money for the
payment of their taxes. Thus in spite of all opposition, they established
themselves in the full possession of all the powers of government. 

In the meantime Johnson received certain advice that the Spaniards had sailed
From the Havanna, with a fleet of fourteen ships and a force consisting of
twelve hundred men, against South Carolina and Providence, and it was
uncertain which of the two they would first attack. At this time of imminent
danger, the late Governor endeavored to recall the people to subjection; and
sent to the Convention a letter, in which he attempted to alarm them by
representing the dangerous consequences of military operations under unlawful
authority; but they remained firm to their purpose, and, without taking any
notice of the letter, contined to do business with Moore as they had begun;
and in concert with him, adopted measures for the public security. They
proclaimed martial law, and ordered the inhabitants of the province to
Charlestown for its defence. All the officers of the militia accepted their
commissions from Moore, and engaged to stand by him against all foreign
enemies. For two weeks the provincial militia were kept under arms at
Charlestown, every day expecting the appearance of the Spanish fleet which
they were informed had sailed from the Havanna. The Spaniards resolved first
to attack Providence, and then to proceed against Carolina; but by the conduct
and courage of captain Rogers, at that time governor of the island, they were
repulsed, and soon after lost the greatest part of their fleet in a storm. 

The Spanish expedition having thus proved abortive, the Flamborough
man-of-war, commanded by Captain Kildesley, returned from Providence island to
her station at Charlestown. About the same time his majesty's ship Phoenix,
commanded by Captain Pierce, arrived from a cruise. The commanders of these
two men-of-war were caressed by both parties; but they publicly declared for
Johnson, as the magistrate invested with legal authority. Charles Hart,
secretary of the province, by orders from Governor Johnson and his Council,
had secreted and secured the public records so that the revolutioners could
not obtain possession of them. The clergy refused to marry without a license
From Johnson, as the only legal ordinary of the province. These and other
inconveniences, from the unsettled state of things, rendered several of the
people more cool in their affection for the popular government. At this
juncture, Johnson, with the assistance of the captains and crews of the ships
of war, made his last and boldest effort for subjecting the colonists to his
authority. He brought up the ships of war in front of Charlestown, and
threatened its immediate destruction, if the inhabitants any longer refused
obedience to legal authority. But they having arms in their hands, and forts
in their possession, defied his power. They were neither to be won by
flattery, nor terrified by threats, to submit their necks any more to the
proprietary yoke. Johnson feeling his impotence, made no more attempts for the
recovery of his lost authority. 

In the meantime, the agent for Carolina had procured a hearing from the lords
of the regency and council in England, the King being at that time in Hanover;
who gave it as their opinion that the proprietors had forfeited their charter,
and ordered the attorney general to take out a scire facias against it. 

An act of parliament was passed in Britain for establishing an agreement with
seven of the eight proprietors for a surrender to the King of their right and
interest not only in the government, but in the soil of the province. The
purchase was made for 17,500 sterling. At the same time seven-eighths of the
arrears of the quit-rents due from the colonists to the proprietors were
purchased on behalf of the crown for £5,000. The remaining eighth share of the
province and of the arrears of quit-rents were reserved out of the purchase by
a clause in the act of parliament, for John, Lord Cartaret. About the same
time the province was subdivided by the name of North and South Carolina. 

Upon a review of these transactions, we may observe: that although the conduct
of the Carolinians, during this struggle, cannot be deemed conformable to the
strict letter of the written law, yet necessity and self-preservation justify
their conduct; while all the world must applaud their moderation, union,
firmness, and wisdom. When the proprietors first applied to the King for a
grant of this large territory, at that time occupied by heathens, they said
they were excited thereto by their zeal for the propagation of the Christian
faith; yet they used no effectual endeavors for that purpose. The society for
the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts employed and supported
missionaries for the conversion of the heathens; but their best endeavors were
inadequate to the extent of the work. The proprietors by their charter were
empowered to build churches and chapels within the bounds of their province,
for divine worship; yet they left the burden of this entirely to the
inhabitants, who received no encouragement or assistance towards its
accomplishment, except from the society incorporated for the propagation of
the gospel. The proprietors were empowered by their charter to erect castles
and forts for the protection and defence of the colony, but the people were
obliged to raise all these at their own expense. By the charter his majesty
saved to himself, his heirs and successors, the sovereign dominion of the
province; yet the proprietors assumed to themselves a despotic authority in
repealing and abrogating laws made by the Assembly and ratified by their
deputies in Carolina. They not only tyrannized over the colony, but employed
and protected officers ten times more tyrannical than themselves. When the
whole Legislature complained of Chief Justice Trott, they paid no regard to
their complaints, and absolutely refused to remove him from the bench, or even
to limit his jurisdiction. In times of imminent danger, when the colony
applied to them for assistance, they were either unable or unwilling to bear
the expense of its protection. When the Assembly allotted the lands obtained
by conquest from the Yamassee Indians, for the encouragement of settlers to
strengthen the provincial frontiers, the proprietors claimed the sole right of
disposing of these lands, and frustrated a judicious plan for preserving
public security. When the trade of the province was infested by pirates, the
inhabitants could neither obtain a force sufficient to extirpate them, nor a
confirmation of their laws made for defraying the expense of such expeditions
as the Assembly had fitted out against them. The proprietors, at the request
of the London merchants had cried down the current money of the province,
stamped for answering the public exigencies. The people saw no end of their
troubles. Pressing distress dictated the necessity of some remedy. No
expedient appeared to them so proper and effectual as that of throwing
themselves under the immediate care and protection of the crown of Great
Britain. Disgusted with the feeble proprietary Government, they, therefore, by
one bold and irregular effort, entirely shook it off; and a revolution
fruitful of happy consequences resulted, to their great relief and unspeakable
satisfaction. 

From the first settlement of the colony, one perpetual struggle subsisted
between the proprietors of the province and the cultivators of its soil. A
division somewhat similar to that of the court and country parties in England
early sprung up in the settlement, and kept it in continual agitation. The
people considered the proprietary claims of power as inconsistent with their
rights; hence they became turbulent, and were seldom satisfied with their
Governors in their public capacity, however esteemed and beloved as private
men. The hands of Government were always weak, and the instructions and
regulations received from England were for the most part ill adapted to the
local circumstances of the people and the first state of colonization. The
great distance and complicated hardships of the Carolinians all concurred to
render their revolutionary measures not only excusable, but necessary. The
revolution in England had exemplified and confirmed the doctrine of
resistance, when the executive magistrate violates the fundamental laws and
subverts the constitution of the nation. The proprietors had done acts which,
in the opinion of the lords in regency, amounted to a forfeiture of their
charter; and they had ordered a writ of scire facias to be taken out for
repealing their patent and rendering the grant void. By these means all
political connections between the proprietors and people of Carolina was
entirely dissolved, and a new relation formed; the King having taken the
provinces under his immediate care and made it a part of the British Empire. 

In the forty-nine years of the proprietary Government of South Carolina, there
were twenty-three Governors.* To this office Joseph West was thrice appointed;
and Joseph Morton and Joseph Blake, each twice. Joseph West was the only one
who served as long as eight years. James Colleton and Seth Sothell were
disgraced by the people, and Robert Johnson was deposed by the same authority. 

Of the several proprietary governments in British America, few or none have
answered. Too often have they been undertaken and carried on with the
contracted views of land-jobbers. To propagate the gospel among the native
heathens was generally the ostensible design; but to make money by the sale or
rents of lands rising in value from the introduction of settlers, was for the
most part the governing motive of private proprietors. To obtain a great
income, from a small expenditure, was the leading object of their policy. They
were therefore slow in defending and protecting their tenants. The subjects of
subjects often fare worse than the subjects of Kings. Between limited monarchy
and representative government, there seems to be no middle ground for
political happiness. 

In the course of the 18th century, South Carolina underwent two revolutions,
the last of which took place in 1776. Several of the actors in this are yet
alive, and must be struck with the resemblance of the measures adopted by
their predecessors and themselves for accomplishing these great and similar
events. In both cases, a well-intentioned people, alarmed for their rights,
were roused to extraordinary exertions for securing them. They petitioned, in
a legal channel, for a redress of their grievances; but that being refused,
they proceeded to bolder measures. Before they took decisive steps from which
there was no honorable retreat, they both cemented their union by an
association generally signed by the inhabitants. The physical force of
government in all countries rests with the governed; but from the want of
union and concert, they often quietly submit to be ruled with a rod of iron,
or make such feeble, injudicious efforts in the cause of liberty as incur the
penalties of rebellion, instead of gaining the blessings of a change for the
better. The case was otherwise in Carolina. In both revolutions, an honest
people engaged by a solemn agreement to support each other in defence of their
rights, and to yield obedience to the leaders of their own appointment. When
they had bound themselves by the tie of an association, they seized their
arms, took the forts and magazines into possession, and assumed the direction
of the militia. A new government, without confusion or violence, virtually
superseded the existing authority of the proprietary Governor in one case, and
of the King's representative in the other. The revolutioners in both
respectfully asked their former Governors to join them; but from principles of
honor and delicacy they declined. On their refusal they became private
persons, and the people proceeded without them to organize every department of
Government by their own authority. The popular leaders in one case called
themselves a Convention of the people, and in the other a Provincial Congress;
but in both, when the revolution was completed, they voted themselves an
Assembly, passed laws in the usual manner, and by manifestoes justified their
conduct to the world. In these proceedings neither party nor faction had any
hand. The general interests of the great body of the settlers, were the pole
star by which public measures were regulated. The people, guided neither by
private views nor selfish ends, and acting in unison, eventually found their
labors crowned with success; and that each change of government produced for
their country a melioration of its circumstances. A whole generation passed
away, and a new one sprung up in the interval, between these two revolutions,
though only fifty-seven years distant. No individual has been recognized as an
actor in both. But the name of Middleton was conspicuous in the first, and
more so in the last. Arthur Middleton was President of the Convention of the
People in 1719; his son, Henry Middleton, President of the Congress of the
United Colonies in 1774; and his grandson, Arthur Middleton, was one of the
subscribers to the famous Declaration of Independence in 1776, by which South
Carolina became a sovereign State.

The proprietary Government of Carolina may be termed its infancy. When it
ceased in 1719, St. Stephen's was the frontier of the province. Forts were
erected there in St. John's, on Colonel Glaze's land, near Dorchester,
Dorchester, Wiltown, and other places about the same distance from the coast;
and were necessary to defend the settlers from the Indians. The former rarely
ventured fifty miles from the Atlantic. The latter occupied what is now called
the upper and middle country of Carolina, and were very troublesome neighbors.
Their distressing incursions occasionally penetrated as low as Goose creek.
Charlestown was not perfectly safe, for it was exposed to danger both from
them and the Spaniards. As much of it as lies between the Central Market and
Water street, the Bay, and Meeting street, was fortified both on the land and
water side. Much of that part of it which lay to the west of Meeting street,
and the north and south of Broad street, was either a forest, or laid out in
farms, gardens, orange-groves or orchards, with here and there a straggling
house. Peltry or lumber, with a little rice, were the only exports of the
province. The planters were better satisfied with a dollar per hundred for the
last article, than they have been for years past with three. The coast was
infested with pirates, and they made several captures near the bar of
Charlestown. There were incessant contentions between the inhabitants and the
proprietors; great dissensions between the Episcopalians and Dissenters, and
for several years bitter animosities between the French refugees and English
settlers. There was very little real money in the province. The planters were
clamorous for bills of credit, and the merchants and others very much opposed
to their increase and protracted circulation. The police of the country was
without energy. Demagogues endeavored to gain popularity by flattering the
people, while others were equally active in courting the favor of the
proprietors by personal attentions, and by vindicating their claims. The real
good of the people was a secondary object with both. The government was not
administered for the benefit of the governed. The latter were dissatisfied,
and by a judicious exertion of their inherent rights, obtained a change for
the better. 

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* These were as follows: William Sayle, commissioned in England, 26th July,
1669; Joseph West, 28th August, 1671; Sir John Yeamans, 26th December, 1671;
Joseph West, second time, 13th August, 1674; Joseph Morton, 26th September,
1682; Joseph West, third time, 6th September, 1684; Sir Richard Kirle,
unknown; Colonel Robert Quarry, do.; Joseph Morton, second time, 1685; James
Colleton, 1686; Seth Sothell, 1690; Philip Ludwell, 1692; Thomas Smith, 1693;
Joseph Blake, 1694; John Archdale, 1695; Joseph Blake, second time, 1696;
James Moore, 1700, Sir Nathaniel Johnson, 1703; Edward Tynte, December, 1709;
Robert Gibbes, 1710; Charles Craven, 1712; Robert Daniel, 1716; Robert
Johnson, 1717 - deposed in December, 1719. 

[END CHAPTER III]

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