The economy of colonial South Carolina was largely based on plantation agriculture and slave labor. As indentured servants became less available, African slaves were imported to work the labor-intensive crops of rice and indigo. They brought agricultural knowledge and skills from West Africa. The slave population grew significantly, outnumbering whites and raising control issues, evidenced by the violent Stono Rebellion. In response, slave codes were strengthened to more tightly regulate slaves. Nonetheless, the plantation system and slave trade continued expanding, fueling South Carolina's prosperous colonial economy.

1. The Colonization of
South Carolina

2. • Need for Slaves
• African Americans played a
significant role in the developing
economy of South Carolina.
• The economy of SC was largely
based on the plantation system.
• Most of the crops were labor
intensive, requiring many
workers to cultivate the land.
• In Virginia, indentured servants
were used as laborers at first.
However, by the time of the
settlement of the Carolinas,
there were fewer workers willing
to accept a contract of indenture.

4. • Need for Slaves
• Initially, Carolina planters attempted to use Indians as workers,
however natives could easily escape into the land that they
knew and male natives were not accustomed to cultivating the
land.
• Carolina settlers from Barbados brought their slaves with them.
Additional slaves were forced through the “Middle Passage”
from the west coast of Africa by way of the West Indies and
sold on the auction block.

5. • Africans brought with them
knowledge of cultivating land,
tending cattle and cultivating rice.
• Africans were also used to harvest
the naval stores and lumber from
the forests of the Carolinas that
contributed to a thriving trade with
Barbados and Britain.
• With the development of cash
crops and the plantation system
came an increase in the slave
trade. Large-scale importation of
African slaves began in the 1690s
& 1000’s of slaves came to SC
through the Charleston port.
African
Craftsmanship

6. Slave Culture
Growing demand for both
rice and indigo led
plantation owners to
import more slaves.
Slaves brought their
African culture directly
from West Africa, including
language, dance, music,
woodcarving, folk
medicine, and basket
weaving.
African rhythms could be heard in the call and response songs that
slaves used to sustain their work and their spirit. Drums kept the
beat of the fields and communicated with slaves on other
plantations until they were banned by fearful whites after the Stono
Rebellion

7. Gullah
Foods such as yams became a staple of the southern diet.
Gullah was a spoken language and the shared culture of
Africans that developed in the Sea Islands off the coasts of SC
and GA, where it is called Geechee.
The Gullah language was unique to the coastal region because
of this area’s limited access and the large concentration of
Africans. It was a combination of English words and African
rules of grammar.

8. Slave Debates
As early as 1698, the Assembly began to worry that there were
too many slaves in the colony.
However, slaves were vital to the economic success of the
colony.
The Assembly did not want to limit the number of slaves
coming into the colony. With the demand for more slaves came
an increase in the slave trade that created a population
imbalance.

9. Problem with Slavery so far
Slaves outnumbered whites by large numbers in many areas and
this fact raised concerns about controlling the slave population.
How do you think the government should have handled this
problem?
A) Charge a slave tax to provide extra protection
B) Let the plantation owners handle it themselves and let them be
responsible for any damage caused by a rebellion
C) End slavery all together and have a farmer revolt
D) Or think of your own governing idea and share it with the class.

10. Stono Rebellion
The Stono Rebellion, a slave revolt near Charles Town,
significantly increased this concern.
This uprising began when a small group of slaves, who wanted
to escape to St. Augustine, Florida where the Spanish said they
would be free, broke into a store on the Stono River and killed
two settlers.
Using their drums, the rebels summoned more slaves to join
them.

11. Stono Rebellion
Analyze the picture and tell me about the artist’s perspective.
Was the artist wanting us to pity the owners or the slaves?

12. Stono Rebellion
By day’s end, many settlers and slaves had been killed. As a
result of the Stono Rebellion, slave codes, originally brought
from Barbados, were strengthened.
Slaves codes [the Negro Act of 1740]
Prohibited slaves from:
Gathering without white supervision,
Learning to read and write
Carrying guns
Dress in a way "above the condition of slaves."

13. Slave Codes
Codes established tighter
control of slaves.
It created harsher
punishments for
disobeying the law, and
also fined slave owners
who were cruel to their
slaves.
Even after the Stono
Rebellion, the slave
trade was not limited.

14. Other Slave Rules
South Carolina had fewer free African-Americans than many other
colonies.
Owners had the right to free their slaves for good cause in the
early 1700s.
Some slaves were free by the last will and testament of their
owners, for faithful service, or from masters freeing their slave
mistresses and their children.
However this occurred rarely because the slaves were so valuable.
Some slaves were able to purchase their freedom as the result of
having some special talent or skill that allowed them to be hired
out and earn money which they used to purchase their freedom.
Free blacks were required by law to leave SC within six months or
be re-enslaved and sold at auction.

15. What made SC a great place to start
a life?
• South Carolina’s natural resources: deer, and pine
• SC also had broad expanses of fertile land, a mild
climate, and a long growing season.
• Geographic conditions in the Low country made it suitable for
rice planting.
• A port at Charleston and navigable waterways along the
coast and into the interior made shipping goods to
market possible.

16. They worked hard for the money,
so hard, honey. honey.
 As a result of the use of its natural resources, a
flourishing trade made South Carolina a profitable
colony. Initially, traders obtained furs and deerskins from
Native Americans in exchange for beads, trinkets, guns,
and alcohol. When some Native Americans were forced
into slavery, this relationship ended.

17. More on trade…
 Because the early Carolina settlers came from Barbados, South
Carolinians established a thriving trade with this Caribbean
island. South Carolinians sold cattle and Native American slaves
to the people of Barbados. South Carolina pine trees were a
source of pitch and tar (naval stores) which the British used for
making ships watertight.

18. Agriculture…
 The growing African slave trade brought not only
laborers but also their knowledge of cattle herding and
rice planting to SC.
 Rice became known as “Carolina Gold,” a staple crop and
the source of long-term prosperity.
 The determination of the settlers and the hard work of
their slaves resulted in a growing agricultural economy.

19. Indigo
 As an immigrant from
Antigua, Eliza Lucas
planted indigo because
she was determined to
make the family
plantation successful.
Indigo was a plant used to
make a highly valued blue
dye. The British
government offered a
subsidy as an incentive to
anyone who would grow
it. Eventually, Eliza Lucas
succeeded and shared her
success with other area
planters. Indigo became a
new cash crop for South
Carolina.

20. Mercantilism…
 Political factors also contributed to South Carolina’s
prosperity. Mercantilism was an economic system in which
the mother country controlled trade in order to export more
goods than it imported. By enforcing mercantilist policies,
the mother country would amass more gold and silver and
become wealthy and powerful.

21. An Economic Partnership…
 South Carolina served as both a source of raw materials
and a market for British manufactured goods. This
lessened the mother country’s dependence on foreign
trade and thus improved her balance of trade (exports
over imports).
 The British government encouraged the development of
new products such as indigo by offering subsidies (or
bounties) to planters who grew it.

22. Exclusive Customers…
 Both rice and indigo were on the ‘enumerated’ list of products that
could be sold only to England. South Carolina planters therefore
had a secure market in which to sell their crops.
 However the British government did not enforce this part of the
law on Carolina rice, giving South Carolina the economic advantage
of a wider market.

23. Free from interference…
 The British government was lax in its enforcement of
most mercantilist laws (a condition known as salutary
neglect) and so the people of British North America were
free to develop their economies without much
interference from the mother country.