South Carolina after Reconstruction

Wade Hampton member of the Democratic Party elected SC governor in 1876 former Confederate general one of the richest South Carolinians before the Civil War did not believe in social equality between races but practiced political equality by appointing African American Republicans to office leader of the Conservative Democrats – wealthy group of former Confederate military and political leaders

Conservative Democrats called themselves the Redeemers their goal was to rid SC of corrupt politics of the Republican Party nicknamed the bourbons after the French royal family because they favored rich landowners instead of the common people and appeared to make the same mistakes they were trying to correct believed in a limited state government that offered few services and had low taxes

Conservative Democrats cut the state budget and kept it small kept South Carolina College closed until 1880 and the Citadel until 1882 gave very little money to the operation of public schools gave very little money to operate the mental hospital established convict lease system by renting convicts to the railroad and phosphate mines to cut down on prison expenses

Conservatives and African Americans Gov. Wade Hampton was willing to maintain the status quo established during Reconstruction on race relations other Democrats moved to disfranchise the African Americans –Eight Box Law – discriminated against illiterate –Poll Tax – discriminated against poor often disfranchised poor whites-Conservative elite not concerned.

Jim Crow Laws established segregation of races in schools and public places limited civil rights for African Americans established laws to restrict voting rights of African Americans (disfranchise) –Eight Box Law – discriminated against blacks and poor whites –Poll Tax – discriminated against blacks and poor whites –Grandfather Clause – restored voting rights to poor whites – if your grandfather could vote before the Civil War, you can vote now –Dibble Plan – redrew voting district lines so that blacks would only have a majority in one district to reduce the number of black US representatives in the federal government supported by the federal government in US Supreme Court ruling of Plessy vs. Ferguson that “separate but equal” facilities were legal

Agriculture and Depression in South Carolina Cotton was main crop grown by Up Country farmers who used sharecropping with former slaves and poor whites as labor. Demand for cotton fell-European markets had found new sources cotton prices fell as supplies rose when more and more cotton was planted in an effort to make a profit. Rice was main crop grown in the Low Country until 1893 hurricane damaged fields so farmers had to “truck farm.”

Agriculture and Depression in South Carolina Because farm prices dropped, manufactured and machinery prices rose, fees for use of grain elevators, warehouses, and stockyards rose, farmers ended up in a cycle of having to borrow money at high interest rates for things they needed, couldn’t pay the money back, and lost their farms. Crop lien system-passed by Conservatives allowed creditors to have first claim on a farmer’s crop

Industrial Development in South Carolina textile industry important to SC –most located in Up Country (Aiken, Anderson, Greenville, Oconee, Spartanburg) –streams and rivers provided power for mills –cotton, a major crop, provided material –large labor supply since people were looking for work –Attracted Northern business men-cheap labor –people lived in mill villages Other Industry –Cottonseed oil –Cotton ginning –Phosphates –Lumber/timber –Turpentine

Impact of Temperance and Suffrage Movements Temperance –Organized attempt to get people to stop consuming alcoholic beverages –Big issue in South Carolina Led to the State Dispensary Led to state prohibition ahead of US Constitution (18th Amendment) Led to 18th Amendment that prohibited the manufacture, sell, and transport of “intoxicating beverages”

Impact of Temperance and Suffrage Movements Suffrage –National movement led by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton –Anita Pollitzer, president of National Women’s Party, from Charleston, led the national movement –State movement revived by Mrs. John Gary Evans –1919 – 19th Amendment passed giving women the right to vote

1895 South Carolina Constitution established a poll tax to be paid six months prior to an election in order to be able to vote required that new voters had to be able to read any section of the US Constitution or be able to understand and explain a section to an election official if it was read to him did not change the actual framework changed society by not allowing divorce, forbidding the lottery, and the removal of any officeholder who got caught gambling still the framework for the current constitution (with amendments of course)