Time before the Civil War from

 Agriculture was the basis of life in SC  By 1860 SC had the highest percentage of slaveholders in the nation  Most South Carolinians lived on family or subsistence farms and owned few slaves  Few slave owners owned large plantations

 After the invention of the cotton gin in 1793 more cotton plantations grew and so did slavery  Although the importation of slaves was outlawed in 1808 it still grew in the South  Planting cotton wore out the soil, and planters did not look for new crops instead they moved to new lands  This increased the expansion of slavery westward

 Plantations were self-sustaining communities  Slaves did the work in the fields and in the plantation house  Men, women, and children worked in the fields under the supervision of a driver or overseer  Slaves with skills might be hired out by the master

 Slaves were considered a financial investment  Treatment of slaves varied from plantation to plantation  Slaves were denied their freedom and were provided with the minimum necessities  The law did not recognize slave marriages and slave families were often separated  It was against the law to teach a slave to read or write

 Planters – wealthy slave owners who dominated society and politics Master and mistress were responsible for making the plantation work  Small Farmers – largest white population, might own a slave or two, were often family farmers who worked alongside one or two slaves

 Poor Whites – live in the Up Country had very little often looked down on by both blacks and whites  Free Blacks- often skilled workers such as blacksmiths and carpenters  Slaves- forced laborers broken into house slaves and field slaves

 Southerners often claimed that slavery was an economic necessity and were better cared for than factory workers in the North  This argument contributed to the growing sectionalism (loyalty to one’s area) that divided the nation