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Oklahoma
Capital: Oklahoma City State abbreviation/Postal
code: Okla./OK Governor: Brad Henry, D (to Jan. 2011) Lieut. Governor:
Jari Askins, D (to Jan. 2011) Senators: Tom Coburn, R (to Jan. 2011); James Inhofe, R (to Jan.
2009) U.S. Representatives: 5
Secy.
of State: M. Susan Savage, D (to Jan. 2011) Treasurer: Scott Meacham, D (to Jan. 2011) Atty.
General: W. A. Drew Edmondson, D (to Jan. 2011) Organized as territory: May 2, 1890 Entered
Union (rank): Nov. 16, 1907 (46) Present constitution adopted: 1907 Motto:
Labor omnia vincit (Labor conquers all things) State symbols: flower
mistletoe (1893) tree redbud (1937) bird scissor-tailed flycatcher
(1951) animal bison (1972) reptile mountain boomer lizard (1969) stone
rose rock (barite rose) (1968) colors green and white (1915) song
“Oklahoma” (1953) beverage milk butterfly black swallowtail
fish white or sand bass folk dance square dance furbearer
raccoon game animal white-tailed deer grass Indiangrass insect
honeybee musical instrument fiddle poem “Howdy Folks,”
David Randolph Milsten waltz “Oklahoma Wind” wildflower
Indian blanket Nickname: Sooner State Origin of name: From two Choctaw
Indian words meaning “red people” 10 largest cities (2005
est.): Oklahoma City, 531,324; Tulsa, 382,457; Norman, 101,719; Lawton, 90,234; Broken Arrow,
86,228; Edmond, 74,881; Midwest City, 54,890; Moore, 47,697; Enid,
46,416; Stillwater, 40,906 Land area: 68,667 sq mi. (177,848 sq km) Geographic
center: In Oklahoma Co., 8 mi. N of Oklahoma City Number of counties: 77 Largest
county by population and area: Oklahoma, 684,543 (2005); Osage, 2,251 sq mi. State
parks: 50 Residents: Oklahoman 2005 resident population est.: 3,547,884 Francisco
Vásquez de Coronado first explored the region for Spain in 1541. The U.S. acquired most of Oklahoma
in 1803 in the Louisiana Purchase from France; the Western Panhandle region became
U.S. territory with the annexation of Texas in 1845. Set aside as Indian Territory in 1834, the
region was divided into Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory on May 2, 1890. The two were
combined to make a new state, Oklahoma, on Nov. 16, 1907. On April 22, 1889, the first day homesteading
was permitted, 50,000 people swarmed into the area. Those who tried to beat the noon
starting gun were called “Sooners,” hence the state's nickname. Oil
made Oklahoma a rich state, but natural-gas production has now surpassed it. Oil refining, meat
packing, food processing, and machinery manufacturing (especially construction and oil equipment)
are important industries. Minerals produced in Oklahoma include helium, gypsum, zinc, cement,
coal, copper, and silver. Oklahoma's rich plains produce bumper yields
of wheat, as well as large crops of sorghum, hay, cotton, and peanuts. More than half of Oklahoma's
annual farm receipts are contributed by livestock products, including cattle, dairy products,
swine, and broilers. Tourist attractions include the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma
City, the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore, the Cherokee Cultural Center with a restored Cherokee
village, the restored Fort Gibson Stockade near Muskogee, the Lake Texoma recreation
area, pari-mutuel horse racing at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, and Blue Ribbon Downs in Sallisaw.
History The
Native American Heritage Oklahoma's Native American population is the largest in the nation—252,420
at the 1990 census. Several indigenous cultures existed in the area before the first European
visited in 1541. Francisco Coronado almost certainly crossed Oklahoma in that year,
and Hernando De Soto may have visited E Oklahoma. Later Juan de Oñate passed through W Oklahoma,
and some other Spanish explorers and traders and French traders from Louisiana visited
the region, but there was no development of the area. Tribes of the Plains cultures—Osage,
Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache—dominated the west; the Wichita and other relatively sedentary
tribes lived farther east. It is asserted that the first European trading post was established
at Salina by the Chouteau family of St. Louis before the territory was transferred to the United
States by the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, but the land remained in control of the sparse and nomadic
native population. For the most part only traders, official explorers (notably Stephen H.
Long), and scientific and curious travelers (among them Washington Irving and George Catlin) came
into the present-day state. Indian Territory In
1819 the Adams-Onís Treaty with Spain defined Oklahoma as the southwestern boundary of the United
States. After the War of 1812 the U.S. government invited the Cherokee of Georgia and Tennessee
to move into the area, and a few had come to settle. Soon intense white pressure for their lands,
with the approval of President Andrew Jackson, forced the Cherokee and the others of the
Five Civilized Tribes (the Choctaw, the Chickasaw, the Creek, and the Seminole) to abandon their
old homes east of the Mississippi and to take up residence in what was to become the Indian
Territory. Their tragic removal is known as the Trail of Tears. They settled on the hills and
little prairies of the eastern section and built separate organized states and communities. The
Cherokee particularly had a highly Europeanized culture, with a written language, invented by
their great leader Sequoyah, and highly developed institutions. Some of the Cherokee were slaveholders
and ran their agricultural properties in the traditional Southern plantation pattern; others were
small farmers. The Five Civilized Tribes clashed briefly with the Plains Indians, particularly
the Osage, but they were for a time free from white interference, and
they were able to establish a civilization that strongly affected the whole history of the region. The
troubles of the whites did not, however, long escape them, and the Civil War was a major disaster.
Although no major battle of the war was fought in present-day Oklahoma, there were numerous skirmishes.
Most Native Americans allied themselves with the Confederacy, but Unionist disaffection was widespread,
and individual violence was so prevalent that many fled, leaving their farms
to desolation. As a punishment for taking the Confederate side the Five Civilized Tribes
lost the western part of the Indian Territory, and the federal government began assigning lands
there to such landless eastern tribes as the Delaware and the Shawnee, as well as to nomadic Plains
tribes, who put up strong resistance before they were subdued and settled on reservations. The
territory was plagued by lawlessness and served as a hideout for white outlaws. After the establishment
of a federal court at Fort Smith, Isaac Parker became famous as the “hanging judge.” Cattle,
Railroads, and Boomers Immediately after the Civil War the long drives of cattle from Texas to
the Kansas railroad head began to cross Oklahoma, traveling over the cattle trails that became
part of Western folklore. The best known was the Chisholm Trail. The cattle were fattened on the
virgin ranges of Oklahoma, and cattlemen began to look on the grasslands with speculative and
covetous eyes. The first railroad to cross Oklahoma was built between 1870 and 1872,
and thereafter it was not possible to keep white settlers out. They came despite proscriptive
laws and treaties with the Native Americans, and by the 1880s there was a strong admixture of
whites. In addition, ranches were developed that were nominally owned
by Native Americans, but actually controlled by white cattlemen and their cowboys. The region
quickly took on a tinge of the Old West of the cattle frontier, a tinge that it has never wholly
lost. In the 1880s land-hungry frontier farmers, the boomers, agitated
to obtain the “unassigned” lands in the western section—the lands not
given to any Native American tribe. The agitation succeeded, and a large strip was opened for
settlement in 1889. Prospective settlers lined up on the territorial border, and at high noon
they were allowed to cross on a “run” to compete in finding and claiming
the best lands. Those who illegally entered ahead of the set time were the nicknamed the “sooners.”
Later other strips of territory were opened, and settlers poured in from the Midwest and the
South. Oklahoma Territory and Statehood The western section of what
is now the state of Oklahoma became the Oklahoma Territory in 1890; it included the Panhandle,
the narrow strip of territory that, taken from Texas by the Compromise of
1850, had become a no-man's-land where settlers came in undisturbed. In 1893 the Dawes Commission
was appointed to implement a policy of dividing the tribal lands into individual holdings;
the Native Americans resisted, but the policy was finally enforced in 1906. The wide lands of
the Indian Territory were thus made available to whites. The Civilized
Tribes made the best of a poor bargain, and the Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory were united
in 1907 to form the state of Oklahoma, with a constitution that included provision
for initiative and referendum. Already the oil boom had reached major proportions, and the young
state was on the verge of great economic development. At the same time, cotton, wheat, and
corn were major money crops, and cattleland holdings, although shrinking, were still enormous. The
Dust Bowl In World War I the great demand for farm products brought an agricultural
boom to the state, but in the 1920s the state fell upon hard times. Recurrent drought burned the
wheat in the fields, and overplanting, overgrazing, and unscientific cropping aided the weather
in making Oklahoma part of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Farm tenancy increased in the 1920s, and
in both the east and west the farms tended more and more to be held by large interests and
to be consolidated in large blocks. A great number of tenant farmers were compelled to leave their
dust-stricken farms and went west as migrant laborers; the tragic plight
of these “Okies” is the theme of John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath. With
the return of rains, however, and with increasing care in selecting crops and in conserving and
utilizing water and soil resources, much of the Dust Bowl again became productive
farm land. The demand for food in World War II and federal price supports for agricultural products
after the war further aided farm prosperity. Irrigation and an Oil
Boom Large state and federal programs for conserving river water and, at the
same time, meeting irrigation needs have resulted in such constructions as the reservoir impounded
by the Kerr Dam on the Arkansas River. For the most part, these programs resulted in improved
agricultural conditions and created new recreation areas. In 1971 the opening of the Oklahoma
portion of the Arkansas River Navigation System gave the cities of Muskogee and Tulsa (at its
port Catoosa) direct access to the sea. Oklahoma experienced another
boom during the 1970s when oil prices rose dramatically. In the mid-1980s, however, Oklahoma's
economy was hurt (as it had been in the 1930s) by dependence on a
single industry, as oil prices fell rapidly. For more Oklahoma
Oregon Trails
Capital: Salem
State abbreviation/Postal code: Ore./OR
Governor: Ted Kulongoski, D (to Jan. 2011)
Senators: Gordon Smith, R (to Jan. 2009); Ron Wyden, D (to Jan.
2011)
U.S. Representatives: 5
Secy. of State: Bill Bradbury, D (to Jan. 2008)
Treasurer: Randall Edwards, D (to Jan. 2008)
Atty. General: Hardy Myers, D (to Jan. 2008)
Organized as territory: Aug. 14, 1848
Entered Union (rank): Feb. 14, 1859 (33)
Present constitution adopted: 1859
Motto: Alis volat Propriis (She flies with her own wings) (1987)
State symbols:
flower Oregon grape (1899)
tree douglas fir (1939)
animal beaver (1969)
bird western meadowlark (1927)
fish chinook salmon (1961)
rock thunderegg (1965)
colors navy blue and gold (1959)
song “Oregon, My
Oregon” (1927)
insect swallowtail butterfly (1979)
dance square dance (1977)
nut hazelnut (1989)
gemstone
sunstone (1987)
seashell Oregon hairy triton (1991)
beverage milk (1997)
mushroom Pacific golden chanterelle (1999)
Nickname: Beaver State
Origin of name: Unknown. However, it is generally accepted that
the name, first used by Jonathan Carver in 1778, was taken from
the writings of Maj. Robert Rogers, an English army officer.
10 largest cities (2005 est.): Portland, 533,427; Salem, 148,751;
Eugene, 144,515; Gresham, 96,072; Beaverton, 85,775; Hillsboro,
84,533; Medford, 70,147; Bend, 67,152; Springfield, 55,641;
Corvallis, 49,553
Land area: 95,997 sq mi. (248,632 sq km)
Geographic center: In Crook Co., 25 mi. SSE of Prineville
Number of counties: 36
Largest county by population and area: Multnomah, 672,906
(2005); Harney, 10,135 sq mi.
State forests: 780,000 ac.
State parks: 231 (95,462 ac.)
Residents: Oregonian
2005 resident population est.: 3,641,056
Spanish and English sailors are believed to have sighted the
Oregon coast in the 1500s and 1600s. Capt. James Cook, seeking
the Northwest Passage, charted some of the coastline in 1778. In
1792, Capt. Robert Gray, in the Columbia, discovered the river
named after his ship and claimed the area for the U.S.
In 1805 the Lewis and Clark expedition explored the area. John
Jacob Astor's fur depot, Astoria, was founded in 1811. Disputes for
control of Oregon between American settlers and the Hudson Bay
Company were finally resolved in the 1846 Oregon Treaty, in which
Great Britain gave up claims to the region.
Oregon has a $3.3 billion lumber and wood products industry, and
an $859 million paper and allied manufacturing industry. Its
salmon-fishing industry is one of the world's largest.
In agriculture, the state leads in growing peppermint, cover seed
crops, blackberries, boysenberries, loganberries, black raspberries,
and hazelnuts. It is second in raising hops, red raspberries, prunes,
snap beans, and onions.
With the low-cost electric power provided by dams, Oregon has
developed steadily as a manufacturing state. Leading
manufactured items are lumber and plywood, metalwork,
machinery, aluminum, chemicals, paper, food packing, and
electronic equipment.
Crater Lake National Park, Mount Hood, and Bonneville Dam on the
Columbia are major tourist attractions. Other points of interest
include the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, Oregon Caves
National Monument, Cape Perpetua in Siuslaw National Forest,
Columbia River Gorge between The Dalles and Troutdale, Hells
Canyon, Newberry Volcanic National Monument, and John Day
Fossil Beds National Monument.
History
Early Exploration and Fur Trading
Initial European interest in the region was aroused by the search
for the Northwest Passage. Spanish seamen skirted the Pacific
coast from the 16th to the 18th cent., hoping to claim the area.
The English may first have arrived in the person of Sir Francis
Drake, who sailed along the coast in 1579, possibly as far as
Oregon.
Two centuries later, in 1778, Capt. James Cook, seeking the award
of £20,000 for the discovery of the Northwest Passage, charted
some of the coastline. By this time the Russians were pushing
southward from posts in Alaska and the British fur companies were
exploring the West. Oregon's furs promised to become an
important factor in the rapidly expanding China trade, and the
Oregon coast was soon active with the vessels of several nations
engaged in fur trade with the Native Americans. British captains,
among them John Meares and George Vancouver, made the coastal
area known, but it was an American, Robert Gray, who first sailed
up the Columbia River (1792), thus establishing U.S. claim to the
areas that it drained.
Canadian traders of the North West Company were approaching the
Columbia River country when the overland Lewis and Clark
expedition arrived in 1805. David Thompson was already making
his way to the lower river when John Jacob Astor's agents (in the
Pacific Fur Company) founded Astoria, the first permanent
settlement in the Oregon country. In the War of 1812 the post was
sold (1813) to the North West Company, but in 1818 a treaty
provided for 10 years of joint rights for the United States and Great
Britain in Oregon (i.e., the whole Columbia River area). This
agreement was later extended. The North West Company merged
with the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821, and soon the region was
dominated by John McLoughlin at Fort Vancouver.
Settlement and Statehood
In 1842 and 1843 enormous wagon trains began the “great
migration” westward over the Oregon Trail. Trouble between the
settlers and the British followed. The Americans set out to form
their own government, and demanded the British be removed from
the whole of the Columbia River country up to lat. 54°40'N; one of
the slogans of the 1844 election was “Fifty-four forty or fight.” War
with Britain was a threat momentarily, but diplomacy prevailed. In
1846 the boundary was set at the line of lat. 49°N, but
disagreements over the interpretation of the 1846 treaty were not
successfully arbitrated until 1872 (see San Juan Boundary
Dispute).
Two years later the Oregon Territory was created, embracing the
area W of the Rockies from the 42d to the 49th parallel. The area
was reduced with the creation of the Washington Territory in
1853, and Oregon became a state in 1859 with a constitution that
prohibited slaveholding but also forbade free blacks from entering
the state. Although the California gold rush caused a temporary
exodus of settlers, it also brought a new market for Oregon's
goods, and the Oregon gold strike that followed attracted some
permanent settlement to the eastern hills and valleys.
Wheat farming prospered and in 1867–68 a surplus crop was
shipped to England—the beginning of Oregon's great wheat export
trade. Cattle and sheep were driven up from California to graze on
the tallgrass of the semiarid plateaus, and soon cattle barons, such
as Henry Miller, acquired huge herds. They dominated the industry
until the late 19th cent., when sheepmen and homesteaders
succeeded in reducing the cattle range. The 1850s, 60s, and 70s
were plagued by Native American uprisings, but by 1880 troubles
with the Native American were over, and the next few decades
brought increasing settlement and internal improvements.
Railroads and Industrialization
During the 1880s, and largely under the management of Henry
Villard of the Northern Pacific RR, transcontinental rail lines were
completed to the coast and down the Willamette Valley into
California, bringing new trade and stimulating the beginnings of
manufacture. Lumbering, which had long been important, became
a leading industry. Seemingly overnight logging camps and
sawmills were built in the western foothills. The huge stands of
Douglas fir and cedar brought fortunes to the lumbering kings, but
the threat to natural resources led ultimately to the creation of
national forests.
By the time of the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition at
Portland in 1905, less than 50 years after statehood had been
gained, the frontier era had passed. Most of the feuding on the
eastern plateaus was over, and cattle and sheep grazed peacefully
on fenced-in ranges. In spring the Willamette Valley was abloom
with fruit blossoms, and the river cities were busy with trade and
industry.
Reform Movements and Environmental Issues
Oregon has been a leader in social, environmental, and political
reforms. It was the first state, for example, to institute initiative,
referendum, and recall; to ease the laws governing the use of
marijuana; and to initiate a ban against nonrecyclable containers.
Several issues have sharply divided conservatives and liberals; one
of the most important has been the question of minority groups. In
the 1880s the influx of Chinese threatened the labor market and
brought violent anti-Chinese sentiment, and in the 20th cent.
there was opposition to the Japanese. Feeling against minorities
has never been statewide, however, and large groups have
vigorously opposed it.
In the 1930s one of the most disputed issues was the question of
whether the development of power should be public or private.
Today, however, it is widely recognized that the federal power and
irrigation projects have had a profoundly positive effect on the
economy of the entire Pacific Northwest. Many acres have been
opened to irrigated farming, and the tremendous industrial
expansion of World War II was to a large extent dependent on
Bonneville power.
Environmental issues have dominated Oregon politics since the
1970s. Controversy arose in the late 1980s over the spotted owl,
which has become endangered as old-growth forest has been cut
down. Restrictions on logging on public lands were initiated in
1991, and attempts to establish forest policies acceptable to both
environmentalists and the timber industry bogged down as other
species were also shown to be in danger. There also is concern
that the state's numerous hydroelectric dams are disrupting the
migratory cycle of Pacific salmon. Explore Oregon at your own
Pennsylvania Patriots
Pennsylvania
Patriots
Capital:
Harrisburg
State abbreviation/Postal code: Pa./PA
Governor: Ed Rendell, D (to Jan. 2011)
Lieut. Governor: Catherine
Baker Knoll, D (to Jan. 2011)
Senators: Bob Casey, D (to Jan. 2013); Arlen Specter, R (to Jan. 2011)
U.S. Representatives: 19
Secy.
of the Commonwealth: Pedro Cortes, D (at the pleasure of the governor)
Executive Deputy State Treasurer: Anthony E. Wagner
Atty.
General: Tom Corbett, R (to Jan. 2009)
Entered Union (rank): Dec. 12, 1787 (2)
Present constitution adopted: 1968
Motto:
Virtue, liberty, and independence
State
symbols:
flower mountain laurel (1933)
tree hemlock (1931)
bird ruffed grouse (1931)
dog Great Dane (1965)
colors blue and gold (1907)
song “Pennsylvania” (1990)
Nickname: Keystone State
Origin of name:
In honor of Adm. Sir William Penn, father of William Penn. It means “Penn's Woodland.”
10
largest cities (2005 est.): Philadelphia, 1,463,281; Pittsburgh, 316,718; Allentown, 106,992; Erie, 102,612; Reading, 80,855; Scranton, 73,120; Bethlehem, 72,895;
Lancaster, 54,757, Harrisburg,
47,472, Altoona, 47,176
Land area: 44,817 sq mi. (116,076 sq km)
Geographic center: In Centre Co., 21/2 mi. SW of Bellefonte
Number
of counties: 67
Largest county by population and area: Philadelphia, 1,463,281 (2005); Lycoming, 1,235 sq mi.
State forests: over 2 mil. ac.
State parks:
116
Residents: Pennsylvanian
2005 resident population est.: 12,429,616
Rich in historic lore, Pennsylvania territory was disputed in the early
1600s among the Dutch, the Swedes, and the English. England acquired the region in 1664 with the capture of New York, and
in 1681 Pennsylvania was granted to William Penn, a Quaker, by King Charles II. Philadelphia was the seat of the federal government
almost continuously from 1776 to 1800; there the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776 and the U.S. Constitution
drawn up in 1787. Valley Forge, of Revolutionary War fame, and Gettysburg, site of the pivotal battle of the Civil War, are
both in Pennsylvania. The Liberty Bell is located in a glass pavilion across Hall in Philadelphia.
The nation's first oil
well was dug at Titusville in 1859, and the mining of iron ore and coal led to the development of the state's steel industry.
More recently Pennsylvania's industry has diversified, although the state still leads the country in the production of specialty
steel. The service, retail trade, and manufacturing sectors provide the most jobs; Pennsylvania is a leader in the production
of chemicals and pharmaceuticals, food products, and electronic equipment. Pennsylvania's 58,000 farms (occupying nearly 8
million acres) are the backbone of the state's economy, producing a wide variety of crops. Leading commodities are dairy products,
cattle and calves, mushrooms, greenhouse and nursery products, poultry and eggs, a variety of fruits, sweet corn, potatoes,
maple syrup, and Christmas trees.
Pennsylvania's rich heritage draws billions of tourist dollars annually. Among the chief
attractions are the Gettysburg National Military Park, Valley Forge National Historical Park, Independence National Historical
Park in Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Dutchregion, the Eisenhower farm near Gettysburg, and the Delaware Water Gap National
Recreation Area.
History
Exploration and Early Settlement
In the early 1600s the English,
Dutch, and Swedes disputed the right to the region of Pennsylvania. Explorations were confined to the Delaware River vicinity,
where fur trading with the Native Americans was carried on. The original permanent settlement was established on Tinicum Island
(1643) in the Delaware River by Johan Printz, governor of New Sweden, and was followed in the succeeding years by the neighboring
colony of Uppland.
Swedish jurisdiction was short-lived as the Dutch, operating from their stronghold in New Amsterdam,
succeeded in gaining control of the Middle Atlantic region in 1655. In turn the Dutch were overpowered by the British forces
of Col. Richard Nicolls, acting for the duke of York (later James II), and in 1664 the British took over the Delaware area.
The duke of York remained in control until 1681, when, in payment of a royal debt, William Penn was granted proprietary rights
to almost the whole of what is now Pennsylvania, and, in addition, leased the three Lower Counties (see Delaware).
Penn's Colony
A devout Quaker who had suffered for his beliefs, Penn viewed
his colony as a holy experiment, designed to grant asylum to the persecuted under conditions of equality and freedom. In 1681
he sent William Markham as his deputy to establish a government at Uppland and sent instructed commissioners to plot the City
of Brotherly Love (Philadelphia), which was laid out a few miles north of the confluence of the Delaware and the Schuylkill
rivers. Penn carefully constructed a constitution, known as the Frame of Government, that gave Pennsylvania the most liberal
government in the colonies. Religious freedom was guaranteed to all who believed in God, a humane penal code was adopted,
and the emancipation of slaves was encouraged. However, under the representative system that it established, the popular assembly
was left in an inferior position in relation to the executive branches controlled by the proprietors. In 1682 Penn arrived
at Uppland (renamed Chester). Shortly thereafter he met with the chiefs of the Delaware tribes and a famous treaty was signed
that promoted long-lasting goodwill between the Native Americans and the European settlers. After Penn's death in 1718 proprietary
rights were held by his heirs.By this time Pennsylvania had developed into a dynamic and growing colony, enriched by the continuous
immigration of numerous different peoples. The Quakers, English, and Welsh were concentrated in Philadelphia and the eastern
counties, where they acquired great commercial and financial power through foreign trade and where they achieved a political
dominance which they held until the time of the American Revolution. Philadelphia had by then become the finest city in the
nation, a leader in the arts and the professions. The Germans (Pennsylvania Dutch)—largely of the persecuted religious
sects of Mennonites (including Amish), Moravians, Lutherans, and Reformed—settled in the farming areas of SE Pennsylvania,
where they retained their cohesion and to a considerable extent their language, customs, architecture, and superstitions.
Western Settlement and Native American Resistance
After 1718 the Scotch-Irish
began colonizing in the Cumberland Valley and gradually pushed the frontiers toward W Pennsylvania. Their rugged independence
and the peculiarities of their frontier problems made them rebellious against the established order. Throughout the province
agriculture was the chief occupation, although industry was spurred by abundant water power and plentiful natural resources.
In the west settlement was hindered by a growing unrest among the Native Americans. Penn's heirs lacked both the good sense
and the ethical values that prompted Penn's fair and considerate treatment. Resentful of encroachment on their lands and of
the land purchase made by the Albany Congress (1754), the Native Americans allied themselves with the French, who were then
fortifying positions in the Ohio valley (see French and Indian Wars). The frontier settlements were severely ravaged until,
after several reverses, the French abandoned (1758) Fort Duquesne to British and American forces under Gen. John Forbes.
The
power of the Native Americans was not completely broken until the suppression of the uprising of 1763 (see Pontiac's Rebellion).
The inept defenses provided by the Quaker-controlled assembly during the crisis aroused bitter resentment and intensified
efforts to overturn proprietary rule. The struggle between proprietary and antiproprietary parties was soon overshadowed,
however, by the opposition to British imperial policies that culminated in the American Revolution.
The American Revolution and a New Nation
Important Pennsylvanians of both
dominant political parties emerged as leaders of the Revolutionary movement—Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Rush, Joseph
Reed, Thomas Mifflin, John Dickinson, Robert Morris, and Haym Salomon. In 1776 a provincial convention dominated by radical
patriots created the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania under one of the most democratic of the new state constitutions. The
state was invaded by British troops, and notable engagements were fought in 1777 on the Brandywine (see Brandywine, battle
of the) and at Germantown. Philadelphia was occupied by the British, hile Valley Forge witnessed the heroic endurance of Washington's
troops in the winter of 1777–78, making the site a shrine of patriotism. In the postwar period, Pennsylvania's role
as the geographical keystone of the new nation was strengthened by its resolution of boundary disputes that had persisted
throughout the colonial period: agreement was reached with Maryland in 1784 by acceptance of the Mason-Dixon line; with Virginia
and New York in 1786; with the United States and the Iroquois Confederacy in 1789; and with Connecticut in 1799 after bitter
dissension in the Wyoming Valley. Philadelphia, host to the First and Second Continental Congresses (1774, 1775–81)
and scene of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was for many years the nation's leading city. It was the site
of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, served as the seat of the new federal government from 1790 to 1800, and became a
financial center through the organization of the First Bank of the United States (1791) and the U.S. Mint (1792). In 1790
it was also the site of a convention that replaced the radical state constitution of 1776 with a more conservative one patterned
after the federal Constitution, while retaining such liberal achievements as the act (1780) providing for the gradual abolition
of slavery. Philadelphia was not, however, typical of the state as a whole.From the Whiskey Rebellion to the Civil War Opposition
to federal taxation in rural Pennsylvania led to violence in the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 and the Fries Rebellion of 1798
(see Fries, John), while anti-eastern sentiment forced removal of the state capital to Lancaster in 1799, then to Harrisburg
in 1812. Western influence in state affairs increased as the rapid movement of settlers into the Ohio country created new
markets, timulated the growth of new industries, and assured the importance of Pittsburgh and Erie as commercial centers.
The economic and social development of W Pennsylvania also encouraged programs of internal improvements. The turnpike era,
initiated by the incorporation of the Lancaster Turnpike in 1792, was followed by an extensive canal-building program in the
1820s and 30s and, after the introduction of steam power, by an era of extensive railroad construction. Adequate provisions
for free public education, championed by Gov. George Wolf and Thaddeus Stevens, emerged in the Free School Act of 1834, which
was implemented in 1849 by legislation making attendance by those of school age compulsory. Much of the early education was
denominational, and many schools remained church-affiliated.
In political life the Democratic party was generally dominant,
and in 1857 Pennsylvania gave the nation a Democratic president in James Buchanan. However, a split within the party over
its opposition to slavery and the desire for a high protective tariff to protect the state's growing industries led to a Republican
victory in 1860 and began Pennsylvania's long affiliation with the Republican party. Because of Pennsylvania's location near
the South, it was the scene of several battles in the Civil War, notably the Gettysburg campaign of 1863.
The Rise of Industry and the Labor Movement
With the close of the war came
the rapid emergence of the state as a mighty industrial commonwealth. Supported by high protective tariffs, the industries
found favorable markets and a constant supply of immigrant labor. The first oil well was dug at Titusville in 1859, and a
number of fortunes, particularly that of the Rockefeller family, was founded on petroleum. But it was steel that became the
basic industry, using iron ore from the Lehigh valley and the Bethlehem area and the native Pennsylvania coal. Later the iron
ore was transported in massive amounts across the Great Lakes. Under the manipulation of such men as Andrew Carnegie, Henry
Frick, Charles Schwab, and J. Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913; see under Morgan, family) numerous interests were merged into
vast combines with state and national influence. In the face of this increasing concentration of power, labor struggled
to achieve safer working conditions, higher wages, and shorter hours. The campaign brought bloodshed during the fight between
mine owners and the radical Molly Maguires and reached a climax in the strike at Homestead (see Homestead strike) in 1892.
The miners, under the leadership of John Mitchell and aided by the intervention of Theodore Roosevelt, achieved a qualified
victory in the anthracite strike of 1902, but the great steel strike of 1919 was broken. During the 1930s the Congress of
Industrial Organizations (CIO) successfully promoted unionization in many new areas and somewhat weakened the strength of
the American Federation of Labor (AFL). By 1941 the CIO had succeeded in organizing the steel industry, while the United Mine
Workers had acquired increasing strength among the workers in the coal fields.Government Reform and Economic Restructuring
The powerful and corrupt political machine that had been built by Simon Cameron continued into the 20th cent. under the leadership
of such bosses as Boies Penrose. Gifford Pinchot, a Progressive Republican and a vigorous “dry,” was governor
for two terms (1923–27, 1931–35) and did much to repair government through a new administrative code, an improved
budget system, and pioneer work in conservation.In 1979 the state suffered a near-disaster as an accident at the Three Mile
Island nuclear facility near Harrisburg resulted in a partial meltdown. Pennsylvania's population has grown slowly since the
1940s, when it was the second largest state in the union; it was the sixth most populous state after the 2000 census. After
losing hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs in the 1980s, the state's economy experienced a notable shift to the service
sector. Some of Pennsylvania's enterprises did grow, however, and in recent years such high-tech industries as biotechnology
and pharmaceuticals have flourished, largely in the suburbs of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. For more on patriotic Pennsylvania,
please visit ww.pa.gov .
Rhode Island
Capital: Providence
State abbreviation/Postal code: R.I./RI
Governor: Don Carcieri, R (to Jan. 2011)
Lieut. Governor: Elizabeth H. Roberts, D (to Jan. 2011)
Senators: Jack Reed, D (to Jan. 2009); Sheldon Whitehouse, D (to
Jan. 2013)
U.S. Representatives: 2
Secy. of State: A. Ralph Mollis, D (to Jan. 2011)
Atty. General: Patrick Lynch, D (to Jan. 2011)
General Treasurer: Frank T. Caprio, D (to Jan. 2011)
Entered Union (rank): May 29, 1790 (13)
Present constitution adopted: 1843
Motto: Hope
State symbols:
flower violet (unofficial) (1968)
tree red maple (official) (1964)
bird Rhode Island red hen (official) (1954)
shell quahog (official)
mineral bowenite (1966)
stone cumberlandite (1966)
colors blue, white, and gold (in
state flag)
song “Rhode Island, It's for Me” (1996)
Official name: The State of Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations
Nickname: The Ocean State
Origin of name: From the Greek Island of Rhodes
Largest cities (2005 est.): Providence, 176,862; Warwick, 87,233;
Cranston, 81,614; Pawtucket, 73,742; East Providence, 49,515;
Woonsocket, 44,328; Newport, 25,340; Central Falls, 19,159
Land area: 1,045 sq mi. (2,706 sq km)
Geographic center: In Kent Co., 1 mi. SSW of Crompton
Number of counties: 5
Largest county by population and area: Providence, 639,653
(2005); Providence, 413 sq mi.
State parks: 14
Residents: Rhode Islander
2005 resident population est.: 1,076,189
From its beginnings, Rhode Island has been distinguished by its
support for freedom of conscience and action: Clergyman Roger
Williams founded the present state capital, Providence, after being
exiled by the Massachusetts Bay Colony Puritans in 1636. Williams
was followed by other religious exiles who founded Pocasset, now
Portsmouth, in 1638 and Newport in 1639.
Rhode Island's rebellious, authority-defying nature was further
demonstrated by the burnings of the British revenue cutters Liberty
and Gaspee prior to the Revolution; by its early declaration of
independence from Great Britain in May 1776; by its refusal to
participate actively in the War of 1812; and by Dorr's Rebellion of
1842, which protested property requirements for voting.
Rhode Island, smallest of the 50 states, is densely populated and
highly industrialized. It is a major center for jewelry
manufacturing. Electronics, metal, plastic products, and boat and
ship construction are other important industries.
Non-manufacturing employment includes research in health,
medicine, and the ocean environment. Providence is a wholesale
distribution center for New England.
Fishing ports are at Galilee and Newport. Rural areas of the state
support small-scale farming, including grapes for local wineries,
turf grass, and nursery stock. Tourism generates over a billion
dollars a year in revenue.
Newport became famous as the summer capital of high society in
the mid-19th century. Touro Synagogue (1763) is the oldest in the
U.S. Other points of interest include the Roger Williams National
Memorial in Providence, Samuel Slater's Mill in Pawtucket, the
General Nathanael Greene Homestead in Coventry, and Block
Island.
History
Early Exploration and Colonization
The region of Rhode Island was probably visited (1524) by
Verrazano, and in 1614 the area was explored by the Dutchman
Adriaen Block. Roger Williams, banished (1635) from the
Massachusetts Bay colony, established in 1636 the first settlement
in the area at Providence on land purchased from Native Americans
of the Narragansett tribe. In 1638, Puritan exiles bought the island
of Aquidneck (now Rhode Island) from the Narragansetts. There
they established the settlement of Portsmouth (1638). Because of
factional differences, Newport was founded (1639) on the
southwest side of the island, but the two towns later combined
governments (1640–47). Another settlement, Warwick, was made
on the western shore of Narragansett Bay in 1642.
In order to thwart claims made to the area by the Massachusetts
Bay and Plymouth colonies, Williams, through influential friends,
secured (1644) a parliamentary patent under which the four towns
drew up a code of civil law and organized (1647) a government.
The liberal charter granted (1663) by Charles II of England
ensured the colony's survival, although boundary difficulties with
Massachusetts and Connecticut continued well into the 18th cent.
The early settlers were mostly of English stock. Many were drawn
to the colony by the guarantee of religious freedom, a cardinal
principle with Williams, confirmed in the patent of 1644 and
reaffirmed by the royal charter of 1663. Jews settled in Newport in
the first year of Williams' presidency (1654), and Quakers followed
in large numbers. All the early settlers owned land that, following
Williams' practice, was bought from the Native Americans. Fishing
and trade supplemented the living won from the soil. Moreover,
livestock from the Narragansett county (South County), especially
the famous Narragansett pacers, figured largely in the early
commerce, which developed rapidly in the late 17th cent.
Because of the colony's religious freedom, it was viewed with
mixed loathing and fear by the more powerful neighboring colonies
and was never admitted to the New England Confederation.
However, it bore its share of the devastation caused by King
Philip's War in 1675–76. Between 1750 and 1770 there was bitter
strife between Providence and Newport over control of the colony.
The Coming of Revolution
Until the American Revolution, Newport was the commercial center
of the colony, thriving especially on the triangular trade in rum,
slaves, and molasses. Rhode Island, like other colonies, objected to
British mercantilist policies and consistently violated the Molasses
Act of 1733 and the Navigation Acts. Narragansett Bay became a
notorious haven for smugglers, and the British revenue cutter
Gaspee was burned (1772) by patriots in protest against the
enforcement of revenue laws.
After the start of the American Revolution, Rhode Island militia
under Nathanael Greene joined (1775) the Continental Army at
Cambridge, and on May 4, 1776, the province renounced its
allegiance to George III. British forces occupied parts of Rhode
Island from 1776 to 1779, when they withdrew before the arrival
of the French fleet. The Revolution won, Rhode Island, jealous of
its independence, refused to sanction a national import duty; it
therefore deprived the Continental Congress of a major source of
revenue and became one of the states responsible for the failure of
the Articles of Confederation. Rhode Island did not send delegates
to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia and resisted
ratifying the Constitution until the federal government threatened
to sever commercial relations with the state; even then,
ratification passed (1790) by only two votes.
Industrialization
The post-Revolutionary era brought bankruptcy and currency
difficulties. Shipping, which continued to be a major factor in the
state's economy until the first quarter of the 19th cent., was hard
hit by Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1807 and by the competition from
larger ports such as New York and Boston. However, this
post-Revolutionary period also marked the beginning of Rhode
Island's industrial greatness. Samuel Slater built the first
successful American cotton-textile mill at Pawtucket in 1790. An
abundance of water power led to the rapid development of
manufacturing, in which merchants and shipping magnates
invested their capital.
With the growth of industry the towns increased in population, and
Providence surpassed Newport as the commercial center of the
state. Since suffrage had long been restricted to freeholders,
Rhode Island's increased urbanization resulted in the
disenfranchisement of most townspeople. Frustrated in repeated
attempts to amend the constitution, many Rhode Islanders joined
Thomas Wilson Dorr in forcibly establishing an illegal state
government in Providence in 1842. Dorr's Rebellion, though
abortive, resulted in the adoption of a new constitution (1842)
extending suffrage; however, the property qualification was not
abolished until 1888. Antislavery sentiment was strong in Rhode
Island, and the state firmly supported the Union in the Civil War.
Mill Towns, Discontent, and a Changing Economy
Until well into the 20th cent. Rhode Island's political and economic
life was dominated by mill owners. (Nelson W. Aldrich was a power
in the nation as well as the state.) The small mill towns, with their
company houses and company stores and their large numbers of
foreign-born residents, were important elements in the social
fabric. English, Irish, and Scottish settlers had begun arriving in
large numbers in the first half of the 19th cent.; French Canadian
immigration commenced around the time of the Civil War; at the
end of the 19th cent. and the beginning of the 20th there was a
large influx of Poles, Italians, and Portuguese. Politically, Rhode
Island was generally controlled by Republicans until the 1930s,
when the Democrats' insistence on reapportionment of
representation (which tended to favor small towns over urban
areas) helped bring their party into power.
Sporadic labor troubles in the 19th cent. had little effect on the
state's economy. However, after World War I there was a long
textile strike, centered in the Blackstone valley; this, together with
the gradual removal of the mills to the South—the source of the
cotton supply where labor was cheaper—led to a continuing decline
in the cotton-textile industry. Nevertheless, the manufacture of
textile products is still carried on in the state today and new
industries such as high-technology electronics have been
introduced. Since the 1970s the overall shift in the state's
economy has been away from manufacturing altogether and
toward the service sector. This shift has coincided with major
suburban growth. To be a "Rhodie" in Rhode Island please visit
==================================================
Sweet South Carolina
Capital: Columbia
State abbreviation/Postal code: S.C./SC
Governor: Mark Sanford, R (to Jan.
2011)
Lieut. Governor: R. Andre Bauer, R (to Jan. 2011)
Senators: Jim DeMint, R (to Jan.
2011); Lindsey Graham, R (to Jan.
2009)
U.S. Representatives: 6
Secy. of State: Mark Hammond, R (to Jan. 2011)
Treasurer: Converse A. Chellis, III,
R (to Jan. 2011)
Atty. General: Henry McMaster, R (to Jan. 2011)
Entered Union (rank): May 23, 1788
(8)
Present constitution adopted: 1895
Mottoes: Animis opibusque parati
(Prepared in mind and resources)
and Dum spiro spero (While I breathe, I hope)
State symbols:
flower Carolina
yellow jessamine (1924)
tree palmetto tree
(1939)
bird Carolina wren (1948)
Nickname: Palmetto State
Origin of name: In honor of Charles
I of England
10 largest cities (2005 est.): Columbia, 117,088; Charleston,
106,712; North Charleston, 86,313; Rock Hill, 59,554; Mount
Pleasant, 57,932; Greenville, 56,676;
Sumter, 39,679;
Spartanburg, 38,379; Summerville, 37,714; Hilton Head Island,
34,497
Land area: 30,109 sq mi. (77,982
sq km)
Geographic center: In Richland Co., 13 mi. SE of Columbia
Number of counties: 46
Largest county by population and
area: Greenville, 407,383
(2005); Horry, 1,134 sq mi.
State forests: 4
State parks: 47 (80,000+ ac.)
Residents: South Carolinian
2005 resident population est.: 4,255,083
Following exploration of the coast in 1521 by
Francisco de Gordillo,
the Spanish tried unsuccessfully to establish
a colony near
present-day Georgetown in 1526, and the French also failed
to
colonize Parris Island near Fort Royal in 1562. The first English
settlement was made in 1670 at Albemarle
Point on the Ashley
River, but poor conditions drove the settlers to the site
of
Charleston (originally called Charles Town).
South Carolina, officially separated
from North Carolina in 1729,
was the scene of extensive military action during
the Revolution
and again during the Civil War. The Civil War began in 1861
as
South Carolina troops fired on federal Fort Sumter in Charleston
Harbor, and the state was the first
to secede from the Union.
Once primarily agricultural, South Carolina today
has many large
textile and other mills that produce several times the output
of its
farms in cash value. Charleston makes asbestos, wood, pulp, steel
products, chemicals, machinery, and
apparel.
Farms have become fewer but larger in recent years. South
Carolina ranks third in peach production; it ranks fourth in overall
tobacco production. Other top agricultural
commodities include
nursery and greenhouse products, watermelons, peanuts, broilers
and turkeys, and cattle and calves. The only commercial tea
plantation in America is 20 mi south
of Charleston on Wadmalaw
Island.
Points of interest include Fort Sumter
National Monument, Fort
Moultrie, Fort Johnson, and aircraft carrier
USS Yorktown in
Charleston Harbor; the Middleton, Magnolia, and Cypress
Gardens
in Charleston; Cowpens National Battlefield; the Hilton
Head
resorts; and the Riverbanks Zoo and Botanical Garden in Columbia.
French, Spanish, and English Colonization
At an unknown coastal site in the region that is now the Carolinas,
what may have been the first European
settlement in North
America was founded (1526; not permanent) by an expedition
under the Spanish explorer Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón. The
Frenchman Jean Ribaut established
(1562) a short-lived Huguenot
settlement on Parris Island in Port Royal Sound,
but French
colonizing ambitions were thoroughly thwarted by Pedro Menéndez
de Avilés. Spanish missions soon extended N from Florida almost to
the site of present-day Charleston,
and they remained until the
arrival of the English.
Charles I asserted England's claim
as early as 1629 by granting the
territory from lat. 36°N to lat. 31°N (later
named Carolina for
Charles I) to Sir Robert Heath, but since no settlements
were made
Heath's charter was forfeited. In 1663, Charles II awarded
the
area to eight of his prominent supporters, the most active of whom
was Anthony Ashley Cooper (Lord Ashley,
later 1st earl of
Shaftesbury).
The northern and southern sections
of Carolina developed
separately. The first permanent colony was established
in 1670 at
Albemarle Point under William Sayle. To govern it, John
Locke and
others wrote (at Lord Ashley's behest) the Fundamental
Constitutions of Carolina (1669),
which granted some popular
rights but also retained feudal privileges and
limitations. It was
never ratified. The actual government consisted of a powerful
council, half of which was appointed by the proprietors in England;
a governor, also appointed by the
proprietors; and a relatively
weak assembly, elected by all freemen. In 1680
the colony moved
across the river to Oyster Point, which was better suited
for
defense. There the colonists established their capital, called
Charles Town (later Charleston),
which was to become the chief
center of culture and of wealth in the South.
Life under Proprietary
Rule
The 1680s saw the beginnings of prosperity.
Wealthy colonists set
up plantations worked by indentured servants
and African and
Native American slaves, while freemen (many of them former
indentured servants) cultivated the 50 acres (20 hectares) of land
granted them by the proprietors.
On plantations and small farms
alike, corn, livestock, and some cotton were
raised at first, and
tobacco was cultivated in plenitude. Rice, introduced c.1680,
flourished in the marshy tidewater area and soon became the
plantation staple. Forests yielded
rich timber and naval stores. The
fur trade (especially in deerskins) with the
Creek and other tribes
prospered. But conflict with the Spanish and
French increased, and
the encroachment of the two countries dramatized
the proprietors'
lack of concern and their inability to defend the distant
colony.
Popular antagonism to proprietary rule was spurred by the
parceling of much of the land into a few large grants, by the
quitrent system, and most importantly
by the issue of religion.
Several religious groups had freely practiced
their faith in the
colony until the early 18th cent.; these included Anglicans,
dissenters from Britain (see nonconformists), and French
Huguenots. In 1704 the Anglicans,
without opposition from the
proprietors, managed to deprive the other groups
of their religious
liberty, and it was not until the English government took
action
(1706) that religious toleration was restored.
South Carolina
as a Royal Colony
The colony was divided into
North and South Carolina in 1712. In
1715–16 the settlers were attacked
by the Yamasee, who had
become resentful of exploitation by the Carolina
traders. The
uprising was finally quelled after much loss of life and
property.
These attacks further revealed the lack of protection afforded
by
the proprietors, and in 1719 the colonists rebelled and received
royal protection. The crown sent
Francis Nicholson as provincial
royal governor in 1720, and South Carolina formally
became a
royal colony in 1729, when the proprietors finally accepted
terms.
Conditions for the colonists were now in many respects improved.
Pirates such as Blackbeard who had
infested the coast had been
hanged or dispersed. In addition the founding
(1733) of Georgia to
the south provided a buffer against the Spanish. Loss of
territory
and some of the colony's fur trade to Georgia was more than
compensated for when indigo, supported by British bounty, became
(1740s) the colony's second staple.
To counterbalance the vast
number of African slaves transported to the colony
for use as
plantation labor, European immigration was encouraged. Germans
and Swiss, arriving in the 1730s and 40s, and Scotch-Irish and
other migrants from Virginia and
Pennsylvania, arriving in the 60s,
settled the colony's lower middle country and
uplands.
Regional antipathies were generated by economic and social
differences; the small, self-sufficient farmer of the up-country,
demanding courts, roads, and defense
against outlaws and the
Cherokee, elicited little sympathy from the powerful
plantation
lords of lower Carolina. In the late 1760s discontent culminated
in
the formation of the Regulator movement. Finally the legislature
gave in to some up-country demands,
including the establishment
of courts in the region.
South Carolina's long friendship
with the mother country was
reflected in trade benefits the colony realized
under the Navigation
Acts and in protection provided to it by the strong British
navy.
However, public sentiment in the colony was transformed by the
Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts, and
by British political claims.
South Carolinians—Christopher Gadsden,
Henry Laurens, and
Arthur Middleton—were leaders in the movement for
independence, and in Mar., 1776, an independent government of
South Carolina was set up with John
Rutledge as president.
In the American Revolution the British failed
to take Charleston in
June, 1776 (see Fort Moultrie), but Sir Henry
Clinton successfully
besieged the town in 1780. In the ensuing Carolina campaign
the
British were ultimately forced to retreat, although they held
Charleston until Dec., 1782. In 1786
the site of Columbia was
chosen for the new capital; its central location
mollified the
up-country population. South Carolina ratified the federal
Constitution in May, 1788, and replaced the royal charter with a
state charter in 1790. Complete religious
liberty was established
and primogeniture was abolished, but property
qualifications for
voting and office holding was retained, ensuring planter
control of
the legislature.
The constitutional amendment
known as the “compromise of
1808” somewhat alleviated the sectional
antagonism by
reapportioning representation. By this time, however, Eli
Whitney's
cotton gin had enabled cotton plantations to spread far
into the
up-country; thus the planters continued to dominate state
policies.
In the late 1820s cotton from the fertile western states
glutted the
market, and prosperity declined in South Carolina.
Discontent was aggravated by national
tariff policies that were
unfavorable to South Carolina's agrarian economy.
In 1832 the
state passed its nullification act, declaring the tariff
laws null and
void and not binding upon South Carolina citizens. President
Andrew Jackson acted firmly for the Union in this crisis, and in
1833 South Carolina repealed its
act. Tariff reform that same year
brought relief, but the possibility of secession
had been broached
and was subsequently renewed in reaction to abolitionist
attacks
and further economic grievances. John C. Calhoun became
the
acknowledged leader of the whole South with his defense of the
states' rights doctrine; his political
philosophy was later to form
the intellectual basis for the Confederacy. Some
of the state's
apologists for slavery, notably Robert B. Rhett, equaled
the most
radical abolitionists in their zeal.
Civil War and
Reconstruction
After Lincoln's election
South Carolina was the first state to secede
(Dec. 20, 1860) from the Union. Gov.
Francis W. Pickens
immediately demanded all federal property within the state,
including Fort Sumter, which was held by Union men under Major
Robert Anderson. The firing on Sumter
by Confederate batteries on
Apr. 12, 1861, precipitated the Civil War.
In Nov., 1861, a Union naval force
under Samuel F. Du Pont took
the forts of Port Royal Sound, but Charleston's
forts withstood
severe bombardments in 1863, and the state was saved from
heavy
military action until early in 1865. Then Gen. William T. Sherman,
commanding the army that had marched
through Georgia, crossed
the Savannah River and advanced north through
the state. Because
South Carolina was viewed as the birthplace of secession,
it was
difficult to restrain many of the Union soldiers, and the deliberate
devastation, culminating in the burning
of Columbia, was
appalling.
The Reconstruction period that followed
the war was no less
disastrous. South Carolina was selected for President Andrew
Johnson's moderate program, but the program had only a brief trial
before the radical Republicans took
over. For a decade the state
was ruled by carpetbaggers and scalawags, with
the support of
African-American votes. The constitution of 1868, which
established universal male suffrage and ended property
qualifications for office holding,
gained the state readmittance
(June, 1868) to the Union.
During the period from 1868 to 1874
accomplishments such as the
building of schools and railroads were offset
by waste and
corruption in the state government and by high taxation.
Many of
these abuses were corrected by the honest administration
of Gov.
Daniel H. Chamberlain (1874–76), the state's last
Republican
governor until the late 20th cent. The Democratic party
regained
vitality in the late 1870s and South Carolina's politics
were
strongly Democratic after this period; not until the late 1960s did
Republicans regain strength in both
state and national elections.
South Carolina's war hero, Wade Hampton, was
selected as the
Democratic party's candidate for governor in 1876. The election
was marked by irregular practices on both sides, and, although
Hampton gained a majority, Chamberlain
refused to accept defeat.
Thus there existed two state governments until
1877, when
President Rutherford B. Hayes removed all federal troops
from the
South, and Chamberlain, bereft of the support that had made
Republican rule possible, withdrew. Hampton attempted
moderation on race issues, but, despite
his efforts, by 1882 the
vast majority of blacks had lost the vote and
white political
supremacy was assured.
The Decline of
Agriculture and the Rise of Jim Crowism
The wartime destruction
and the abolition of slavery had nearly
ruined the state's basic agricultural
economy. Although some
vigorous planters and merchants managed to recoup
their fortunes,
farm tenancy (replacing the old plantation system) held
most of
the state's farmers in economic bondage. The Panic of 1873
was
followed by two decades of agrarian hard times. The rice
plantations, which had already begun
to decline, were hardest hit.
Popular discontent was not ameliorated until
the election (1890)
of Benjamin Tillman, leader of the up-country farmers, as
governor.
Tillmanites wrested control of the Democratic party from
the
conservative element (the tidewater “Bourbon aristocracy”),
reapportioned taxes and representation,
expanded public
education, and passed rudimentary labor reform laws. Reflecting
another aspect of Tillman's policies, the constitution of 1895
initiated “Jim Crow laws”
and adopted voting qualifications that
excluded virtually all blacks from the crucial
Democratic primaries.
Renewed agrarian prosperity after 1900 was accompanied
by
political stagnation that lasted until the governorship (1914–18)
of Richard I. Manning; progressive
trends already evident in other
parts of the country were now belatedly manifested
in South
Carolina in the passage of education and labor laws.
Agriculture again suffered a setback
in the 1920s. Contributing
factors were the destruction of the Sea Islands
cotton crop by the
boll weevil and the erosion of the land as a result of long
adherence to the one-crop system. Industry, especially the textile
industry (which had been increasing
in importance since the Civil
War), also suffered in the Great Depression of
the 1930s. New Deal
legislation and the state road-building program provided
South
Carolina with some relief. During World War I the position of
African Americans had been improved
through war work and
service in the armed forces; however, in the 1920s the renewed
power of the Ku Klux Klan had again brought oppression, and black
migration began on a scale sufficient
to bring the whites into the
majority in the state by 1930.
Voting Rights,
Desegregation, and Economic Growth
World War II and the postwar
period brought great changes. A
state court decision in 1947 opened the Democratic
primaries to
African-American voters. Under the governorship (1951–55)
of the
nationally prominent James F. Byrnes, the poll tax was abolished
as a voting requirement, steps were
taken to curb Ku Klux Klan
activities, and the educational system was greatly
expanded.
Integration of the schools after the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court
decision met considerable opposition, but in 1963 South
Carolinians accepted token integration
of Clemson College without
incident, and desegregation began in the Charleston
schools. By
1970 all of the state's public school districts were technically
in
compliance with federal desegregation requirements. That year
four African Americans were elected
to the previously all-white
state legislature.
In the 1970s and 80s, South Carolina
experienced economic
growth similar to other Sun Belt states. Low tax rates and
a large
nonunion workforce have attracted many firms from other
states
as well as foreign countries. In the 1990s job losses from the
closing of naval facilities at North
Charleston were largely offset by
private undertakings, and the Greenville-Spartanburg
area in the
northwest was rapidly becoming home to new industries.
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