1780-British Occupation  

British military proclamation stated that mechanics and shopkeepers (mostly Patriots) must swear allegiance to Britain in order to sell property, collect debts or leave the city. One hundred sixty-three merchants swore allegiance in order to avoid financial ruin.

1833

 A notice in the Southern Patriot read:

The building at the west end of Broad Street, called the Charleston Theatre, has been purchased by the faculty of the Medical College of the State of South Carolina for the sum of $12,000. It will be fitted up for the classes attached to this institution.

Theater (c. 1792) sat on the corner of Broad and New Streets. Designed by James Hoban.

A rift developed between management and faculty of the Medical College of South Carolina, and the faculty organized an independent institution, The Medical College of the State of South Carolina. With an enrollment of 105, the new college opened in 1833 in the Broad Street theater.

1837-Slavery

Angelina Grimke wrote:

We have given great offense on account of our womanhood, which seems to be as objectionable as our abolitionism. The whole land seems aroused to discussion on the province of woman, and I am glad of it. We are willing to bear the brunt of the storm, if we can only be the means of making a break in that wall of public opinion which lies right in the way of woman’s rights, true dignity, honor and usefulness.

1861-Civil War

The CSS Gordon captured the American brig William McGilvery off Charleston on July 25, 1861. She was reported to have run the blockade out of Charleston twenty-seven times by October 1861.

At that time Gordon was under charter to the Confederate States for the daily reconnoiter of the Union warships off that port. She was of such light draft that she could slip over the bar without being confined to the channels.

1902

The city of Charleston purchased the grounds of the West Indian Exposition for $25,000 with the plan to build a public park on the site.

Expo fair grounds, later purchased by the city of Charleston and turned into Hampton Park.

1778-American Revolution

The Articles of Confederation were signed by the South Carolina delegation to the Continental Congress. South Carolina was now one of thirteen unified colonies. The South Carolina signers were:

• Henry Laurens
• William Henry Drayton
• John Mathews
• Richard Hutson
• Thomas Heyward, Jr.

1804

The South Carolina Society had their first meeting in their new building at 72 Meeting Street. The first floor was used to school female orphans and indigents, while the second floor was a ballroom for social purposes.

The Neoclassical building was designed by the gentleman architect, Gabriel Manigault, who was a member of the Society. 

South Carolina Society

1718-Bloodless Revolution

The Proprietors, with permission of the King, repealed the Assembly’s ten per cent duty upon goods of British manufacture imported into the colony. They also repealed several other Acts passed by the Assembly which inflamed the tension between the Assembly and the Proprietors.

• The ten-year old power of the Assembly to nominate the Public Receiver was repealed.
• Act for Elections calling it “contrary to the laws and customs of Parliament and Great Britain we therefore do declare the … Acts to be null and void …”
• Yemassee Act for Settlement which provided 200 acres to each settler was repealed.
• Indian Trade Act was repealed since London merchants saw it as a monopoly.
• The Proprietors ordered the Governor to dissolve the Assembly.

Nicholas Trott

Members of the Assembly were surprised and outraged, except for two, Nicholas Trott and William Rhett. It was discovered that Trott and Rhett had carried on a private correspondence with Mr. Shelton, the secretary of the Proprietors, encouraging the repeal of the Act for Elections, since it took control from their offices.

1769-American Revolution – Foundations

During a meeting at the Liberty Tree, both sides – 13 merchants and 13 mechanics & planters – accepted a unified Association. They encouraged American manufacturing and prohibited the importation of any European or East Indian goods, except a few necessary items which could not be produced in America. It was the most comprehensive protest in the American colonies. 

Slave importation from Africa was banned after January 1, 1770 and all signers pledged to boycott anyone who did not sign within a month. Anyone who broke the agreement was to “be treated with the utmost contempt.” The Association was to remain in effect until the Townsend Duties Act was repealed. Anyone who did not sign would have their names published in the Gazette as being against the Association.

1669-Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina

The Fundamental Constitution of Carolina, written by Anthony Ashley Cooper and John Locke, was adopted by the Proprietors. Even though the Fundamental Constitutions never became the official law of Carolina, a number of its provisions were implemented and accepted by the colonists. It was an extraordinary attempt to form an aristocratic government from a colony of adventurers, and also designed to attract settlers by offering religious tolerance, liberal land grants and property rights as well as “titles of honor.” 

John Locke, leader of the enlightenment movement, and co-author of The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina.

The Constitution contained similar language of Locke’s famous 1689 A Letter Concerning Toleration, and granted the Carolina Colony religious freedom and a liberty of conscience to all settlers, expressly mentioning “Jews, heathens, and dissenters.” It would have a profound influence on Charleston society, leading to the immigration of the French Huguenots and Sephardic Jews from Portugal. Some of the religious provisions were:

• Church of England established as the tax-supported church in the colony.
• Religious freedom for anyone who believed in God.
• Seven individuals could form a “church or profession” that would be officially recognized. “No person whatsoever shall disturb, molest or persecute another for his speculative opinions in religion, or his way of worship.”
• Roman Catholicism was not tolerated

The Fundamental Constitution also set up a County Palatine, an official who could exercise powers normally reserved to the crown Palatine and established a system of government by the landed gentry. To vote a man must own 50 acres of property and to hold a seat in the elected legislature, he must own 500 acres. The nobility consisted of:

• Landgraves (borrowed from German courts): Must possess 48,000 acres
• Caciques (the title of Indian chiefs in America): must possess 24,000 acres.

The Proprietors promised 150 acres of land to all “free settlers over the age of sixteen” and an additional “100 acres for every able-bodied servant” in their employee. “Master” Stephen Bull had nine servants and received 1050 acres. Servants could include family members (children, cousins, nieces …) and “indentured servants” who signed a work contract for a specific period of time in exchange for their passage to the colony. If an individual acquired 3000 acres, the estate could be declared a manor and the owner would have all the rights of a lord of the manor established by English law.                   

The Constitution established “that all subjects who should be transported into the province, and the children born there, should be denizens and lieges of the Kingdom of England.”

It also set out specific and strict laws for slavery, which would become one of the most important issues facing the colony during the next 200 years.  “Every freeman of Carolina shall have absolute power and authority over his negro slaves.”

The Proprietors also approved a “Grand Modell” for the planned colony, based on the grid pattern designed for the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire of 1666.

1856

The Charleston Evening News published an editorial by Col. John Cunningham, which prompted a response from L.M. Hatch, the editor of the Standard. Cunningham charged Hatch with a “studied and wanton personal insult” and demanded satisfaction. He appointed his friend William Taber, editor of the Charleston Mercury, as his second – to negotiate the details of the duel.

1861-Civil War

Pierre Gustave Toutant Beuaregard

P.G.T. Beauregard  was promoted on July 21 to be one of the eventual seven full generals in the Confederate Army; his date of rank made him the fifth most senior general, behind Samuel Cooper, Albert Sidney Johnston, Robert E. Lee, and Joseph E. Johnston.

1892-Jenkins Orphanage

Daniel Jenkins received a charter from the state of South Carolina to operate the Orphan Aid Society. At this point Jenkins and his wife Lena were taking care of several dozen black lambs. Jenkins knew he needed help; the Society needed a substantial and dependable source of money. He hoped the city of Charleston would be a significant benefactor. After all, city authorities and elite citizens had a 100-year history of generously supporting the Charleston Orphan House.

They gave him $50.

1672 – Oyster Point

The surveyor general, John Culpepper of Barbados, was ordered to “admeasure and layout for a town on the Oyster Point.”

Most of the land on Oyster Point had been given as a grant to Henry Hughes and John Coming, first mate of the Carolina in 1670. Both men voluntarily surrendered half of their lands “to be employed in and toward the outlaying of a town and commons.” This made the original plan for Charles Town extending no farther west than present Meeting Street, no farther north than Broad Street and no farther south than Water Street. 

Early Charlestown

1773 

David Ramsay, an Irish immigrant and graduate of Princeton, was awarded a medical degree from the College of Philadelphia.

1776 – American Revolution

The Continental Congress issued the following proclamation:

“Resolved, That the thanks of the United States of America, be given to Maj. Gen. Lee, Col. William Moultrie, Col. William Thomson, and the officers and soldiers under their commands; who on the 28th day of June last, repulsed, with so much valor, the attack which was made on the State of South-Carolina, by the fleet and army of his British majesty.

That Mr. President transmits the foregoing resolution to Maj. Gen. Lee, Col. Moultrie, and Col. Thomson.

 By order of the Congress.

John Hancock, President.”

1863 – Civil War

Mayor Charles Macbeth and Gen. Beauregard urged “all women and children, and other non-combatants … leave the city as soon as possible.”   

1914 – Charleston Library Society

The new home of the Charleston Library Society opened, a Beaux Arts-style at 164 King building designed and constructed specifically for the society. During the opening day,  the public lined up the front steps to experience its light-filled rooms, fireproof structure, electric lamps, steam heat, and the vacuum system keeping it dust free.

The 60,000 books, pamphlets, and magazines were then accessible for $4 a year, and members such as DuBose Heyward, John Bennett, Albert Simons, and Josephine Pinckney came to read and write here.

Today, the society holds more than 110,000 volumes—from those dating to the medieval period to current best sellers—as well as an archive of rare Charleston imprints and manuscripts documenting the founders of our country, state, and city. In recent years, it has been hosting concerts, book signings, art installations, and lectures with renewed vigor, drawing a new generation of culture-seekers to propel the building into another century.

164 King Street, Charleston Library Society, modern view

164 King Street, Charleston Library Society, 1914