South Carolina

C

Judicial

The supreme court, the state’s highest court, has original as well as appellate jurisdiction. The court consists of five justices: a chief justice and four associate justices. All are elected for ten-year terms by the members of both houses of the general assembly meeting jointly. The next highest court is the court of appeals, created in 1979. It comprises a chief judge and five associate judges and normally sits in panels of three. Its jurisdiction includes appeals from circuit and family courts, with specific exceptions that go directly to the Supreme Court. Circuit courts are organized into 16 judicial districts and have original jurisdiction over most matters. Circuit court judges are also chosen by the state legislature, for six-year terms. Lower courts include probate courts, magistrate’s courts, recorder’s courts, and family courts, which combine domestic relations and juvenile courts.

D

Local Government

Traditionally, government in South Carolina’s 46 counties was administered by the county’s legislative delegation, made up of the state senator and house members from each county. In general, the counties elected executive officials, such as commissioners, but the local state legislative delegations exercised real control over county affairs by virtue of their control over county finances. However, under a home rule bill that took effect in 1976, county government was systemized, and the powers of the county officials were strengthened. In addition to county governments, there are a number of multi-county planning commissions.

Most of the state’s 270 municipalities have the mayor-council form of municipal government. Most of the larger cities have city managers. Besides county and municipal governments, South Carolina has more than 600 special purpose districts that provide particular services at local levels.

E

National Representation

South Carolina has six representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives and two members in the U.S. Senate. The state has eight electoral votes in presidential elections.

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VIII

History

A

Early Inhabitants

In prehistory, many Native American peoples lived in South Carolina. Starting about 900 years ago the Mississippian culture, also called Mound Builders, flourished in this region. The Mississippians built great temple mounds, and some can still be seen today. Major nations in the state in 1600 were the Cherokee, of the Iroquoian language stock; the Catawba, speaking a Siouan language; and the Yamasee, speaking a Muskogean language. In 1715 the Yamasee led other peoples in the Yamasee War (1715-1716) against the English settlers. The Yamasee were defeated and driven out of South Carolina. The Cherokee began warring against the settlers about 1760 and sided with the British in the American Revolution (1775-1783). All but a few Cherokee left the state after the revolution.

The Catawba kept friendly relations with the Europeans, but by the end of the 18th century disease and tribal wars reduced them almost to nothing. About 1,400 strong, their descendants now live on a small reservation on the Catawba River. They received an award of $50 million, in settlement of treaty claims, from the Congress of the United States in 1993. The Catawba are noted for their pottery, which is unique in that it survives in an unbroken tradition from the Mississippian culture to the present.

The largest organized Native American nation remaining in South Carolina is the PeeDee, 2,500 of whom live in four counties in the northeast. Although they have no reservation, the PeeDee have a representative council and two chiefs: an elected chief and a hereditary chief.

B

European Exploration and Early Settlement

Two Spanish ships from Santo Domingo, sent by magistrate Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón, explored the South Carolina coast in 1520 and returned with about 70 Native American captives. In 1526 Ayllón came himself with 500 settlers whom he landed in South Carolina or perhaps in Georgia. One of the earlier captives, Francisco Chicora, was brought along as interpreter. The settlers were beset by a host of problems, however, and the colony was abandoned within a few months. In another early colonization effort, a group of French Huguenots (members of the Protestant religion) started a short-lived settlement on Parris Island in 1562. In 1566 the Spanish returned and built a town, Santa Elena, on Parris Island. They left the state for good, however, after 1586.

In 1629 King Charles I of England granted to his attorney general, Sir Robert Heath, all the land between Virginia and Spanish Florida from ocean to ocean. Heath’s plans for Carolana, as the land was called, never materialized. So in 1663 King Charles II granted the same territory, then called Carolina, to eight noblemen, who became the lords proprietors of the province. Two years later Carolina was enlarged to include all the land between latitudes 29° north and 36°30′ north. In 1670 one proprietor, Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper, organized an expedition that resulted in the founding of Charles Town (now Charleston), the first English settlement in the South Carolina region. On the west bank of the Ashley River, Charles Town was populated by settlers from England and the island of Barbados. Ten years later, Charles Town moved across the river to Oyster Point, a location better adapted for defense and trade. Settlement in Charles Town and the surrounding country was fairly brisk, and by 1700 about 5,000 settlers were living in the area. In addition to the English, most of whom were members of the Church of England, the settlers included French Huguenots, religious dissenters from New England, and a large number of black African slaves.

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