Williamsburg County, South Carolina - Chapter 12: Government by the People, 1923

During the Revolution, the State of South Carolina considered few matters than those directly related to prosecuting the War to its successful conclusion. The General Assembly did, however, virtually abolish the over¬ lordship of the Church of England. It enabled men who were not communicants of this Church for the first time to hold official positions. This permitted the Scotch-Irish to enter politics.

In 1782, Williamsburg, or Prince Frederick's Parish, sent to the House of Representatives the following : Colonel John Baxter, Major John James, Major John Macauley, Captain Robert McCottry, and Djr. Thomas Potts. All of these men were serving as officers in the Revolutionary War at that time. Dr. Potts was a surgeon in Marion's Brigade. James Postell was the sixth member chosen from Williamsburg, but he was elected at the same time from St. Philip's and St. Michael's Parishes in Charles¬ ton and represented these parishes.

The General Assembly of 1783 began real constructive work for the permanent welfare of the State of South Carolina. Williamsburg was fortunate in having in this Legislature such an able delegation. This General Assem¬ bly found the State in a most precarious condition. The people of the state had determined to form a republic and had little precedent for guiding them along the way they had chosen.

The Whig or Patriot element in the state, while vic¬ torious and dominating, had the defeated Tory faction always present and portending evil to the new state. This Tory element included most of the men who had theretofore governed the colony and were therefore conversant with conditions and experienced in controlling. A majority of tlie men who lived in Beaufort, Charleston, and George¬ town had opposed the Revolution and had remained loyal to the Mother Country during that great struggle. The "back country" in South Carolina, of which Williamsburg formed a part, was composed almost entirely of men who had favored the Revolution and fought the war for independence to its successful conclusion. Beaufort, Charleston, and Georgetown, before the Revolution, had paid but little attention to this "back country" and this "back country" had no special bond of union with these places. When a certain element of these three cities elected to remain loyal to England and the men of the "back country" determined to struggle for independence, this breach was widened.

The Tories in South Carolina, while in the minority and defeated in war in 1783, for the most part were even then unwilling to accept the result of the War and to enter enthusiastically into the formation of the inde¬ pendent State of South Carolina. This Legislature of 1783 had this Tory opposition to face. The Patriots were in the majority in the Legislature, however, and passed laws confiscating the property and banishing many of the lead¬ ing Tories from South Carolina. Of the three Tories of Williamsburg, Major Sabb died during the War; Major Hamilton left the colony when the British finally evacu¬ ated Charleston and did not return; and Captain John Brockinton remained on his plantation on Black Mingo. This Legislature ordered that his property be confiscated and that he be banished. Immediately in 1783 upon the passage of this act naming him for banishment, he peti¬ tioned the General Assembly to waive the penalties pro¬ vided in the act so far as he was concerned and his peti¬ tion was referred to the delegates from this parish and from Saint David's. Every member of this committee knew Captain Brockinton personally before the War of the Revolution and liked him.

This committee, although composed entirely of men who had served under Marion, among whom were Major John James and James Bradley, took a large view of the whole situation, and their decision to remove the disabilities im¬ posed upon Captain Brockinton had much weight in deter¬ mining the future liberal policy of the State of South Caro¬ lina toward the Tories. Perhaps that one act dissipated more of the hatred then existing between the Whigs and Tories in South Carolina than any other, and opened the way for all men to unite for the upbuilding of the commonwealth. A few of the Tories were banished and the estates of some of them were confiscated ; however, the State very soon began to welcome these men, once so hated, as valuable citizens of the new nation, which they so soon proved themselves.

While a majority of the people realized that the Whigs and Tories were simply, in the beginning, two great poli¬ tical parties in England and America, and that a colonial citizen, in all good conscience, might have espoused the cause of the "Mother Country," some regarded the Tory taint as ineradicable. In 1787, when a bill to restore the civil rights of a certain Tory was before the General Assembly, the Williamsburg delegation voted as follows: Aye, Robert Paisley, John Dickey, and Benjamin Porter; Nay, John Thompson Green.

From the close of the Revolution in 1783 until South Carolina became a member of the Federal Union in 1788, Williamsburg was concerned primarily in working out its own economic salvation. No other section in South Caro¬ lina suffered so severely during the Revolution as did Williamsburg. When the War began, Williamsburg had grown rich producing indigo and tobacco and raising cattle and sheep. This indigo that Williamsburg produced was exported to England ; and, when the War of the Revo¬ lution began in South Carolina, the sale of indigo ceased. The one thing upon which Williamsburg had for so long depended for its economic prosperity failed all at once. Its immense stock of indigo on hand rotted. Its indigo tanks decayed and its indigo fields grew into wild wood. During the Revolution, the large herds of cattle that fed and flourished along the swamps and creeks and rivers emptying into Black River had either been exhausted in supplying Marion's men with beef or wantonly destroyed during the several British campaigns in this district.

After the Revolution, Williamsburg had to come again almost from pioneer conditions. Of course, pessimists preached that the end had come, but this district then evidenced its most striking recuperative powers, which have been evident ever since in the many calamitous con¬ ditions that have befallen the section. For several years, the men of Williamsburg paid especial attention to cattle raising, and, within a few seasons, many were abundantly rewarded. It is said that Captain John Nelson, whose home was burned, whose plantation was destroyed, and whose cattle were all lost in the Wemyss destruction of 1780, by 1790 was marking more than a thousand calves every season, while in other sections of the district, Major John James, Major John Nesmith, William Wilson, Ben¬ jamin Screven, Alexander McCrea, and John Snow owned herds as large as Captain Nelson. Ready markets for these cattle were found in Charleston and Georgetown. They were driven by cow boys across Murray's Ferry to Charleston and Brown's Ferry to Georgetown.

Much tobacco was grown in Williamsburg immediately after the War and was a source of great revenue. Some cotton for market was grown on the Santee. Rice for plantation use was grown all over the section, but only along Big Dam Swamp was it produced in marketable quantities.

The State Convention for the purpose of considering and ratifying or rejecting the Constitution framed for the United States by a Convention of Delegates assembled in Philadelphia in May, 1787, met in Charleston on May 12, 1788. One hundred delegates from the various dis¬ tricts in South Carolina were present. The members of this Convention from Williamsburg, or Prince Frederick's Parish, as it was then called, were William Wilson, Pat¬ rick Dollard, Alexander Tweed, William Frierson, Wil¬ liam Reed, James Pettigrew, and John Burgess, Jr. A temporary organization was effected and the Convention adjourned until the following day. When it reassembled, there were two hundred twenty-four delegates present. General Thomas Sumter moved the postponement of fur¬ ther consideration of the proposed Constitution, which motion was lost. Ayes, 89, and nays, 135. The delegates from Prince Frederick's Parish voted as follows : Patrick Dollard, William Reed, James Pettigrew, and John Bur¬ gess, Jr., aye; William Wilson, Alexander Tweed and William Frierson, nay.

This Convention considered in detail every article of the proposed Constitution. William Wilson of Williamsburg was appointed a member of the committee of seven from this South Carolina Convention to suggest to Congress amendments to this Constitution. One of the points most feared was its failure to limit the eligibility of the Presi¬ dent of the United States to re-election after the expiration of one term of four years. This section was hotly con¬ tested. It was urged that the failure to limit the Presi¬ dent to one term of four years was dangerous to the lib¬ erties of the people and calculated to perpetuate in one person during life the high authority and influence that inheres in the chief magistracy; and that in a short time unlimited terms of office for the President would termi¬ nate in a hereditary monarchy. The Convention voted on a resolution to limit the tenure of the President to one term of four years. The final vote stood : ayes, G8, and nays, 139. The delegates from Prince Frederick's Parish voted as follows: William Wilson, William Frierson, and

James Pettigrew, nay; Patrick Dollard, William Reed, and John Burgess, Jr., aye. The following resolution was passed : "This Convention doth declare that no section or paragraph of the said Constitution warrants a construc¬ tion that the states do not retain all powers not expressly relinquished by them and vested in the General Govern¬ ment of the Union."

South Carolina ratified the proposed United States Constitution on May 23, 1788, the vote of the Convention being ayes, 149, and nays, 73. The delegates from WiL liamsburg voted as follows: For ratification, William Wilson, Alexander Tweed, William Frierson, James Pettigrew; against ratification, Patrick Dollard, William Reed, John Burgess, Jr. Thus it will be seen that four of the seven delegates from Williamsburg in the South Carolina Constitutional Convention of 1788 voted for the ratification of the United States Constitution as adopted by the Thirteen States and three voted against it. The four delegates who voted for ratification were sons of original settlers who came from Ireland to Williamsburg in 1736 and were Scotch-Irish ; the three delegates who voted against ratification had themselves come directly from Ireland to Williamsburg about 1770 and were of Irish ancestry. William Wilson was one of the leaders of the Convention for ratification; while Patrick Dollard was especially earnest and eloquent in opposing South Carolina's entering the Union.

In 1788, South Carolina had been a free and indepen¬ dent republic for twelve years. A very substantial mi¬ nority of its people most vigorously opposed the surrender of one jot or tittle of its sovereignty.