1. 8-1.6: Compare the development of
representative government in South
Carolina to representative government in
the other colonial regions, including the
proprietary regime, the period of royal
government, and South Carolina’s
Regulator Movement

2. Other Colonies South Carolina Colony
 Had a legislative
assembly to make laws
 Most had a bicameral
assembly (2 houses)
 Legislative assembly that
made laws (including tax
laws)
 Proprietors & elite had
greater representation than
the common man
 The Grand Council decided
that each group should
have an equal voice in govt.
regardless of inproportional
representation
 Later, the Commons House
of Assembly was created to
represent the people

3.  Most English colonies when the joint stock
companies could no longer name colonial
governors; thus the settlements became royal
colonies
 King appointed governors in royal colonies
 Change resulted b/c the king wanted control
over the wealth or to limit a colony’s
independence
 SC became a royal colony by invitation of the
colonist

4.  Tensions grew between the colonists
and the Proprietors b/c:
o Absentee landlords collected rent but offered little
protection
o Proprietors seen the colonists as disobedient &
believed they made little profit from the rent
•The Council protested to the king about their
mistreatment
•The Proprietors appealed against the idea of a
royal colony
•A financial agreement was made between the king
and the Proprietors…… making…….

5.  Carolina was made a royal colony and later
split into two colonies, North & South
Carolina
 SC continued to use their established style of
government, but now had a governor who
was appointed by the kings and not the
Proprietors
 Royal Governor's powers were limited b/c of
the colonial assemblies who controled the
taxes and set his salary

7.  Royal governor established townships in the
backcountry to encourage migration
 Settlers established sustenance farms there
 This caused animosity between the
Lowcountry and the backcountry
 Traders & woodsmen were the first to settle
in the backcountry
 They were seen as the “uncivilized” by the
elite (rich plantation owners) who lived in the
Lowcountry

8.  The backcountry’s white population
outnumbered that of the Lowcountry due to
the migration from the coast & the Scotch
Irish & German immigrants from Pennsylvania
 Backcountry still had much less
representation
 They paid taxes
but never really
got anything in
return
Scotch Irish immigrants

9.  No law enforcement in the backcountry
resulted in the settlers taking matters into
their own hands… this was called the
Regulator movement
 No courts in the backcountry
 Regulators acted as vigilantes
 Movement provided law & order through
“self- regulation” that soon turned lawless
 The “guilty” were hanged or beaten to death
without a jury trail; violating their rights as
Englishmen

10.  Eventually the SC government came to the aid
of the backcountry settlers by setting up
seven circuit courthouses around the colony
to provide justice, law & order to the region
 Representation continued to be imbalanced
between the backcountry and the Lowcountry