Episodes Located: CHARLESTON, South Carolina in the 1840's

  1. Southerners Respond to Reports of British Cotton Schemes
    date March 1, 1840 to July 29, 1840map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Economy, Slavery

    In March of 1840, the Southern Cabinet of Agriculture, Horticulture, Rural and Domestic Economy included an article saying “our readers are aware, no doubt, that certain parties in England have lately brought up a question as to this subject, which materially concerns this country; viz. whether there is any probability that England can hereafter raise her own supplies of the raw material for...

  2. The South Views the Foundation of the Liberty Party
    date April, 1840map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Church/Religious-Activity

    Gerrit Smith, a wealthy New Yorker, was a leading member of the abolitionist cause and desired for his movement to take the fight more aggressively and effectively in to American politics by forming a national party based on an abolitionist platform. He, along with Lewis Tappan and others formed the Liberty Party in April of 1840. The founders chose James Birney and Thomas Earle to run for president...

  3. William Gilmore Simms Publishes History of South Carolina
    date July, 1840map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Arts/Leisure, Education

    William Gilmore Simms, “though no match for Poe as a literary artist, stood as the preeminent man of letters in the antebellum South.' He was known all over the nation, and his best works were compared to James Fenimore Cooper and Sir Walter Scott. Seeing a need for greater appreciation of history, especially among his fellow southerners, Simms worked hard to build up the southern literary...

  4. 1841 Harvest Impacts Southern Society as Whole
    date June 1, 1840 to September 30, 1841map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Agriculture, Economy, Slavery, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    To most South Carolina planters, the weather was of utmost importance. They relied on nature to provide them with their livelihood, the planting of rice and other crops. Charles Heyward resided in Charleston for most of the year, but controlled many plantations outside of the city, including Rose Hill, Amsterdam, and Lewisburg Plantations. By 1860, he owned 471 slaves. Therefore, it was in his best...

  5. Slaves Drown While Fishing
    date August 1, 1842map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Arts/Leisure, Church/Religious-Activity, Health/Death, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Slavery, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    On a blustery summer day, August 1, 1842, a fishing boat in which five slaves were traveling was swamped and capsized. Because of the nature of the gale that had blown ashore that blustery Charleston day, all five were presumed dead. The slaves were: Jefferson and George, property of Mr. J. Jeannerett, Ned of Mr. Mellichamp, William of Mrs. C. Macbeth, and a slave boy, Issac, of Mrs. Hughes. Although...

  6. Massachusetts Judge Driven from South Carolina
    date November, 1844map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Economy, Race-Relations, Slavery

    The people of Charleston were not above standing up for what they believed in, even at the expense appearing rude and overzealous. Judge Samuel Hoar of Concord, Massachusetts, and his daughter, Elizabeth, traveled to Charleston in November of 1844. Their intentions were not known when the trip was announced; however, soon after they arrived, it became clear that the Massachusetts judge had come...

  7. A Remarkable Case of Slave Manumission
    date March 14, 1844map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Race-Relations, Slavery

    Slavery was not a permanent institution for some Southerners. In 1838, Dr. Brisbane, a Charleston, South Carolina resident, sold his twenty-seven slaves in order to move to Cincinnati, Ohio. While in Cincinnati, he decided that he did not want his former slaves to be subjected to bondage any longer. Brisbane returned to Charleston in 1844. Searching for and finding the twenty-seven enslaved African...