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CHARLESTON, South Carolina in the 1850s: 1 through 8 of 8

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  1. The Burial of John C. Calhoun, Statesman
    date April 26, 1850map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Health/Death, Politics

    In the early months of 1850, tuberculosis was shaping up to be the one opponent John C. Calhoun was unable to beat. Come March 4, Senator James Mason of Virginia had to read one of Calhoun's last speeches in the Senate, an ominous prediction of what the slavery debate would ultimately do to the cords which bound these states together in one common union. Calhoun never saw the cords finally snap and...

  2. Arguments of a Slaveholding Society
    date May 12, 1850map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Race-Relations, Slavery

    J. W. Parmalee, a South Carolina businessman, maintained close correspondence with an individual by the name of "Wheeler" in a series of letters spanning from 1848 to 1850. One topic of interest evident in Parmalee's letters was politics, with a particular focus on the sectional tension between the North and South. Parmalee's commentary on the sectional crisis echoed the sentiments shared by many Southerners...

  3. Southern disdain for Stowe's A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin
    date July 1, 1853map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Arts/Leisure, Church/Religious-Activity, Education, Race-Relations, Slavery

    In 1853 Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the companion to her famous novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, and she titled it A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin. Her purpose in writing the book was to explain why she thought that whites were still unwilling to take pity on slaves. While Stowe claimed that she understood that slaves were more than property, she postulated that other whites still saw slaves as sub-human. Stowe...

  4. Military and Social Subordination
    date November 23, 1853map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Church/Religious-Activity, Education, Politics, Slavery, War

    Richard Yeadon was a man who rarely minced words. In speaking to the Calliopean and Polytechnic Societies at the Citadel Academy in Charleston in 1853, Yeadon took the opportunity to address the audience on what would happen if higher institutions in South Carolina did not maintain strict discipline among their pupils. Stemming from God, Order is the great law of nature, whereas Insubordination or...

  5. The Black Warrior Affair Exposes U.S. Tensions with Spain
    date February 28, 1854 to March 16, 1854map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Diplomacy/International, Economy, Law, Migration/Transportation, Politics

    On March 13, 1854 the Charleston Daily Courier ran a series of correspondences from Havana which reported on the escalating Black Warrior affair. These correspondences explain that on February 28 the ship Black Warrior stopped in Havana on its way from Mobile to New York as it had done numerous times in the past and upon arriving delivered its manifest to customs as was required. The captain listed...

  6. The Sale of James Miles' Library
    date March 8, 1854map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Arts/Leisure, Education

    One criterion for personal enlightenment in Charleston during the 1850s was the acquisition of a personal library. Such a library could be large-Charlestonians Thomas Smyth and William Gilmore Simms owned 20,000 and 12,000 volumes, respectively, in the 1850s-or much smaller. Regardless, it was important to have the newest book on your shelf, a collection of the classics, or at least a few books relating...

  7. The Creation of the South Carolina Historical Society
    date June 2, 1855map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Arts/Leisure, Education, Race-Relations, Slavery

    In the 1850s, Charleston, South Carolina, was home to a vibrant intellectual life, Renaissance men, and a host of debating and literary societies. The diversity of these intellectual societies is astounding, often catering to a single ethnic group. In Charleston during the mid-1800s, one could find the St. Andrew's Society for Scotch-Irish, the Hibernian Society or the St. Patrick Society for Catholic...

  8. History: The Cornerstone of Baptism
    date November 1, 1851 to July 12, 1876map ORANGEBURG, South Carolina, CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Religious History, Religion, Education, Baptists

    For two Baptist preachers, both religion and history were necessary to promote a moral life and an educated mind. History had a huge significance for their churches, as well as understanding about their future.  Both preachers taught that by understanding the past, and understanding the nuances of it, one could have attained morality through example.  Although morality can be achieved in many ways,...