2.  Backcountry vs Lowcountry/ Loyalists vs
Patriots in the Revolutionary War
 After the Revolutionary War the
Backcountry was now called the
upcountry
 Tensions between the
two areas were due to
the economic differences

3.  Most Upcountry people were
sustenance farmers & only a few own
slaves
 They didn’t have large plantations &
most people worked their farms without
the assistance of slave labor
 Lowcountry depended on slave labor for
their economic well-being
 Both groups suffered economically as a
result of the war

4. Ravaged
countryside, slaves &
livestock
Goods were taken by
the British
The economy was slow to improve
after the war…

5.  Lowcountry Plantation owners had
received economic subsides by Britain for
cash crops… after the war
 South Carolina as a part of the new
independent United States turned against
the planters
 Planters owed money to creditors in Britain
that now couldn’t pay (US Govnt also
couldn’t pay for goods commandeered
during war)
 Poor crop yields also made it hard to
recover

6.  Economic problems would persist until
1800’s when cotton was introduced as
the new cash crop
How
inventions
change history
for better
& for
worse (5:14)

7.  Lowcountry elite had little respect for
other South Carolinians & had the
majority of representation in government
 White population differences
 Charleston was the capital of SC and all
legal business was done there
 In 1785, county & country courts were
created to help ease upcountry travel to
hear a legal matter

8.  The newly established city
of Columbia was located
in the middle of the state
and deemed assessable
by all
 The capital was moved
there in 1776
 This moved helped ease
tensions between the two
areas
 But, the Lowcountry still
maintained a majority in
the state legislature
Meet Columbia (2:27)

9.  The Lowcountry resisted giving the up the
majority because they feared the
Upcountry would not support slavery
 The invention of the cotton gin made
cotton a viable cash crop in the Upcountry,
resulting in the need for slaves there too
 As more save labor was needed and used
in the Upcountry the legislative balance
became more equal between the to areas

10.  Legislature agreed to reappointment
 SC Representation was to be based
equally on white population and the
amount of taxable property (including
slaves)
 Resulting in those areas with higher
concentrations of slaves still having more
representation, but now both areas had
their share of slaves and political power