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89-804: The South Carolina Penitentiary (SCP) (renamed the Central Correctional Institution (CCI) in 1965) was the state of South Carolina's first prison. Completed in 1867, the South Carolina Penitentiary served as the primary state prison for nearly 130 years until its demolition in 1999. It was located adjacent to the Congaree River in Columbia, South Carolina and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 4, 1996. It

178-451: A Jim Crow society occurred because the state's white and black leaders were willing to accept slow change, rather than being utterly unwilling to accept change at all. Other South Carolina political figures, like Sen. Strom Thurmond , on the other hand, were among the nation's most radical and effective opponents of social equality and integration. During the mid-to-late 20th century, South Carolina started to see economic progress first in

267-473: A "stepped" form, with each merlon shaped like an inverted 'T'. European architects persistently used battlements as a purely decorative feature throughout the Decorated and Perpendicular periods of Gothic architecture. They not only occur on parapets but on the transoms of windows and on the tie-beams of roofs and on screens, and even on Tudor chimney-pots. A further decorative treatment appears in

356-661: A Hostile Act", and within weeks South Carolina became the first state to secede . On April 12, 1861, Confederate batteries began shelling the Union Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, and the American Civil War began. In November of that year, the Union attacked Port Royal Sound and soon occupied Beaufort County and the neighboring Sea Islands . For the rest of the war, this area served as

445-501: A Union base and staging point for other operations. Whites abandoned their plantations, leaving behind about ten thousand enslaved people. Several Northern charities partnered with the federal government to help these people run the cotton farms themselves under the Port Royal Experiment . Workers were paid by the pound harvested and thus became the first enslaved people freed by the Union forces to earn wages. Although

534-402: A basic deterrent against wandering bands of thieves, and it is suggested that the function of battlements was comparable to the modern practice of householders fitting highly visible CC TV and burglar alarms, often merely dummies. The crown usually did not charge for the granting of such licences, but occasionally charged a fee of about half a mark . Battlements may be stepped out to overhang

623-434: A cruel injustice and the source of endless litigation, of scandal, horror, feud, and bloodshed to undertake to annul or forbid marriage for a remote, perhaps obsolete trace of Negro blood. The doors would be open to scandal, malice and greed; to statements on the witness stand that the father or grandfather or grandmother had said that A or B had Negro blood in their veins. Any man who is half a man would be ready to blow up half

712-468: A dozen or more separate small tribes summered on the coast harvesting oysters and fish, and cultivating corn, peas and beans. Travelling inland as much as 50 miles (80 km) mostly by canoe, they wintered on the coastal plain, hunting deer and gathering nuts and fruit. The names of these tribes survive in place names like Edisto Island , Kiawah Island , and the Ashepoo River . The Spanish were

801-492: A federal court ordered the change. As of 2022, South Carolina had one of the lowest percentages among all states of women in state legislature, at 17.6% (only five states had a lower percentage; the national average is 30.7%; with the highest percentage being in Nevada at 61.9%). The state can be divided into three natural geographic areas which then can be subdivided into five distinct cultural regions. The natural environment

890-478: A gap of any kind, for example a parking space at the side of the road between two cars, interval between groups of marching troops or a timeslot in a broadcast. In medieval England and Wales a licence to crenellate granted the holder permission to fortify their property. Such licences were granted by the king, and by the rulers of the counties palatine within their jurisdictions, e.g. by the Bishops of Durham and

979-537: A guard rail on each tier. The initial complex comprised two cell blocks and an administrative building. It would later evolve into a more diverse institution, including a hospital and separate blocks for females and juvenile inmates. Historically significant structures included the boundary wall, made of granite and brick, the North Wing Cell Block, the electric chair building, the Richards building, and

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1068-417: A new constitution in 1895 which effectively disenfranchised almost all blacks and many poor whites by new requirements for poll taxes , residency, and literacy tests that dramatically reduced the voter rolls. By 1896, only 5,500 black voters remained on the voter registration rolls, although they constituted a majority of the state's population. The 1900 census demonstrated the extent of disenfranchisement:

1157-569: A northwest to southeast orientation. The eastern portion of the coastal plain contains many salt marshes and estuaries , as well as natural ports such as Georgetown and Charleston . The natural areas of the coastal plain are part of the Middle Atlantic coastal forests ecoregion . The Sandhills or Carolina Sandhills is a 10–35 mi (16–56 km) wide region within the Atlantic Coastal Plain province, along

1246-565: A small plot within the prison yards. However, in 1883, the Department of Corrections purchased the land for the new Penitentiary Cemetery located between Elmwood Cemetery and the Columbia Canal. Until 1915, the prison did not keep death records on any of its prisoners. Researchers have estimated that 1,900 prisoners were buried in the cemetery and the area surrounding it, only 279 prisoners of the 1,900 prisoners have been identified. In

1335-441: A thriving textile industry . The state also converted its main agricultural base from cotton, to more profitable crops. It would attract large military bases during World War I , through its majority Democratic congressional delegation, part of the one-party Solid South following disfranchisement of blacks. In the late 19th century, South Carolina would implement Jim Crow laws which enforced racial segregation policies until

1424-801: Is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States . It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia to the southwest and south across the Savannah River . Along with North Carolina, it makes up the Carolinas region of the East Coast . South Carolina is the 40th-largest and 23rd-most populous U.S. state with a recorded population of 5,118,425 according to

1513-979: Is divided from east to west by the Atlantic coastal plain , the Piedmont , and the Blue Ridge Mountains . Culturally, the coastal plain is split into the Lowcountry and the Pee Dee region. While, the upper Piedmont region is referred to as the Piedmont and the lower Piedmont region is referred to as the Midlands. The area surrounding the Blue Ridge Mountains is known as the Upstate . The Atlantic Coastal Plain makes up two-thirds of

1602-464: Is that battlements became an architectural status-symbol much sought after by the socially ambitious, in Coulson's words: "Licences to crenellate were mainly symbolic representations of lordly status: castellation was the architectural expression of noble rank". They indicated to the observer that the grantee had obtained "royal recognition, acknowledgment and compliment". They could, however, provide

1691-445: Is to crenellate the tops of church towers, and often the tops of lower walls. These are essentially decorative rather than functional, as are many examples on secular buildings. The solid widths between the crenels are called merlons . Battlements on walls have protected walkways, termed chemin de ronde behind them. On tower or building tops, the often flat roof is used as a protected fighting platform . The term originated in about

1780-469: Is to protect the defenders by giving them part of the parapet to hide behind, from which they can quickly expose themselves to launch projectiles, then retreat behind the parapet. A defensive building might be designed and built with battlements, or a manor house might be fortified by adding battlements, where no parapet previously existed, or cutting crenellations into its existing parapet wall. A distinctive feature of late medieval English church architecture

1869-464: Is water. The Atlantic Coastal plain consists of sediments and sedimentary rocks that range in age from Cretaceous to Present. The terrain is relatively flat and the soil is composed predominantly of sand, silt, and clay. Areas with better drainage make excellent farmland, though some land is swampy. An unusual feature of the coastal plain is a large number of low-relief topographic depressions named Carolina bays . The bays tend to be oval, lining up in

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1958-509: The 2020 census . In 2019 , its GDP was $ 213.45 billion. South Carolina is composed of 46 counties . The capital is Columbia with a population of 136,632 in 2020; while its most populous city is Charleston with a 2020 population of 150,227. The Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC Combined Statistical Area is the most populous combined metropolitan area in the state, with an estimated 2023 population of 1,590,636. South Carolina derives its name from King Charles I of England , who

2047-588: The Arabs had a more decorative and varied character, and were continued from the 13th century onwards not so much for defensive purposes as for a crowning feature to the walls. They serve a function similar to the cresting found in the Spanish Renaissance architecture . "Irish" crenellations are a distinctive form that appeared in Ireland between the 14th and 17th centuries. These were battlements of

2136-537: The Atlantic coastal plain , the Piedmont , and the Blue Ridge Mountains located in the northwestern part of Upstate South Carolina . The state predominantly experiences a humid subtropical climate characterized by hot, humid summers and mild winters. In the Upstate region, the climate shifts to a subtropical highland type. The eastern coastal plain is dotted with numerous salt marshes and estuaries . The southeastern Lowcountry of South Carolina includes parts of

2225-525: The Baltimore pattern variation where the cells lined the exterior. Interior shower stalls were located on the north wall. The cells were approximately 5 by 6 feet (1.5 m × 1.8 m) with a ceiling height of 6.5 ft (2.0 m) and door openings of 25 ft (7.6 m). The metal catwalks were attached on the exterior of the cell block and was 3 ft (0.9 m) in width. This was, much later, followed by heavy wire fencing material and

2314-471: The Civil War . The Penitentiary accepted its first convict in 1867. The majority of prisoners were African American. Until 1937, women were also housed at the penitentiary in separate housing from the men. The penitentiary was also created partly in response to the freeing of slaves who had previously been disciplined by slave holders rather than by a criminal-justice system, making for a greater strain on

2403-590: The Earls of Chester and after 1351 by the Dukes of Lancaster . The castles in England vastly outnumbered the licences to crenellate. Royal pardons were obtainable on the payment of an arbitrarily-determined fine by a person who had fortified without licence. The surviving records of such licences, generally issued by letters patent , provide valuable evidence for the dating of ancient buildings. A list of licences issued by

2492-482: The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina , which laid the basis for the future colony. His utopia was inspired by John Locke , an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "Father of Liberalism". The Carolina slave trade, which included both trading and direct raids by colonists, was the largest among

2581-638: The Sea Islands , a series of barrier islands along the Atlantic Ocean. There is evidence of human activities in the area dating to about 50,000 years ago. At the time Europeans arrived, marking the end Pre-Columbian era around 1600, there were many separate Native American tribes, the largest being the Cherokee and the Catawba , with a total population being up to 20,000. Up the rivers of

2670-480: The inland margin of this province. The Carolina Sandhills are interpreted as eolian (wind-blown) sand sheets and dunes that were mobilized episodically from approximately 75,000 to 6,000 years ago. Most of the published luminescence ages from the sand are coincident with the last glaciation, a time when the southeastern United States was characterized by colder air temperatures and stronger winds. Much of Piedmont consists of Paleozoic metamorphic and igneous rocks, and

2759-490: The 14th century from the Old French word batailler , "to fortify with batailles " (fixed or movable turrets of defence). The word crenel derives from the ancient French cren (modern French cran ), Latin crena , meaning a notch, mortice or other gap cut out often to receive another element or fixing; see also crenation . The modern French word for crenel is créneau , also used to describe

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2848-548: The 1960s. During the early-to-mid part of the 20th century, millions of African Americans left South Carolina and other southern states for jobs, opportunities, and relative freedom in U.S. cities outside the former Confederate states. In total from 1910 to 1970, 6.5 million blacks left the South in the Great Migration . By 1930, South Carolina had a white majority population for the first time since 1708. South Carolina

2937-555: The 1980s, the South Carolina's Budget and Control Board took control of the cemetery. The Board relinquished control to the city of Columbia in 2000. Initial construction took place in 1867. The first permanent building was the South Wing Cell Block, which served as a cell block until 1927 when it was demolished. Started around the same time, North Wing Cell Block or as it is more commonly known, Cell Block One,

3026-666: The 782,509 African American citizens comprised more than 58% of the state's population, but they were essentially without any political representation in the Jim Crow society. The 1895 constitution overturned local representative government, reducing the role of the counties to agents of state government, effectively ruled by the General Assembly, through the legislative delegations for each county. As each county had one state senator, that person had considerable power. The counties lacked representative government until home rule

3115-592: The British colonies in North America. Between 1670 and 1715, between 24,000 and 51,000 captive Native Americans were exported from South Carolina – more than the number of Africans imported to the colonies of the future United States during the same period. Additional enslaved Native Americans were exported from South Carolina to other U.S. colonies. The historian Alan Gallay says, "the trade in Indian slaves

3204-662: The Chair Factory building. The oldest section of the prison, Cell Block One was condemned before the prison was closed for good. Prisoners who were willing to stay in that cell block signed waivers to do so. The cell block was desirable because prisoners typically didn't have cellmates in their cells. From 1912 to 1990, death row was housed at the State Penitentiary changing over historically to Central Correctional Institution in Columbia. Prior to shutting down

3293-527: The Confederate Army, and are now landowners and taxpayers. Those men served creditably, and it would be unjust and disgraceful to embarrass them in this way. It is a scientific fact that there is not one full-blooded Caucasian on the floor of this convention. Every member has in him a certain mixture of   ... colored blood. The pure-blooded white has needed and received a certain infusion of darker blood to give him readiness and purpose. It would be

3382-597: The English Crown between the 12th and the 16th centuries was compiled by Turner & Parker and expanded and corrected by Philip Davis and published in The Castle Studies Group Journal . There has been academic debate over the purpose of licensing. The view of military-focused historians is that licensing restricted the number of fortifications that could be used against a royal army. The modern view, proposed notably by Charles Coulson,

3471-688: The Fiber Craft Chair Company. In May 1922, anger at harsh living conditions in the penitentiary sparked a riot by convicts working in the furniture factory. Reinforced by local police, prison guards suppressed the riot with gunfire, killing at least one prisoner and wounding many others. In 1965, the Penitentiary was renamed the Central Correctional Institution. The penitentiary remained the only maximum-security prison in South Carolina until 1975 and

3560-628: The U.S. Constitution , and free trade . In 1832, the Ordinance of Nullification declared federal tariff laws unconstitutional and not to be enforced in the state, leading to the Nullification Crisis . The federal Force Bill was enacted to use whatever military force necessary to enforce federal law in the state, bringing South Carolina back into line. An 1831 House Report from the Committee on Military Affairs noted that Before

3649-679: The Union. However, South Carolina did not regain representation in Congress until that date. Until the 1868 presidential election , South Carolina's legislature, not the voters, chose the state's electors for the presidential election. South Carolina was the last state to choose its electors in this manner. During Reconstruction, South Carolina maintained a majority-black government, which lasted until approximately 1876 when Democrats and former Confederates committed voter fraud to regain power. On October 19, 1871, President Ulysses S. Grant suspended habeas corpus in nine South Carolina counties under

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3738-692: The United States, and in May 1788, South Carolina ratified the United States Constitution , becoming the eighth state to enter the union. During the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), about a third of combat action took place in South Carolina, more than any other state. Inhabitants of the state endured being invaded by British forces and an ongoing civil war between loyalists and partisans that devastated

3827-619: The Upstate topography and traditional community relations to resist service in the Confederate ranks. At the end of the war in early 1865, the troops of General William Tecumseh Sherman marched across the state devastating plantations and most of Columbia. South Carolina would be readmitted to the Union on July 9, 1868. In Texas vs. White (1869), the Supreme Court ruled the ordinances of secession (including that of South Carolina) were invalid, and thus those states had never left

3916-555: The authority of the Ku Klux Klan Act . Led by Grant's Attorney General Amos T. Akerman , hundreds of Klansmen were arrested while 2,000 Klansmen fled the state. This was done to suppress Klan violence against African-American and white voters in the South. In the mid-to-late 1870s, white Democrats used paramilitary groups such as the Red Shirts to intimidate and terrorize black voters. They regained political control of

4005-576: The backcountry. It is estimated 25,000 slaves (30% of those in South Carolina) fled, migrated or died during the war. America's first census in 1790 put the state's population at nearly 250,000. By the 1800 census, the population had increased 38 per cent to nearly 340,000 of which 146,000 were slaves. At that time South Carolina had the largest population of Jews in the sixteen states of the United States, mostly based in Savannah and Charleston,

4094-550: The bar, and its commander apparently meditating an attack upon the forts, the quantity of gunpowder in the harbor, belonging to the United States, was not more than sufficient to have enabled the garrison to fire a single round. In the United States presidential election of 1860 , voting was sharply divided, with the South voting for the Southern Democrats and the North for Abraham Lincoln 's Republican Party . Lincoln

4183-469: The commencement of the war with Great Britain, and for a long time afterwards, the State of South Carolina was almost destitute of any of the means of military protection, excepting as such could be furnished by her own resources. In the harbor of Charleston alone were there any forts, and these were in so feeble a condition, that at a period, when a British squadron was engaged in sounding the depth of water off

4272-669: The convention realized prominent white families with some African ancestry could be affected by such legislation. In terms similar to a debate in Virginia in 1853 on a similar proposal (which was dropped), George Dionysius Tillman said in opposition: If the law is made as it now stands respectable families in Aiken , Barnwell , Colleton , and Orangeburg will be denied the right to intermarry among people with whom they are now associated and identified. At least one hundred families would be affected to my knowledge. They have sent good soldiers to

4361-516: The counties. In the 1870s, after Wade Hampton III was elected Governor of South Carolina, the board members and superintendents made the penitentiary largely self-sufficient by leasing convict labor. Life for leased convicts could be hard. Prisoners mined phosphate in the lowcountry during the 1860s and 1870s. Additionally, between September 1877 and April 1879, the Greenwood and Augusta Railroad leased 285 prisoners and 128 of them perished under

4450-718: The defender might stand so as to gain complete protection on one side. Loop-holes were frequent in Italian battlements, where the merlon has much greater height and a distinctive cap. Italian military architects used the so-called Ghibelline or swallowtail battlement, with V-shaped notches in the tops of the merlon, giving a horn-like effect. This would allow the defender to be protected whilst shooting standing fully upright. The normal rectangular merlons were later nicknamed Guelph. Many South Asian battlements are made up of parapets with peculiarly shaped merlons and complicated systems of loopholes, which differ substantially from rest of

4539-721: The eastern coastal plain lived about a dozen tribes of Siouan background. Along the Savannah River were the Apalachee , Yuchi , and the Yamasee . Further west were the Cherokee, and along the Catawba River , the Catawba. These tribes were village-dwellers, relying on agriculture as their primary food source. The Cherokee lived in wattle and daub houses made with wood and clay, roofed with wood or thatched grass. About

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4628-417: The eighth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution . As a slave state , it was the first to vote for secession from the Union on December 20, 1860. Following the American Civil War , South Carolina was readmitted to the Union on July 9, 1868. In the early to mid-20th century, South Carolina experienced significant economic development with the establishment of numerous textile mills and factories throughout

4717-527: The existence of battlements. The Great Wall of China has battlements. In the European battlements of the Middle Ages the crenel comprised one-third of the width of the merlon: the latter, in addition, could be provided with arrow-loops of various shapes (from simply round to cruciform), depending on the weapon being utilized. Late merlons permitted fire from the first firearms . From the 13th century,

4806-446: The first Europeans in the area. From June 24 to July 14, 1521, they explored the land around Winyah Bay . On October 8, 1526, they founded San Miguel de Gualdape , near present-day Georgetown, South Carolina . It was the first European settlement in what is now the contiguous United States . Established with five hundred settlers, it was abandoned eight months later by one hundred and fifty survivors. In 1540, Hernando de Soto explored

4895-458: The growth of several cities, including the capital, Columbia . The larger rivers are navigable up to the fall line, providing a trade route for mill towns. The northwestern part of Piedmont is also known as the Foothills. The Cherokee Parkway is a scenic driving route through this area. This is where Table Rock State Park is located. Crenellated The function of battlements in war

4984-429: The landscape has relatively low relief. Due to the changing economics of farming, much of the land is now reforested in loblolly pine for the lumber industry. These forests are part of the Southeastern mixed forests ecoregion. At the southeastern edge of Piedmont is the fall line , where rivers drop to the coastal plain. The fall line was an important early source of water power. Mills built to this resource encouraged

5073-696: The latter being the country's fifth largest city. In the Antebellum period (before the Civil War) the state's economy and population grew. Cotton became an important crop after the invention of the cotton gin . While nominally democratic, from 1790 until 1865, wealthy male landowners were in control of South Carolina. For example, a man was not eligible to sit in the State House of Representatives unless he possessed an estate of 500 acres of land and 10 Negroes, or at least 150 pounds sterling. Columbia ,

5162-433: The merlons could be connected with wooden shutters ( mantlets ) that provided added protection when closed. The shutters were designed to be opened to allow shooters to fire against the attackers, and closed during reloading. The Romans used low wooden pinnacles for their first aggeres ( terrepleins ). In the battlements of Pompeii , additional protection derived from small internal buttresses or spur walls, against which

5251-443: The new state capital was founded in the center of the state, and the State Legislature first met there in 1790. The town grew after it was connected to Charleston by the Santee Canal in 1800, one of the first canals in the United States. As dissatisfaction of the planters ruling class with the federal government grew, in the 1820s John C. Calhoun became a leading proponent of states' rights , limited government , nullification of

5340-417: The penitentiary, the death house was moved to a newer facility at Broad River Correctional Institution , in January 1990. The first electrocution took place on August 6, 1912. Prior to that date, state executions were carried out by means of hanging in individual counties. Before the South Carolina Penitentiary closed, 243 people were executed by electric chair within the prison. The youngest person executed

5429-409: The primary prison in the state until its demolition in 1999. Due to extreme over crowding at the time, 100 temporary cells were placed on the floor of the main cell block. The state was ordered in 1990 by a federal judge to create a prisoner-reduction plan to remedy the problem. The Corrections Department spent $ 202 million and built seven new prisons to fulfill the plan's requirements. Before the prison

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5518-405: The prison guard captain in the process. Afterwards, all 6 inmates were convicted of murder and were executed in South Carolina's electric chair. In 1971, four prisoners escaped by widening a toilet drain and following the storm drain into the Columbia Canal . When Pee Wee Gaskins served as an inmate at the penitentiary he famously blew up a fellow prisoner with a plastic explosive. In 1991, Gaskins

5607-429: The proprietors' rule, seeking more direct representation. In 1712, the former Province of Carolina split into North and South Carolina. In 1719, South Carolina was officially made a royal colony . South Carolina prospered from the fertility of the lowcountry and the harbors, such as at Charleston . It allowed religious toleration, encouraging settlement, and trade in deerskin, lumber, and beef thrived. Rice cultivation

5696-424: The railroad's control. Because of negative press coverage of the deaths of prisoners leased to external companies, South Carolina began using convict labor within the confines of the penitentiary. In 1883, the Columbia Hosiery company established a hosiery mill on the prison’s premises, with convicts producing stockings and other knitted goods. In 1917, the hosiery mill was converted to a furniture factory operated by

5785-453: The region and the main town of Cofitachequi , where he captured the queen of the Maskoki (Muscogee) and the Chelaque (Cherokee) who had welcomed him. In 1562 French Huguenots established a settlement at what is now the Charlesfort-Santa Elena archaeological site on Parris Island . Many of these settlers preferred a natural life far from civilization and the atrocities of the Wars of Religion . The garrison lacked supplies, however, and

5874-518: The soldiers (as in the France Antarctique ) soon ran away. The French returned two years later but settled in present-day Florida rather than South Carolina. Sixty years later, in 1629, King Charles I of England established the province of Carolana , an area covering what is now South and North Carolina , Georgia and Tennessee . Carolana was granted to Sir Robert Heath , who intended to allow French Huguenots to settle there; however, King Charles refused to grant permission to settle to anyone who

5963-475: The state under conservative white " Redeemers " and pro-business Bourbon Democrats . In 1877, the federal government withdrew its troops as part of the Compromise of 1877 that ended Reconstruction. The state became a hotbed of racial and economic tensions during the Populist and Agrarian movements of the 1890s. A Republican-Populist biracial coalition took power away from White Democrats temporarily. To prevent that from happening again, Democrats gained passage of

6052-412: The state was not a major battleground, the war ruined the state's economy. More than 60,000 soldiers from South Carolina served in the war, with the state losing an estimated 18,000 troops. Though no regiments of Southern Unionists were formed in South Carolina due to a smaller unionist presence, the Upstate region of the state would be a haven for Confederate Army deserters and resisters, as they used

6141-436: The state. Its eastern border is the Sea Islands , a chain of tidal and barrier islands . The border between the lowcountry and the upcountry is defined by the Atlantic Seaboard fall line , which marks the limit of navigable rivers. Altogether, the state has a total area of 32,020.49 square miles (82,932.7 km ), of which 30,060.70 square miles (77,856.9 km ) is land and 1,959.79 square miles (5,075.8 km ) (6.12%)

6230-526: The state. The civil rights movement during the mid-20th century played a crucial role in dismantling segregation and discriminatory laws in the state. Following World War II , South Carolina's economic diversification accelerated, leading to a broader range of industries. By the early 21st century, the state's economy had evolved to include sectors such as aerospace , agribusiness , automotive manufacturing , and tourism. South Carolina features three primary geographic regions stretching from east to west:

6319-559: The textile industry and then in manufacturing. Tourism also started to form into a major industry within the state during the 20th century, especially in areas such as Myrtle Beach and Charleston . As the 21st century progresses, South Carolina has attracted new business by having a 5% corporate income tax rate, no state property tax , no local income tax, no inventory tax, no sales tax on manufacturing equipment, industrial power or materials for finished products; no wholesale tax, and no unitary tax on worldwide profits. South Carolina

6408-643: The wall below, and may have openings at their bases between the supporting corbels , through which stones or burning objects could be dropped onto attackers or besiegers; these are known as machicolations . Battlements have been used for thousands of years; the earliest known example is in the fortress at Buhen in Egypt . Battlements were used in the walls surrounding Assyrian towns, as shown on bas reliefs from Nimrud and elsewhere. Traces of them remain at Mycenae in Greece , and some ancient Greek vases suggest

6497-411: The wall). Sometimes a merlon was pierced with two or three loopholes, but typically, only one loophole was divided into two or three slits by horizontal or vertical partitions. The shape of loopholes, as well as the shape of merlons, need not have been the same everywhere in the castle, as shown by Kumbhalgarh . In Muslim and African fortifications, the merlons often were rounded. The battlements of

6586-400: The world with dynamite to prevent or avenge attacks upon the honor of his mother in the legitimacy or purity of the blood of his father. The state postponed such a one-drop law for years. Virginian legislators adopted a one-drop law in 1924, forgetting that their state had many people of mixed ancestry among those who identified as white. Early in the 20th century, South Carolina developed

6675-458: The world. Typical Indian merlons were semicircular and pointed at the top, although they could sometimes be fake: the parapet may be solid and the merlons shown in relief on the outside, as is the case in Chittorgarh . Loopholes could be made both in the merlons themselves, and under the crenels. They could either look forward (to command distant approaches) or downward (to command the foot of

6764-497: Was 14-year-old George Stinney Jr. , his 1944 death marked the youngest lawful execution in the United States during the 20th century. In December 2014, that conviction was vacated . Death row for men is now located at Broad River Correctional Institution . 34°00′09″N 81°03′04″W  /  34.002548°N 81.051233°W  / 34.002548; -81.051233 South Carolina South Carolina ( / ˌ k ær ə ˈ l aɪ n ə / KARR -ə- LY -nə )

6853-551: Was anti-slavery, did not acknowledge the right to secession , and would not yield federal property in Southern states. Southern secessionists believed Lincoln's election meant long-term doom for their slavery-based agrarian economy and social system. Lincoln was elected president on November 6, 1860. The state House of Representatives three days later passed the "Resolution to Call the Election of Abraham Lincoln as U.S. President

6942-695: Was at the center of the English empire's development in the American South. The trade in Indian slaves was the most important factor affecting the South in the period 1670 to 1715". In the 1670s, English planters from Barbados established themselves near what is now Charleston. Settlers from all over Europe built rice plantations in the South Carolina Lowcountry , east of the Atlantic Seaboard fall line . Plantation labor

7031-424: Was completed in 1886. North Wing stood five stories tall, built from granite with the tops of the walls crenellated . For prisoners, the tunnel between their living quarters and the prison church was the only "way to get to living, working and eating areas." The tunnel was problematic for prison control and was a frequent location for prison stabbings. The interior was essentially an Auburn-style cell block, but in

7120-513: Was decommissioned, it was the oldest prison in the United States still in use. The Department of Corrections temporarily gave tours of the old facility before its demolition. It was removed from the Register on December 8, 2005. The average prisoner at the penitentiary was serving a sentence of 23 years compared to the state average of 12. For this reason, escapes were a constant concern of guards. Six prisoners who attempted to escape in 1937 killed

7209-612: Was developed on a large scale on the back of slave labor. By the second half of the 1700s, South Carolina was one of the richest of the Thirteen Colonies . On March 26, 1776, the colony adopted the Constitution of South Carolina , electing John Rutledge as the state's first president. In February 1778, South Carolina became the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation , the initial governing document of

7298-464: Was done by African slaves who formed the majority of the population by 1720. Another cash crop was the indigo plant , a plant source of blue dye, developed by Eliza Lucas . Meanwhile, Upstate South Carolina , west of the Fall Line, was settled by small farmers and traders, who due to resource competition fought a number of wars with confederated Native American tribes westward. Colonists overthrew

7387-645: Was executed for the crime. Prisoners were required to have short hair by the South Carolina Department of Corrections. This requirement was challenged in court. In 1999, the same year the Penitentiary closed, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled the requirement was constitutional. During the mid-1990s, programs for mental health were cut at the prison. Until the mid-1880s, prisoners were buried in

7476-499: Was instrumental in establishing the English colony, with Carolus being the Latin equivalent of "Charles". The Province of South Carolina was officially created in 1712. As one of the original Thirteen Colonies , it transitioned to a royal colony in 1719. Throughout the American Revolutionary War , South Carolina witnessed significant military engagement, hosting over 200 battles and skirmishes. On May 23, 1788, South Carolina became

7565-715: Was not a member of the Anglican Church , leading to the failure of the colony. In 1663, King Charles II created the Province of Carolina by granting the same land to eight Lords Proprietors in return for their financial and political assistance in restoring him to the throne in 1660. Anthony Ashley Cooper , one of the Lord Proprietors, planned the Grand Model for the Province of Carolina and wrote

7654-532: Was one of several states that initially rejected the Nineteenth Amendment (1920) giving women the right to vote. The South Carolina legislature later ratified the amendment on July 1, 1969. The struggle of the civil rights movement took place in South Carolina, as they did in other Southern states and elsewhere within the country. South Carolina would experience a much less violent movement than other Deep South states. This tranquil transition from

7743-447: Was one of the first states to stop paying for "early elective" deliveries of babies , under either Medicaid and private insurance. The term early elective is defined as a labor induction or Cesarean section between 37 and 39 weeks. The change was intended to result in healthier babies and fewer costs for the state of South Carolina. On November 20, 2014, South Carolina became the 35th state to legalize same-sex marriages , when

7832-469: Was passed in 1975. Governor "Pitchfork Ben" Tillman , a Populist, led the effort to disenfranchise the blacks and poor whites, although he controlled Democratic state politics from the 1890s to 1910 with a base among poor white farmers. During the constitutional convention in 1895, he supported another man's proposal that the state adopt a one-drop rule , as well as prohibit marriage between whites and anyone with any known African ancestry. Some members of

7921-636: Was replaced by the Lee Correctional Institution as the main prison in the state of South Carolina after the prison was deemed too overcrowded by a federal court. In 1866, Construction of the penitentiary was approved by the South Carolina General Assembly . It was the first state penitentiary in South Carolina and essentially the start of the state's penal system. Previously, all jailing had been handled by counties, which were financially ill-equipped after

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