in the Deep South
of the United States
that borders Georgia
to the south, North Carolina
to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean
to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina
, the Province of South Carolina
was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence from the British Crown during the American Revolution
. The colony was originally named by King Charles II of England
in honor of his father Charles I
, as Carolus is Latin for Charles
. South Carolina was the first state to vote to secede from the Union
and was the founding state of the Confederate States of America
.
1776 South Carolina becomes the first American colony to declare its independence from Great Britain and set up its own government.
1778 South Carolina becomes the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
1780 American Revolutionary War: Battle of Kings Mountain American Patriot militia defeat Loyalist irregulars led by British colonel Patrick Ferguson in South Carolina.
1788 South Carolina ratifies the Constitution as the 8th American state.
1832 President Andrew Jackson writes to Vice President Martin Van Buren expressing his opposition to South Carolina's defiance of federal authority in the Nullification Crisis.
1856 Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beats Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made attacking Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas ("Bleeding Kansas").
1860 South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the United States.
1861 American Civil War: Georgia joins South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama in seceding from the United States.
1863 American Civil War: Confederates evacuate Battery Wagner and Morris Island in South Carolina.
1870 Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina becomes the first black U.S. congressman.