USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780 > Part 20
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but it soon revived. Attempts were now made by block- ade-running to procure military supplies, which the unwise non-importation business had prevented while the ports were open. Three vessels were employed by the State for the purpose of obtaining supplies and clothing for the new- raised regiments in the State and continental service, but it was the good fortune of but one to succeed in bringing in a cargo. Two with guns and clothing were captured. The spirit of adventure daily increased, a considerable trade though of course much inferior to what had been usual in times of peace was carried on in this manner ; at no times it was said were fortunes more easily or rapidly acquired -and it may be added, more easily or rapidly lost. Occasionally the market would be enriched by a prize taken by the continental or State navy and success- fully brought into port, but the trade had not only the British cruisers to dread, still more discouraging was the old non-importation idea exhibiting itself in embargoes by which for military purposes the sailing of vessels was inter- dicted.1 The depreciation of the currency was also creat- ing great distress among the people generally, especially in Charlestown, where provisions of all kinds rose rapidly in price as the currency declined in value. The Gazette of April 24, 1777, states that the extravagant price of pro- visions brought to the market almost exceeds belief. Beef has been sold at 7s. 6d. per pound, mutton £5 the quarter. Fresh butter 10s. and salt butter 88. 9d. the pound. Tur- keys £6 and geese £4 the pair ; corn blades £4 the one hundred pound, and other things in proportion. The distress of the poor, the Gazette said, demands the more serious consideration, and it suggests a subscription to be set on foot for supplying the market at more reasonable rates. In May provisions continued at most exorbitant
1 Ramsay's Revolution, vol. II, 72-77.
222
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
rates. Influenced by disinterested patriotism, some gen- tlemen sent provisions to town with orders to their ser- vants, who were their hucksters, not to demand above certain moderate prices whatever others might ask. The commissioners of the market in Charlestown required that the owners of provisions should provide tickets stipulat- ing the price asked, so as to put a check on the exorbitant demands of those selling them, and they punished with fine and imprisonment those who violated these regulations. But the evil continued to such an extent that the General Assembly took up the matter, and by an act reciting that by the common practice of persons buying up and engross- ing at public vendue sales large quantities of commodities at extravagant prices without regard to their value, with a view of obtaining an unreasonable advance in retailing the same, the price of almost every necessary article had been raised to a most exorbitant and expensive height, whereby it was extremely difficult for the poor and industrious to procure the common conveniences of life, and that the cur- rency both of the Continent and of the State had been greatly depreciated, to the impoverishment of many honest craftsmen and others who, by misspending and loitering their time in expectation of gaining bargains at such sales and outcries, had greatly neglected their respective occu- pations, prohibited these sales of goods at public vendue in the State.1 The Assembly also passed another act reciting the association of the Continental Congress, de- claring against every species of extravagance and dissipa- tion, especially against horse-racing, and providing that if any person should violate the said Association by any manner of horse-racing, he should forfeit the money he bet and the horse so run.2 Again arose the non-importation idea, and an ordinance was passed declaring that it was 2 Ibid., 394
1 Statutes at Large, vol. IV, 395.
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highly impolitic as well as injurious to the interests and safety of the State that any commercial intercourse should be carried on with any of the dominions of the King of Great Britain, and forbidding under penalty of forfeiture the importation of any goods from them.
While the General Assembly was thus engaged, and was busy also providing for the raising of money and the stamping of bills of credit and for the maintenance of the government, it was still alive to the necessity of pro- viding for the education of the youth of the State during these troublous times, and, as we have seen, were establish- ing schools at Winnsboro, Camden, and on the Wateree.1
Dr. Ramsay gives a very able and interesting account of the currency in South Carolina during this period.2 He tells us that the paper money issued by Congress retained its value undiminished longer in South Carolina than in other parts of the United States. There was no sensible depreciation of it at the end of 1776, notwith- standing the loss of New York and other British victories at the North threatening the subversion of American independence. Men of property had now so generally come forward in support of the Revolution that their influence was supposed to be fully equal to the mainte- nance of the new currency, even in a Royal house of assembly, if the conquest of the State should restore the King's government. The immense value of the staple commodities of the country, the animation and apparent unanimity and enthusiasm of the people, precluded all fear of its finally sinking. When the depreciation took place it originated, Dr. Ramsay thinks, from other causes than a distrust of the final success of the Revolution.
The emission of a paper currency in 1775 and 1776, he
1 Hist. of So. Ca. under Roy. Gov. (McCrady), 502, 504.
2 Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 77-100.
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
maintains, was of real advantage to the State of South Carolina, for the whole money then in circulation was inadequate to the purposes of a medium of trade. For several years before the termination of the Royal govern- ment, from three thousand to five thousand negroes had been annually imported. Payment for these absorbed the greater part of the gold and silver procured at foreign markets for the commodities of the country. The emis- sion of paper currency had been, by Royal instructions, for a considerable time wholly prohibited. In the absence of a proper circulating medium, payments were often made by transfer and assignment of private notes and obliga- tions. Bills to a considerable amount, issued on the credit of four gentlemen of large estates, had a currency equal to coin. Certificates of the clerk of the Commons, House of Assembly, countersigned by certain of its mem- bers, passed currently for money, though issued by the sole authority of but one branch of the legislature. The
ability of the province to pay its debts, and the strict observance of good faith in performing all its engage- ments, had established the soundest credit. As hard money was either hoarded up by men of forecast or shipped to purchase foreign commodities, and the conti- nental currency was mostly confined to the Northern States till near the beginning of the year 1778, the State emission did not for a considerable time exceed the quan- tity necessary for circulation. The sums issued by the State from June 14, 1775, to February, 1779, amounted to £7,817,553-6-10, which were received at the old provincial currency rate of seven for one of sterling. Besides these provincial bills those of the Continental Congress were made legal tender in payment of debts in South Carolina. The emission from this source in the first five years of the war amounted to $200,000,000.
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IN THE REVOLUTION
The paper currency, as we have seen, retained its value undiminished in South Carolina for eighteen months, viz. from June, 1775, to January, 1777. Then began a most ruinous depreciation. At first its progress was scarcely perceptible, and was very slow throughout the year 1777. The enormous expenses of the armies in the Northern States required immense supplies of money, and from the beginning of the year 1778 great quantities of continental currency began to flow into the State, and then the depre- ciation became much more rapid. The causes of depre- ciation operating most forcibly in the Northern States produced an earlier and greater fall in value there than in South Carolina; but as money, like water, finds its level, an adventurous trader at the North, learning that continental currency was worth more at the South, repaired here with large sums of it, and contributed more to its depreciation in South Carolina than all the emissions of the State. The Randolph's prizes which arrived early in 1778 were sup- posed to have brought into South Carolina half a million dollars. From this time, says Ramsay, an artificial depre- ciation was superadded to the natural. Holders of paper money, finding that it lost part of its value, were con- stantly in quest of bargains. Foreseeing that Congress would make further emissions for the supplies of the army, they considered it better to purchase any kind of prop- erty than to lay up their money. The progressive super- abundance of cash produced a daily rise in the price of commodities. Large nominal sums tempted many pos- sessors of real estate to sell. The diminished value of the money was mistaken for an increased price of commodities. Then, again, the plundering and devastation of the enemy wherever they obtained a foothold made some think that their property would be safer when turned into money than when subject to the casualties of war. The disposi- VOL. III. - Q
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
tion to sell was in a great degree proportioned to confi- dence in the justice and final success of the Revolution, superadded to expectations of a speedy termination of the war. The most sanguine Whigs were, therefore, oftenest duped by the fallacious sound of high prices. These prin- ciples operated so extensively that property in a consid- erable degree changed its owners. Many opulent persons of ancient families were ruined by selling paternal estates for a depreciating currency, which in a few weeks would not replace half of the real property in exchange for which it was obtained. Many bold adventurers, says the same author, made fortunes by running into debt beyond their abilities. Prudence ceased to be a virtue, and rashness usurped its place. The warm friends of America who never despaired of their country, and who cheerfully risked their fortunes in its support, lost their property ; while the timid who looked forward to the reestablish- ment of British government not only saved their former possessions, but often increased them. In the American Revolution, for the first time, the friends of the successful party were the losers.
The surrender of Charlestown on May 12, 1780, wholly arrested the circulation of the paper currency, and put a great part of the State in possession of the British, when many contracts for these nominal sums were unperformed and after many individuals had received payment of old debts in depreciated paper. The honorable James Simp- son, Intendent General of the British Police, commissioned thirteen gentlemen to inquire into the different stages of depreciation, so as to ascertain a fixed rule for payment in hard money of outstanding contracts, and to compel those who had settled with their creditors to make up by a second payment the difference between the real and nominal value of the currency. The commissioners pro-
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IN THE REVOLUTION
ceeded on principles of equity, and compared prices of country produce when the paper currency was in circula- tion with its prices in the year before the war, and also with the rate of exchange between hard money and the paper bills of credit. From an average of the two they fixed on a table in accordance with which all contracts were scaled.1 This scheme of adjusting transactions en-
1 A TABLE
Ascertaining the progressive depreciation of the paper currency by taking an average of the prices of gold and silver and the country produce at different periods.
Date of each period.
Depreciation by value of specie.
Depreciation by value of country produce.
Average of depre- ciation.
1777
April 1
113 per cent.
157 per cent.
135 per cent.
July 1
127
198
163
Oct. 1
176
66
214
66
195
1778
Jan. 1
287
287
66
287
66
March 1
337
470
66
531
66
July 1
483
569
526
60
Sept. 1
500
577
538
60
Nov. 1
563
533
548
1779
Jan. 1
1000
66
596
798
Feb. 1
1250
661
955
March 1
1350
897
1123
66
April 1
1400
66
1191
66
1295
May 1
1450
66
1116
1283
June 1
1350
1303
1326
July 1
1720
1355
66
1537
Aug. 1
2085
66
1551
1818
66
Sept. 1
2340
1691
2015
Oct. 1
2100
66
1885
66
1992
Nov. 1
2911
1983
2447
Dec. 1
3485
66
2174
2830
66
1780
Jan. 1
3833
2923
3378
66
Feb. 1
4457
66
4291
66
4374
March 1
5240
66
4525
66
4882
April 1
6583
66
5065
66
5824
May 1
11000
66
5170
8085
66
June 1
11000
5229
66
8114
-- Ramsay's Revolution, vol. II, 95, 96.
404
May 1
440
622
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
tered into during the existence of a fluctuating war currency was followed after the war between the States in South Carolina by "an act to determine the value of contracts made in Confederate States notes or their equivalent " by which United States currency was made the basis of scaling instead of sterling and the former price of commodities.1
1 Statutes of So. Ca., vol. XIV, 277.
CHAPTER XI
1778
SIR HENRY CLINTON and Lord Cornwallis after their re- pulse from Charlestown had sailed for New York, where they had arrived in time to take part in the battle of Long Island in which they had somewhat revived the laurels they had allowed to droop in Charlestown harbor. Then had followed a year of disaster to the American cause at the North. The battle of Long Island had been lost. Washington had abandoned New York, and the British had occupied and held it. The battle of White Plains had been fought and likewise lost. Washington had retreated through the Jerseys, and the people had re- fused to join him. The Governor, Council, Assembly, and magistracy had deserted the province. The militia of Pennsylvania had refused to turn out. The braggart Lee, with his stolen honor from Moultrie, had been captured. The battle of Brandywine had been lost. The Continen- tal Congress had fled from Philadelphia, and that city, like New York, had been abandoned to the enemy and willingly received them. Then had followed the battle of German- town with no better success. The only breaks in the long list of disasters had been the attacks upon Trenton and Princeton ; but the first of these, though brilliant and successful, had been but an affair of an outpost, and the second merely a successful move by which a defeat had been averted. Neither had affected the issue of the campaign. The success of the British forces in the North- ern provinces had been uniform. The American troops
229
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
were dispirited, and the British correspondingly elated. But in October, 1777, the tide had turned, and Burgoyne's army was captured. The surrender at Saratoga forms a memorable era in the history of the Revolution. So extraordinary an event as the capture of a whole army of their enemies revived the American cause, lessened in the mind of the American soldier the high opinion which he had entertained of British valor and discipline, and inspired him with a juster confidence in himself. But the consequences which the event produced in Europe were of still greater moment. For the present, however, these were unknown in the colonies. The Revolutionary party had as yet nothing upon which to count but a stronger reliance on their own resources and the encouragement of a brilliant success.
The legislature which had adjourned in midsummer, 1777, met on the 9th of January, 1778, when John Rutledge the President made to it the customary speech upon open- ing its session.1 First, he laid before them the Articles of Confederation, which had been under discussion in the Continental Congress since July, 1776, and had only been finally adopted for recommendation to the States in Novem- ber, 1777. These articles, he said, were offered to the respective States for their consideration with a recom- mendation that all be reviewed with candor, examined with liberality, and adjusted with temper and magnanimity. In allusion to the well-known fact that the Continental Congress was almost abandoned by its members, especially since it had been driven from Philadelphia and was sitting at York in Pennsylvania, he urged that the State should be represented in that body by several delegates at all times, more especially when a confederacy was to be concluded.
1 So. Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette, January 29, 1778. There are no jour- nals of this Assembly to be found.
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IN THE REVOLUTION
The State, he said, had been called upon for $500,000. " You will devise the best way of raising that sum, and although it certainly exceeds our proportion of the money desired from the Continent by them, yet I doubt not that you will readily comply with their requisition, as the rav- ages of war have rendered some of our sister States less able than this to furnish their just quota."
The President then proceeded : -
" You will also propose the most effectual and least burthensome mode of supporting the public credit and making such provisions as may be adequate to the exigencies of the government. The expenses which have been and must unavoidably be incurred are undoubtedly great, but altogether inconsiderate when compared with the ines- timable object for which we contend, as I am confident they will appear to you and to your constituents, for the same spirit which animated the good people of South Carolina to resolve on the most vigorous opposition to tyranny will induce them to grant with the greatest alacrity every necessary aid for the support of that opposition (until by the blessing of God on American fortitude and perseverance), the vain expectations of our haughty enemies shall be frustrated and their pride humbled, that the ruinous consequences of the folly and wickedness shall oblige them to relinquish all hope of revenue and conquest, and agree to the separation occasioned by their unbounded avarice and arrogance, and to a peace which will secure the sover- eignty and independence of America."
In less than two months from the time of this speech we shall find John Rutledge, who was now exhorting the Assembly to provide the means of carrying on the struggle until Great Britain agreed to a separation and to the sovereignty and independence of America, resigning the office of President rather than approve a permanent con- stitution, the adoption of which would preclude a recon- ciliation with the mother country ! But we anticipate.
The President then went on to say that the act for prohibiting vendues had not had the intended effect,
232
HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
but that the evil daily increased. It appeared necessary, therefore, to make trial of some other remedy ; and as a plentiful supply of goods was the surest way of reducing prices, he submitted whether it might not be expedient to establish a board of commerce for importing such merchandise as might be wanted for the Indian trade and other public services, and for accommodating the inhabitants of the State who were in low or middling circumstances with the articles most requisite for their own consumption at reasonable rates. But why did he not rather recommend the removal of all restrictions from importation and trade, and allow the merchants to bring in what goods they could, regardless from whence they came ? No ! the idea of non-importation from England as a means of warfare had taken deep root in the public mind. And now that necessity was pressing, the Presi- dent suggested a board of commerce to be intrusted with the trade. The President went on to suggest that as it was evident that during the continuance of the pres- ent troubles extraordinary power must be exercised by the executive authority in every State, that it would be more constitutional that the legislature should deter- mine what was fit to be intrusted to the executive, as it was safer for the people that their representatives should vest such by a temporary law than the executive should exercise any under the sanction of necessity only.
A week after the legislature met, and while they were considering the Governor's speech, a great calamity befell Charlestown. On the 13th of January a fire occurred in which two hundred and fifty houses were burnt. The loss by the most moderate computation was said to exceed $3,000,000 ; by some it was estimated at £1,000,000 ster- ling. The valuable collection of books of the Charlestown Library, between six and seven thousand volumes, with its
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instruments and apparatus for astronomical and philosophi- cal observations and experiments, were almost entirely lost. 1 There were strong suspicions that the fire was the work of British incendiaries, and these led to an expedition which added to the disaster.
The British men-of-war Carrisford, Perseus, and Hinch- enbrook were lying off the harbor, and their men were frequently in the town getting provisions and intelli- gence from the Tories, who enabled them to avoid the guards. Moultrie in his Memoirs says that the men-of- war's boats were in town every night, and that there was every reason to believe that the fire had been started by them. Whether this was really true or not, the belief probably determined a project to rid the harbor of the men-of-war, which had been for some time under con- sideration.
A month before, the 12th of December, President Rut- ledge had written to General Howe, then in command of the troops in South Carolina and Georgia, urging the necessity of clearing the coast of these vessels, and stating that Captain Biddle had agreed to go on a cruise for the purpose with the fleet which had been raised by the State. This fleet consisted of the Randolph, thirty-six guns, Cap- tain Biddle ; Polly, sixteen guns, Captain Anthony ; Gen- eral Moultrie, eighteen guns, Captain Sullivan ; Fair American, fourteen guns, Captain Morgan; Notre Dame, sixteen guns, Captain Hall. But it was expedient, the President wrote, that a number of marines should be embarked in these vessels, and that the Council had advised that General Howe should order as many of the continental troops under his command as Captain Biddle
1 So. Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette, January 29, 1778 ; Moultrie's Me- moirs, 200. The library at Harvard had been burned in 1764. It then contained five thousand volumes.
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HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
might think necessary to be detached on the service. Upon this General Howe called a council of war to consider the proposal. The Council, consisting of General William Moultrie, Colonel Isaac Huger, Colonel Motte, Colonel Roberts, Colonel C. C. Pinckney, Colonel Sumter, Lieuten- ant Colonel Marion, and Major Peter Horry, declared that there would be no impropriety in sending the detachment required, provided the remaining troops were sufficient for the defence of the State ; but upon this point they were of opinion that there were not men enough for this purpose. General Howe did not approve of the report, and reconvened the Council to reconsider these reports, as he was of opinion the military would be highly censurable for not complying with the requisition of the Governor and Council. But the council of war declared they could not alter their former opinion, that they would be unworthy of the commissions they held if they could be induced, by the dread of censure or any other motive, to give an opinion contrary to their honor and conscience. President Rutledge, however, represented to General Moultrie that there were a number of vessels expected in every day with military stores and other articles much needed and that unless these men-of-war could be driven from the coast, they would be lost. Upon this General Moultrie gave in to the extent of recommending to Gen- eral Howe to allow a detachment of one hundred and fifty men. The troops were put aboard a few days after the fire, to wit, on the 27th of January, and the fleet sailed some days afterward. The Carrisford, Perseus, and Hinch- enbrook at once quitted the coast. The fleet were gone almost ten weeks when they fell in with the Yarmouth, a British sixty-four-gun ship which the Randolph immedi- ately engaged, but in a short time after the action com- menced the Randolph blew up and all on board perished
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except two or three who were picked up from the wreck by the Yarmouth's crew. Captain Ioor and his whole company of the First Regiment -fifty men who had been put on board the Randolph as marines - were lost, and so also was Captain Biddle himself, who was esteemed one of the very best naval officers in the country. The remainder of the fleet made the best of their way home, and thus ended an expedition undertaken against the judg- ment of the military officers upon the urgency of the Presi- dent and Council.
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