Reconstruction
in South Carolina

South Carolina offers an interesting case study of the course of Reconstruction in the South following the Civil War. It was the first state to secede from the Union in 1860, and the majority of its population was black. By the war’s end, blacks in South Carolina had already begun what the historian Willie Lee Rose called a “rehearsal for Reconstruction” by occupying the Sea Islands. Once the state reentered the Union, Republican voters elected black officials and even sent African American representatives to serve in Congress. It was the only state where blacks controlled the state legislature.

However, as in the other southern states, South Carolina also capitulated to white supremacy. The Ku Klux Klan maintained a campaign of terror, and northern support for Reconstruction withered. Commentators like the artist Thomas Nast argued that African American elected officials were unfit for office. The federal government backed away from supporting reconstructed Republican governments, and white Democrats returned to power in South Carolina in 1877. Still, Reconstruction marked a significant, if short-lived, historical moment when African Americans participated in and led an interracial democracy.

The following documents offer an overview of key themes concerning Reconstruction in South Carolina. Consider how people with varied interests—African Americans, northern Republicans, and officials of the federal government—viewed Reconstruction in different, changing ways.