108 THE GREEN RISING 



enterprise. It was inevitable that conflicts would 

 occur between proprietors and planters. The pro- 

 prietors were often domineering and exacting with 

 reference to financial returns for the land held by 

 them. The condition in South Carolina in the early 

 part of the eighteenth century illustrates this situa- 

 tion. The planters of South Carolina grew pros- 

 perous through the cultivation of rice and indigo. 

 The governmental policies and land-owning privi- 

 leges instituted by the proprietors in this colony had 

 much to do with determining the agricultural devel- 

 opment of the colony. The charter of South Caro- 

 lina was one of the most autocratic of colonial 

 charters. The proprietors made few concessions to 

 the settlers. They reserved to themselves the final 

 right to pass on, or to put into effect, all legislation 

 for the government of the colony. 



The system of land allotment by the proprietors 

 resulted in large plantations operated by numerous 

 slaves. Out of a population of 9,580 in South Caro- 

 lina in 1708, only about half of the people were 

 free. One hundred and twenty of them were white 

 servants, and 5,500 were negro and Indian slaves. 

 The feeling was very general that the proprietors 

 were denying the planters their civil rights through 

 the manipulation of elections. It was claimed that 

 even Indians and non-resident sailors were brought 

 in and allowed to vote in order to defeat the wishes 

 of the electorate. All elections were held in Charles- 

 ton, where all freemen were expected to go in order 

 to vote, but it was inconvenient for many of them 



