A SKETCH OF EDUCATION IX SOUTH CAROLINA. 449 



named year an attempt was made to found a provincial college, but it 

 failed, owin-;-, it is said by some, to the oppositioii of those who believed 

 that, by facilitating the acquisition of knowledge, existing distinctions 

 of rank would be destroyed ; or, as others say, because the rich and 

 influential members, who controlled legislation, were able to send their 

 children abroad, and felt no need for higher education at home. 



THE EEVOLUTIONAEY PEKIOD. 



During the trying times of the revolution, learning did not languish. 

 In 1777, were incorporated Mount Zion Society, Winnsboro', and Catli- 

 olic Society, Camden ; in 177S, Salem Society, Camden, and St. David's 

 Society, Cheraw. Immediately after the declaration of peace a fresh 

 impetus Avas given to education, three colleges being incorporated in 

 1785 on the same day ; the first, the College of Charleston, which still 

 exists ; the second. Mount Zion College, in Winnsboro', which subse- 

 quently became an academy of great merit, and a third, which was to be 

 established at Cambridge, but never went into operation. In 1795, a 

 college was founded in Beaufort, but the funds were subsequentl}" trans- 

 ferred to a seminary of high grade. The Beaufort Society had already 

 been incorporated in 178G, and the St. Helena Society in the same year. 

 In 1787 was incorporated the Camden Orphan Society ; in 1789, the 

 Claremont Society, at Stateburg; in 1791, the Beaufort District Society; 

 in 1798, St. Andrew's Society, in Charleston ; in 1799, Upper Long Cane 

 Society, in Abbeville ; in 1800, the John's Island Society, and in 1809, 

 the INIount Pleasant Academy. All these, as far as known, were endowed 

 cither by private donations, or by the proceeds of escheated and contis- 

 cated lands, or both. Besides these, the Fair Forest Academy in Union, 

 the Mount Bethel Academy of Newberry, the IMinerva Academy in 

 Richland, and one of the same name in Spartanburg, are mentioned by 

 Ramsay as filling positions of great usefulness. 



In 1797, the Legislature went so far as to incorporate a fifth college, 

 located in Pinckney District, and styled " The College of Alexandria." 

 The district and its college alike live only in the memories of the past. 



Besides these chartered academies were several flourishing private 

 schools,. chief among them, 



THE WILLINGTON ACADEMY, 



in Abbeville, conducted by Dr. Moses Waddell. Here gathered students 

 from all parts of this and adjoining States, and the Avild woods of the 

 Savannah resounded with the echoes of Plojner and Virgil, and Cicero 



