In 1789 George Washington, as the country's first President, decided to visit each of the new states "to become better acquainted with their principal characters and internal circumstances, as well as to be more accessible to numbers of well-informed persons who might give useful information and advice on political subjects." He also wished "to acquire knowledge of the face of the country, the growth and agriculture thereof-and the temper and disposition of the inhabitants toward the new government."
By 1791, when President Washington began his southern journey, South Carolina was settling into a new government structure. It had ratified the Federal Constitution on 23 May 1788 and had struggled for six years, from 1784 to 1790, to create a new state constitution and reapportion representation in the General Assembly. Although the old conflict between the settlers in the backcountry and the planters in the lowcountry continued to divide the people of the state, the State Constitution that South Carolina ratified in 1790 brought some relief and remained in use until 1865.
In 1791, South Carolina was still recovering from the Revolutionary War and was in a period of agricultural transition as it moved slowly away from the principal production of indigo and rice and toward the cultivation of cotton. When Washington toured the coast in 1791, he saw the condition of the people at all levels of society, staying at "public houses" when possible and paying for his accommodations when allowed. When William Washington of South Carolina offered him use of a Charleston town house, President Washington declined. I cannot," he wrote "without involving myself in inconsistency; as I have determined to pursue the same plan in my Southern- as I did in my Eastern visit, which was not to incommode any private family by taking up my quarters with them during my journey. It leaves me unencumbered by engagements, and by uniform adherence to it, I shall avoid giving umbrage to any, by declining all such invitations."
Perhaps Washington himself can best describe the South Carolina he traveled through in 1791.
Of the country he wrote:
...the country from Wilmington through which the road passes...is pine barrens- with very few inhabitants...a perfect sameness seems to run through all the rest of the Country. On [the rivers]- especially the swamps and low lands on the rivers, the soil is very rich; and productive when reclaimed...Of the accommodations along the way, he said:
Excepting the Towns (and some Gentlemens Seats along the Road from Charleston to Savanna) there is not with in view of the whole road I travelled from Petersburgh to this place, a single house which has anythh. of an elegant appearance- They are altogether of Wood and chiefly of logs- some indd. have brick chimneys but generally the chimneys are of split sticks filled with dirt...The accommodations on the whole Road (except in the Towns and even there, as I was prepared for I had no opportunity of Judging, lodgings having been provided for me in them at my own expence) we found extremely indifferent the houses being small and badly provided either for man or horse; though extra exertions when it became known I was coming, wch. was generally the case, were made to receive me.
Of the people, he wrote:
The people however appear to have abundant means to live well the grounds where they are settled yielding grain in abundance and the natural herbage a multitude of mean with little or no labr. to provide food for the support of their stock...The manner of the people, as far as my observations, and means of information extended, were orderly and Civil. and they appeared to be happy, contented and satisfied with the genl. government under which they were placed.
In general, the people of the South and their surroundings encouraged Washington. In September of 1791, he penned the following:
In a tour which I made last spring through the Southern states I confirmed by observation the accounts which we had all along received of the happy effects of the general government upon our agriculture, commerce, and industry... Thus it appears that the United States are making great progress toward national happiness, and if it is not attained here in as high a degree as human nature will admit of its going, I think we may then conclude that political happiness is unattainable.
The journey through South Carolina
Washington left the following account of the events that took place as he traveled through South Carolina in 1791. We can use the account to follow his footsteps in the Twentieth Century.
The Grand Strand
Rice Country
Charleston
Points South
From the South Carolina Department of Archives and History
