page_title: History of Charleston, South Carolina
section_title: Commerce and expansion
hierarchical_section_title: History of Charleston, South Carolina / Antebellum: 1783–1861 / Commerce and expansion
caption_attribution_description: Historic homes near to the Battery Park in w:Charleston, South Carolina.Historic homes along the battery
context_page_description: The history of Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the longest and most diverse of any community in the United States, spanning hundreds of years of physical settlement beginning in 1670 through modern times. Charleston was the leading city in the South from the colonial era to the Civil War The city grew wealthy through the export of rice and, later, sea island cotton and it was the base for many wealthy merchants and landowners.
  The devastation of the Civil War and the ruin of the Charleston's hinterland lost the city its regional dominance. However, it remained the center of the South Carolina economy, while in politics the upstate politicians routinely attacked its aristocratic and undemocratic tone. Beginning during World War II, Charleston became a major naval base. In recent decades, tourism and service industries have led the economy to a new level of prosperity.
context_section_description: By 1788, Carolinians were meeting at the Capitol building for the Constitutional Ratification Convention, and while there was support for the Federal Government, division arose over the location of the new state capitol. A suspicious fire broke out in the Capitol building during the Convention, after which the delegates relocated to the Exchange and decreed Columbia the new state capitol. By 1792, the Capitol had been rebuilt and became the Charleston County Courthouse. Upon its completion, the city possessed all the public buildings necessary to be transformed from a colonial capitol to the center of the antebellum South. The grandeur and number of buildings erected in the following century reflect the optimism, pride, and civic destiny that many Charlestonians felt for their community.
  Charleston became more prosperous in the plantation-dominated economy of the post-Revolutionary years. The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 revolutionized this crop's production and it quickly became South Carolina's major export. Cotton plantations relied heavily on slave labor. Slaves were also the primary labor force within the city, working as domestics, artisans, market workers or laborers. Many black Charlestonians spoke Gullah, a language based on African American structures which combined African, French, German, Jamaican, English, Bahamian and Dutch words. In 1807, the Charleston Market was founded. It soon became a hub for the African-American community, with many slaves and free people of color staffing stalls. 	
  	
  By 1820, Charleston's population had grown to 23,000, with a black majority. When a massive slave revolt planned by Denmark Vesey, a free black, was discovered in 1822, such hysteria ensued amidst white Charlestonians and Carolinians that the activities of free blacks and slaves were severely restricted. Hundreds of blacks, free and slave, and some white supporters involved in the planned uprising were held in the Old Jail. It also was the impetus for the construction of a new State Arsenal in Charleston. Recently, research published by historian Michael P. Johnson of Johns Hopkins University has cast doubt on the veracity of the accounts detailing Vesey's aborted slave revolt. 	
  As Charleston's government, society and industry grew, commercial institutions were established to support the community's aspirations. The Bank of South Carolina, the second oldest building constructed as a bank in the nation, was established in 1798. Branches of the First and Second Bank of the United States were also located in Charleston in 1800 and 1817. While the First Bank was converted to City Hall by 1818, the Second Bank proved to be a vital part of the community as it was the only bank in the city equipped to handle the international transactions so crucial to the export trade. By 1840, the Market Hall and Sheds, where fresh meat and produce were brought daily, became the commercial hub of the city. The slave trade also depended on the port of Charleston, where ships could be unloaded and the slaves sold at markets. Contrary to popular belief, slaves were never traded at the Market Hall areas.
caption: Homes along The Battery.
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