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Article: "THE PROBLEM OF SOUTH CAROLINA" REEXAMINED: A REVIEW ESSAY
- Article from:
- South Carolina Historical Magazine
- Article date:
- January 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright South Carolina Historical Society Jan 2006. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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SEVERAL GENERATIONS OF HISTORIANS HAVE GRAPPLED with what James M. Banner dubbed "The Problem of South Carolina." "No other southern state," Banner noted some thirty years ago, "appeared quite so dedicated to the preservation of slavery and its distinctive way of life. None responded so dramatically to threats from the North. South Carolina nullified alone and seceded first....In no other state was national authority at such a discount. Nowhere else in the South did the 'fire-eaters' gain such an early ascendancy and maintain such a lasting hold."1
Why was South Carolina the most radical state in the South from the late 1820s until the Civil War? Three decades of research have added ...