The History of Insurrections and Shay’s Rebellion

by Josh Wood

For Blog Post 2 I decided that I wanted to learn more about Shay’s Rebellion. It was never touched on much when I was receiving my primary or secondary education which makes me feel as if I’m missing a key piece of information. I initially struggled with using the databases as I have never used them before (oops). After I finally figured it out, I came across a scanned copy of the book above Provided by the Digital Public Library of America and preserved by the University of Pennsylvania. The first thing that I noticed was that the book was published in 1788 one year after the end of Shays rebellion meaning this was a retrospective with a fresh point of view. However, unsurprisingly, the appearance of this book is anything but fresh. The pages, every single one of them, have yellowed considerably, and every single one of those yellowed pages has a unique set of stains as well.

As well as a plethora of unknown stains, the book’s pages are also dotted with droplets of ink. This small detail, while seeming innocuous, is incredibly cool in my opinion. This is because assumably each set of dots is unique to each individual book as they were all hand-pressed by a highly trained team of printers. Finally, the last thing that I found to be interesting on an aesthetic level was the use of the “long s” which is something that I never had any idea existed. Before doing some background research, I found myself incredibly confused as to why the printers would have used the letter f instead of an s as it kept causing me to misread words.

As it pertains to the content, I was disappointed to find out that Shay’s rebellion was only mentioned briefly. This unfortunately means I’m going to have to find information on It elsewhere. The information that was presented in the book while not being what I was looking for was however still interesting. It stated that the reason for its publication was to look back on the issues that caused upheaval within our new nation so that we can learn from them and keep it from happening again.

A Discovery in the Digital Archives

1787 Massachusetts Disqualification Act.

by Tabetha Judy

Originally, my online trip to the archives was pretty overwhelming. Each site that I checked out was packed with information and I had no idea where to begin. But I decided to stick with the Digital Public Library of America and found an easier way to sort through all of the information. On the website, they had sets of primary sources. So I headed there and found that there was an entire collection of primary texts from 1754 to the 1820s. I immediately noticed that there was a set dedicated to Shay’s Rebellion that caught my eye.

This is where I found out that Massachusetts passed a disqualification act in 1787. The act states that anyone who participated in Shay’s Rebellion could not serve as a juror. But through more research on this act, I learned that this went beyond not allowing participants in the Rebellion to be jurors. I learned that participants in the rebellion also lost their ability to vote, were not allowed to serve in town or state government, and were not allowed to go into certain professions for three years. Interestingly, a conditional agreement was created that if any participants pledged allegiance to the state after May 1,1788 then each disqualification in the act would be pardoned.

I did not find the actual text too difficult to read, with the exception of a few oddly spelled words (by our modern standards of course). But it was somewhat clear what the text was stating. I did find the layout of the text to be interesting, as it follows a column newspaper-like pattern. Originally, I found this layout to be a bit odd as from the image I saw, this did not appear to be clipped from a newspaper. But through some more online research, I found out that this did appear in the Daily Hampshire Gazette. It is still unclear if the layout of this act was purposely done for a newspaper, but this helped provide a possible explanation. I was unable to find the conditional agreement that would pardon each disqualification from the act. Which caused me to wonder if there was a separate act passed and how that information was communicated to the public.

This item felt like a perfect match as we just discussed the allusion to Shay’s Rebellion in The Contrast. I also remember us discussing in class how the population of those who were eligible to vote was incredibly small. This act provides even more context to that idea as virtually any government position was unattainable for rebellion participants or anyone who was not wealthy. As well as how voting was so exclusive at this time. I also found it interesting that pledging allegiance would pardon participants from these disqualifications. Since those involved in the rebellion were angry at the government and felt corruption was present in politics, I feel there were probably very few who agreed to those terms. I was unable to find how long this act was in effect or how many participants did agree to the conditions for a pardon which I feel would have made this even more interesting.

While I had some previous experience with digital archives, it was for an education course. So this experience was out of my wheel house and it took me a good bit to get the hang of looking for possible items on the suggested archive websites. The section dedicated to items from the time period for this course was very helpful and I feel I’ve gained a much better understanding of the implications of Shay’s Rebellion. This is a period of history that was often quickly passed over in my previous history courses so I enjoyed exploring the archives and learning more about this interesting act!

Middleton Place

by Payton Waters

For my blog post, I chose to visit Middleton Place. Middleton Place is a plantation that was originally owned by the Williams family. After the original owner, John Williams passed away, the plantation was passed down to his daughter Mary Williams. Williams then married a man by the name of Henry Middleton which consequently led to the name change of the estate. The Middleton family were avid supporters of the Confederacy and they played major roles in the founding of the United States of America. The original main estate and north flanker were burned down during the Civil War, leaving only one building standing. Today, the one remaining house is staged with all original furniture, artwork, decor, and more that belonged to the Middleton family.

We have often discussed the vital role that Christianity and God played for many African Americans during this time period. Another structure that survived the Civil War was the Spring House and plantation chapel. The building was originally built in 1741 but the chapel was added in 1851 by Williams Middleton and his wife, Susan Pringle Smith. The idea for the chapel was encouraged by Susan because of her experience growing up on plantations with chapels for enslaved individuals. The actual construction is presumed to have been done by Williams’ three main slave carpenters, Billy, Henley, and William. The Spring House is perched atop a hill with the chapel on the upper floor. The chapel is located right along the edge of Mill Pond. The view of the water adds a sense of serenity to the already spiritual space.

The chapel itself was very small. It was about two-thirds the size of our classroom. There was a small cross placed above the fireplace, with two rows of three benches each facing it. This struck me because it is assumed that there were upwards of 800 slaves that resided on the Middleton plantation. In addition, the chapel was open for use for any white person living or visiting the plantation as well. While the slaves made up the overwhelming majority of the population at the estate, they still were only given a very small space to dedicate to their worship.

This space was dedicated to religious lessons, Sunday services, baptisms, marriages, confirmations, and funerals. Oftentimes, slaves from other plantations would come and get married in the Middleton’s chapel. These marriages would be recognized by Middleton Place and other plantations but they were not technically recognized by the South Carolina government.

Overall, the experience reaffirmed the idea that spirtuality was one of the main focuses of African American culture during slavery. It was clear that this particular chapel, no matter the size, was important to those that resided at Middleton Place and even those that were on other plantations. This chapel seemed to be one of the only places on the plantation that the slaves were able to exercise the same rights that their white owners were able to have wherever they pleased.

 

Charleston’s Old, but War is Older

By Mallory Maples!

On Friday, I decided to visit the Charleston Museum off of Meeting Street. I pass by this place every day on my commute to school, so I’d been wanting to go for a while; getting assigned to do this blog post only gave me a reason to visit sooner! I “dragged” my boyfriend along, but since he’s a nerd like me, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and made a date out of it. (Not pictured was the thirty-minute-long game of checkers we played in the kid’s exhibit.) 

The first thing that stood out to me was the fact that this is the country’s first museum! It was founded in 1773, which is right within the time period we’re studying and just before the Revolutionary War began. I love museums, so the fact that my city has the oldest one in the country is super cool to me. This museum, and some of its artifacts, have been in the Charleston Area two hundred-something years and seen both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. It’s tough to even fathom that time span, and even tougher to conceptualize that some of the pottery, tobacco pipes, and weaponry I viewed were actually touched and used by people from a different time. 

I spent a lot of time checking out the weapons. I’m typically a blade girl, but there were so many old firearms that I couldn’t help but marvel at such works of destruction. I’ve always thought that conflict runs as deep in the human psyche as love does, and looking at Revolutionary-era weapons just reinforced this sentiment. No matter the time, people will always make things to defend themselves, to hunt prey, or just to cause pain.  

The old artillery (pictured above!) caught my attention most of all. The largest piece, at the far left of the closest row, was 320 pounds. Talk about haunting. I can hardly imagine what kind of havoc it could wreak; that thing could tear chunks out of the side of a battlement or send a platoon of soldiers scattering like bowling pins… And it probably did! Standing a foot away from it, at rest, was humbling.  

Today we think of war as technological, full of counterintelligence, surveillance equipment, and high-stealth aerial bombing runs. Horrible, and much more destructive thanks to technological advances. The American Revolution was a different type of war; in some ways, it was more brutal. People were getting limbs blown off by massive balls of iron and getting stabbed with bayonets, all for a chance to live outside the rule of an oppressive mother-state, on sovereign soil. Preserving mementos from the actual war, the war that earned America her independence from Great Britain, is important because it is, though a chilling one, a reminder of our country’s roots. 

Those pieces of artillery were found throughout the Lowcountry area, on the Charleston peninsula as well as Folly and James Islands. They’re local pieces of history! It would stand to reason they’d be preserved. Charleston sustained constant traffic during the war thanks to its prominent status as a port city, indicating that not only was it an important waypoint in maneuvering American forces, but a prime target for our British foes to assail. During the Revolutionary War, Charleston was a city that experienced many people passing through, and saw a lot of America’s war for freedom. 

Slavery and the Revolution from the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon

By: Dahlia Watson

Today I visited the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon on East Bay Street. The Architecture of the building was magnificent, representing a Georgian-Palladian design which showcased the significant wealth of its original owner. The large and informative posters on the top floor really captivated my attention. They provided information about historically significant Charlestians such as Rebecca Motte, remembered as a revolutionary war hero, and Benjamin Boseman, the first African-American Postmaster in Charleston. Additionally, there was a lot of information relating to the Transatlantic Slave Trade, positioning the Old Exchange building as a common slave auction in the heart of Charleston. I was extremely interested in a display box (although I wasn’t able to get a picture of it, sorry!!) which contained artifacts of enslaved persons. Within this box there were small metal tags which were attached to the enslaved people to indicate who they belonged to. Along with small metal tags that were indicative of a “free colored.” I was astonished to discover that free blacks lived on the Charleston peninsula and that even though they were free they still had to wear a little metal tag, similar to a dog tag, to indicate that they were not owned by other human beings. Also within this display box, two small rusted metal chains and a ovular metal band reveal the cruelties faced by enslaved persons in Charleston. The description of the ovular metal band denoted it as “slave collar” which was used as a torturing device while functioning to reveal which slaves were seen as dangerous or at risk for an escape. 

I have seen photos and artifacts like this before but it never ceases to amaze me. I am blown away by the immense degradation of one race for the complete comfort and luxury of another. The dingy, rusted metal chains inside of the beautifully exquisite architecture provides a very subtle clue on how early Charlestians became so wealthy and how they were able to sustain resources to fund the Revolutionary War. Seeing these artifacts made me very curious to know how enslaved persons were feeling during the time of the Revolutionary War and if they were aware that their labor was contributing to a war to keep them enslaved. Additionally, I was thinking about our discussion in class yesterday about Thomas Jefferson. What should we do with this history? Yes, as interesting as it was to see these artifacts on display and walk through the walls of where some of the most important decisions relating to the state of South Carolina were made, it all still feels a little too glorified. While the only thing we can do with history is study it to prevent it from occurring again, I feel as if these displays almost serve to desensitize our understanding of slavery in South Carolina. Perhaps it’s the portraits and letters written to, for, and about white men that hang and linger over these metal torture devices, unfit for our pets, but used on human beings. Perhaps it’s the busy, rambunctious tourists filing in and out, quickly gazing at human slave collars and casually scrolling to the next contextual piece in attempt to understand what that contorted piece of metal was. While artifacts provide tangible evidence of our troubling past, literature provides detailed and reflective accounts of the sentiments and perspectives of people from the past. Until the limited amount of African American literature that we have (due to laws preventing slaves to learn how to read and write) finds a home on modern syllabi this history of our past will continue to stay locked up, on display and separated from our comprehension.

 

Visiting the Charleston Museum

The Charleston Museum is full of wonderful history dating back to the beginning of time. Nevertheless, for the purpose of this blog, I spent a lot of time in the American Revolution exhibit: the late 1700s, and the early 1800s.

What struck me so much about the American Revolution in the Americas is just how much of an impact it had on not only South Carolina, but also African Americans and the indigenous people. I learned some interesting facts about where Charleston stood at the time of the Revolution’s start. It was the “fourth largest city”: a place of trade, especially cotton, and slavery. However, the Lowcountry and Backcountry had been divided by those who supported the British and those who did not. Because of this, the two countries became hostile towards each other. There were so many different people, and most of them supported either the Crown, Loyalists, the patriots, or the Whigs.

What really struck me was how South Carolina, especially Charleston, was put under siege during the Revolution–almost as bad as the Civil War, which was another exhibit I looked at. Charleston was captured and many people were either enslaved or taken hostage. The British stayed in Charleston until the end of the war. It was just incredible learning how strong the civilians stayed during this time, because they believed they could gain their independence. What proved that to them was the Battle of Sullivan’s Island. The British attacked Fort Moultrie and came ashore to spread even more death and destruction inland. However, despite the fort not being finished, it still withstood the cannon fire rather well, allowing for a nice shield for the American troops. Many were killed, yes, but the Americans did not give up, and eventually, the British troops pulled back. The exhibit said that it was that battle where Americans knew they had a chance in the war. In my opinion, I think it was a turning point for it.

The aftermath of the war was devastating, especially on the Native Americans. Since we’ve been talking a lot about the natives in class, I decided to spend some ample time studying this part of the exhibit. Starting from the year 1685 to the year 1790, the native population dropped drastically–especially at the end of the war. Between 1715 and 1790, over 4,000 Native Americans lost their homes as more slaves started to move into the county. At the end of the war, people pushed their enslaved territories further inland, which put pressure on the native tribes. The exhibit said that these invasions caused a lot of conflict and violence, but at the end of the day, the settlers won. Many Native Americans were either killed or converted. The Revolutionary War caused them to lose their identities. This was both fascinating and disturbing to me.

I ended my exploration on the tale of Francis Marion, a well-known soldier during the Revolutionary times. I never knew that he gained his military expertise by fighting against the Cherokee. They took their environment and terrain into consideration, and Marion learned from that to assist him in his famous “The British are coming!” run. Marion was good with stealth and surprise attacks. It was much like a fox, so that was why he was given the nickname the “Swamp Fox” after he died.

Overall, I really enjoyed my visit to the museum. I learned a lot about South Carolina and how big of a role it played in the Revolutionary War. At the end of the day, people knew the state by its role in trade and cotton, and its part at the Battle of Sullivan’s Island. If the Americans had not won that battle, I feel that our history would be very different.

Charleston Museum Visit By Alex Ronan

By Alex Ronan

The Charleston Museum has an amazing chronological wing that allows you to see artifacts from the greater Charleston area as they developed over time. I recently visited the museum, and one section of the wing caught my attention. When you think of the late 18th century, especially in the rural South, I am not sure decadence is what immediately comes to mind. I was surprised to see that much like today’s Charlestonians with their Range Rovers and boutique dogs, the people of the late 1700s had beautiful and amazing items. They clearly had money and imported many expensive and beautiful things from Europe. That is not what caught my eye though. The museum did a wonderful job displaying these luxurious items next to the tools and barbaric accouterments of the source of this wealth, slavery. Of course, I knew that slavery was a fact of life in Charleston at that time, the museum did such a great job linking the agony of those in bondage to the wealth of those who perpetrated this cruel and unjust system.

I will admit that I had passed rather quickly through the artifacts associated with slavery. I knew it existed, and I knew it was a terrible and monstrous thing. Perhaps I did not want to see the hell our ancestors created for those we now count as close family and friends. After looking at the amazing artifacts such as fine bowls, elegant metalwork, and the many pictures of the interiors of plantation homes from the period, I was forced to go back and revisit how they were all possible.

At that time the expansion of slavery and agriculture lead to booming rice cultivation in the Carolina Lowlands. With the swampy brackish water required, an excess of free labor due to slavery, and demand throughout the new and old world for rice, Carolina Gold was born. The Lowlands became one of the major producers and exporters of high-quality rice, and in doing so became fabulously wealthy. Everything they grew became pure profit due to slavery. Forced to wade through the dangerous marshes and do the backbreaking labor of rice cultivation by hand and thresher, these people held in bondage were the ones who truly paid for the fine items that I had been admiring not just a few minutes previously. The items from the exhibit on slavery were a stark contrast to that pretty bowls and fine European metalwork. They were the tools of rice cultivation and human bondage. Coupled with explanations about how terrible and dangerous the work of growing rice was, those pretty objects suddenly did not seem so lovely.

Charleston was a city that was supported by the work of slaves, and many became prosperous off this labor. I felt it was important to recognize that we live in a city that was built by slaves and would not exist in its current state without them. I think the Charleston Museum also wanted us to recognize that with all the beautiful artifacts that they displayed came a terrible price that was paid in blood, sweat, and tears of those in forced servitude.

The Old Exchange

By Brandon Eichelberg

For my museum visit, I chose to go to the Old Exchange. I walked around the self-guided portion of the building for a while and saw some very interesting things. The Great Hall on the second floor had some very insightful displays, and my favorite part of the floor would have to be the views out of the windows. At each window, there was an information sheet that discussed the significance of what I was seeing out of the window, such as Broad Street. I found this to be really interesting because it was a museum exhibit in real-time outside of the museum.

Other than this, there were two displays that I found very interesting in a room on the first floor. The first one was a showcase of the weapons used in the American Revolution. I found the weapons display to be intriguing because I was able to see how simple some of the weapons were from that time. My particular favorite was the Hessian bayonet. This is because it shows how weaponry was still so simple at that time. The bayonet, which was essentially a spear attachment for a musket, exhibits how hand-to-hand combat was still more reliable than gun combat. It also shines light on how new some aspects of warfare really are, considering warfare now is largely based on some sort of distancing. This is seen in the use of assault and sniper rifles, as well as fighter jets and missile launchers. This extreme difference in weaponry really shows how much war has shifted from close-combat strategies to distanced ones, and I think that the combination of spear (bayonet) and rifle really shows how the American Revolution was at a crossroads between these two periods of military history.

Furthermore, on top of this case, there was also a fun fact about Benjamin Franklin and his use of rattlesnake symbolism, which I found to be very relevant to our course discussion on his “Join or Die” artwork (even though it was not specifically a rattlesnake in his art). It stated that Franklin liked using the rattlesnake to describe the colonies because it never attacked unless provoked and it always made it clear when it was agitated.

The second display in that room that I found incredible was a Free Badge (even though it was a reproduction). The Free Badges were used in Charleston from 1783 to 1789 to designate the freedom of a free African American. Furthermore, the badge had specific serial numbers. Now the really interesting part, at least for me, was the engravement of a freedman’s cap in the center of the badge. As we have discussed in class, such symbolism was used in patriotic artwork depicting the goddess Columbia. This freedman’s cap symbolism comes from the Roman use of such caps on freedmen (people who were once slaves but gained their freedom), which is interesting to note because it seems fitting that the Columbia artwork that we saw in class would use such symbolism, considering many colonists would compare their subservience under Britain to enslavement.

Heyward-Washington House

By: Grace Nichols

The Heyward-Washington House, built in the early 1770s was once lived in by founding fathers, but now is a house museum full of Charleston artifacts. These artifacts, mainly high style furniture from the late 18th century reflect the material culture of Charleston elite. The tour focused on the patriots and founding fathers who stayed in the house. Thomas Heyward Jr., one of the youngest men to sign the Declaration of Independence lived in the house after his father built it for him. Heyward also participated in the Siege of Charleston against the British and was exiled to St. Augustine for a yearafterwards. The house itself was an extra downtown home for Heyward as many rich plantation owners lived on their plantations full time and had another central downtown home for the convince of entertaining and conducting business. With that purpose in mind, many patriots met in the home including George Washington, who stayed there for a small period when visiting Charleston.

Bookcase The house’s most grand piece of furniture was a library bookcase, considered to be “a masterpiece of its time,” and one of the best examples of early American furniture. This Holmes bookcase was made by Martin Pfeninger using expensive Mahogany and Cyprus wood native to Charleston. With ornate German-esc curvatures and fixtures such as the moveable flowers on top the piece was extremely expensive then and solidified the elite status of the owner.

Another piece of furniture that does not “priceless” stature of the bookcase, but caught my attention was a traveling dresser. At first glance, this dresser looks like a normal one, but it breaks off into 3 separate pieces with handles on the sides that turn the dresser into a traveling trunk. For the purposes of traveling back and forth between a plantation house and a downtown home this piece of furniture works perfectly for rich Charlestonians.

Dresser and Suitcase Trunk

One discrepancy I had with the tour relates to our class discussion we had on Thursday. For my discussion post I relayed how important it is to remember history accurately. To educate history properly, people and certain events should not be glorified, but rather the context must be laid out in a way that also condemns any wrong doings. The Heyward-Washington House tour failed to properly communicate the immense role Charleston had in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. While they did mention slavery, it was not a point they highlighted very much. They focused more on the material culture and figures important to the house’s history (so Heyward, Washington, and two early feminist daughters in the family). It felt that they were trying to lean away from the darker parts of history and highlight figures that made the house’s history more positive.

Conversely, a few weeks ago I went to the Edmondson-Alston House (a house museum in Charleston) for another class, and there they made sure to bring up the role that slave labor played in the house’s history. There, they immediately explained that the house was built using slave labor, something not mentioned at the Heyward-Washington house, but I can only assume that slave labor was used to build the house. They also gave some examples of horrible things the slaves had to do there, and really got into Charleston’s role in the slave trade which included how the slave badge system worked in Charleston. At the Edmondson-Alston House they also had a list of all the known names of slaves that worked in the house. This is the right way to do it, explaining the horrible things rather than glossing over so we can remember history accurately and honoring the people who were harmed. Overall, I did enjoy seeing the Heyward-Washington House. It had very beautiful things inside that showed the wealth of some 18th century people, but I had issues with the lack of talking about the role enslaved people played.

Oh, That’s What That Building is! A Museum!

By: Sarah Savage

After reading the potential museum options for this blog post assignment, I found myself gravitating towards the Old Exchange and Provost’s Dungeon. I can’t explain why I chose this one really, perhaps because I had never heard of it before, or maybe even because the word “dungeon” piqued my interest. Either way, I made my decision, and punched 122 East Bay Street into my GPS and I was on my way. When Siri informed me that I had arrived at my destination, I was surprised to discover that I was actually familiar with the building that was the Old Exchange. I had passed by it several times in the four years that I have lived in Charleston, but never knew what it was. The building had always intrigued me, but it is right smack dab in the middle of tourist central, so I suppose that’s why I never investigated further. Once I walked up the grand steps, I was greeted by a man in an authentic colonial costume. I thought to myself, “Damn, I like this place already.” Once inside, my spirits were once again lifted when I spoke to the lovely elderly lady behind the counter (also dressed in colonial garb) and she informed me that there was a student discount. Score! Once I started walking around the museum, I couldn’t help but think to myself that there was a lot of open or empty space that was not being utilized. Maybe this was just an OCD observation, but I felt as though there was so much more room for other displays. There were several portraits on the walls, including descriptions which I enjoyed reading. Additionally, I loved the fact that the museum’s artifacts and displays were tailored around Charleston itself. We were given pictures of Washington in Charleston, as well as a brief biography of Francis Marion. Perhaps the most interesting display that I came across in the entire museum was the one that described the lives of women during the eighteenth century. Don’t get me wrong, battle history is always interesting, as well as the words of Jefferson and Franklin, but what about the women? There are unfortunately not many women who rose to notable status during this time, because someone had to be at home making dinner and raising the children. And I think that the part that women played in this time period is just as historically important as any other aspect of the American Revolution. The two displays were titled “Women in Public Life” and “Private and Family Life”. I found this display both intriguing as well as important because it is so often overlooked. The first sentence really set the tone for me: “Women’s lives within the public realm were heavily regulated both culturally and legally.” I was so interested in this text because it showed that women really did not have any shred of agency. I was shocked, however, to discover that the state of South Carolina “had one of the highest rates of female property ownership in the colonies.” I can’t say that I expected this from the state of South Carolina, but I am certainly impressed nonetheless. My favorite part of this display, however, were the words of colonial women taken from their own journals. These women relay their stresses and fatigues with their personal and privatized lives, and these quotes make for an excellent primary source.