The Frontier in the Colonial South: South Carolina Backcountry, 1736-1800

(Hardback)

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Using the New Social History method and examining nearly every document produced over the years covered, this study examines the growth of communities in the Upper Pee Dee region of the South Carolina backcountry in the 18th century. The study considers the emergence of a landed elite, slavery, and a mobile population, plus the disestablishment of the Anglican Church. Inhabitants of the Cheraws District had access to a river that flowed to the coast, allowing them to transport their agricultural produce to the market at Georgetown. This ease of transportation enabled the district to become more developed than other regions of the South Carolina backcountry. In the 1770s, local inhabitants built a courthouse and a jail, and members of the rising planter class formed St. David's Society to educate parish youth. Records from two of the oldest Baptist churches in the South provide clues to communal cohesion and ethnicity. These accounts, combined with land and probate records, provide information concerning settlement, wealth, and slaveholding patterns in the region.

Reviews

"[T]he strength of this book is in its details and in the sensitivity of its discussions of such individual subjects as "Religious Diversity" and "Material Culture and Slaves.,.".Johnson's book represents a piece of valuable research, and this reviewer commends it to anyone who has a serious interest in the early history of the Pee Dee or in the backcountry in general."-The Journal of Southern History
[T]he strength of this book is in its details and in the sensitivity of its discussions of such individual subjects as "Religious Diversity" and "Material Culture and Slaves., .."Johnson's book represents a piece of valuable research, and this reviewer commends it to anyone who has a serious interest in the early history of the Pee Dee or in the backcountry in general.-The Journal of Southern History
Johnson's excellent account, served by his easily readable style and supported by the generous use of graphs, tables, and several of his won photographs, is about life in one rural backcountry area of South Carolina, namely the Welsh Tract of the upper Pee Dee. Johnson's rich history is highly recommended to all who are eager to read further about our social roots in the eighteenth century.-South Carolins Historical Magazine
Replete with tables and maps documenting economic growth and geographic expansion, this work should appeal particularly to specialists in the Colonial period, the South, or the frontier experience.-Choice
This is a well-documented, carefully argued book written in lively and engaging prose. It deserves a wide audience of scholars in history, anthropology, Native American studies, women's studies, southern history, and culture studies and, most certainly, of interested lay persons. It is an exceptional piece of scholarship that I highly recommend.-William and Mary Quarterly
This is a well-done local study that has effectively mined available sources to provide an interesting picture of an eighteenth-century South Carolina community.-The Journal of American History
"The strength of this book is in its details and in the sensitivity of its discussions of such individual subjects as "Religious Diversity" and "Material Culture and Slaves...".Johnson's book represents a piece of valuable research, and this reviewer commends it to anyone who has a serious interest in the early history of the Pee Dee or in the backcountry in general."-The Journal of Southern History
"Replete with tables and maps documenting economic growth and geographic expansion, this work should appeal particularly to specialists in the Colonial period, the South, or the frontier experience."-Choice
"This is a well-documented, carefully argued book written in lively and engaging prose. It deserves a wide audience of scholars in history, anthropology, Native American studies, women's studies, southern history, and culture studies and, most certainly, of interested lay persons. It is an exceptional piece of scholarship that I highly recommend."-William and Mary Quarterly
"This is a well-done local study that has effectively mined available sources to provide an interesting picture of an eighteenth-century South Carolina community."-The Journal of American History
"Johnson's excellent account, served by his easily readable style and supported by the generous use of graphs, tables, and several of his won photographs, is about life in one rural backcountry area of South Carolina, namely the Welsh Tract of the upper Pee Dee. Johnson's rich history is highly recommended to all who are eager to read further about our social roots in the eighteenth century."-South Carolins Historical Magazine

Author Bio

GEORGE LLOYD JOHNSON, JR. is Associate Professor of History at Campbell University.