WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.720 Welcome back to the Deep Dive, where we take 00:00:01.720 --> 00:00:03.940 your source material, your research, your reports, 00:00:04.059 --> 00:00:07.080 your notes, and turn it into, well, immediate 00:00:07.080 --> 00:00:10.220 expertise. And today we're really plunging into 00:00:10.220 --> 00:00:12.359 one of the most foundational and I think most 00:00:12.359 --> 00:00:15.699 volatile states in American history. South Carolina. 00:00:16.350 --> 00:00:18.629 The Palmetto State. It's a state that just carries 00:00:18.629 --> 00:00:20.690 such a heavy weight of history. I mean, everyone 00:00:20.690 --> 00:00:22.750 knows it as the place where the Civil War began. 00:00:23.010 --> 00:00:25.809 But then you look at the data today and you find 00:00:25.809 --> 00:00:28.969 this land of just incredible contrast. It's a 00:00:28.969 --> 00:00:31.530 place where. You know, these deep historical 00:00:31.530 --> 00:00:35.109 divisions, wealth built on forced labor, a political 00:00:35.109 --> 00:00:37.490 culture rooted in secession. Or sitting right 00:00:37.490 --> 00:00:40.149 next to a cutting edge 21st century economy. 00:00:40.289 --> 00:00:43.210 We're talking aerospace, massive foreign investment, 00:00:43.390 --> 00:00:45.409 auto manufacturing. And that's really our mission 00:00:45.409 --> 00:00:47.850 today, isn't it? To peel back those layers. Yeah. 00:00:47.869 --> 00:00:50.429 We need to look beyond the, you know, the postcard 00:00:50.429 --> 00:00:52.689 images of Charleston and Myrtle Beach. Exactly. 00:00:52.689 --> 00:00:55.250 To uncover the state's really complex geography. 00:00:55.490 --> 00:01:00.340 It's shocking colonial economics. political and 00:01:00.340 --> 00:01:02.880 infrastructure realities. We've got a dense stack 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:05.799 of sources here spanning everything from geological 00:01:05.799 --> 00:01:09.760 surveys on seismic activity all the way to 21st 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:12.040 century voter sentiment polls. And for anyone 00:01:12.040 --> 00:01:13.879 trying to understand the modern American South, 00:01:14.060 --> 00:01:17.280 South Carolina is just, it's the key. Its influence 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:19.859 has always been so disproportionate to its size. 00:01:20.019 --> 00:01:21.900 Okay, so before we even get to the map, we have 00:01:21.900 --> 00:01:24.159 to frame this historically. If there's one statistic 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:26.659 from your sources that just completely reframes 00:01:26.659 --> 00:01:28.780 the entire colonial era for me. Oh, I know which 00:01:28.780 --> 00:01:30.439 one you mean. Most people know the Lowcountry 00:01:30.439 --> 00:01:33.659 was built on African slave labor, but the scale 00:01:33.659 --> 00:01:35.439 of the Indian slave trade there is something 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:38.299 else entirely. It's absolutely essential to understanding 00:01:38.299 --> 00:01:41.219 the colony's initial economic engine. We're talking 00:01:41.219 --> 00:01:44.579 about the period between 1670 and 1715. Right. 00:01:44.659 --> 00:01:47.120 During that time, the Carolina slave trade, which 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:49.299 was both commercial trading and just direct raids, 00:01:49.500 --> 00:01:51.959 was the largest among all the British North American 00:01:51.959 --> 00:01:54.219 colonies. The number is just staggering. Between 00:01:54.219 --> 00:01:57.500 24 ,000 and 51 ,000 captive Native Americans 00:01:57.500 --> 00:02:00.379 were exported from South Carolina in that, what, 00:02:00.439 --> 00:02:03.430 45 -year window? To put that in context, and 00:02:03.430 --> 00:02:06.450 it's a devastating context, that number is more 00:02:06.450 --> 00:02:08.870 than the number of Africans imported to all the 00:02:08.870 --> 00:02:11.430 future U .S. colonies combined in that same period. 00:02:11.629 --> 00:02:15.229 Wow. This was a massive demographic and political 00:02:15.229 --> 00:02:18.629 disruption. It destabilized huge tribes like 00:02:18.629 --> 00:02:21.310 the Amici and Cherokee and established forced 00:02:21.310 --> 00:02:24.289 labor as the central pillar of the colony's wealth 00:02:24.289 --> 00:02:27.129 from day one. A profound foundation of violence. 00:02:27.349 --> 00:02:30.090 And speaking of instability, let's talk about 00:02:30.090 --> 00:02:33.030 the physical ground itself. Ah, yes. We tease 00:02:33.030 --> 00:02:35.150 this, but it's worth repeating. South Carolina 00:02:35.150 --> 00:02:38.189 is the single most seismically active state on 00:02:38.189 --> 00:02:41.210 the entire East Coast. The state just seems built 00:02:41.210 --> 00:02:43.949 on shocks, both historical and geological. And 00:02:43.949 --> 00:02:45.770 that physical vulnerability, it really informs 00:02:45.770 --> 00:02:47.490 our understanding of the state's infrastructure 00:02:47.490 --> 00:02:49.990 and its planning, or lack thereof. We'll definitely 00:02:49.990 --> 00:02:51.870 come back to that when we talk about the 1886 00:02:51.870 --> 00:02:53.710 earthquake. Okay, let's unpack this geography. 00:02:53.930 --> 00:02:56.289 Yeah. Culturally, people talk about the low country 00:02:56.289 --> 00:02:59.729 and the upstate, but geologically... The state 00:02:59.729 --> 00:03:01.990 is really defined by three distinct bands, right? 00:03:02.090 --> 00:03:04.250 Yeah, three bands running parallel to the Atlantic, 00:03:04.490 --> 00:03:06.870 basically slicing the state from east to west. 00:03:07.210 --> 00:03:09.050 So let's start at the coast. Starting at the 00:03:09.050 --> 00:03:11.990 shore, you have the huge Atlantic coastal plain 00:03:11.990 --> 00:03:15.250 and it's surprisingly large. It makes up a full 00:03:15.250 --> 00:03:18.469 two thirds of the state. Two thirds. Wow. Geologically, 00:03:18.629 --> 00:03:20.469 it's pretty young material. We're talking layers 00:03:20.469 --> 00:03:24.229 of sand, silt and clay deposited over millions 00:03:24.229 --> 00:03:27.610 of years. This is your classic low country landscape, 00:03:27.889 --> 00:03:30.629 the salt marshes, estuaries and the sea islands, 00:03:30.750 --> 00:03:32.909 those crucial barrier islands. And it's in this 00:03:32.909 --> 00:03:35.729 coastal plain that we find these, well, these 00:03:35.729 --> 00:03:38.409 bizarre geological features your sources highlighted, 00:03:38.669 --> 00:03:41.789 the Carolina Bays. They are so strange. They 00:03:41.789 --> 00:03:45.300 sound like swamps, but their origin is... something 00:03:45.300 --> 00:03:47.780 much bigger. Right. They're not just random ponds 00:03:47.780 --> 00:03:50.699 of these low relief oval depressions. But the 00:03:50.699 --> 00:03:53.000 weird part is their alignment. Exactly. They're 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:55.659 all lined up northwest to southeast. For decades, 00:03:55.919 --> 00:03:58.139 scientists were debating what they were. Meteorite 00:03:58.139 --> 00:04:00.539 craters was a popular theory for a while. So 00:04:00.539 --> 00:04:02.319 what's the current thinking? How did they all 00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:04.620 line up so perfectly? The best supported theory 00:04:04.620 --> 00:04:08.419 now points to eolian processes. Meaning windblown. 00:04:08.539 --> 00:04:12.659 Right. Windblown sand. During the last big glaciation, 00:04:12.780 --> 00:04:16.279 say 75 ,000 to 6 ,000 years ago, the southeast 00:04:16.279 --> 00:04:19.319 was much colder and drier. And you had these 00:04:19.319 --> 00:04:23.319 massive, powerful winds that basically sculpted 00:04:23.319 --> 00:04:25.160 these depressions from the surface. So they're 00:04:25.160 --> 00:04:27.459 like fossilized wind patterns. That's a great 00:04:27.459 --> 00:04:30.160 way to put it. They're a constant, strange reminder 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:33.019 of a completely different, almost desert -like 00:04:33.019 --> 00:04:36.420 climate in what's now this lush, humid landscape. 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:39.079 Okay, moving inland, we hit the central region, 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:41.149 the Midlands and the Piedmont. And the landscape 00:04:41.149 --> 00:04:43.790 just changes completely. It does. And that change 00:04:43.790 --> 00:04:46.389 marks a massive geological boundary. You're shifting 00:04:46.389 --> 00:04:49.709 to much older, harder rock, paleozoic, metamorphic 00:04:49.709 --> 00:04:52.290 and igneous rocks. But the most critical feature 00:04:52.290 --> 00:04:55.029 here, historically and economically, is the fall 00:04:55.029 --> 00:04:57.069 line. This boundary where the hard rock of the 00:04:57.069 --> 00:04:59.029 Piedmont meets the soft sediment of the coastal 00:04:59.029 --> 00:05:01.740 plain. It's like the blueprint for early American 00:05:01.740 --> 00:05:04.000 city development, isn't it? It's a perfect example 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:06.759 of geography driving economics. Any river flowing 00:05:06.759 --> 00:05:08.720 from the mountains hits the fall line and suddenly 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:11.019 drops, creating rapids and waterfalls. And that 00:05:11.019 --> 00:05:13.899 drop had two immediate uses. Two crucial uses 00:05:13.899 --> 00:05:16.959 in the 18th and 19th centuries. First, it marked 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:19.360 the limit of navigable water. You couldn't get 00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:21.759 a big boat any further inland. The end of the 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:24.620 line for trade. And second, those rapids provided 00:05:24.620 --> 00:05:27.959 easily harnessed water power for mills. So cities 00:05:27.959 --> 00:05:30.079 like Columbia, the state capital, popped up right 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:32.370 there. Exactly. Columbia was built specifically 00:05:32.370 --> 00:05:34.870 on the fall line to exploit both transportation 00:05:34.870 --> 00:05:37.490 up to that point and the power generated at that 00:05:37.490 --> 00:05:40.410 point. It was the natural center for early manufacturing. 00:05:40.709 --> 00:05:43.790 But water power gave way to other energy sources. 00:05:44.189 --> 00:05:47.389 So what defines the Piedmont's landscape today? 00:05:47.970 --> 00:05:50.470 Today, it's mostly defined by reforestation. 00:05:50.730 --> 00:05:53.730 A lot of that old farmland has gone back to forest, 00:05:53.930 --> 00:05:56.370 mostly loblolly pine for the lumber industry. 00:05:56.569 --> 00:05:59.709 The old textile mills are either gone or repurposed. 00:06:00.089 --> 00:06:01.870 And then finally in the northwestern corner, 00:06:01.990 --> 00:06:04.769 you get the dramatic elevation, the Blue Ridge 00:06:04.769 --> 00:06:07.709 region. That's the high relief upstate. It's 00:06:07.709 --> 00:06:09.850 a small slice of the state, but it's a complete 00:06:09.850 --> 00:06:12.930 environmental contrast. The highest point, Sassafras 00:06:12.930 --> 00:06:15.790 Mountain, is there at just over 3 ,500 feet. 00:06:15.990 --> 00:06:17.550 And that's part of the southern Appalachians. 00:06:17.670 --> 00:06:20.629 Right. The whole ecoregion shifts. You get Appalachian 00:06:20.629 --> 00:06:23.110 blue ridge forests, destinations like Caesars 00:06:23.110 --> 00:06:25.649 Head State Park and the Chattooga River, which 00:06:25.649 --> 00:06:28.189 is a famous whitewater rafting spot on the Georgia 00:06:28.189 --> 00:06:30.649 border. It's where you go to escape the summer 00:06:30.649 --> 00:06:33.370 heat. The state has these incredible natural 00:06:33.370 --> 00:06:36.610 rivers. But as the sources note, the biggest 00:06:36.610 --> 00:06:39.410 bodies of water are all artificial. It's actually 00:06:39.410 --> 00:06:41.509 surprising that all of South Carolina's major 00:06:41.509 --> 00:06:44.199 lakes are manmade. It really is. It speaks to 00:06:44.199 --> 00:06:46.660 the scale of the 20th century water control and 00:06:46.660 --> 00:06:49.060 hydroelectric projects, especially by Santee 00:06:49.060 --> 00:06:51.639 Cooper. Right. The biggest is Lake Marion, a 00:06:51.639 --> 00:06:54.879 massive 110 ,000 acres. Then you have Lake Strom 00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:58.339 Thurmond and Lake Moultrie. These projects completely 00:06:58.339 --> 00:07:00.879 reshaped the state's river systems and created 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:03.600 new inland economies. So we've seen how man -made 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:05.720 lakes altered the hydrology, but let's go back 00:07:05.720 --> 00:07:07.500 to that disruption we can't control, the grind 00:07:07.500 --> 00:07:10.199 itself. You said South Carolina is the most seismically 00:07:10.199 --> 00:07:12.730 active state on the East Coast. Why? This is 00:07:12.730 --> 00:07:16.189 such a crucial and often overlooked detail. Unlike 00:07:16.189 --> 00:07:18.529 the West Coast, where quakes happen on tectonic 00:07:18.529 --> 00:07:21.269 plate boundaries, the quakes here happen along 00:07:21.269 --> 00:07:23.490 ancient fault lines within the North American 00:07:23.490 --> 00:07:25.790 plate. They're called intraplate earthquakes. 00:07:26.209 --> 00:07:28.589 And the data shows this isn't just a theoretical 00:07:28.589 --> 00:07:31.750 threat. While they average 10 -15 small quakes 00:07:31.750 --> 00:07:34.569 a year, the sources note a recent spike. A big 00:07:34.569 --> 00:07:38.149 one. 74 recorded earthquakes between July 2021 00:07:38.149 --> 00:07:42.110 and July 2022, mostly concentrated around Kershaw 00:07:42.110 --> 00:07:44.709 County. But the real reason for the concern is 00:07:44.709 --> 00:07:48.110 historical precedent, right? The 1886 Charleston 00:07:48.110 --> 00:07:51.089 earthquake. That event is the benchmark for East 00:07:51.089 --> 00:07:54.250 Coast seismic risk. It remains the largest ever 00:07:54.250 --> 00:07:56.750 recorded in the eastern U .S., estimated somewhere 00:07:56.750 --> 00:08:00.029 between a magnitude 7 .0 and 7 .3. And what was 00:08:00.029 --> 00:08:02.670 the damage like? Catastrophic. Yeah. 60 people 00:08:02.670 --> 00:08:05.029 died and 90 % of the buildings in Charleston 00:08:05.029 --> 00:08:07.209 were damaged or just destroyed. It was felt as 00:08:07.209 --> 00:08:09.829 far away as Boston, Cuba. So why are these East 00:08:09.829 --> 00:08:11.730 Coast quakes so destructive, even if they're 00:08:11.730 --> 00:08:15.089 rare? It's two things. First, the hard old crust 00:08:15.089 --> 00:08:17.550 here allows the seismic waves to travel much, 00:08:17.629 --> 00:08:19.509 much farther than they do out west. So it affects 00:08:19.509 --> 00:08:22.759 a wider area. A much wider area. And second, 00:08:22.920 --> 00:08:25.319 the infrastructure just wasn't and in many cases 00:08:25.319 --> 00:08:27.819 still isn't built with that level of seismic 00:08:27.819 --> 00:08:30.600 resilience in mind. If you rarely get a big one. 00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:33.580 Building codes tend to lag. That makes a lot 00:08:33.580 --> 00:08:36.440 of sense. Exactly. So the potential for significant 00:08:36.440 --> 00:08:39.639 damage in a dense, historic city like Charleston, 00:08:39.779 --> 00:08:42.220 which is built on soft sediments that amplify 00:08:42.220 --> 00:08:45.340 shaking, remains a very serious, ever -present 00:08:45.340 --> 00:08:48.360 threat. It's the invisible instability beneath 00:08:48.360 --> 00:08:51.100 that beautiful facade. Okay, shifting from the 00:08:51.100 --> 00:08:53.539 shaking ground to the volatile air, let's look 00:08:53.539 --> 00:08:56.360 at climate. It's primarily humid subtropical, 00:08:56.460 --> 00:08:58.879 which means those hot, sticky summers. Right. 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:01.480 Coastal highs are regularly in the 90s. The only 00:09:01.480 --> 00:09:03.679 real exception is the Blue Ridge, which has a 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:05.500 cooler highland climate and gets a bit of snow, 00:09:05.720 --> 00:09:08.399 maybe 7 to 12 inches a year. The state is also 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:10.740 clearly vulnerable to severe weather. Your sources 00:09:10.740 --> 00:09:12.799 mention about 50 days of thunderstorm activity 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:15.340 a year. And around 14 tornadoes on average. But 00:09:15.340 --> 00:09:17.220 the big annual threat, of course, is hurricane 00:09:17.220 --> 00:09:20.120 season. June 1st to November 30th. With the peak 00:09:20.120 --> 00:09:22.559 vulnerability being that Cape Verde season from 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:25.419 August to October, when the most powerful storms 00:09:25.419 --> 00:09:27.799 tend to track toward the southeast. And what 00:09:27.799 --> 00:09:30.019 are the storms that have really left a scar on 00:09:30.019 --> 00:09:32.019 the state's memory? Well, three big ones stand 00:09:32.019 --> 00:09:35.580 out. Hurricane Hazel in 1954 was a devastating 00:09:35.580 --> 00:09:39.580 Category 4. Then famously, Hurricane Hugo in 00:09:39.580 --> 00:09:42.860 1989 did immense damage, especially to Charleston. 00:09:43.019 --> 00:09:45.559 I remember the pictures from Hugo. And more recently, 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:48.740 Florence in 2018 caused catastrophic flooding. 00:09:49.230 --> 00:09:51.490 This repeated exposure makes the climate change 00:09:51.490 --> 00:09:54.409 discussion far from theoretical there. Let's 00:09:54.409 --> 00:09:56.590 get into that, because the data suggests South 00:09:56.590 --> 00:09:59.289 Carolina is expected to suffer some of the worst 00:09:59.289 --> 00:10:02.080 effects among the Deep South states. The EPA's 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:03.940 findings are pretty stark. While the average 00:10:03.940 --> 00:10:05.700 temperature has only gone up about half a degree 00:10:05.700 --> 00:10:07.679 to one degree Fahrenheit over the last century, 00:10:07.899 --> 00:10:10.580 the immediate danger is on the coast. Sea level 00:10:10.580 --> 00:10:12.919 rise. Sea level is rising one to one and a half 00:10:12.919 --> 00:10:15.480 inches every single decade. That accelerates 00:10:15.480 --> 00:10:18.200 erosion, increases flooding, and just compromises 00:10:18.200 --> 00:10:20.500 all the coastal infrastructure. So the physical 00:10:20.500 --> 00:10:23.139 vulnerability is immense, but the political response 00:10:23.139 --> 00:10:27.860 seems stalled. Your sources talk about a 2008 00:10:27.860 --> 00:10:30.299 report that laid out some specific goals. That 00:10:30.299 --> 00:10:32.360 report was actually quite progressive for its 00:10:32.360 --> 00:10:35.000 time. It recommended a voluntary goal of reducing 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:39.360 emissions to 5 % below 1990 levels by 2020. It 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:42.179 was a real roadmap. But by January 2020, South 00:10:42.179 --> 00:10:44.340 Carolina had failed to develop a comprehensive 00:10:44.340 --> 00:10:47.809 statewide climate plan. What happened? Well, 00:10:47.809 --> 00:10:50.230 the state's political culture is highly conservative 00:10:50.230 --> 00:10:53.009 and often skeptical of big environmental regulations. 00:10:53.409 --> 00:10:56.250 The 2008 plan was voluntary, and without legal 00:10:56.250 --> 00:10:58.850 teeth or real political will, it just stalled. 00:10:59.049 --> 00:11:01.549 So you have a state facing this existential threat 00:11:01.549 --> 00:11:04.870 from rising seas and stronger storms, but with 00:11:04.870 --> 00:11:07.289 no coordinated top -down strategy to deal with 00:11:07.289 --> 00:11:09.929 it. That's the disconnect, a clear physical reality 00:11:09.929 --> 00:11:12.330 hitting a wall of political inaction. Okay, that 00:11:12.330 --> 00:11:14.549 brings us to the second shockwave in South Carolina's 00:11:14.549 --> 00:11:16.860 story. What? It's history. Let's start with the 00:11:16.860 --> 00:11:19.379 pre -colonial foundation. The region was inhabited 00:11:19.379 --> 00:11:21.919 for millennia. Oh, yeah. Evidence of human activity 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:25.259 goes back 50 ,000 years. By the time Europeans 00:11:25.259 --> 00:11:27.460 showed up, you had sophisticated Native American 00:11:27.460 --> 00:11:30.379 societies, the Kopitaceki, the Cherokee, the 00:11:30.379 --> 00:11:33.139 Catawba. Their combined population was up to 00:11:33.139 --> 00:11:36.759 20 ,000 around the year 1600. But the first European 00:11:36.759 --> 00:11:39.889 attempts to settle were just... chaotic failures. 00:11:40.149 --> 00:11:43.429 Utterly. The Spanish founded San Miguel de Guadalpe 00:11:43.429 --> 00:11:47.269 in 1526 near present -day Georgetown. And this 00:11:47.269 --> 00:11:50.320 is a key fact. It was the first European settlement 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:52.759 in the contiguous United States. And it lasted 00:11:52.759 --> 00:11:55.019 how long? Eight months. It was abandoned after 00:11:55.019 --> 00:11:57.399 disease, infighting, and a lack of supplies. 00:11:57.779 --> 00:11:59.580 And the French Huguenots didn't fare much better. 00:11:59.740 --> 00:12:02.919 No. They set up Charles IV on Paris Island in 00:12:02.919 --> 00:12:06.279 1562, seeking religious freedom. But again, they 00:12:06.279 --> 00:12:08.360 were too isolated, couldn't get supplies, and 00:12:08.360 --> 00:12:10.820 the garrison failed. It just showed how tough 00:12:10.820 --> 00:12:13.200 this environment was to sustain. So the successful 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:15.740 colonization came from the English. who named 00:12:15.740 --> 00:12:18.220 it Carolina for King Charles I. Right, and in 00:12:18.220 --> 00:12:21.679 1663, Charles II granted the whole province to 00:12:21.679 --> 00:12:24.240 eight lords proprietors. The vision was incredibly 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:26.639 ambitious, intellectually led by Anthony Ashley 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:28.879 Cooper, who worked on the governing documents 00:12:28.879 --> 00:12:31.570 with... John Locke. With the philosopher John 00:12:31.570 --> 00:12:34.570 Locke, yeah. They wrote the Fundamental Constitutions 00:12:34.570 --> 00:12:37.370 of Carolina, which had these high -minded ideas 00:12:37.370 --> 00:12:40.190 about religious tolerance and planned governance. 00:12:40.570 --> 00:12:42.830 But those philosophical ideals and the reality 00:12:42.830 --> 00:12:45.769 of the colony diverged almost immediately. That's 00:12:45.769 --> 00:12:48.830 the Great Paradox. English planters arrived from 00:12:48.830 --> 00:12:52.070 Barbados in the 1670s and set up Charlestown. 00:12:52.600 --> 00:12:54.899 And they brought the Barbados slave system with 00:12:54.899 --> 00:12:57.580 them, which was notoriously brutal. And they 00:12:57.580 --> 00:13:00.080 applied it to rice cultivation. Rice became the 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:02.960 dominant crop. It demanded massive scale and 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:05.100 specific agricultural knowledge that enslaved 00:13:05.100 --> 00:13:09.200 Africans often supplied. By 1720, enslaved Africans 00:13:09.200 --> 00:13:11.379 were the majority of the population. And this 00:13:11.379 --> 00:13:14.000 brings us back to that devastating early economy, 00:13:14.200 --> 00:13:16.700 the Native American slave trade. This wasn't 00:13:16.700 --> 00:13:19.039 a side business. No, it was the foundational 00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:21.679 source of profit. It funded the colony's entire 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:26.139 expansion. Between 1670 and 1715, they were capturing 00:13:26.139 --> 00:13:28.539 or trading for Native Americans from as far away 00:13:28.539 --> 00:13:30.940 as Pennsylvania and exporting them out of Charleston. 00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:33.940 When we talk about 24 ,000 to 51 ,000 people 00:13:33.940 --> 00:13:36.559 exported, we're talking about the deliberate 00:13:36.559 --> 00:13:39.820 depopulation of the entire region. It completely 00:13:39.820 --> 00:13:42.019 destabilized the indigenous political structure. 00:13:42.490 --> 00:13:44.470 And it created endless conflict, which eventually 00:13:44.470 --> 00:13:47.750 culminated in the Yamasee War of 1715. And all 00:13:47.750 --> 00:13:50.149 that conflict and wealth led the colonists to 00:13:50.149 --> 00:13:52.429 overthrow the proprietor's rule. Exactly. The 00:13:52.429 --> 00:13:54.350 proprietors couldn't govern effectively from 00:13:54.350 --> 00:13:56.710 England. So the province split into North and 00:13:56.710 --> 00:13:59.389 South Carolina around 1712 and South Carolina 00:13:59.389 --> 00:14:02.289 became a royal colony in 1719. And by the mid 00:14:02.289 --> 00:14:05.529 1700s, this low country region built on rice, 00:14:05.730 --> 00:14:08.590 indigo and slave labor. was one of the wealthiest 00:14:08.590 --> 00:14:11.090 of all the 13 colonies. Unbelievably wealthy. 00:14:11.330 --> 00:14:14.429 And it created this powerful, entrenched planter 00:14:14.429 --> 00:14:16.789 aristocracy that would define the state for the 00:14:16.789 --> 00:14:19.129 next century. When the Revolution came, that 00:14:19.129 --> 00:14:21.750 aristocracy had to choose a side. And South Carolina 00:14:21.750 --> 00:14:24.169 became the deadliest battleground in the South. 00:14:24.460 --> 00:14:26.440 Absolutely central. The sources confirm it was 00:14:26.440 --> 00:14:28.960 the site of more than 200 battles and skirmishes, 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:31.480 more than any other state. And it wasn't just 00:14:31.480 --> 00:14:33.720 against the British. It was a brutal internal 00:14:33.720 --> 00:14:37.220 civil war between loyalists and patriots. Despite 00:14:37.220 --> 00:14:39.480 that chaos, they were quick to formalize their 00:14:39.480 --> 00:14:42.470 new position. Very quick. First state to ratify 00:14:42.470 --> 00:14:44.850 the Articles of Confederation, eighth to ratify 00:14:44.850 --> 00:14:47.509 the Constitution. But the war exposed the great 00:14:47.509 --> 00:14:49.769 vulnerability of their slave economy. How so? 00:14:49.950 --> 00:14:52.909 Well, estimates suggest 25 ,000 slaves, which 00:14:52.909 --> 00:14:55.129 was about 30 percent of the enslaved population, 00:14:55.490 --> 00:14:58.830 either fled, migrated or died. The British offered 00:14:58.830 --> 00:15:00.950 freedom to slaves who joined their side, which 00:15:00.950 --> 00:15:03.610 just totally destabilized the plantation system. 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:06.360 Moving into the antebellum period, the invention 00:15:06.360 --> 00:15:08.960 of the cotton gin solidifies slavery's importance. 00:15:09.259 --> 00:15:12.919 By 1800, Charleston is the fifth largest city 00:15:12.919 --> 00:15:15.960 in the country. With nearly 340 ,000 residents, 00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:20.870 almost half of whom 146 ,000 were enslaved. And 00:15:20.870 --> 00:15:23.090 that wealth translated directly into political 00:15:23.090 --> 00:15:26.009 power. The state was a pure oligarchy. An oligarchy? 00:15:26.070 --> 00:15:28.309 How? To sit in the statehouse, the law required 00:15:28.309 --> 00:15:31.070 a man to own 500 acres of land and 10 slaves, 00:15:31.190 --> 00:15:34.190 or 150 pounds sterling. This wasn't a representative 00:15:34.190 --> 00:15:36.529 government. It was a club for wealthy planters. 00:15:36.769 --> 00:15:39.470 And that belief in aristocratic control led directly 00:15:39.470 --> 00:15:42.629 to the nullification crisis of 1832. This was 00:15:42.629 --> 00:15:44.429 basically the dress rehearsal for secession, 00:15:44.509 --> 00:15:47.679 wasn't it? It absolutely was. The state's political 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:50.720 titan, John C. Calhoun, developed the doctrine 00:15:50.720 --> 00:15:53.700 of nullification, arguing a state could declare 00:15:53.700 --> 00:15:56.340 a federal law unconstitutional within its borders. 00:15:56.559 --> 00:15:58.360 And they tried it with federal tariffs. They 00:15:58.360 --> 00:16:00.860 did. They declared the federal tariffs null and 00:16:00.860 --> 00:16:03.419 void. They were basically daring the federal 00:16:03.419 --> 00:16:05.460 government to intervene. And President Andrew 00:16:05.460 --> 00:16:08.039 Jackson, an SC native himself, didn't back down. 00:16:08.259 --> 00:16:10.879 No, he pushed Congress to pass the force bill, 00:16:11.059 --> 00:16:13.720 authorizing military action to enforce the tariffs. 00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:16.740 The crisis was averted, but the key takeaway 00:16:16.740 --> 00:16:19.700 was clear. South Carolina's primary allegiance 00:16:19.700 --> 00:16:22.299 was not to the Union, but to its own political 00:16:22.299 --> 00:16:25.279 and economic system. Which meant slavery. Which 00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:28.000 meant slavery. So the election of Abraham Lincoln, 00:16:28.200 --> 00:16:31.879 an anti -slavery Republican, on November 6, 1860, 00:16:32.019 --> 00:16:34.480 was seen as a non -negotiable threat. A hostile 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:37.159 act, as they called it. Exactly. They believed 00:16:37.159 --> 00:16:39.500 the end of slavery was inevitable under a Republican 00:16:39.500 --> 00:16:42.279 president, and they chose war. South Carolina 00:16:42.279 --> 00:16:45.419 voted to secede on December 20, 1860, becoming 00:16:45.419 --> 00:16:47.840 the first state to leave the Union. And so the 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:50.480 Civil War began in Charleston Harbor, April 12, 00:16:50.700 --> 00:16:54.100 1861, with the shelling of Fort Sumter. But the 00:16:54.100 --> 00:16:56.639 Union gained an early, critical foothold that 00:16:56.639 --> 00:16:59.419 became a sort of microcosm for the future. That 00:16:59.419 --> 00:17:02.289 was the Port Royal Experiment. Union forces occupied 00:17:02.289 --> 00:17:04.730 Beaufort County and the Sea Islands very early 00:17:04.730 --> 00:17:08.589 in November 1861. The white planters fled, abandoning 00:17:08.589 --> 00:17:11.230 about 10 ,000 enslaved people. And this became 00:17:11.230 --> 00:17:13.549 the proving ground for economic freedom. It really 00:17:13.549 --> 00:17:15.789 did. Northern charities and federal officials 00:17:15.789 --> 00:17:18.430 collaborated to manage the abandoned cotton farms, 00:17:18.609 --> 00:17:20.950 but they organized the freed people to run the 00:17:20.950 --> 00:17:23.529 farms for wages. So they were the first enslaved 00:17:23.529 --> 00:17:26.819 people freed by the Union to earn wages. Profoundly 00:17:26.819 --> 00:17:29.220 significant. It was a radical, if brief, model 00:17:29.220 --> 00:17:31.279 for the economic structure of Reconstruction 00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:33.500 that was supposed to follow. Despite that, the 00:17:33.500 --> 00:17:36.839 war just devastated the state. Over 60 ,000 soldiers 00:17:36.839 --> 00:17:40.779 served. 18 ,000 died. The final brutal act came 00:17:40.779 --> 00:17:44.039 in early 1865. General Sherman's march across 00:17:44.039 --> 00:17:46.779 South Carolina was famously destructive. He targeted 00:17:46.779 --> 00:17:48.900 plantations and leveled the state capital, Columbia. 00:17:49.319 --> 00:17:52.140 The state was readmitted in 1868, entering the 00:17:52.140 --> 00:17:55.130 volatile era of Reconstruction. And Reconstruction 00:17:55.130 --> 00:17:58.089 saw this dramatic, radical shift in power. For 00:17:58.089 --> 00:18:00.789 a time, yes, African -Americans held a majority 00:18:00.789 --> 00:18:03.250 in the state government. South Carolina sent 00:18:03.250 --> 00:18:05.529 Joseph Rainey to Congress, the first black person 00:18:05.529 --> 00:18:07.769 to serve in the U .S. House. But this progress 00:18:07.769 --> 00:18:10.430 was violently opposed by white conservative Democrats, 00:18:10.789 --> 00:18:13.529 the so -called Redeemers. They used organized 00:18:13.529 --> 00:18:16.230 paramilitary groups like the Ku Klux Klan to 00:18:16.230 --> 00:18:18.549 terrorize black and white Republican voters. 00:18:18.829 --> 00:18:21.329 The violence got so bad that President Grant 00:18:21.329 --> 00:18:24.410 had to intervene directly. What did he do? Under 00:18:24.410 --> 00:18:27.970 the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, he suspended habeas 00:18:27.970 --> 00:18:31.190 corpus in nine South Carolina counties. His administration 00:18:31.190 --> 00:18:33.829 arrested hundreds of Klansmen, which temporarily 00:18:33.829 --> 00:18:36.369 suppressed the violence. Once federal troops 00:18:36.369 --> 00:18:39.690 left in 1877, the Redeemers, using groups like 00:18:39.690 --> 00:18:41.920 the Red Shirts, quickly regained control. through 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:44.740 intimidation. And the final political move to 00:18:44.740 --> 00:18:47.500 cement their power was the 1895 Constitution. 00:18:47.940 --> 00:18:50.440 That Constitution was designed with one purpose, 00:18:50.680 --> 00:18:53.380 to permanently disenfranchise African -Americans 00:18:53.380 --> 00:18:56.220 and poor whites to prevent any future biracial 00:18:56.220 --> 00:18:58.339 political coalition. And it used things like 00:18:58.339 --> 00:19:01.619 poll taxes and literacy tests. Right. Ostensibly 00:19:01.619 --> 00:19:04.299 race neutral mechanisms that had a devastatingly 00:19:04.299 --> 00:19:07.819 targeted effect. By 1896, the black voting population, 00:19:08.099 --> 00:19:10.579 which had been the majority in the state, was 00:19:10.579 --> 00:19:13.809 reduced to just 5 ,500 registered voters. They 00:19:13.809 --> 00:19:16.009 were rendered completely voiceless. And that 00:19:16.009 --> 00:19:19.250 constitution also centralized power, overturning 00:19:19.250 --> 00:19:21.690 local government and making counties mere agents 00:19:21.690 --> 00:19:24.289 of the state legislature, a structure that really 00:19:24.289 --> 00:19:27.230 lasted until 1975. Now, in the middle of this 00:19:27.230 --> 00:19:29.609 dark moment, we find one of the most revealing 00:19:29.609 --> 00:19:32.690 debates in your sources, the argument over adopting 00:19:32.690 --> 00:19:36.000 the one drop rule. This really peels back the 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:38.640 hypocrisy of the era. Governor Pitchfork Ben 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:40.880 Tillman was leading the charge for white supremacy, 00:19:41.160 --> 00:19:43.579 and a proposal was floated to legally define 00:19:43.579 --> 00:19:47.039 anyone with any known African ancestry as black. 00:19:47.240 --> 00:19:50.019 But the proposal met intense opposition from, 00:19:50.119 --> 00:19:53.769 of all places, the white elite. From George Dionysius 00:19:53.769 --> 00:19:56.170 Toman, Ben's own brother, his argument wasn't 00:19:56.170 --> 00:19:58.650 about morality. It was about protecting the property 00:19:58.650 --> 00:20:00.690 and social status of prominent white families 00:20:00.690 --> 00:20:03.109 who knew they had distant African ancestry. He 00:20:03.109 --> 00:20:05.130 said passing the law would affect respectable 00:20:05.130 --> 00:20:07.809 families. Exactly. He argued it would legally 00:20:07.809 --> 00:20:10.890 jeopardize over 100 landowning families, many 00:20:10.890 --> 00:20:13.269 of whom fought for the Confederacy and forced 00:20:13.269 --> 00:20:15.930 them into the legal category of black. His argument 00:20:15.930 --> 00:20:18.930 against it was just so cynical. He claimed there 00:20:18.930 --> 00:20:22.069 wasn't one full -blooded Caucasian in the room. 00:20:22.170 --> 00:20:24.670 It's an incredible quote. He basically warned 00:20:24.670 --> 00:20:26.309 that enforcing the rule would lead to endless 00:20:26.309 --> 00:20:29.130 lawsuits, scandal and bloodshed as families tried 00:20:29.130 --> 00:20:31.890 to protect their lineage and property. And that 00:20:31.890 --> 00:20:34.329 pragmatic self -interest won the day. It did. 00:20:34.529 --> 00:20:36.650 The political elite prioritized the stability 00:20:36.650 --> 00:20:39.150 of their own class and property rights over the 00:20:39.150 --> 00:20:41.930 ideological purity of absolute racial separation. 00:20:42.250 --> 00:20:44.609 A really chilling insight into the calculus of 00:20:44.609 --> 00:20:47.130 power. Okay, moving into the 20th century, South 00:20:47.130 --> 00:20:49.569 Carolina begins this fundamental transformation. 00:20:49.890 --> 00:20:52.849 The textile industry starts to grow, but it's 00:20:52.849 --> 00:20:55.130 accompanied by the Great Migration. That migration 00:20:55.130 --> 00:20:59.009 reshaped everything. Between 1910 and 1970, millions 00:20:59.009 --> 00:21:01.660 of African Americans left the Deep South. The 00:21:01.660 --> 00:21:04.720 result for South Carolina was profound. By 1930, 00:21:05.099 --> 00:21:07.460 the state had a white majority population for 00:21:07.460 --> 00:21:10.119 the first time since 1708. And after World War 00:21:10.119 --> 00:21:13.099 II, the state consciously diversified its economy 00:21:13.099 --> 00:21:16.299 beyond just textiles and agriculture. The modern 00:21:16.299 --> 00:21:19.380 economy is almost unrecognizable. The GDP in 00:21:19.380 --> 00:21:23.160 2019 was nearly $250 billion, and the state is 00:21:23.160 --> 00:21:25.420 now defined by globally integrated industries. 00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:29.339 aerospace, automotive manufacturing, agribusiness, 00:21:29.539 --> 00:21:32.579 and huge tourism centers. This is where we see 00:21:32.579 --> 00:21:35.059 the impact of massive foreign direct investment. 00:21:35.500 --> 00:21:38.420 South Carolina has made itself a global industrial 00:21:38.420 --> 00:21:41.420 player by attracting giants like Boeing and BMW. 00:21:42.200 --> 00:21:44.400 The Boeing facility in Charleston, one of only 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:47.259 two final assembly sites for the 787 Dreamliner 00:21:47.259 --> 00:21:50.279 in the world, and the huge BMW plant in Spartanburg 00:21:50.279 --> 00:21:52.779 are the anchors of the modern industrial sector. 00:21:52.920 --> 00:21:54.859 And the numbers on foreign investment are huge. 00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:58.200 Over 1 ,900 foreign -owned firms employing almost 00:21:58.200 --> 00:22:01.769 135 ,000 people. What's the specific appeal? 00:22:02.009 --> 00:22:04.569 It's a carefully crafted, aggressively pro -business 00:22:04.569 --> 00:22:07.069 environment. It's a right -to -work state with 00:22:07.069 --> 00:22:10.150 a low 5 % corporate income tax, no state property 00:22:10.150 --> 00:22:13.170 tax, no local income tax, and critically, no 00:22:13.170 --> 00:22:15.450 sales tax on manufacturing equipment. So they've 00:22:15.450 --> 00:22:17.509 made it incredibly cheap to set up shop. They've 00:22:17.509 --> 00:22:20.450 rolled out the red carpet. But this glowing economic 00:22:20.450 --> 00:22:23.390 picture contrasts very sharply with the state 00:22:23.390 --> 00:22:25.930 of public infrastructure and services. This seems 00:22:25.930 --> 00:22:29.049 to be the core paradox of the modern state. You 00:22:29.049 --> 00:22:30.930 attract these cutting edge industries that need 00:22:30.930 --> 00:22:33.250 a skilled workforce. But the public education 00:22:33.250 --> 00:22:36.009 system really struggles. It struggles profoundly. 00:22:36.430 --> 00:22:39.930 In 2014, the South Carolina Supreme Court issued 00:22:39.930 --> 00:22:42.990 this landmark ruling that the state had failed 00:22:42.990 --> 00:22:46.029 its constitutional duty to provide a minimally 00:22:46.029 --> 00:22:49.130 adequate education, especially to kids in poor 00:22:49.130 --> 00:22:51.509 rural districts. A massive indictment of the 00:22:51.509 --> 00:22:53.950 system. It was. The ruling said the state was 00:22:53.950 --> 00:22:56.750 legally failing its own citizens in a way that 00:22:56.750 --> 00:23:01.099 just perpetuates. And nothing symbolizes this 00:23:01.099 --> 00:23:03.299 failure quite like the state school bus system. 00:23:03.380 --> 00:23:06.160 This fact is just, it's wild. South Carolina 00:23:06.160 --> 00:23:08.400 is the only state in the nation that owns and 00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:10.819 operates a statewide school bus system. A fleet 00:23:10.819 --> 00:23:13.380 of over 5 ,500 buses. But here's the detail. 00:23:13.599 --> 00:23:16.019 The average age of those buses is 15 years old. 00:23:16.119 --> 00:23:19.000 The national average is six. Some buses are up 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:21.099 to 30 years old. Without modern safety features, 00:23:21.180 --> 00:23:23.009 without air conditioning in that climate. The 00:23:23.009 --> 00:23:25.690 aging bus fleet is the perfect physical symbol 00:23:25.690 --> 00:23:27.670 of that centralized structure that dates back 00:23:27.670 --> 00:23:31.369 to 1895. The legislature controls the money and 00:23:31.369 --> 00:23:33.589 they just haven't prioritized the investment 00:23:33.589 --> 00:23:36.470 to modernize the fleet. It's a 21st century economy 00:23:36.470 --> 00:23:38.589 being served by 20th century infrastructure. 00:23:38.930 --> 00:23:42.019 Precisely. But despite those K -12 challenges, 00:23:42.279 --> 00:23:44.480 the state does have a long and diverse history 00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:47.200 in higher education, which is clearly fueling 00:23:47.200 --> 00:23:49.279 the modern workforce. Right. You have the College 00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:50.920 of Charleston, which is one of the oldest in 00:23:50.920 --> 00:23:53.180 the country, the flagship University of South 00:23:53.180 --> 00:23:55.720 Carolina. And specialized institutions like the 00:23:55.720 --> 00:23:58.819 Citadel, the Military College, plus two major 00:23:58.819 --> 00:24:02.059 HBCUs, Claflin University and South Carolina 00:24:02.059 --> 00:24:04.839 State University. That diversity in higher ed 00:24:04.839 --> 00:24:07.500 is a lifeline for local industry. OK, let's look 00:24:07.500 --> 00:24:10.150 at the people shaping the state today. 2020 census 00:24:10.150 --> 00:24:13.230 showed a population of just over 5 million. Primarily 00:24:13.230 --> 00:24:15.769 non -Hispanic, white, and African -American, 00:24:15.849 --> 00:24:18.589 but that profile is changing rapidly because 00:24:18.589 --> 00:24:21.190 of that global economic integration. The foreign 00:24:21.190 --> 00:24:23.849 -born population grew faster than any other state 00:24:23.849 --> 00:24:27.549 between 2000 and 2005. And the top origins today, 00:24:27.769 --> 00:24:31.589 Mexico, India, Germany, that directly reflects 00:24:31.589 --> 00:24:33.789 the recruitment for the auto and aerospace industries. 00:24:34.269 --> 00:24:37.089 It's changing the cultural texture of the state. 00:24:37.400 --> 00:24:39.960 Culturally, the sources highlight the enduring 00:24:39.960 --> 00:24:42.700 legacy of the Gullah community on the Sea Islands 00:24:42.700 --> 00:24:46.000 and the federally recognized Catawba Indian Nation. 00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:48.359 And religiously, while it's overwhelmingly Christian, 00:24:48.599 --> 00:24:51.240 that global connectivity has created some fascinating 00:24:51.240 --> 00:24:54.640 pockets. For instance, in 2010, SC had the highest 00:24:54.640 --> 00:24:57.720 per capita proportion of citizens following the 00:24:57.720 --> 00:25:00.079 Baha 'i faith. That's amazing. It really speaks 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:02.579 to these unique global micro communities taking 00:25:02.579 --> 00:25:04.319 root. But then we have to look at the general 00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:07.200 quality of life metrics. South Carolina ranks 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:10.880 37th out of 50 for overall health care. The public 00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:12.920 health numbers are definitely concerning. The 00:25:12.920 --> 00:25:14.880 teen worth rate is high. The infant mortality 00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:18.019 rate is stubbornly high. These are markers of 00:25:18.019 --> 00:25:21.039 deep, persistent poverty that exists right alongside 00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:23.940 that massive manufacturing wealth. And finally, 00:25:23.980 --> 00:25:26.059 the political landscape, which is defined by 00:25:26.059 --> 00:25:28.740 conservative dominance that really solidified 00:25:28.740 --> 00:25:31.380 after the mid -90s. It's a reliably Republican 00:25:31.380 --> 00:25:34.339 state. It's voted Republican in every presidential 00:25:34.339 --> 00:25:37.299 election since 1980. It's the only state on the 00:25:37.299 --> 00:25:39.460 East Coast that a Democrat has not won in the 00:25:39.460 --> 00:25:42.259 21st century. But given the state's long history 00:25:42.259 --> 00:25:45.220 of disenfranchisement, what does the modern data 00:25:45.220 --> 00:25:48.440 say about voter access? The pattern continues. 00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:52.420 A 2020 study ranks South Carolina as the seventh 00:25:52.420 --> 00:25:55.609 hardest state for citizens to vote in. The methods 00:25:55.609 --> 00:25:58.349 have changed, but the effect is similar, a political 00:25:58.349 --> 00:26:00.910 structure that's resistant to maximizing voter 00:26:00.910 --> 00:26:03.210 participation. And we should also note it retains 00:26:03.210 --> 00:26:05.990 the death penalty, authorizing execution by electric 00:26:05.990 --> 00:26:09.670 chair, or unusually, a firing squad. Right. Now 00:26:09.670 --> 00:26:11.670 here's where it gets really interesting. This 00:26:11.670 --> 00:26:13.529 is where the tension between that conservative 00:26:13.529 --> 00:26:16.069 establishment and the evolving population becomes 00:26:16.069 --> 00:26:18.730 impossible to ignore. We have the results of 00:26:18.730 --> 00:26:21.849 an April 2023 Winthrop poll. And this poll reveals 00:26:21.849 --> 00:26:24.109 the core paradox of the modern Palmetto State. 00:26:24.589 --> 00:26:27.230 The state elects reliably conservative leaders, 00:26:27.390 --> 00:26:29.809 but the population is far more socially flexible 00:26:29.809 --> 00:26:32.130 than you might think. For instance, a large majority 00:26:32.130 --> 00:26:34.990 supported legalizing medical marijuana. And significant 00:26:34.990 --> 00:26:37.829 majority supported recreational marijuana and 00:26:37.829 --> 00:26:40.589 sports gambling. And maybe more fundamentally, 00:26:40.789 --> 00:26:43.490 a large majority believed the separation of church 00:26:43.490 --> 00:26:46.750 and state was critical. Which challenges that 00:26:46.750 --> 00:26:48.630 historical intersection of faith and politics 00:26:48.630 --> 00:26:50.589 in the Deep South. But here's the most surprising 00:26:50.589 --> 00:26:53.500 one. Same -sex marriage. The poll showed a large 00:26:53.500 --> 00:26:55.720 majority of South Carolinians supported same 00:26:55.720 --> 00:26:59.119 sex marriage. This is crucial data. It shows 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:01.119 that the social values of the average citizen 00:27:01.119 --> 00:27:03.980 are rapidly outpacing the legislative priorities 00:27:03.980 --> 00:27:06.559 of the entrenched power structure. So you have 00:27:06.559 --> 00:27:09.160 a state with this history of political resistance 00:27:09.160 --> 00:27:12.640 from nullification to secession and a machine 00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:15.539 that still makes it hard to vote. Yet the citizens 00:27:15.539 --> 00:27:18.279 themselves are now demanding major social policy 00:27:18.279 --> 00:27:20.640 shifts. It means the economic transformation 00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:23.299 attracting global companies and diverse people 00:27:23.299 --> 00:27:25.640 is acting as an agent of social liberalization, 00:27:25.819 --> 00:27:29.259 even if the politics remain static. So the political 00:27:29.259 --> 00:27:32.539 resistance now is internal. The established system 00:27:32.539 --> 00:27:34.940 is resisting the evolving will of its own people. 00:27:35.119 --> 00:27:38.319 That's it. It sets the stage for a dramatic political 00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:40.940 conflict in the coming decades. The pressure 00:27:40.940 --> 00:27:43.359 is now coming from within the state itself. So 00:27:43.359 --> 00:27:45.880 we've taken this deep dive from the geological 00:27:45.880 --> 00:27:48.460 instability of the fall line and the seismic 00:27:48.460 --> 00:27:51.000 risk on the coast through the appalling history 00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:53.279 of the early slave trade and the aristocracy 00:27:53.279 --> 00:27:56.160 that led to secession. We've seen how that history 00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:58.059 laid the groundwork for structural failures, 00:27:58.319 --> 00:28:01.160 like the struggling education system symbolized 00:28:01.160 --> 00:28:03.599 by that 15 year old school bus fleet. And yet 00:28:03.599 --> 00:28:05.900 this is a state that has successfully transformed 00:28:05.900 --> 00:28:09.240 itself into a vital global manufacturing hub 00:28:09.240 --> 00:28:12.319 for companies like Boeing and BMW. The tension. 00:28:12.490 --> 00:28:15.369 is just so clear, a political structure that's 00:28:15.369 --> 00:28:17.869 brilliant at prioritizing business through low 00:28:17.869 --> 00:28:20.430 taxes and regulation, while at the same time 00:28:20.430 --> 00:28:22.789 maintaining mechanisms that suppress voter access 00:28:22.789 --> 00:28:25.750 and resist social change. The state is now grappling 00:28:25.750 --> 00:28:28.730 with the consequences of its own success, a population 00:28:28.730 --> 00:28:31.569 that is demonstrably more socially progressive 00:28:31.569 --> 00:28:34.230 than its elected officials. Right. That failure 00:28:34.230 --> 00:28:36.390 to address infrastructure needs, coupled with 00:28:36.390 --> 00:28:38.509 the rising internal demand for social change, 00:28:38.650 --> 00:28:41.269 creates a significant pressure cooker. So here's 00:28:41.269 --> 00:28:43.049 our final. provocative thought for you to chew 00:28:43.049 --> 00:28:46.269 on. South Carolina's history is defined by its 00:28:46.269 --> 00:28:48.869 willingness to challenge federal authority to 00:28:48.869 --> 00:28:52.329 protect its core system. Today, the challenge 00:28:52.329 --> 00:28:55.990 isn't external, it's internal. The state is generating 00:28:55.990 --> 00:28:59.190 a social mandate that directly contradicts the 00:28:59.190 --> 00:29:01.609 legislative will of its entrenched conservative 00:29:01.609 --> 00:29:04.549 structure. What happens when the pursuit of global 00:29:04.549 --> 00:29:06.829 investment and the demographic shift it causes 00:29:06.829 --> 00:29:09.470 finally forces the political elite to choose? 00:29:09.549 --> 00:29:11.809 To choose between its rigid historical social 00:29:11.809 --> 00:29:14.670 policies and the modernization required to serve 00:29:14.670 --> 00:29:17.329 its increasingly diverse, progressive, and globally 00:29:17.329 --> 00:29:19.710 connected population. That internal friction 00:29:19.710 --> 00:29:21.750 will define the Palmetto State's identity for 00:29:21.750 --> 00:29:24.430 the rest of the 21st century. Thank you for joining 00:29:24.430 --> 00:29:26.309 us for this deep dive. Until next time, stay 00:29:26.309 --> 00:29:26.829 well informed.