South Carolina was already ahead of the wave on independence by the time the Declaration arrived. The state had passed its own constitution in March 1776, elected John Rutledge as its first president, and built its own government. One week before the Declaration was signed, on June 28, 1776, the British failed in their first attempt to capture Charleston. At the Battle of Sullivan’s Island, American forces held off the British navy for over nine hours when cannonballs could not penetrate the Patriot fort built of palmetto trees. The British fleet then lingered off the coast, so the Declaration came overland by courier and reached Charleston on August 2, 1776. President Rutledge had it read publicly three times on August 5—at the State House, the Exchange Building, and under the Liberty Tree—as well as to the troops at Fort Johnson and Fort Sullivan. Charleston printer Peter Timothy printed it. He was later arrested by the British and died as a prisoner of war.
Interviewees
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Annette Guild
- Metadata Specialist, South Carolina Historical Society
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Melina Testin
- Education Coordinator, South Carolina Historical Society
