| Democracy of South Carolina | |
|---|---|
 National Flag of the Democracy of South Carolina (adopted 1783; based on 1775 SC Naval Jack) | |
|
Established |
February 12, 1783 |
|
Terminated |
September 11, 1850 |
|
First Leader |
President Francis Marion I (1783-1795) |
|
National Anthem |
Hold Up the Glories of Thy Dead |
|
Government Type |
Presidential Semi-Hereditary Dictatorship |
|
State Religion |
Calvinism |
|
National Colors |
Blue and Red |
|
National Animal |
Rattlesnake |
|
National Symbol |
Striking Serpent |
|
National Motto |
Don't Tread on Me |
The Democracy of South Carolina was a former member of the American Republic that broke away when Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, and Aaron Burr were elected as the Triumvirs of the Republic. It was not alone; Kaintuck Territory, Virginia, and North Carolina all seceded, claiming the Triumvirate was betraying the Democratic-Republican legacy of the Sons of Liberty, even if Paine was a Son himself. The fact that Jefferson belonged to the Fraternity of Freedom, a rival organization, did not help matters. On February 12, 1783, the Democracy of South Carolina was declared in the capital of Franklinburg. A vote was quickly taken, and war hero Francis Marion I, the Swamp Fox, was elected President. The government had good reason to trust him, as he was an honourable man, and they gave him dictatorial powers to "preserve the Democracy." They never took the powers away. When Marion died in 1795, "The People of the Democracy" voted in the 1795 election, Brigadier General Pierce Butler versus the 33 year-old "General" Francis Marion II. Marion "won" in a landslide. The election was extremely suspicious, and multiple vote talliers happened to suffer "heart attacks" the night before the final count. Marion II was nothing like his father; within the first week of his administration, he brutally cracked down. By the middle of his administration, he had gotten the weak Congress to alter the South Carolina Constitution, and thus, he was allowed to pick a successor. He chose the young lawyer John Caldwell Calhoun. By 1806, Marion II had died of throat cancer (he was an excessive cigar smoker), and the young Calhoun took over. Calhoun was a rabid monster, and made it a capital crime to use unlicensed printing presses. Before long, all printing presses, and the licenses for them, were being issued by the government. The true tyranny in South Carolina had begun.
Caricature of Francis Marion I, First President of the Democracy of South Carolina (1783-1795)