In the early 18th century there was sometimes very little difference between legal piracy--the licensing of "privateers" to seize merchant ships of an enemy during a time of war--and illegal piracy on the high seas. The West Indies and the North Carolina inlets both provided protective harbors for the latter.

Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Major Stede Bonnet | History of SC Slide Collection
Major Stede Bonnet | History of SC Slide Collection
Episode 1

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The Pirate Stede Bonnet is one of the more colorful characters in South Carolina history. In the early 18th century there was sometimes very little difference between legal piracy--the licensing of...
Bill of Exchange | History of SC Slide Collection
Bill of Exchange | History of SC Slide Collection
Episode 3

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The availability of "real" money, in the form of coins made of gold and silver, was a constant problem in all of the English colonies. Their need to purchase manufactured goods from Europe meant that...
Purrysburg Cemetery | History of SC Slide Collection
Purrysburg Cemetery | History of SC Slide Collection
Episode 4

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During the 1730s, to protect against Native American attack and slave uprising, the government made plans to establish eight townships in a semicircle about one hundred miles around Charles Town (see...
Mulberry House and Street
Mulberry House and Street
Episode 7

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"Mulberry House and Street," painted by Thomas Coram around 1800, shows a typical mid-18th century South Carolina plantation. The "great House," while elegant, was not necessarily the enormous...