While I breathe, I hope

Carolina

Call on thy children of the hill,
    Wake swamp and river, coast and rill,
        Rouse all thy strength and all thy skill,
            Carolina! Carolina!

Hold up the glories of thy dead;
    Say how thy elder children bled,
        And point to Eutaw's battle-bed,
            Carolina! Carolina!

Thy skirts indeed the foe may part,
    Thy robe be pierced with sword and dart,
        They shall not touch thy noble heart,
            Carolina! Carolina!

Throw thy bold banner to the breeze!
    Front with thy ranks the threatening seas
        Like thine own proud armorial trees,
            Carolina! Carolina!

Girt with such wills to do and bear,
    Assured in right, and mailed in prayer,
        Thou wilt not bow thee to despair,
            Carolina! Carolina!    

      by Henry Timrod, edited by G. R. Goodwin, promoted by the South Carolina Daughters of the American Revolution, 1911   (South Carolina Senate Concurrent Resolution, Senator W. L. Mauldin's Senate Concurrent Resolution, to adopt "Carolina" as the state song, read in part: Whereas, The Daughters of the American Revolution have memorialized the General Assembly to adopt as a State Song the beautiful poem written by the gifted Timrod, set to music by Miss Curtis, a daughter of South Carolina; therefore, Be it resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring, That the song "Carolina" be accepted as and declared to be the State Song of South Carolina.) 

    The color of the South Carolina flag matches the color of the uniforms worn by the South Carolina troops during the Revolutionary War. It was chosen by Colonel William Moultrie in 1775 as was the silver crescent that matched the militia emblem worn on the front of their caps.

South Carolina 1778, Preamble.

We, the people of he State of South Carolina. grateful to God for our liberties, do ordain and establish this Constitution.

And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Romans 5:5

I think it my duty to declare, in the awful seat of justice, and before Almighty God, that in my opinion, the Americans can have no safety but by divine favor, their own virtues, and their being so prudent, as not to leave it in the power of British rulers to injure them.  Indeed, the ruinous and deadly injuries received on our side, and the jealousies entertained, and which in the nature of things must daily increase against us, on the other, demonstrate to a mind the least given to reflection, that true reconcilement can never exist between Great Britain and America the latter being subject to the former...The Almighty created America to be independent of Great Britain: let us beware of the impiety of being backward to act as instruments in the Almighty hand, now extended to accomplish His purpose, and by the completion of which, alone, America, in the nature of human affairs, can be secure against the crafty and insidious designs of her enemies, who think her favor and prosperity already by far too great.  In a word, our piety and political safety are so bended, that to refuse our labor in this divine work, is to refuse to be a great, a free, a pious and a happy people. 

William Henry Drayton, Chief Justice of South Carolina, April 1776

Education is useless without the Bible.  Noah Webster      

The Bible was America’s basic textbook in all fields.   Noah Webster

Higher Institute of Learning

1785  Charter granted to Methodist church for the College of Charleston, first higher education institution in the state of South Carolina.     http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-107477/article-9022612
     The founders of the college include three signers of the Declaration of Independence (Thomas Heyward, Jr., Edward Rutledge, Arthur Middleton) and three signers of the United States Constitution (Charles Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and John Rutledge). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_of_Charleston  http://www.cofc.edu/about/brief-history.html   
The Trustees Named in the Charter of 1785:  Gov. William Moultrie  Lt. Gov. Charles Drayton  Joseph Atkinson, Thomas Bee, Richard Beresford, Daniel Bourdeaux, Daniel De Saussure, Thomas Heyward, Jr.,  Richard Hutson, Ralph Izard, John Lloyd, Gabriel Manigault, John Matthews, Arthur Middleton, David Oliphant, Charles Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, David Ramsay, Edward Rutledge, John Rutledge, Robert Smith, William Loughton Smith, and Arnoldus Vanderhorst.

http://www.hscripts.com/freeimages/icons/flowers/jasmine-clipart.php     http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/f/f/fftgevop.htm

From early governing documents:

        The early settlers developed colonial charters that were decidedly evangelical in their purpose, often expressing a goal for their colony to advance the Christian religion.  As the country progressed up to the revolutionary war period, state constitutions evolved from the charters.  Those state constitutions served to maintain the order already established by the original charters, the charters based on Christianity.

    1775 South Carolina currency:  On the front is a seal depicting a hand holding a sword. Above is the motto: "ET DEUS OMNIPOTENS" (And almighty God) with the date 1775 below.  http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCurrency/CurrencyText/SC-06-01-75a.html

        Judge William Henry Drayton, who signed the Articles of Confederation, was a Delegate from South Carolina; born in S.C. in 1742.  He attended school in England; studied law in South Carolina and was admitted to the bar.  He was appointed by King George III privy councilor for South Carolina and was assistant judge. However, he lost both positions as a result of his revolutionary activities.  He became president of the council of safety in 1775, and in 1776 was chief justice.  He became member of the Continental Congress in 1778, serving until his death in Philadelphia on September 3, 1779.  He was buried at Christ Church Cemetery.

        The following was written by him on October 15, 1776:

        It is but to glance an eye over the historic page to be assured that the duration of empire is limited by the Almighty decree.  Empires have their rise to a zenith--and their declension to a dissolution.  The years of a man, nay the hours of the insect on the bank of the Hypanis that lives but a day, epitomize the advance and decay of the strength and duration of dominion!  One common fate awaits all things upon earth--a thousand causes accelerate or delay their perfection or run.  To look a little into remote times, we see that, from the most contemptible origin upon record, Rome became the most powerful state the sun ever saw:  The world bowed before her imperial Fasces!  Yet, having run through all the vicissitudes of dominion, her course was finished.  Her empire was dissolved, that the separated members of it might arise to run through similar revolutions.

        Great Britain was a part of this mighty empire.  But, being dissolved from it, in her turn she also extended her dominion--arrived at, and passed her zenith.  Three and thirty years numbered the illustrious days of the Roman greatness.  Eight years measure the duration of the British grandeur in meridian lustre!  How few are the days of true glory.  The extent of the Roman period is from their complete conquest of Italy, which gave them a place whereon to stand, that they might shake the world, to the original cause of their declension, their introduction of Asiatic luxury.  The British period is from the year 1758, when they victoriously pursued their enemies into every quarter of the globe, to the immediate cause of their decline--their injustice displayed by the stamp act.  In short, like the Roman empire, Great Britain in her constitution of government, contained a poison to bring on her decay, and in each case, this poison was drawn into a ruinous operation by the riches and luxuries of the east.

        Thus, by natural causes and common effects, the American states are become dissolved from the British dominion.  And is it to be wondered at that Britain has experienced the invariable fate of empire!  We are not surprised when we see youth or age yield to the common lot of humanity.  Nay, to repine that, in our day, America is dissolved from the British state, is impiously to question the unerring wisdom of Providence.  The Almighty setteth up, and he casteth down: He breaks the sceptre, and transfers the dominion: He has made choice of the present generation to erect the American empire.  Thankful as we are, and ought to be, for an appointment of the kind, the most illustrious that ever was, let each individual exert himself in this important operation directed by Jehovah himself.  From a short retrospect, it is evident the work was not the present design of man. 

   ---Niles, Principles and Acts of the Revolution, pp. 336-337