For the colonists, the Blackbeard episode was the final straw.
Already disgusted by the lack of support from the Lords
Proprietors during the Yemasee War, the humiliation of the
pirate blockade was too much to take. So to almost universal
agreement in the colony, the settlers threw off the rule of the
Proprietors and lobbied in 1719 to become a crown colony, an
effort that came to final fruition in 1729. While this outward-
looking and energetic Charleston was originally built on the
backs of merchants, with the introduction of the rice and indigo
crops in the early 1700s it would increasingly be built on the
backs of slaves. For all the wealth gained through the planting
of rice and cotton seeds, another seed was sown by the
Lowcountry plantation culture. The area’s total dependence on
slave labor would soon lead to a disastrous war, a conflict
signaled for decades to those smart enough to read the signs. By
now Charleston  and Savannah  were firmly established as the key
American ports for the importation of