crazietalk.net

windsor wrote:Wilson,

I really enjoyed reading about your research. Since I've been MIA for a bit I just read the entire thread a little while ago. It was very cool to watch the evolution - from 'what the hell am I doing here?' to 'wow, this is so cool' to 'finding great stuff' right through the Eureka moment(s). It was just wonderful to read. I'm not a history buff by an means but it was genuinely interesting...so I'll be wanting an autographed copy of that first book.

Oh...and thanks for not posting any bikinis...

wilson wrote: Well thank you! It's really fun to share my work with non-specialists (I think Lavabe would agree), and I have definitely undergone something of an evolution in the past month.
Three more weeks' worth of updates are on the way from Columbia, starting Monday.

wilson wrote:.... Though it was one of the largest cities in North America throughout the 18th century, commanding more maritime traffic than any other port on the continent (even Boston) by about 1740, the city was not officially incorporated until 1783.
This wasn't for lack of trying, though. The South Carolina House of Commons actually passed articles of incorporation in 1722, but they got shot down. Turns out, this happened largely because the most prominent merchants appealed to their buddies in London to have the measure defeated. I find this curious, as do many other historians of this place and that era. However, the question as to why they would want to defeat that measure remains unanswered.
...
So, that means that I have a really important unanswered question to answer with my dissertation: Why didn't the merchants want Charleston to incorporate?
....