National South Carolina Day Date in the current year: August 31, 2025

South Carolina is a state in the Southeastern United States, bordered by North Carolina, Georgia, and the Atlantic Ocean. The state was named in honor of King Charles I of England, and the name “Carolina” is derived from the Latin form of his name, “Carolus”.

When Europeans arrived in the region, the territory that is now South Carolina was inhabited by many Native American tribes, the largest of which were the Catawba and the Cherokee. The first Europeans to arrive in the area were the Spanish, who explored the shore around Winyah Bay in the summer of 1521. Five years later, they established the first European settlement in the contiguous United States, naming it San Miguel de Guadalupe. However, the settlers abandoned it just a few months later.

The next European settlement in South Carolina was Charlesfort, founded by French Huguenots in 1562. It was also short-lived, though. More than sixty years later, it was the English who established a colony in the area. In 1629, King Charles I granted the colony of Carolana to his attorney general, Sir Robert Heath. The colony encompassed all or parts of present-day North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

The colony failed, though, because the king did not grant permission to settle to anyone who didn’t belong to the Anglican Church. In 1663, King Charles II granted the same land to eight noblemen who had helped him regain the throne after Oliver Cromwell’s death. They were called the Lords Proprietors. The Province of Carolina was officially established by a charter issued on March 24, 1663.

As the province grew and developed, it essentially split into two parts: the north and the south. Due to their remoteness, these two parts operated more or less independently. In 1669, the colony of Carolina was formally divided into two provinces: Albermarle in the north and Clarendon in the south. In 1712, they became two separate colonies: North Carolina and South Carolina. By the second half of the eighteenth century, South Carolina was one of the Thirteen Colonies’ richest, prospering from fertile soil and the slave trade.

During the American Revolution, South Carolina became the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation, the United States’ first governing document. However, the Articles of Confederation were replaced by the U.S. Constitution at the Constitutional Convention. In September 1787, the Constitution was sent out to the states for ratification. South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify the Constitution on May 23, 1788.

National South Carolina Day is unofficially celebrated on August 31, which does not coincide with the state’s anniversary of admission. National Day Calendar established National South Carolina Day in 2017 as part of the National State Days project, in which states are celebrated in the order they joined the Union, starting with National Delaware Day on July 13.