b'Every city has commerce. Like the greater story of Charleston, our regions capitalist economy has always been inexorably linked to the harbor. For good and for evil, through every type of natural disaster, in wartime and peacetime, the port has been at the confluence ofevents here.Of thousands of historical records, theseDecember 1, 1773A vessel containing1783Charles Towne was renamed are a few pointing to the natural, politicala shipment of over 250 chests of tea arrivedCharleston.and economic influences that built a thrivingin Charleston Harbor. Angry over unfair taxes maritime trade and periodically devastated it: imposed on goods imported to the colonies,1783-1808 peak period of thelocal politicians and landholders refused tointernational slave trade in Charleston when1670Charleston was founded as a seaportpay the duty on the tea and the boat andprimarily West Africans were brought to and market town called Charles Towne byits cargo sat unclaimed in the harbor. 2TheGadsdens Wharf. 6the British in honor of King Charles II.American Revolution was brewing. 1775The Revolutionary War, the war for American independence, began.1790sChamber members helped raise funds for construction of a fort to augment the paltry $11,000 the U.S. Congress had 1682Charles Towne on the peninsula wasappropriated for harbor defense. The same declared the port of entry for the colony. 6 group pushed for construction of a new Fort Moultrie and Fort Sumter as part of the 1718Blockading of the port by Blackbeardnations Third Defense System. and his mighty band of pirates.July 4, 1776The Declaration ofIndependence was adopted. These UnitedColonies are, and of right ought to be Free and Independent States. December 14, 1782 known as1800sShips were now sailing directly Victory Day as this was the date of thebetween New York and Europe and ceasefire between the British and AmericanCharlestons shallow harbor could not armies in Charleston. On this day, the Britishaccommodate the faster transatlantic were escorted out of the city and onto boatssteamships. The volume of trade dropped to waiting for them in the harbor. 3 an unprecedented low by centurys end. 4THE CHAMBER AND THE COLORFUL HIGH ORIGINSAILS OF OUR MARITIME HISTORY8 CHAMBER RETROSPECTIVE250 YEARS'