<P> In 1822, members of the church, led by Denmark Vesey, a lay preacher and carpenter who had bought his freedom after winning a lottery, planned an uprising and escape to Haiti--initially for Bastille Day--that failed when one slave revealed the plot to his master . Over the next month, the city's intendant (mayor) James Hamilton Jr. organized a militia for regular patrols, initiated a secret and extrajudicial tribunal to investigate, and hanged 35 and exiled 35 or 37 slaves to Spanish Cuba for their involvement . In a sign of Charleston's antipathy to abolitionists, a white co-conspirator pled for leniency from the court on the grounds that his involvement had been motivated only by greed and not by any sympathy with the slaves' cause . Governor Thomas Bennett Jr. had pressed for more compassionate and Christian treatment of slaves but his own had been found involved Vesey's planned uprising . Hamilton was able to successfully campaign for more restrictions on both free and enslaved blacks: South Carolina required free black sailors to be imprisoned while their ships were in Charleston Harbor though international treaties eventually required the United States to quash the practice; free blacks were banned from returning to the state if they left for any reason; slaves were given a 9: 15 pm curfew; the city razed Hampstead Church to the ground and erected a new arsenal . This structure later was the basis of the Citadel's first campus . The AME congregation built a new church but in 1834 the city banned it and all black worship services, following Nat Turner's 1831 rebellion in Virginia . The estimated 10% of slaves who came to America as Muslims never had a separate mosque . Slaveholders sometimes provided them with beef rations in place of pork in recognition of religious traditions . </P> <P> In 1832, South Carolina passed an ordinance of nullification, a procedure by which a state could, in effect, repeal a federal law; it was directed against the most recent tariff acts . Soon, federal soldiers were dispensed to Charleston's forts, and five United States Coast Guard cutters were detached to Charleston Harbor "to take possession of any vessel arriving from a foreign port, and defend her against any attempt to dispossess the Customs Officers of her custody until all the requirements of law have been complied with ." This federal action became known as the Charleston incident . The state's politicians worked on a compromise law in Washington to gradually reduce the tariffs . </P> <P> On 27 April 1838, a massive fire broke out around 9: 00 in the evening . It raged until noon the next day, damaging over 1,000 buildings, a loss estimated at $3 million at the time . In efforts to put the fire out, all the water in the city pumps was used up . The fire ruined businesses, several churches, a new theater, and the entire market except for the fish section . Most famously, Charleston's Trinity Church was burned . Another important building that fell victim was the new hotel that had been recently built . Many houses were burnt to the ground . The damaged buildings amounted to about one - fourth of all the businesses in the main part of the city . The fire rendered penniless many who were wealthy . Several prominent store owners died attempting to save their establishments . When the many homes and business were rebuilt or repaired, a great cultural awakening occurred . In many ways, the fire helped put Charleston on the map as a great cultural and architectural center . Previous to the fire, only a few homes were styled as Greek Revival; many residents decided to construct new buildings in that style after the conflagration . This tradition continued and made Charleston one of the foremost places to view Greek Revival architecture . The Gothic Revival also made a significant appearance in the construction of many churches after the fire that exhibited picturesque forms and reminders of devout European religion . </P> <P> By 1840, the Market Hall and Sheds, where fresh meat and produce were brought daily, became a hub of commercial activity . The slave trade also depended on the port of Charleston, where ships could be unloaded and the slaves bought and sold . The legal importation of African slaves had ended in 1808, although smuggling was significant . However, the domestic trade was booming . More than one million slaves were transported from the Upper South to the Deep South in the antebellum years, as cotton plantations were widely developed through what became known as the Black Belt . Many slaves were transported in the coastwise slave trade, with slave ships stopping at ports such as Charleston . </P>

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