<P> From the summer of 1782, French planters fleeing the Haitian Revolution began arriving in the port with their slaves . The major outbreak of yellow fever that occurred in Philadelphia the next year probably spread there from an epidemic these refugees brought to Charleston, although it was not publicly reported at the time . Over the 19th century, the health officials and newspapers of the town came under repeated criticism from Northerners, fellow Southerners, and one another for covering up epidemics as long as possible in order to keep up the city's maritime traffic . The distrust and mortal risk meant that between July and October each year communication nearly shut down between the city and the surrounding countryside, which was less susceptible to yellow fever . </P> <P> The spelling Charleston was adopted in 1783 as part of the city's formal incorporation . </P> <P> Although Columbia replaced it as the state capital in 1788, Charleston became even more prosperous as Eli Whitney's 1793 invention of the cotton gin sped the processing of the crop over 50 times . The development made short - staple cotton profitable and opened the upland Piedmont region to slave - based cotton plantations, previously restricted to the sea islands and Lowcountry . Britain's Industrial Revolution--initially built upon its textile industry--took up the extra production ravenously and it was swiftly Charleston's major export commodity . The Bank of South Carolina, the second - oldest building in the nation to be constructed as a bank, was established in 1798 . Branches of the First and Second Bank of the United States were also located in Charleston in 1800 and 1817 . </P> <P> Throughout the Antebellum Period, Charleston continued to be the only major American city with a majority slave population . The city's commitment to slavery was the primary focus of writers and visitors: a merchant from Liverpool noted in 1834 that "almost all the working population are Negroes, all the servants, the carmen & porters, all the people who see at the stalls in Market, and most of the Journeymen in trades". American traders had been prohibited from equipping the Atlantic slave trade in 1794 and all importation of slaves was banned in 1808, but American ships long refused to permit British inspection and smuggling remained common . The 19th century saw the city's first dedicated slave markets, mostly near Chalmers & State Streets . </P>

Was charleston ever the capital of south carolina