Editing Barnwell County, South Carolina (section)

==History==
The Barnwell District was created in 1797 (effective in 1800) from the southwestern portion of the Orangeburg District, along the [[Savannah River]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/documents/SC_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm|title=South Carolina: Individual County Chronologies|website=South Carolina Atlas of Historical County Boundaries|publisher=The Newberry Library|date=2009|access-date=March 20, 2015|archive-date=January 3, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103154824/http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/documents/SC_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was named after [[John Barnwell (senator)|John Barnwell]], a local figure in the Revolutionary War.<ref>{{cite book|author=Federal Writers' Project|author-link=Federal Writers' Project|title=Palmetto Place Names|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c056089075&view=1up&seq=18|year=1941|publisher=Sloane Printing Co.|page=12}}</ref>

In 1868, under the [[South Carolina Constitution]] revised during [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]], South Carolina districts became counties. The government was made more democratic, with county officials to be elected by male citizens at least 21 years old,<ref>[http://www.ipspr.sc.edu/grs/SCCEP/Articles/governor.htm The Governor: Powers, Practices, Roles and the South Carolina Experience] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204225644/http://www.ipspr.sc.edu/grs/SCCEP/Articles/governor.htm |date=February 4, 2012 }}, from the website of the [[University of South Carolina|USC]] South Carolina Governance Project. Retrieved February 5, 2010.</ref> rather than by the state legislature as done previously.

In 1871, the legislature took the northwestern portion of the county to form part of the new [[Aiken County, South Carolina|Aiken County]], the only county organized during the [[Reconstruction era]]. In 1874, the border with Aiken County was slightly adjusted. Aiken and Barnwell, with nearly equal, populations of Black and white people, had extensive violence in the months before the 1874 and 1876 elections, as groups of [[paramilitary]] [[Red Shirts (Southern United States)|Red Shirts]] rode to disrupt Black Republican meetings and intimidate voters to suppress Black voting. More than 100 Black men were killed in Aiken County during the violence, especially at [[Ellenton, South Carolina]].

In 1895, white Democrats in the state legislature passed a new constitution, disfranchising most Blacks for more than 60 years by raising barriers to voter registration.

In 1897, the eastern third of the county was taken to form the new [[Bamberg County, South Carolina|Bamberg County]]. In 1919, most of the southern half of the county was taken to form most of the new [[Allendale County, South Carolina|Allendale County]], thus reducing Barnwell County to its present size.