One trade, two worlds : politics, conflict, and the illicit liquor trade in White County, Georgia and Pickens County, South Carolina, 1894-1895

Abstract

This study investigates the moonshine experience in White County, Georgia and Pickens County, South Carolina. This thesis is a comparative study of the illicit liquor trade in both counties during the last decade of the 19 th century. Considerations of economic and political context are included for each county and for the time period. Once a context is provided, considerations of prohibitionist movements in each county are presented and important contrasts are drawn between state and federal efforts to regulate and eliminate the illicit liquor trade. Finally, a discussion is undertaken of the Appalachian moonshiner's identity and their experiences in state and federal courts. This thesis concludes that the moonshine experience in South Carolina was different from Georgia because of the Dispensary System, moonshiners' identities closely followed the stereotype of the white farmer, and local-federal conflict developed as state and local authorities were more interested in eliminating the trade than their revenue-hungry federal counterparts.