| South Carolina needed a national flag after
it seceded from the Union on December 20, 1860.
The General Assembly considered a wide range of
designs, but on January 28, 1861, added the
palmetto to Moultrie's original design, thereby
officially creating the flag as we know it
today. A resolution proposing changing the color
to "royal purple" as a memorial to the
Confederate dead was resoundingly defeated in
1899, leaving the flag's Revolutionary War
symbolism intact.
By statute the flag shall be displayed "upon
the inside of every public school building in
this State so that all school children shall be
instructed in proper respect for the flag," and
daily except in rainy weather, from a staff upon
the State House and from a staff upon each
County Courthouse. The State Flag is also to be
displayed in accordance with rules set by the
State Superintendent of Education, on the
grounds of educational institutions supported in
whole or part, by funds derived from the State.
It is also prescribed that any person who
mutilates, injures or desecrates the State Flag,
wherever displayed, shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more
than $100 or by imprisonment for not more than
30 days or both.
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