South Carolina College was founded in 1801 to unite and promote harmony between the Lowcountry and the Backcountry. It closed during the Civil War when its students aided the Southern cause, but the closure gave politicians an opportunity to reorganize it to their liking. The Radical Republicans in charge of state government during Reconstruction opened the school to blacks and women while appropriating generous funds to the university, which caused the white citizens of the state to withdraw their support for the university and view it as a symbol of the worst aspects of Reconstruction.