The Regulators of South Carolina were formed during the mid-1760s and were active mainly between 1767 and 1769. During the previous decades, the population of the frontier had boomed, thanks to the planning of Governor Robert Johnson. He supported sending yeomen out to the frontier en masse to provide a buffer for the coastal cities from Cherokee attacks. The slave population grew 19% as planters began to develop larger properties for agriculture. (However, the slave population of the frontier accounted only for 8% of the total population of the colony.)