New License Plates Brag About S.C. Role in Revolutionary War

Skylar Laird/South Carolina Daily Gazette

COLUMBIA — When getting new license plates, South Carolina residents can choose — at no additional cost — to brag about the state’s role in winning the Revolutionary War.

Department of Motor Vehicles offices across the state began offering the commemorative plate last week as one of its two standard options, coinciding with this year’s 250th anniversary of the country’s founding.

The tag replaced the decade-old, blue-and-white plate with the state’s motto, “While I breathe, I hope,” printed above a Palmetto tree. Those license plates will remain valid until their expiration date, according to the DMV.

As per state law requiring the switch, the American Revolution tag will remain the state’s regular plate through December 2032, the 250th anniversary of the British completing their evacuation of occupied Charleston, which ended the war in the Carolinas.

Drivers can still opt for the license plate reading, “In God we trust,” with an American flag and Palmetto flag flying.

The new plate, which is nearly identical to one available by request since Jan. 1, 2022, includes an illustration of Sgt. William Jasper retrieving Fort Sullivan’s flag during the Battle of Sullivan’s Island in 1776. As the British Royal Navy bombarded the fort, Jasper grabbed the fallen flag, replaced its pole with a cannon gunner’s staff, and replanted it.

Known as the Moultrie Flag, it’s depicted on the license plate with a white crescent in one corner — copying the original flag — and the word “LIBERTY” in all caps across the bottom, which didn’t exist on the flag 250 years ago.

The only difference between the new, standard plate and the 2022 special plate is the words across the top.

The plate available for the last three years read, “250 Year Anniversary Revolutionary War.” The new one reads, “Where the Revolutionary War Was Won.”

“It’s recognizable, and it’s one of those things where, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” said Molly Fortune, executive director of the SC250 Commission.

The change in wording to take credit for the nation’s independence was a late addition by the state Senate in the legislation signed by Gov. Henry McMaster last May. Senators pointed to the more than 200 skirmishes and battles fought in the state, including multiple significant fights, in proposing the tagline, which passed both the House and Senate unanimously.

Historians cite the decisive Patriot victory at South Carolina’s Battle of Cowpens in 1781 as laying the groundwork for the surrender at Yorktown in Virginia nine months later. Thomas Jefferson called the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780 “the turn of the tide of success.”

Rep. Neal Collins, an Easley Republican and the law’s main sponsor, has seen some debate online about the accuracy of calling South Carolina the place the war was won, since the final major land battle took place hundreds of miles away. That discussion is a good thing, he said.

“Hopefully that’ll get people to crack open a book or ChatGPT it and get some answers,” Collins said.

As long as people are learning about the state’s role in the Revolutionary War, the plates are serving their purpose, said Collins, who also proposed the 2021 law creating the previous special plates.

South Carolina has plenty of Revolutionary War stories, much like the other states involved, Collins said: “It’s just that over the years we haven’t marketed it as well.”

Much of the celebration for the country’s sestercentennial will center around July 4 to mark the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, but that “was really just sort of a beginning of an era,” Collins said.

The 2022 plates are still available upon request. Unlike other specialized plates, which show off emblems for businesses, nonprofits and universities, the special Revolutionary War plates are available at no additional cost, according to the DMV.

There are 1,667 of the 2022 special license plates in circulation, said DMV spokesman Mike Fitts.

By law, the normal fee that drivers pay every other year to register their gas-powered vehicles is $40, though drivers 65 and older pay $36. Drivers of hybrids pay an additional $60, while drivers of electric vehicles pay $120 more.