Latest update 16 November 2021 : Added the URL to the recording of Dr. Plaag's presentation delivered on 15 November 2021.-- gmc
Petitions are letters written to a person in authority or the head of an organization, requesting immediate action or a solution for a certain cause. Long before "Petitions to the General Assembly" was digitized at the State Archives, we have had microfilm of the documents in our Research Room to help fill the gaps that the loss of the Beaufort courthouses have left.
According to the series description supplied with the microfilmed version of these important records: "Legislative petitions generally take the form of written requests from state citizens submitted to the General Assembly, requesting that the Assembly use its authority to redress a particular wrong from 1776-1883. This series is indispensable in showing how the General Assembly thought and worked in this period. Responding to petitions allowed the legislature to exercise power that affected the whole state and sometimes reached directly into individual lives. In this category, some of the matters they regularly considered were: divorce (which only they could grant), freedom for an owner's slaves, the amount of education a slave could receive, proper observance of the Sabbath, and citizens' upkeep of the roads near their residences. More comprehensive and wider subjects of petitions include the legal system; penal system; legislative system; slavery; internal improvements; inland navigation; religion; incorporation of churches, societies, and companies; military matters; elections; education; foreign affairs; Indian affairs; relations with other states; state finance; and banking." In other words, there is a lot of potential useful documentation about a broad variety of topics and concerns in the Petitions to the General Assembly, 1776 - 1883. The series has 109 rolls of microfilm.
Dr. Eric Plaag cites a petition from the Black Swamp Association in his book Means of Grace: A History of the Robertville Baptist Church (2021). Thirteen white men closely associated with the church petitioned the South Carolina General Assembly for incorporation in 1823. Their expressed purpose was to gain more control over the Black people within their midst. Black people outnumbered the white South Carolinians who held legal standing and power. Fear led whites to attempt to exercise greater control of their Black slaves and Free Blacks in the parish. [Watch the video of Dr. Plaag's Author Book Talk on the Library's YouTube Channel https://youtu.be/q6G8OiYUIs0]
The Robertville Baptist Church was located in the upper part of St. Peter's Parish with Blacks making up 75% of the resident population. Though the Black to white population figures were roughly 75 to 25 across the state, a unique feature of St. Peter's Parish was the size of its Free Black population. It had the largest proportion of Free Blacks in Beaufort District and among the largest number of rural Free Blacks within the state. In 1800 there were 134 Free Blacks in the parish. In the 1830 census, the Free Black population of the parish had grown to 147 people in 30 families. By 1860 the ratio of white population to free Black population in St. Peter's Parish was 6:4 or 237 white persons to 137 free black persons. Thus unlike much of South Carolina, St. Peter's Parish had three demographic groups with Whites at the top, enslaved Blacks at the bottom, and Free Blacks "somewhere in between" the planters and their labor force in terms of freedom of movement and personal agency.
It provides further context to know that the church's congregation was also predominantly Black. In fact 2/3 of the membership of Robertville Baptist Church was Black with 1/3 of the Blacks being free persons of color. By design the main floor was assigned to white families who purchased pew boxes. The upper galleries of the edifice was separated with enslaved women in the left gallery, Free Blacks of both genders in the front gallery, and enslaved men in the right gallery. So though the congregation attended worship services under the same roof, the congregation was segregated by race and further segregated by gender of the enslaved. Distribution of communion in the upstairs galleries was handled by Black deacons so that there was no mingling of races.
I looked up the Petition in the South Carolina Department of Archives and History's Records Online Index by searching on the "Topics." 
Honestly, I have found the latest iteration of the SCDAH's Records Online Index much harder to use that its first iteration. I tried both a Full name search "Black Swamp Association" - 0 hits and Places search "Black Swamp" - 140 hits before I tried "Black Swamp Association" as a topic and got the 1 hit that I needed shown above.
"Members Of The Black Swamp Association, Petition For An Act Of Incorporation For Their Group In Order To Better Enforce The Laws For Governing And Managing Negroes And Free Persons Of Colour" is part of Series S1651015, Petitions to the General Assembly, online lookup number 255165 (- which as far as I can tell is not a search term) and identifiers along the bottom of the hit screen which gives a series number, year, and item number that are useful (and an ignore:000 identifier - which is not useful as far as I can tell).
I made the Indentifier lines larger so that I can explain the usefulness of the sequence:
Identifiers:
Archives ID: Series: S165015 Year: 1823 Item: 00147 ignore: 000
The interpretation is: Series: S1651015 = Petitions to the General Assembly (which we happen to have on microfilm in the Research Room); Year: 1823 ; and Item: 00147. Item 00147 actually began at image 0690 on the actual microfilm reel.
Luckily, the index also provided the digital images of the document. Please note: Not all of the series indexed in the SCDAH's Records Online Index include digital images of the documents - but this particular series is both indexed and digitized. I have included the positive digital images provided from the Records Online Index for ease of reading. (The images on the Petitions to the General Assembly microfilm are negative images.) You can compare the digital images and my transcription below:
The Petition of the Black Swamp Association praying to be incorporated
The petition of the President and Members of the Black Swamp Association humbly showeth.
That your petitioners have associated theirselves together, under the name and style of the Blackswamp Association, for the purpose of enforcing the laws of this State, against the violators thereof; and for the better governing and managing Negroes, and other persons of colour, in conformity to a similar association established in Charleston, for a similar purpose.
Your petitioners also state to your Honorable body, that they have adopted a constitution, Elected Officers, and made such other regulations as are necessary to carry into effect the objects of the said Institution. They therefore pray your Honorable Body to take their case into consideration, and pass an Act to incorporate them under the name and style of the President and Members of the Black Swamp Association & their Successors in Office, with power to make such bye laws and regulations, as shall be deemed necessary for the government of the said Society and your Petitioners and in duty bound will we pray. 
Dece[mber] 9th 1823 Joseph J. Lawton President
John S. Maner 1st Vice President
William H. Lawton 2nd Vice President
Robert G. Norton Secretary
J. J. Robert Treasurer
Benjamin Holt Solicitor
Standing Executive Committee:
Alexander J. Lawton Chairman
Isaac A. S. Chovin
Winborn A. Lawton
Tristram Verstille
Henry Taylor
James S. Stafford
Joseph M. Lawton
Plaag thinks that the most noteworthy features of this petition are the fact that the General Assembly turned it down (no explanation provided) and the absence of the signature of merchant and church leader Benjamin Jaudon. Be sure to attend to learn more of that backstory.
I have little doubt that you'll hear more about race relations at the Robertville Baptist Church during Dr. Plaag's live streamed Author Book Talk on Monday, November 15, 2021 at 2 pm. His presentation is co-sponsored by the Beaufort District Collection, the Beaufort County Historical Society and Carolina Historical Consulting, LLC. The presentation will be in a Zoom Room located online at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81070223144?pwd=UTdSeVJKNktGdkJYM3dHcnhmWWE2dz09. The meeting will open for attendees about 15 minutes to program time - all going as planned.
Be sure to sign in at least a few minutes early to get acquainted with the Zoom Room features and make sure that you can hear and see the presentation and that the chat features are working.
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