one hundred brides in ceremonies he performed were obviously with child) and that its economy grew as fast. Its struggle became an economic revolution in the form of opportunities emerging so fast as to force a breakdown of any limitations placed on it. Thousands of frontiersmen like Dooly participated in that colonial revolution and demanded from South Carolina's government (what historian Hugo Bicheno termed as "Tidewater Rats" and "wealthy coastal slavocrats" with a "psedo-aristiocratic social structure") the right to the benefits of rule of law in the backcountry. As with almost all of the frontiersmen directly affected by that successful and sometimes violent popular uprising to force the establishment of courts on the frontier, Dooly's name appears on none of the surviving records, including on the list of pardons granted to one hundred and twenty Regulator leaders.(n13) Legislative Nightmares As a merchant, land speculator, and surveyor, however, Dooly benefited in many ways from the success of the Regulators, as did the millers and blacksmiths who also would assume leadership roles in the backcountry. Further progress on the frontier, for him and other ambitious men of the new and growing middle class in the region, required meaningful civil government. Previously Dooly had to travel the hundreds of miles to Charleston to file or answer court suits. In 1771, for example, he had to go to the provincial capital to defend himself in a case over a debt based on a document to which his name had been crudely forged two years earlier. In another instance, Dooly took William Thomson to court over debts due for a long list of trade goods. The latter apparently finally settled the dispute with land. Soon after, however, Thomson filed a civil suit for damages against Dooly for having "beat bruise wound & evilly entreat him so that his life was greatly despaired" with "swords & staves." Dooly countered that Thomson had repeatedly threatened his life.(n14) Bigger Investments John Dooly's own time to take a public leadership role came later and further west, in Georgia. In January 1772, after the peace and security of the new courts brought about a rise in property values on the South Carolina frontier, he mortgaged of his lands to Charles Pinckney of Charleston. With his new capital, Dooly could finance a major investment. Four months later, as a resident of South Carolina, he petitioned to secure land across the Savannah