Chiefly correspondence about King's legal practice. Most letters deal with a case in which King represented the executors of the estate of Joseph Smith. Smith was a British subject, and his executors apparently were trying to claim ownership of property in the United States. Letters about this case continue throughout the subseries.

A few letters relating to King's business affairs are included. They chiefly deal with the management of King's properties in North and South Carolina.

Fever, presumably yellow fever, is mentioned in some of the letters. When King's oldest daughter died of fever, Ben Savage offered him consolation in a letter dated 17 June 1817. Letters in 1819 from George Champion and Ben Savage mention fever in Charleston. King was apparently ill with fever during this time.

The principal correspondents in this subseries were involved in the Smith case. They include Ben Savage; Sarah, Brooke, Edmund, and Orton Smith; George Champion; and Ben Bineham.

Chiefly correspondence about King's business affairs, with a few letters on legal matters. There are frequent letters from individuals who were apparently managers or tenants at King's properties in North Carolina about decisions to be made about the properties. William Murray, for instance, wrote from 1831 to 1834 about King's property that he rented at Flat Rock (then in Buncombe County, N.C., but beginning in 1838 in Henderson County) where he had problems supervising the construction of buildings and with disputes over rights of access to the property. Other managers or tenants who corresponded with King are Frederick Rutledge, C. Barnett, Elisha King, Benjamin King, and Charles Baring.

There are numerous letters in this subseries from Colonel Benjamin Richardson to Mitchell King. Their relationship is described in a letter dated 12 April 1834. King lent $3,000 to Richardson in 1832, which was never repaid. Although initially lenient in requiring payment, in 1838 King evicted him from his property at Mud Creek, apparently in Henderson County. There are letters from this period describing taking possession of Richardson's property and making arrangements to get it in order.

Other correspondence about King's properties include a letter dated 9 September 1839 from King to Samuel Lyle, a contractor, describing Argyle, the house he wanted to build near Flat Rock, and proposing a meeting to see if it were possible for Lyle to build it. Also included are letters from January 1844 about a property, believed to be a tavern owned by King, which burned down in Flat Rock.

Scattered letters concerning King's legal business appear in this subseries. In 1844, there are letters from H. Bailey over the Bank case in which King was involved. A few letters also appear on Episcopal and Presbyterian church matters.

There is little family correspondence in this subseries. King's wife, Margaret Campbell King, wrote on 18 August 1839 describing a carriage accident in which she and some of their children were involved. Among personal events mentioned in letters is the death of King's mother-in-law, Henrietta Dickie Campbell, in 1835.

Other correspondents in this subseries include Charles Edmonston, Count de Choiseul, and James Walker.

Family correspondence (a larger percentage than in earlier subseries) and letters on King's business and legal affairs. In 1845, King's son, Henry Campbell King, wrote numerous letters from Charleston, where he was apparently taking care of his father's affairs, to his father at Flat Rock. His letters describe the progress of repairs to King's house and other minor events in Charleston.

Included is a letter, 4 September 1845, describing a whipping received by his younger brother, John Gadsden, from the schoolmaster for not knowing his lessons. Henry apparently felt the punishment was unnecessarily harsh and requested his father's intervention.

Letters from King's other children continue throughout the subseries. In June 1846, Kirkwood wrote his father from Paris where he was apparently traveling in Europe. Kirkwood returned to Paris a second time in 1856, against his father's will. In a letter dated 25 October 1856, King refused to advance his son any more money and strongly entreated him to enter a suitable profession. (See Series 1.6 for other letters from King to Kirkwood.) Also included are letters from King's daughters Henrietta, Margaret, and Susan, and from his other sons McMillan and Mitchell. Letters of 1849 concern Springfield and other Savannah River, Ga., plantations superintended by McMillan King.

A. B. Williman, a physician who married King's daughter Henrietta, wrote King in 1848 about a trip to Boston he made with Henrietta and Susan. In 1857, Williman wrote frequently from Norfolk describing a visit from Susan and Ellen, mentioning Henrietta's miscarriage, and discussing other family and financial matters.

There are several letters in 1848 discussing national politics, especially the presidential election and South Carolina representatives in Congress. Included is a letter, 13 July 1848, from United States Representative Isaac Edward Holmes discussing the growing danger to the South from abolitionists.

An 1849 exchange with V. G. Audubon relates to King's purchase of the third volume of Quadropeds. The relationship of V. G. Audubon to John James Audubon in not known. In a letter of 8 March 1856, Caroline Gilman asked King to critique a poem and noted her role as "a lady writer."

Also included are letters about King's various properties, law practice, and church affairs. Other correspondents in this subseries include Count de Choiseul, James Walker, L. Molyneux, David Ravenel, and G. A. Trenholm.

Beginning with 1855, there is a set of lettercopy pages for each year, filed at the end of that year's correspondence. These are copies of letters King wrote from Argyle. For copies of letters by King from Charleston, see the lettercopy books in Subseries 1.6.

Chiefly letters from friends and associates, including such prominent Charlestonians as Alfred Huger, rather than family members. Sets of pages of copies of letters written from Argyle continue through 1861.

Included are letters relating to some of the organizations with which King was involved. In 1859, a letter was sent to King indicating that the treasurer of the Board of Supervisors of the High School of Charleston had died and that King, as chair, should look into finding a replacement. Correspondence of 1860 discusses finances of the College of Charleston. An 1860 letter from King to Henry Dana of Woodstock, Vt., discusses word definitions and the purchase of butter for King's Charleston house.

A few letters from 1861 and 1862 mention the Civil War. A letter dated 24 July 1861 asked King for money to help fit up a ship to attack the northern blockade. There is also evidence that King allowed the Confederacy to use one of his houses as a depot for commissary stores. Letters from 1862 offered condolence on the death of King's son Henry who was killed at Secessionville on James Island on 16 June 1862.

Letters to King from from his second wife, Margaret Campbell King, and from Benjamin Richardson, C. Barnett, Thomas E. Justice, Stephen Lee, D. Johnson, Charles Fraser, William Hayne, Thomas Willikin, Charles Baring, Sam Barkey, and others. Letters from McMillan King discuss the illness and death of slaves at Springfield plantation.

Copies of letters King wrote from Charleston, with a few from Argyle in 1862. (Copies of earlier letters from King at Argyle are in folders 25-31.) The two volumes total almost 1,200 pages (with about 100 unused) and hold 1,000 letters or more.

There are letters to family and friends and numerous business letters. Letters of 1855 detail the organization of the Charleston, Cumberland Gap, and Cincinnati Railroad. Other letters concern history, literature, language, natural history, and prominent travelers to South Carolina. Correspondents include George Bancroft (e.g., 20 November 1855), Louis Agassiz (e.g., 21 July 1855), and Francis Lieber (e.g., February 1855). Some letters relate to such Charleston institutions as the Museum of Natural History at the College of Charleston and the Charleston Library. Business correspondents include Robert Habersham and Son of Savannah and Baring Brothers and Co. of London. There are also occasional letters to prominent South Carolina plantation owners, many of whom were King's clients.

There are many letters to King's children. Among these are frequent letters to Kirkwood in Europe, bemoaning what King perceived as his son's desertion of the family. There also are many to McMillan at Springfield plantation, discussing crops, sicknesses, and other plantation matters.