South Carolina Constitution (March 19, 1778)

South Carolina Constitution (March 19, 1778):

<PREAMBLE. We, the people of the State of South Carolina...grateful to God for our liberties, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the preservation and perpetuation of the same.

ARTICLE 3. That as soon as may be after the first meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives, and at every first meeting of the Senate and House of representatives thereafter, to be elected by virtue of this Constitution, they shall jointly in the House of Representatives choose by ballot from among themselves or from the people at large a governor and commander- in-chief, a lieutenant-governor, both to continue for two years, and a privy council, all of the Protestant religion, and till such choice shall be made the former president or governor and commander-in-chief, and vice-president or lieutenant-governor, as the case may be, and privy council, shall continue to act as same.

ARTICLE 11. And whereas the ministers of the Gospel are by their profession dedicated to the service of God and the care of souls, and ought not to be diverted from the great duties of their function, therefore no minister of the Gospel or public Preacher of any religious persuasion, while he continues in the exercise of his pastorial function, and for two years after, shall be eligible either as governor, lieutenant-governor, a member of the senate, house of representatives, or privy council in this state.

ARTICLE 12. That each parish and district throughout this State shall...elect by ballot one member of the senate, except the district of Saint Philip and Saint Michael's parishes, Charleston, which shall elect two members...except the parishes of Saint Matthew and Orange, which shall elect one member...except the parishes of Prince George and All Saints, which shall elect one member; and the election of senators for such parishes...shall...be at the parish of Prince George for the said parish and the parish of All Saints, and at the parish of Saint Matthew for that parish and the parish of Orange; to meet on the first Monday in January...

And that no person shall be eligible to a seat in the said senate unless he be of the Protestant religion, and hath attained the age of thirty years...

13...Each parish and district within this State shall send members to the general Assembly in the following proportions...

parish of Saint Philip & Saint Michael's, Charleston, thirty members; parish of Christ Church, six members;

parish of Saint John's, Berkley...six members; parish of Saint Andrew, six members;

parish of Saint George, Dorchester, six members; parish of Saint James, Goose Creek, six members; parish of Saint Thomas & Saint Dennis, six members; parish of Saint Paul, six members;

parish of Saint Bartholomew, six members; parish of Saint Helena, six members;

parish of Saint James, Santee, six members... parish of All Saints, two members...

parish of Saint John...six members; parish of Saint Peter, six members... parish of Saint Stephen, six members...

parish of Saint Matthew, three members... parish of Saint David, six members...

And where there are no Churches or Church-wardens in a district or parish, the house of representatives...shall appoint places of election and persons to receive votes...

The qualification of electors shall be that every free white man, and no other person, who acknowledges the being of a God, and believes in a future state of rewards and punishments...

No person shall be eligible to sit in the house of representatives unless he be of the Protestant religion...

21. And whereas the ministers of the Gospel are by their profession dedicated to the service of God and the care of souls, and ought not to be diverted from the great duties of their function, therefore no minister of the Gospel or public Preacher of any religious persuasion, while he continues in the exercise of his pastoral function, and for two years after, shall be eligible either as governor, lieutenant-governor, a member of the senate, house of representatives, or privy council in this State...

36. That all persons who shall be chosen and appointed to any office or to any place of trust, civil or military, before entering upon the execution of office, shall take the following oath:

"I, A. B., do acknowledge the State of South Carolina to be as free, sovereign, and independent State, and that the people thereof owe no allegiance or obedience to George the Third, King of Great Britain, and I do renounce, refuse, and abjure any allegiance or obedience to him. And I do swear (or affirm, as the case may be) that I will, to the utmost of my power, support, maintain, and defend the said State against the said King George the Third, and his heirs and successors, and his or their abettors, assistants, and adherents, and will serve the said State, in the office of, with fidelity and honor, and according to the best of my skill and understanding: So Help Me God."...

38. That all persons and religious societies who acknowledge that there is one God, and a future state of rewards and punishments, and that God is publicly to be worshipped, shall be freely tolerated. The Christian Protestant religion shall be deemed, and is hereby constituted and declared to be, the established religion of this State.

That all denominations of Christian Protestants in this State, demeaning themselves peaceably and faithfully, shall enjoy equal religious and civil privileges. To accomplish this desirable purpose without injury to the religious property of those societies of Christians which are by law already incorporated for the purpose of religious worship, and to put it fully into the power of every other society of Christian Protestants, either already formed or hereafter to be formed, to obtain the like incorporation, it is hereby constituted, appointed, and declared that the respective societies of the Church of England that are already formed in this State for the purpose of religious worship shall still continue incorporate and hold the religious property now in their possession.

And that whenever fifteen or more male persons, not under twenty-one years of age, professing the Christian Protestant religion, and agreeing to unite themselves in a society for the purposes of religious worship, they shall, (on complying with the terms hereinafter mentioned,) be, and be constituted a Church, and be esteemed and regarded in law as of the established religion of the State, and on a petition to the legislature shall be entitled to be incorporated and to enjoy equal privileges.

That every society of Christians so formed shall give themselves a name or denomination by which they shall be called and known in law, and all that associate with them for the purposes of worship shall be esteemed as belonging to the society so called.

But that previous to the establishment and incorporation of the respective societies of every denomination as aforesaid, and in order to entitle them thereto, each society so petitioning shall have agreed to and subscribed in a book the following five articles, without which no agreement fir union of men upon presence of religion shall entitle them to be incorporated and esteemed as a Church of the established religion of this State (See Locke's Constitution, Article 97-100):

1. That there is one eternal God, and a future state of rewards and punishments.
2. That God is publicly to be worshipped.
3. That the Christian religion is the true religion
4. That the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are of Divine inspiration, and are the rule of faith and practice.
5. That it is lawful and the duty of every man being thereunto called by those that govern, to bear witness to the truth.

And that every inhabitant of this State, when called to make an appeal to God as a witness to truth, shall be permitted to do it in that way which is most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience.

And that the people of this State may forever enjoy the right of electing their own pastors or clergy, and at the same time that the State may have sufficient security for the due discharge of the pastoral office, by those who shall be admitted to be clergymen, no person shall officiate as minister of any established Church who shall not have been chosen by a majority of the society to which he shall minister, or by persons appointed by the said majority, to choose and procure a minister for them; nor until the minister so chosen and appointed shall have made and subscribed to the following declaration, over and above the aforesaid five articles, viz:

That he is determined by God's grace out of the Holy Scriptures, to instruct the people committed to his charge, and to teach nothing as required of necessity to eternal salvation but that which he shall be persuaded may be concluded and proved from the Scripture;

That he will use both public and private admonitions, as well to the sick as to the whole within his cure, as need shall require and occasion shall be given, and that he will be diligent in prayers, and in reading of the same;

That he will be diligent to frame and fashion his own self and his family according to the doctrine of Christ, and to make both himself and them, as much as in him lieth, wholesome examples and patterns to the flock of Christ;

That he will maintain and set forwards, as much as he can, quietness, peace, and love among all people, and especially among those that are or shall be committed to lids charge.

No person shall disturb or molest any religious Assembly; nor shall use any reproachful, reviling, or abusive language against any Church, that being the certain way of disturbing the peace, and of hindering the conversion of any to the truth, by engaging them in quarrels and animosities, to the hatred of the professors, and that profession which otherwise they might be brought to assent to.

To person whatsoever shall speak anything in their religious Assembly irreverently or seditiously of the government of this State. No person shall, by law, be obliged to pay towards the maintenance and support of a religious worship that he does not freely join in, or has not voluntarily engaged to support.

But the Churches, chapels, parsonages, globes, and all other property now belonging to any societies of the Church of England, or any other religious societies, shall remain and be secured to them forever.

The poor shall be supported, and elections managed in the accustomed manner, until laws shall be provided to adjust those matters in the most equitable way...

63. That the liberty of the press be inviolably preserved...> 1778SC001

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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.

Endnotes:

1778SC001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). South Carolina Constitution, 1778.