South Carolina (May 23, 1788)

South Carolina (May 23, 1788) was the 8th State admitted to the Union. The Constitution of the State of South Carolina, adopted 1778, stated:

<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.> 1788SC001

<Article III. [Privy Council and State officers to be] all of the Protestant religion.> 1788SC002

<Article XII....The qualifications of electors shall be that every...person, who acknowledges the being of a God, and believes in the future state of rewards and punishments...[is eligible to vote]. 

No person shall be eligible to sit in the house of representatives unless he be of the Protestant religion.> 1788SC003

<No person shall be eligible to a seat in the said senate unless he be of the Protestant religion.> 1788SC004

<Article XXXVIII. 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 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 associated with them for the purpose 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 five following articles-without which no agreement or union of men upon pretence of religion, shall entitle them to be incorporated and esteemed as a church of the established religion in this State. (See Locke's Const., Arts. 97-100):

1. That there is one Eternal God, and a future state of rewards and punishments.
2. That God is publicly 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 practices
5. That it is lawful and the duty of every man being thereunto called by those that govern, to bear witness to truth. 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 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 Scriptures; 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 Holy Scriptures, and in such studies as help to the knowledge 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 forward, as much as he can, quietness, peace, and love among all the people, and especially among those who are or shall be committed to his charge.

No person shall disturb or molest any religious assembly, nor shall use any reproachful, railing, 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 professions which otherwise they might be brought to assent to....

No person shall, by law, be obliged to pay toward 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, glebes, and all other property now belonging to any societies of the Church of England, or any other religious society, shall remain and be secured to them forever.

They should chose by ballot from among themselves, or from the people at large, a governor and commander-in-chief, a lieutenant-governor, and privy council, all of the Protestant religion; that no person should be eligible to a seat in the Senate unless he be of the Protestant religion; that no person should be eligible to sit in the House of Representatives unless he be of the Protestant religion.> 1788SC005

The Constitution of the State of South Carolina, adopted 1790, stated:

<Article VIII, Section I. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship....shall forever hereafter be allowed within this State...provided, that the liberty of conscience thereby declared shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace and safety of this State.> 1788SC006

<Article XXXVIII. 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....

That all denominations of Christian[s]...in this State, demeaning themselves peaceably and faithfully, shall enjoy equal religious and civil privileges.> 1788SC007

The Constitution of the State of South Carolina, adopted 1895, stated:

<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.> 1788SC008

<Article XVII, Section 4. No person who denies the existence of a Supreme Being shall hold any office under this Constitution.> 1788SC009

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

Endnotes:

1788SC001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). South Carolina, 1778, Constitution, Preamble. Frances Newton Thorpe, ed., Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies now or heretofore forming the United States, 7 vols. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905; 1909; St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1968). Charles E. Rice, The Supreme Court and Public Prayer (New York: Fordham University Press, 1964), pp. 174-175; "Hearings, Prayers in Public Schools and Other Matters," Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate (87th Cong., 2nd Sess.), 1962, pp. 268 et seq. Benjamin Weiss, God in American History: A Documentation of America's Religious Heritage (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1966), p. 155. Gary DeMar, "Censoring America's Christian History" (Atlanta, GA: The Biblical Worldview, An American Vision Publication-American Vision, Inc., July 1990), p. 7. Gary DeMar, America's Christian History: The Untold Story (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Publishers, Inc., 1993), p. 66.

1788SC002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). South Carolina, 1778, Constitution, Article III. Frances Newton Thorpe, ed., Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies now or heretofore forming the United States, 7 vols. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905; 1909; St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1968). Edwin S. Gaustad, Neither King nor Prelate-Religion and the New Nation, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1993), p. 170-171.

1788SC003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). South Carolina, 1778, Constitution, Article XII. The Constitutions of the Several Independent States of America (Boston: Norman and Bowen, 1785), South Carolina, 1776, Section 13, p. 146. Frances Newton Thorpe, ed., Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies now or heretofore forming the United States, 7 vols. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905; 1909; St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1968). Edwin S. Gaustad, Neither King nor Prelate-Religion and the New Nation, 1776-1826 (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1993), p. 171.

1788SC004. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). South Carolina, 1778, Constitution, Article XII. Frances Newton Thorpe, ed., Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies now or heretofore forming the United States, 7 vols. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905; 1909; St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1968). Edwin S. Gaustad, Neither King nor Prelate-Religion and the New Nation, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1993), p. 170-171.

1788SC005. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). South Carolina, 1778, Constitution, Article XXXVIII. Benjamin Franklin Morris, The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States (Philadelphia, PA: L. Johnson & Co., 1863; George W. Childs, 1864), pp. 230-231. Frances Newton Thorpe, ed., Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies now or heretofore forming the United States, 7 vols. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905; 1909; St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1968), Vol. V, p. 3264. Edwin S. Gaustad, Neither King nor Prelate-Religion and the New Nation 1776- 1826 (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1993), pp. 171-172. John J. McGrath, ed., Church and State in American Law: Cases and Materials (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1962), p. 375. Anson Phelps Stokes and Leo Pfeffer, Church and State in the United States (NY: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1950, revised one-volume edition, 1964), p. 79.

1788SC006. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). South Carolina, 1790, Constitution, Article VIII, Section I. Frances Newton Thorpe, ed., Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies now or heretofore forming the United States, 7 vols. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905; 1909; St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1968). Edwin S. Gaustad, Neither King nor Prelate- Religion and the New Nation, 1776-1826 (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1993), p. 172.

1788SC007. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). South Carolina, 1778, Constitution, Article XXXVIII. The Constitutions of the Several Independent States of America, Published by Order of Congress (Boston: Norman & Bowen, 1785) p. 152.

1788SC008. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). South Carolina, 1895, Constitution, Preamble. Charles E. Rice, The Supreme Court and Public Prayer (New York: Fordham University Press, 1964), pp. 174-175; "Hearings, Prayers in Public Schools and Other Matters," Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate (87th Cong., 2nd Sess.), 1962, pp. 268 et seq.

1788SC009. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). South Carolina, 1895, Constitution, Article XVII, Section 4. Charles E. Rice, The Supreme Court and Public Prayer (New York: Fordham University Press, 1964), p. 174; "Hearings, Prayers in Public Schools and Other Matters," Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate (87th Cong., 2nd Sess.), 1962, pp. 268 et seq.