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2. South Carolina 1812 House of Representatives, Prince George, Winyah Parish
3. South Carolina 1813 House of Representatives, Charleston City, Special
4. South Carolina 1808 Electoral College
5. South Carolina 1792 House of Representatives, Spartanburg County
6. South Carolina 1804 House of Representatives, Saint Paul Parish
7. South Carolina 1820 House of Representatives, Saint Paul Parish
8. South Carolina 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 1
9. South Carolina 1810 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2
10. South Carolina 1816 State Senate, Horry District
11. South Carolina 1824 House of Representatives, Prince George Winyah Parish
12. South Carolina 1818 Surveyor General
13. South Carolina 1824 House of Representatives, Saint Peter Parish
14. South Carolina 1814 Lieutenant Governor
15. South Carolina 1817 Sheriff, Barnwell District
16. South Carolina 1810 House of Representatives, Saint Andrew's Parish
17. South Carolina 1804 State Senate, Saint Andrew Parish
18. South Carolina 1824 State Senate, Saint Bartholomew Parish
19. South Carolina 1790 U.S. House of Representatives, District 5
20. South Carolina 1812 House of Representatives, Saint Paul Parish
21. South Carolina 1816 U.S. House of Representatives, District 8
22. South Carolina 1800 State Senate, Orangeburgh and Saint Matthew Parishes
23. South Carolina 1822 Sheriff, Pendleton District
24. South Carolina 1800 House of Representatives, Saint Matthew Parish
25. South Carolina 1792 House of Representatives, Newberry County
26. South Carolina 1808 House of Representatives, Greenville District
27. South Carolina 1812 Intendant, Charleston City
28. South Carolina 1814 Governor
29. South Carolina 1806 State Senate, Saint John's Berkeley Parish
30. South Carolina 1804 House of Representatives, Claremont District
31. South Carolina 1812 Sheriff, Pendleton District
32. South Carolina 1804 U.S. Senate, Special
33. South Carolina 1798 House of Representatives, Claremont County
34. South Carolina 1820 U.S. House of Representatives, District 1
35. South Carolina 1814 House of Representatives, Saint Dennis and Saint Thomas Parish
36. South Carolina 1811 House of Representatives, Saint Bartholomew Parish, Special
37. South Carolina 1810 House of Representatives, Lexington District
38. South Carolina 1792 House of Representatives, Laurens County
39. South Carolina 1794 House of Representatives, Pendleton County
40. South Carolina 1800 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2
41. South Carolina 1822 House of Representatives, Saint James Goosecreek Parish
42. South Carolina 1809 House of Representatives, Fairfield County, Special
43. South Carolina 1822 Warden, Charleston City, Ward 3
44. South Carolina 1824 House of Representatives, Horry District
45. South Carolina 1824 State Senate, Christ Church Parish
46. South Carolina 1818 House of Representatives, All Saints Parish
47. South Carolina 1791 Lieutenant Governor
48. South Carolina 1816 House of Representatives, Saint Paul Parish
49. South Carolina 1820 State Senate, Charleston City
50. South Carolina 1814 House of Representatives, Union District
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On May 23, 1788, South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify the Federal Constitution. Although there was considerable opposition from the backcountry region, representatives from the capital, Charleston, and the surrounding lowcountry regions prevailed. This division in state politics would continue until a series of compromises were completed in 1808 balancing the representation of the two regions.
A new state constitution was adopted by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1790. This document preserved the weak executive structure that dated back to before the American Revolution. For example, the governor did not possess veto power after 1790. The governor and lieutenant governor were each elected to a two-year term and were then required to not hold the office for four years before being eligible for election again. The General Assembly was comprised of two branches, the House of Representatives and the Senate. Both bodies were elected by popular vote. Members of the House of Representatives served two-year terms. There were a total of 124 members whose districts were determined by a combination of population and the amount of taxes generated. It was through electoral innovations like this that the lowcountry region maintained its political dominance even though it possessed a minority of the state’s white population. Senators were elected to four year terms.
The most significant political issue in the state during this period was balancing the interests of the lowcountry and the backcountry. Under the Constitution of 1790, the state capital was moved from Charleston, on the coast, to Columbia in the interior. Eventually, the lowcountry representatives agreed to other Constitutional amendments which increased the number of electoral districts in the backcountry region and led to a greater balance of political power.
The Federalist Party dominated South Carolina in the 1790s as it could count a number of prominent lowcountry planters among their ranks. Many South Carolinians played important roles for the Federalist Party at the national level. The Jeffersonian-Republicans, however, were rising in prominence, especially as Charles Pinckney and Pierce Butler, both of whom signed the Constitution for South Carolina, joined the rival party. Although the Federalists dominated the state until 1800, by 1804 there were no Federalists in power. South Carolina would remain a one-party state until the start of the Civil War.
The Constitution of 1790 eliminated the religious qualification for voting and holding political office in South Carolina. All free, white men who were 21 years of age, had lived in the state for two years, was a resident of the district in which he was voting, owned fifty acres of land or a town lot and paid taxes were eligible to vote. In 1810 an amendment to the state constitution eliminated the property qualification for voting, extending suffrage to all white men who had lived in the state for six months. Thus, South Carolina was among the very first states to allow universal white male suffrage.
Bibliography
- James Banner
“The Problem of South Carolina” in Stanley Elkins and Eric McKittrick,The Hofstadter Aegis: A Memorial. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974) 60-93. - Walter Edgar,
South Carolina: A History (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1998) - Lacy K. Ford,
The Origins of Southern Radicalism: The South Carolina Upcountry, 1800-1860 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991) - Rachel Klein,
Unification of a Slave State: The Rise of the Planter Class in the South Carolina Backcountry, 1760-1808 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1990). - George C. Rogers,
Evolution of a Federalist: William Loughton Smith of Charleston , (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1962). - C. Blease Graham, South Carolina’s Constitutions
- South Carolina Information Highway – Governors