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2. South Carolina 1789 Lieutenant Governor
3. South Carolina 1789 Lieutenant Governor, Ballot 2
4. South Carolina 1791 Chief Justice, State Supreme Court
5. South Carolina 1791 Governor
6. South Carolina 1791 Lieutenant Governor
7. South Carolina 1792 Electoral College
8. South Carolina 1792 Electoral College, Ballot 2
9. South Carolina 1792 Governor
10. South Carolina 1792 Lieutenant Governor
11. South Carolina 1792 U.S. Senate
12. South Carolina 1794 Governor
13. South Carolina 1794 Governor, Ballot 2
14. South Carolina 1794 U.S. Senate
15. South Carolina 1794 U.S. Senate, Ballot 2
16. South Carolina 1796 Electoral College
17. South Carolina 1796 Governor
18. South Carolina 1796 Lieutenant Governor
19. South Carolina 1798 Clerk of the House of Representatives
20. South Carolina 1798 Clerk of the House of Representatives, Ballot 2
21. South Carolina 1798 Governor
22. South Carolina 1798 Lieutenant Governor
23. South Carolina 1800 Electoral College
24. South Carolina 1800 Governor
25. South Carolina 1800 Lieutenant Governor
26. South Carolina 1800 U.S. Senate
27. South Carolina 1800 U.S. Senate, Ballot 2
28. South Carolina 1801 Associate Judge
29. South Carolina 1802 Governor
30. South Carolina 1802 Lieutenant Governor
31. South Carolina 1802 Speaker of the House
32. South Carolina 1804 Electoral College
33. South Carolina 1804 Treasurer, Lower Division
34. South Carolina 1804 U.S. Senate
35. South Carolina 1806 Governor
36. South Carolina 1806 Governor, Ballot 2
37. South Carolina 1806 Lieutenant Governor
38. South Carolina 1806 Secretary of State
39. South Carolina 1806 Speaker of the House
40. South Carolina 1806 U.S. Senate
41. South Carolina 1806 U.S. Senate, Ballot 2
42. South Carolina 1808 Electoral College
43. South Carolina 1808 Governor
44. South Carolina 1810 Governor
45. South Carolina 1810 Lieutenant Governor
46. South Carolina 1812 Electoral College
47. South Carolina 1812 Governor
48. South Carolina 1812 Governor, Ballot 2
49. South Carolina 1812 Governor, Ballot 3
50. South Carolina 1812 Governor, Ballot 4
51. South Carolina 1812 U.S. Senate
52. South Carolina 1814 Governor
53. South Carolina 1814 Lieutenant Governor
54. South Carolina 1814 Secretary of State, Ballot 3
55. South Carolina 1814 Senate President
56. South Carolina 1814 Speaker of the House
57. South Carolina 1814 Surveyor General, Ballot 3
58. South Carolina 1814 Treasurer, Lower Division
59. South Carolina 1814 Treasurer, Lower Division, Ballot 2
60. South Carolina 1816 Attorney General
61. South Carolina 1816 Bank Director
62. South Carolina 1816 Clerk of the House of Representatives
63. South Carolina 1816 Clerk of the House of Representatives, Ballot 2
64. South Carolina 1816 Clerk of the House of Representatives, Ballot 3
65. South Carolina 1816 Comptroller General
66. South Carolina 1816 Electoral College
67. South Carolina 1816 Governor
68. South Carolina 1816 Lieutenant Governor
69. South Carolina 1816 Register of Mesne Conveyance, Charleston District
70. South Carolina 1816 Treasurer, Upper Division
71. South Carolina 1818 Comptroller
72. South Carolina 1818 Governor
73. South Carolina 1818 Governor, Ballot 2
74. South Carolina 1818 Governor, Ballot 3
75. South Carolina 1818 Governor, Ballot 4
76. South Carolina 1818 Register of Mesne Conveyance, Charleston District
77. South Carolina 1818 Secretary of State, Ballot 4
78. South Carolina 1818 Solicitor, Western Circuit
79. South Carolina 1818 Surveyor General
80. South Carolina 1818 U.S. Senate
81. South Carolina 1820 Comptroller General
82. South Carolina 1820 Electoral College
83. South Carolina 1820 Governor
84. South Carolina 1820 Lieutenant Governor
85. South Carolina 1820 Senate President
86. South Carolina 1820 Senate President, Ballot 2
87. South Carolina 1820 Solicitor, Middle Circuit
88. South Carolina 1820 Solicitor, Northern Circuit
89. South Carolina 1820 Solicitor, Southern Circuit
90. South Carolina 1820 Treasurer, Upper Division
91. South Carolina 1822 Attorney General
92. South Carolina 1822 Governor
93. South Carolina 1822 Lieutenant Governor
94. South Carolina 1822 Secretary of State, Ballot 3
95. South Carolina 1822 Secretary of State, Ballot 4
96. South Carolina 1822 Secretary of State, Ballot 5
97. South Carolina 1822 Secretary of State, Ballot 6
98. South Carolina 1822 Senate President
99. South Carolina 1822 Speaker of the House
100. South Carolina 1822 U.S. Senate
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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