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serve as a member or members in the senate and house of representatives, CONSTITUTION for the parish or district where he actually is a resident, or in any other parish or district in this state where he hath the like freehold. Electors shall take an oath or affirmation of qualification, if required by the returning officer. No person shall be eligible to sit in the house of representatives unless he be of the Protestant religion, and hath been a resident in this state for three years previous to his election. The qualification of the elected, if residents in the parish or district for which they shall be returned, shall be the same as mentioned in the election act, and construed to mean clear of debt. But no non-resident shall be elegible to a scat in the house of representatives unless he is owner of a settled estate and freehold in his own right of the value of three thousand and five hundred pounds currency at least, clear of debt, in the parish or district for which he is elected.

XIV. That if any parish or district neglects or refuses to elect members, or if the members chosen do not meet in general assembly, those who do meet shall have the powers of the general assembly. Not less than sixty nine members shall make a house of representatives to do business, but the speaker or any seven members may adjourn from day to day.

XV. That at the expiration of seven years after the passing of this Constitution, and at the end of every fourteen years thereafter, the representation of the whole state shall be proportioned in the most equal and just manner according to the particular and comparitive strength and taxable property of the different parts of the same, regard being always had to the number of white inhabitants and such taxable property.

state.

XVI. That all money bills for the support of government shall originate in the house of representatives, and shall not be altered or amended by the senate, but may be rejected by them, and that no money be drawn out of the public treasury but by the legislative authority of the All other bills and ordinances may take rise in the senate or house of representatives, and be altered, amended or rejected by either. Acts and ordinances having passed the general assembly shall have the great seal affixed to them by a joint committee of both houses, who shall wait upon the Governor to receive and return the seal, and shall then be signed by the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives, in the Senate house, and shall thenceforth have all the force and validity of a law, and be lodged in the Secretary's office. And the senate and house of representatives respectively, shall enjoy all other priveleges which have at any time been claimed or exercised by the Commons house of assembly.

XVII. That neither the senate nor house of representatives shall have power to adjourn themselves for any longer time than three days, without the mutual consent of both. The Governor and Commander in Chief shall have no power to adjourn, prorogue or dissolve them, but may, if necessary, by and with the advice and consent of the privy council, convene them before the time to which they shall stand adjourned. And where a bill hath been rejected by either house, it shall not be brought in again that session, without leave of the house, and a notice of six days being previously given.

XVIII. That the senate and house of representatives shall each choose their respective officers by ballot, without controul, and that during a recess, the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives shall issue writs for filling up vacancies occasioned by death in their respective houses, giving at least three weeks and not more than thirty five days previous notice of the time appointed for the election.

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XIX. That if any parish or district shall neglect to elect a member or members on the day of election, or in case any person chosen a member of either house, shall refuse to qualify and take his seat as such, or die, or depart the state, the senate or house of representatives as the case may be, shall appoint proper days for electing a member or members, in such cases respectively.

XX. That if any member of the senate or house of representatives shall accept any place of emolument, or any commission (except in the militia, or commission of the peace, and except as is excepted in the tenth article) he shall vacate his seat, and there shall thereupon be a new election, but he shall not be disqualified from serving upon being re-elected, unless he is appointed Secretary of the State, a Commissioner of the Treasury, an Officer of the Customs, Register of Mesne Conveyances, a Clerk of either of the Courts of justice, Sheriff, Powder-reviewer, Clerk of the Senate, House of Representatives or Privy Council, Surveyor General, or Commissary of Military stores, which officers are hereby declared disqualified from being members either of the senate or house of representatives.

XXI. And whereas the ministers of the gospel are by their profession dedicated to the service of God and the cure 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.

XXII. That the delegates to represent this state in the Congress of the United States, be chosen annually by the senate and house of representatives jointly, by ballot, in the house of representatives, and nothing contained in this Constitution shall be construed to extend to vacate the seat of any member who is or may be a delegate from this state to Congress as such.

XXIII. That the form of impeaching all officers of the state for mal and corrupt conduct in their respective offices, not amenable to any other jurisdiction, be vested in the house of representatives. But that it shall always be necessary that two third parts of the members present do consent to and agree in such impeachment. That the senators and such of the judges of this state as are not members of the house of representatives, be a court for the trial of impeachments, under such regulations as the legislature shall establish, and that previous to the trial of every impeachment, the members of the said court shall respectively be sworn, truly and impartially to try and determine the charge in question, according to evidence, and no judgement of the said court, except judgement of acquital, shall be valid, unless it shall be assented to by two third parts of the members then present; and on every trial, as well on impeachments as others, the party accused shall be allowed counsel.

XXIV. That the Lieutenant Governor of the state and a majority of the privy council for the time being, shall, until otherwise altered by the legislature, exercise the powers of a Court of Chancery; and there shall be Ordinaries appointed in the several districts of this state, to be chosen by the senate and house of representatives jointly by ballot, in the house of representatives, who shall, within their respective districts, exercise the powers heretofore exercised by the Ordinary; and until such appointment is made, the present Ordinary in Charleston shall continue to exercise that office as heretofore.

XXV. That the jurisdiction of the Court of Admiralty be confied to CONSTITUTION maritime causes.

XXVI. That justices of the peace shall be nominated by the senate and house of representatives jointly, and commissioned by the Governor and Commander in Chief during pleasure. They shall be entitled to receive the fees heretofore established by law; and not acting in the magistracy, they shall not be entitled to the priveleges allowed them by law.

XXVII. That all other judicial officers shall be chosen by ballot, jointly by the Senate and House of Representatives, and, except the judges of the Court of Chancery, commissioned by the Governor and Commander in Chief during good behaviour, but shall be removed on address of the Senate and House of Representatives.

XXVIII. That the Sheriffs, qualified as by law directed, shall be chosen in like manner by the Senate and House of Representatives, when the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Privy Council are chosen, and commissioned by the Governor and Commander in Chief, for two years, and shall give security as required by law, before they enter on the execution of their office. No sheriff who shall have served for two years shall be eligible to serve in the said office after the expiration of the said term, until the full end and term of four years, but shall continue in office until such choice be made; nor shall any person be eligible as sheriff in any district, unless he shall have resided therein for two years previous to the election. XXIX. That two Commissioners of the Treasury, the Secretary of the State, the Register of mesne conveyances in each district, Attorney General, Surveyor General, Powder Receiver, Collectors and Comptrollers of the Customs and Waiters, be chosen in like manner by the Senate and House of Representatives jointly, by ballot, in the House of Representatives, and commissioned by the Governor and Commander in Chief, for two years; that none of the said officers, respectively, who shall have served for four years, shall be eligible to serve in the said offices after the expiration of the said term, until the full end and term of four years, but shall continue in office until a new choice be made. Provided, that nothing herein contained shall extend to the several persons appointed to the above offices respectively, under the late constitution: and that the present and all future Commissioners of the Treasury, and Powder receivers, shall each give bond with approved security agreeable to law.

XXX. That all the officers in the army and navy of this State, of and above the rank of captain, shall be chosen by the Senate and House of Representatives jointly, by ballot in the House of Representatives, and commissioned by the Governor and Commander in Chief, and that all other officers in the Army and Navy of this State, shall be commissioned by the Governor and Commander in Chief.

XXXI. That in case of vacancy in any of the offices above directed to be filled by the Senate and House of Representatives, the Governor and Commander in Chief, with the advice and consent of the Privy Council, may appoint others in their stead, until there shall be an election by the Senate and House of Representatives, to fill those vacancies respectively. XXXII. That the Governor and Commander in Chief, with the advice and consent of the Privy Council, may appoint during pleasure, until otherwise directed by law, all other necessary officers, except such as are now by law directed to be otherwise chosen.

XXXIII. That the Governor and Commander in Chief shall have no power to commence war, or conclude peace, or enter into any final treaty, without the consent of the Senate and House of Representatives.

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XXXIV. That the resolutions of the late Congress of this State, and all laws now of force here (and not hereby altered) shall so continue until altered or repealed by the legislature of this State, unless where they are temporary, in which case, they shall expire at the times respectively limited for their duration.

XXXV. That the Governor and Commander in Chief for the time being, by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council, may lay embargoes, or prohibit the exportation of any commodity, for any time not exceeding thirty days, in the recess of the General Assembly.

XXXVI. 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 a 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 fidelity and honour, and according to the best of my skill and understanding,

-, with

So help me God."

XXXVII. That adequate yearly salaries be allowed to the public officers of this State, and be fixed by law.

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 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 herein after 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

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petitioning shall have agreed to and subscribed in a book the following CONSTITUTION five 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 of this State.

1st. That there is one Eternal God, and a future state of rewards and Pments.

za? That God is publicly to be worshipped.

3d. That the Christian Religion is the true religion.

4th. That the Holy Scriptures of the old and new Testaments are of divine inspiration, and are the rule of faith and practice.

5th. 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 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 forwards, as much as he can, quietness, peace and love among all people, and especially among those that are or shall be committed to his 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. No person whatsoever shall speak any thing 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, glebes, 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.

VOL. I.-19.