INSTITUTIONS, GOVERNMENT AND LA^S OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 427 



breasts the spirit of religious liberty and toleration, and all through the 

 history of the State the same spirit has manifested itself in shaping leg- 

 islation and administering government. Such persecution for opinion's 

 sake as defaced the annals of some of the other American colonies has no 

 place in the history of South Carolina. 



When the State threw off the royal authority, it adopted (in 1770) a 

 provisional Constitution, and, so far as the civil power could be exercised, 

 this Constitution was in operation during the Revolutionary War. After 

 peace was declared, it became necessary to devise a more permanent form 

 of government, and, in 17U0, a convention was called, which, after ng^giture 

 deliberation, established a Constitution, which, with but few mollifica- 

 tions, continued to be the law of tlie State until the end of the great civil 

 war. As that Constitution has been superseded by the one now in opera- 

 tion, and which was adapted to the new conditions and relations of 

 society growing out of the results of the civil war, it will not be necessary 

 here to detail its special provisions. The judgment of a learned and 

 eloquent writer may, however, be fitly quoted upon its general scope and 

 character. " Though the form of government in South Carolina," says 

 Ramsay, " has been materially altered six or seven times, yet each 

 change has been for the better. In the eighteenth century, while exper- 

 iment and the reasoning powers of man were improving the arts and 

 sciences, the art of government was by no means stationary. South 

 Carolina, as one of the United States, and acting her part in tlie Ameri- 

 can Revolution, has practically enforced the following improvements in 

 the art of government : 1. That all power is derived from the people, 

 and ought to be exercised for their benefit ; that they have a right to 

 resist the tyranny and oppression of their rulers, and to change their 

 government, whenever it is found not to afford that protection to life, 

 liberty and property for the protection of which it was instituted. 2. That 

 it is the true policy of States to afford equal protection to the civil rights 

 of all individuals and of all sects of religionists, without discrimination 

 or preference, and without interference, on the part of the State, in all 

 matters that relate only to the intercourse between man his Maker. 3. 

 That the ultimate end and object of all laws and government is the 

 happiness of the people, and that, therefore, no laws should be passed, or 

 taxes or other burdens imposed on them, for the benefit of a part of the 

 community, but only such as operate equally and justly on all for the 

 general good. 4. That war shall only be declared, or entered upon, by 

 the solemn act of the people, whose blood and treasure is to be expended 

 in its prosecution. * * * * t- \^ government founded on reason 

 and the rights of man, and exclusively directed to its proper object, the 

 advancement of human happiness, was first established by common 



