428 INSTITUTIONS, GOVERNMENT AND LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 



consent in the eighteenth century, and in the woods of America. Its 

 foundation in South Carolina rests on the following principles: No power 

 is exercised over the people but what had been granted by them with the 

 express view of its being used for the general good. No laws bind them, 

 nor are any taxes imposed on them, but with the consent of themselves, 

 or representatives freely and fairly chosen every second year by a ma- 

 jority of votes. There are no privileged orders. All are equally subject 

 to the laws, and the vote of any one elector goes as far as that of any 

 other. No freeman can be taken, or imprisoned, or disseized of his free- 

 hold, liberties or privileges, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any manner 

 destroyed or deprived of his life, liberty, or property, but by the judg- 

 ment of his peers, or by the law of the land. Religion is so perfectly free 

 that all sects have equal rights and privileges, and each individual may 

 join with any or with none, as he pleases, without subjecting himself to 

 any civil inconvenience. These and similar principles of liberty and 

 equality pervade the Constitution and laws of the State. The first is the 

 work of the people in their sovereign capacity, and prescribes limits to 

 all the departments of government. These departments are three — 

 legislative, executive, and judicial ; for it is necessar}'- in regular govern- 

 ment that laws be enacted, expounded and applied, and finally executed. 

 * * ^ * The duties required and the burdens imposed by the laws 

 are equally binding on the law makers as on the people. They who are 

 legislators cease to be so in the Senate at the end of four years, and in the 

 House of Representatives at the end of two, and all power reverts to the 

 people till, by a new election, they invest the men of their choice with 

 authority to act for them. Every precaution is taken to identify the 

 interests of the people and their rulers. If the electors are not wanting 

 to themselves, the laws thus cautiously made, impartially expounded, 

 and liberally executed by the men of their choice, must be the collected 

 will and wisdom of the people deliberately pursuing their own happiness 

 as far as is practicable in the imperfect state of human nature. Such, 

 after two revolutions in one century, and three attempts to form an 

 efficient Constitution, is the result of the efforts of the people of South 

 Carolina for the preservation and advancement of their political inter- 

 ests." [Ramsay's History of South Carolina, Vol. 2, p. 139, et seq.] 



The period which elapsed between the two great wars was one of con- 

 stant growth and prosperity. Under the operation of the constitutional 

 government described by Ramsay, the progress of South Carolina was 

 marked and steady. The various nationalities which have been shown 

 to have contributed to her population became gradually welded together 

 into a homogenous whole, and the upper districts of the State soon be- 

 came the homes of thriving and industrious settlers. Count}' seats Avere 



