The Constitution of the State of South Carolina is the governing document of the
U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
state of
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
. It describes the structure and function of the state's government. The current constitution took effect on December 4, 1895. South Carolina has had six other constitutions, which were adopted in 1669, 1776, 1778, 1790, 1865 and 1868.
Constitutional history
Fundamental Constitutions
The first governmental framework for what is now the State of South Carolina was the
Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina
The ''Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina'' were adopted on March 1, 1669 by the eight Lords Proprietors of the Province of Carolina, which included most of the land between what is now Virginia and Florida. It replaced the '' Charter of Carol ...
, written in 1669 by the lead colonial proprietor
Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury
Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury PC FRS (22 July 1621 – 21 January 1683; known as Anthony Ashley Cooper from 1621 to 1630, as Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, 2nd Baronet from 1630 to 1661, and as The Lord Ashley from 1661 to 1 ...
and his secretary
John Locke
John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism ...
. Influenced by philosophers such as
James Harrington, the two men wrote a document which espoused religious toleration (except for Catholics) and establishing a system of government based on ownership of land. The document placed the eight proprietors of the colony at the head of its government, along with a bicameral parliament. The parliament consisted of the proprietors' deputies and the elected Commons House of Assembly.
In order to vote, a man needed fifty acres of land and needed five hundred acres to serve in the Assembly. Additionally, a three-tiered system of nobility was established: barons received 12,000 acres, while those with 24,000 acres became cassiques and those with 48,000 acres became landgraves. Despite the proprietors' wishes, the colonists refused to ratify the document. As a result, the proprietors retained governmental authority over the colony, but they implemented many of the document's provisions despite its non-ratification. In 1729, the British royal government assumed control of the colony, ''de facto'' abrogating the Fundamental Constitutions.
Constitution of 1776
In September 1775, royal governor
William Campbell fled the colony. The revolutionary Provincial Council quickly drafted a new constitution, which was adopted in March 1776. The preamble of the new constitution listed out several acts by the British considered tyrannical by the colonists in a manner similar to the later
Declaration of Independence
A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the ...
. The document, designed to be temporary, created a bicameral legislature, with the lower house (General Assembly) electing the upper house (Legislative Council) from out of its own number. The two chambers jointly elected the president and vice president, and each chamber selected three members of the privy council. The legislature also jointly elected judges, sheriffs, and military officers. Despite this republican system, the document retained the preexisting imbalance for legislative apportionment between the
Lowcountry
The Lowcountry (sometimes Low Country or just low country) is a geographic and cultural region along South Carolina's coast, including the Sea Islands. The region includes significant salt marshes and other coastal waterways, making it an import ...
and the
Upstate.
Constitution of 1778
Two years later, the temporary constitution was replaced by a document which was supposed to be permanent. Written in 1777, the legislature adopted it in March 1778 following consultation with South Carolinians. The new document formally recognized South Carolina's independence from the British. The legislature, whose chambers were renamed the Senate and House of Representatives, retained the power to elect the executive, now called the Governor, along with the Lieutenant Governor and privy council. The executive's power was substantially diminished.
Religion played a much larger role in the 1778 constitution than in the 1776 one. After a significant debate in the legislature, the support of
Christopher Gadsden
Christopher Gadsden (February 16, 1724 – August 28, 1805) was an American politician who was the principal leader of the South Carolina Patriot movement during the American Revolution. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress, a brigadier ...
and
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (February 25, 1746 – August 16, 1825) was an American Founding Father, statesman of South Carolina, Revolutionary War veteran, and delegate to the Constitutional Convention where he signed the United States Constit ...
swayed the members of the body to vote to unanimously
disestablish
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...
the Church of England as it existed at the time. Even so, a form of religious establishment was created, with all of the preexisting Protestant congregations being amalgamated into a single denomination but denied financial support.
Additionally, ministers were forbidden from serving in public office, though the constitution asserted that doing so prevented them from being "diverted from the great duties of their function."
Constitution of 1790
The adoption of the
Constitution of the United States
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...
in 1787 prompted South Carolinians to revise their constitution yet again. Once again, the Lowcountry benefited from imbalanced legislative apportionment, though the state capital was moved to Columbia as a token concession. Provisions also included requiring the ownership of land and slaves to hold public office, and separation of church and state was formally achieved.
Similar land ownership requirements limited suffrage in the state, while the legislature retained the power to elect the state's governor, whose enumerated powers mirrored those of the President of the United States under the new federal constitution.
Due to the maintenance of the imbalanced apportionment scheme, many Upstate residents proved dissatisfied with the constitution. In 1794, a number of prominent Upstate residents, including
Wade Hampton I
Wade Hampton (early 1750sFebruary 4, 1835) was an American soldier and politician. A two-term U.S. Congressman, he may have been the wealthiest planter, and one of the largest slave holders in the United States, at the time of his death.
Biog ...
and
John Kershaw, formed the Representative Reform Association to challenge the system. Initially, the Lowcountry-dominated legislature rejected their appeals. However, the Upcountry residents, aligned with the newly ascendant
Democratic-Republican Party
The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...
, eventually prevailed. In 1808, the constitution was amended to create an apportionment system based on the total white population, substantially alleviating many of the issues. Further amendments to the constitution were later adopted. Most significantly, in 1810, an amendment granted the suffrage to all white men over the age of twenty-one.
Scholar C. Blease Graham argues that, due to South Carolina's
secession
Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics le ...
in 1861, a new constitution should be considered as having been adopted at that time. However, no actual new document was ratified at that date, and the 1790 constitution merely continued to have effect as amended.
Constitution of 1865
A new constitution was adopted in 1865 following the end of the Civil War. The new constitution recognized the abolition of slavery and also further equalized legislative representation. Direct elections for the governor were implemented, and the governor received the power of the veto. This equalization of legislative representation recognized only the white population, however, and only white men could be elected to the legislature. The new constitution also included a bill of rights, which prior constitutions omitted.
Constitution of 1868
![Radical Members of the South Carolina Legislature (dark)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Radical_Members_of_the_South_Carolina_Legislature_%28dark%29.jpg)
In 1867,
Radical Republicans
The Radical Republicans (later also known as " Stalwarts") were a faction within the Republican Party, originating from the party's founding in 1854, some 6 years before the Civil War, until the Compromise of 1877, which effectively ended Reco ...
took control of the U.S. Congress and ended the period known as
Presidential Reconstruction
The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the blood ...
. Under the
Reconstruction Acts
The Reconstruction Acts, or the Military Reconstruction Acts, (March 2, 1867, 14 Stat. 428-430, c.153; March 23, 1867, 15 Stat. 2-5, c.6; July 19, 1867, 15 Stat. 14-16, c.30; and March 11, 1868, 15 Stat. 41, c.25) were four statutes passed duri ...
, the former Confederate states were required to adopt new constitutions and ratify the
14th Amendment. As a result, South Carolina was bidden to call forth a constitutional convention to adopt a new framework of government.
A constitutional convention met in Charleston, January 14, 1868. For the first time, black men participated in the election of delegates to the convention. It is the only constitution in the history of the state submitted directly to the electorate for approval; many whites refused to participate. The United States Congress ratified it on April 16, 1868.
The constitution ignored wealth and based representation in the House strictly on population. It abolished
debtors' prison
A debtors' prison is a prison for people who are unable to pay debt. Until the mid-19th century, debtors' prisons (usually similar in form to locked workhouses) were a common way to deal with unpaid debt in Western Europe.Cory, Lucinda"A Historic ...
, created counties, gave some rights to women, and provided for public education. The popularly-elected governor could veto and a 2/3 vote of the General Assembly was required to override. Race was abolished as a condition for suffrage.
Black codes
The Black Codes, sometimes called the Black Laws, were laws which governed the conduct of African Americans (free and freed blacks). In 1832, James Kent (jurist), James Kent wrote that "in most of the United States, there is a distinction in re ...
were overturned, there was no prohibition on interracial marriage, and all public schools were open to all races. It provided a uniform system of free public schools, "although not implemented until decades later."
Violent overthrow of 1876 and 1877
Despite the provisions of the 1868 state constitution, in 1876, whites regained control of the state government. Known as
Redeemers
The Redeemers were a political coalition in the Southern United States during the Reconstruction era of the United States, Reconstruction Era that followed the American Civil War, Civil War. Redeemers were the Southern wing of the Democratic Par ...
or
Bourbon Democrats
Bourbon Democrat was a term used in the United States in the later 19th century (1872–1904) to refer to members of the Democratic Party who were ideologically aligned with fiscal conservatism or classical liberalism, especially those who suppo ...
, these men consisted of the former plantation elite and set about undermining the Reconstruction-era document. Violent intimidation was used to prevent African Americans from voting, and, in the early 1890s, the
Eight Box Law (which instituted an indirect literacy requirement for voting) aimed at disenfranchising African-American and poor white voters.
Constitution of 1895
![Tillman crop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Tillman_crop.jpg)
Despite the suppression of African American voting rights, many whites still feared African Americans' political power. As a result, in 1894, Governor
John Gary Evans
John Gary Evans (October 15, 1863June 26, 1942) was the List of Governors of South Carolina, 85th governor of South Carolina from 1894 to 1897.
Early life
Evans was born in Cokesbury, South Carolina to an aristocratic and Good ol' boy network ...
, and his mentor, Senator
Benjamin Tillman
Benjamin Ryan Tillman (August 11, 1847 – July 3, 1918) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as governor of South Carolina from 1890 to 1894, and as a United States Senator from 1895 until his death in 1918. A whit ...
, called for a new constitutional convention to be held in the state. Tillman's base in the Upstate strongly supported the convention, but his Lowcountry rivals resisted. Thus, the convention was only approved by a narrow margin. (Tillman's movement emerged as a reaction to dominance by the Lowcountry elites and their affluent "Bourbon" allies).
Before the 1895 Constitution, voter registration limits were lower; voting was open to all males of 21 years. In the 1895 Constitution, the focus of voter registration became one of "intelligence" instead of "personhood." Individuals would, until January 1, 1898, have to be able to answer questions about any constitutional provision asked in order to qualify as a voter. Thereafter, the registration process included a test of reading and writing; individuals with at least $20 in property were also permitted to vote.
The change from the 1868 constitution's "personhood" to the 1895 constitution's "intelligence" was due to the 1895 constitution's framers' desire to disenfranchise African Americans in order to bar them from participation in the political process. Of course, due to variations in the quality of education, many poor whites were also victims of this new law. According to the state's Democratic Party-leaning newspapers, the motivations behind changing the constitution were clear:
Women's suffrage advocates also lobbied the convention to grant them the right to vote. The convention rejected the plea but did grant women property rights. Tillman, however, suffered a minor defeat on women's issues when the convention rejected his proposal to legalize divorce. Divorce had been legal under the 1868 Constitution until 1878, when the Redeemer government repealed the state's divorce laws.
In addition to voting rights and women's rights, several other issues were raised. Due to concerns about overreaches by local governments under the 1868 Constitution, the new constitution substantially limited
home rule
Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governance wit ...
and required the creation of
special-purpose districts
Special districts (also known as special service districts, special district governments, limited purpose entities, or special-purpose districts) are independent, special-purpose governmental units that exist separately from local governments such ...
for many services. Each county's legislative delegation also acted as its local government, approving the county budget, and the succeeding years saw the creation of multiple new counties, in order to further decrease the power of the Lowcountry. The new document also provided funding for primary education and established a system of liquor control in the state, known as the
Dispensary
A dispensary is an office in a school, hospital, industrial plant, or other organization that dispenses medications, medical supplies, and in some cases even medical and dental treatment. In a traditional dispensary set-up, a pharmacist dispen ...
.
Amendments prior to 1968
Between 1895 and 1968, the 1895 Constitution was amended 330 times, making it one of the longest state constitutions in the United States. It had become a somewhat chaotic document, in large part because most of the amendments dealt with matters addressed by statute in most other states. The great majority of these amendments dealt with bonded debt limits for local governments. Originally, changes in the bonded debt limits for counties could only be adopted by a statewide vote.
Several attempts were also made to alter the state's divorce law. Those attempts finally succeeded in 1947 when state legislators proposed a constitutional amendment to permit divorce. Following voter approval in 1948, the state legislature ratified the amendment, which took effect in April 1949.
Revisions since 1968
In 1966, the General Assembly approved a committee to study constitutional reform, which published its report in 1969. The report proposed seventeen new articles to replace those in the old constitution, of which the voters ratified twelve. Most significant included changes to the judiciary, which took until 1984 to fully implement. Additionally, in 1973, an amendment authorized home rule for counties. Later, in 1981, the governor's term was extended to four years with reelection permitted.
In 1991, Governor
Carroll A. Campbell Jr. authorized a new commission to study reform of the executive branch of government. Its report, ''Modernizing South Carolina State Government for the Twenty-First Century'', recommended the reduction of the state's 145 agencies into fifteen cabinet departments via constitutional amendment. The legislature rejected its proposal, however, and instead statutorily implemented a reorganization of 76 agencies into thirteen departments.
Overview of constitutional provisions
Preamble
The preamble introduces the purpose of the constitution and also establishes the principle of
popular sovereignty
Popular sovereignty is the principle that the authority of a state and its government are created and sustained by the consent of its people, who are the source of all political power. Popular sovereignty, being a principle, does not imply any ...
. When adopted in 1895, "the people" was envisioned not as the whole of South Carolina's population but of the white male elites who had the suffrage at the time.
Article I
Article I contains a
bill of rights
A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pri ...
for the people of South Carolina. Many of the rights mirror those found in the federal
Bill of Rights
A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pri ...
, including freedom of speech, religion, and protection from double jeopardy. Other provisions also mirror protections granted in other parts of the federal constitution, including a prohibition on ex post facto laws, and an equal protection clause mirroring that of the 14th Amendment. Some provisions, however, are not found in the federal constitution. These include a prohibition on
debtors' prisons
A debtors' prison is a prison for people who are unable to pay debt. Until the mid-19th century, debtors' prisons (usually similar in form to locked workhouses) were a common way to deal with unpaid debt in Western Europe.Cory, Lucinda"A Historic ...
and a section regulating who is considered a resident of South Carolina.
Most of Article I dates from 1895 but was reorganized in 1971. Portions of the original Article I were also moved to separate articles at that time. Two amendments have been made to the Article since then, however. The first codifies a
victims' rights
Victims' rights are legal rights afforded to victims of crime. These may include the right to restitution, the right to a victims' advocate, the right not to be excluded from criminal justice proceedings, and the right to speak at criminal just ...
bill, while the second creates a "right to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife traditionally pursued." The latter was part of a wave of similar state constitutional amendments promoted by the gun-rights lobby
National Rifle Association
The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...
.
Article II
Article II governs the state's electoral process. Like Article I, much of the article is original but was reorganized in 1971. While section six of the article still permits the General Assembly to allow for literacy tests in order for one to vote, this provision was outlawed by the
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movement ...
, and this was subsequently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in ''
South Carolina v. Katzenbach
''South Carolina v. Katzenbach'', 383 U.S. 301 (1966), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court that rejected a challenge from the state of South Carolina to the preclearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which required that ...
''.
A 2011 amendment also mandates the secret ballot for labor union elections, one of four such state constitutions to do so.
Article III
![SCCapitol0270](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/SCCapitol0270.jpg)
Article III establishes the
South Carolina General Assembly
The South Carolina General Assembly, also called the South Carolina Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of South Carolina. The legislature is bicameral and consists of the lower South Carolina House of Representatives and t ...
, the state's bicameral legislature. Initially, apportionment was county-based, with each county having one state senator (for a total of 46) and at least one state representative (46 out of 124). The U.S. Supreme Court decision in ''
Reynolds v. Sims
''Reynolds v. Sims'', 377 U.S. 533 (1964), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that the electoral districts of state legislative chambers must be roughly equal in population. Along with ''Baker v. Carr'' (196 ...
'' overruled these provisions, requiring state legislative districts to be equal in population. The number of legislators in each chamber has been retained, however.
Most of the article is original to the document and did not undergo reorganization in 1971. Some amendments have been made since then, however. For example, in 1997, voters approved a prohibition on convicted felons serving in the legislature in response to
Operation Lost Trust. A year later, voters removed a provision outlawing interracial marriage, already overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court in ''
Loving v. Virginia
''Loving v. Virginia'', 388 U.S. 1 (1967), was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark civil rights decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that Anti-miscegenation laws in the United States, laws ban ...
''. Initially, a provision designating the
age of consent
The age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. Consequently, an adult who engages in sexual activity with a person younger than the age of consent is unable to legally claim ...
as fourteen remained in place, but this provision was repealed in 2010.
Article IV
Article IV deals with the executive branch of the state's government. The constitution creates two positions within the executive branch, the
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
and the
Lieutenant Governor
A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
. Prior to 1981, the Governor was limited to a single term in office, but an amendment permitted governors elected after 1981 to serve for two terms. The original text of Article IV designated the Lieutenant Governor as the presiding officer of the State Senate, as is the case in many states. A 2012 amendment, however, removed this power from the Lieutenant Governor, replacing it with a separate officer elected by the Senate. The amendment also created a "ticket" system whereby candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor ran together rather than separately as before.
Article IV, Section 2, regarding the qualifications of the governor, states: "No person shall be eligible to the office of Governor who denies the existence of the
Supreme Being
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
." Article VI, section 2 and Article XVII, section 4, both of which deal with the qualifications for state office, state: "No person who denies the existence of a Supreme Being shall hold any office under this Constitution." These provisions have never been enforced in modern times, since current precedent holds that the
First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
's
Establishment Clause
In United States law, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, together with that Amendment's Free Exercise Clause, form the constitutional right of freedom of religion. The relevant constitutional text ...
is binding on the states per the
14th Amendment's
Due Process Clause
In United States constitutional law, a Due Process Clause is found in both the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, which prohibits arbitrary deprivation of "life, liberty, or property" by the government except as ...
. The state supreme court underlined this in ''
Silverman v. Campbell
''Silverman v. Campbell'' was a South Carolina Supreme Court case regarding the constitutionality of a provision in the South Carolina Constitution requiring an oath to God for employment in the public sector.
Details
In 1992, Herb Silverman was a ...
'', a 1997 case which held that these provisions not only violated the Establishment Clause, but also the
no religious test clause in
Article VI of the United States Constitution
Article Six of the United States Constitution establishes the laws and treaties of the United States made in accordance with it as the supreme law of the land, forbids a religious test as a requirement for holding a governmental position, and ...
.
Article V
Article V details the state's judiciary. South Carolina's judiciary consists of three tiers: a
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
, a
Court of Appeals
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...
, and Circuit Courts. All judges are elected by the legislature. The article also establishes the office of Attorney General. The Court of Appeals is not original to the constitution but was created by statute in 1983. Two years later, the constitution was amended to include the court. In addition to the three levels created constitutionally, a number of other courts have been created by statute. Additionally, the legislature statutorily designates the number of circuits, along with the number of judges assigned to each circuit. At present, there are sixteen circuits, with between 1-4 judges assigned to each.
Article VI
Article VI deals with various officers within the state government, in both the executive and legislative branches. Specific offices created by the article include the
Secretary of State, Commissioner of Agriculture, and Comptroller General. All of these offices are elected. This article is not original to the constitution but was first passed in 1972. Originally, the article also provided for an elected
Adjutant General
An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer.
France
In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staf ...
to head the
South Carolina National Guard
The South Carolina National Guard consists of the South Carolina Army National Guard and the South Carolina Air National Guardbr> American law specifically charges the National Guard with dual federal and state missions. In fact, the National Guard ...
. In 2014, however, the constitution was amended to make this office an appointed position by the Governor, requisite to confirmation by the Senate.
Article VII
![South Carolina counties map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/South_Carolina_counties_map.png)
Article VII regulates the creation of counties. Along with counties, Article VII also provides for a township form of government. Currently, however, no townships exist in South Carolina. When originally adopted, South Carolina contained thirty-six counties, as the 1895 convention created
Saluda County out of Edgefield County. Since its adoption, ten new counties have been created, for a present total of forty-six. The only substantial amendment to this article occurred in 1970, with the insertion of a section authorizing the creation of regional
councils of government.
Article VIII
Article VIII contains other provisions dealing with county governments and also contains information regarding municipal governments. The original version of Article VIII constrained the powers of local government, but an amended version adopted in 1973 allows for broader home rule. Before the amendment, the article had been amended approximately fifty times in order to increase the powers of nearly every local government in the state, generally regarding debts. The article authorizes
consolidated city-counties
In United States local government, a consolidated city-county is formed when one or more cities and their surrounding county ( parish in Louisiana, borough in Alaska) merge into one unified jurisdiction. As such it has the governmental powers ...
, but no such jurisdiction exists currently in South Carolina.
Article VIII-A
This article gives the General Assembly the power to regulate alcohol sales in the state. Before being amended in 2005, only the sale of "minibottles" (sealed containers of two ounces or less) was permitted for on-premises consumption.
Article IX
Article IX regulates the creation of corporations in the state. Before 1971, this article was quite extensive, but the article now allows much more flexibility as the General Assembly can amend now corporate law at any time rather than requiring a constitutional amendment.
Article X
Article X establishes the power of the state over taxation and regulates its finances. It underwent extensive revision in 1977. In terms of taxation, its provisions deal with the state's
property tax
A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property through inheri ...
. Other provisions deal with state budgeting and indebtedness, along with the indebtedness of local governments and school districts. Before 1977, 172 amendments dealt specifically with local government indebtedness, as constitutional amendments were required to alter each jurisdiction's debt limit.
Article XI
Article XI creates the State Board of Education and the position of State Superintendent of Education. A provision also provides that the General Assembly fund schools within the state. The State Supreme Court held in 1999 that the Constitution required a "minimally adequate" education to be granted to children in the case of ''Abbeville County School District v. South Carolina'' (335 S.C. 58 (1999)). Subsequent rulings in the case determined that the General Assembly continued to unconstitutionally underfund poorer, rural, districts, but those rulings were later overturned. Article XI also contains a version of the
Blaine Amendment
The Blaine Amendment was a failed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would have prohibited direct government aid to educational institutions that have a religious affiliation. Most state constitutions already had such provisions, and thirty- ...
, as do many other state constitutions. In the wake of the Suprme Court's ruling in ''
Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue
''Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue'', 591 U.S. ___ (2020), was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that a state-ba ...
'', conservative legal commentators suggested these provisions may be unconstitutional.
Prior to 1973, Article XI was much more extensive. For example, Article XI, Section 7 required
racial segregation
Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...
in schools: "Separate schools shall be provided for children of the white and colored races, and no child of either race shall ever be permitted to attend a school provided for children of the other race." This provision was effectively rendered invalid by ''
Brown v. Board of Education
''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...
''. One of the cases that was combined into ''Brown'' was a South Carolina case, ''
Briggs v. Elliott
''Briggs v. Elliott'', 342 U.S. 350 (1952), on appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of South Carolina, challenged school segregation in Summerton, South Carolina. It was the first of the five cases combined into ''Brown v ...
.'' Article XI, Section 7 is removed from the current text of the constitution.
Article XII
Article XII is entitled "Functions of Government" but primarily deals with the incarceration of convicted criminals, including juveniles. Prior to 1971, the article contained much more extensive detail in this regard. The article also authorizes the General Assembly to create state agencies.
Article XIII
Article XIII designates the state militia as consisting of "all able-bodied male citizens of the State between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years," except for
conscientious objectors
A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...
. In practice, this provision refers to the
South Carolina National Guard
The South Carolina National Guard consists of the South Carolina Army National Guard and the South Carolina Air National Guardbr> American law specifically charges the National Guard with dual federal and state missions. In fact, the National Guard ...
and other military reserve units within the state. In 2014, the original section dealing with the position of Adjutant General was amended to make it an appointed rather than elected position.
Another provision deals with Confederate pensions.
Article XIV
Article XIV deals with the state's property rights, a concept commonly known as
eminent domain
Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...
. Prior to 2007, a number of amendments extended this power to specific counties, but these counties are now deemed to fall under the more general eminent domain provision in Article I.
Article XV
Article XV establishes the procedures for impeachment of public officials. A two-thirds vote of the
South Carolina House of Representatives
The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly. It consists of 124 representatives elected to two-year terms at the same time as U.S. congressional elections.
Unlike many legislatures, seati ...
is required to impeach the governor and other state officials, as opposed to the majority required by the U.S. Constitution and most other state constitutions. A two-thirds vote is then required in the Senate to remove the official. The article also permits the Governor to remove an official following a two-thirds vote of both houses of the General Assembly.
Article XVI
Article XVI lays out the process for amending the constitution. Constitutional amendments must be approved by two-thirds of each house of the legislature, approved by the people in an election, and then ratified by a majority of each house of the legislature. If the legislature fails to ratify the amendment, it does not take effect even though it has been approved by the people. A two-thirds vote of each house of the General Assembly may also call for a constitutional convention.
Article XVII
Article XVII contains a variety of miscellaneous provisions. The most notable deals with divorce. On April 15, 1949, it was revised to permit divorce for certain reasons. It is believed that South Carolina is the only state in which the grounds for divorce are written into the constitution. The legislature is thus prohibited from creating additional grounds for divorce except by constitutional amendment.
A variety of amendments deal with local government finances, and one also authorizes the creation of a
state lottery
In the United States, lotteries are run by 48 jurisdictions: 45 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Lotteries are subject to the laws of and operated independently by each jurisdiction, and there is no ...
. In 2007, this article was amended to prohibit
same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...
. This provision was ruled unconstitutional by a federal court.
Amendments
A separate section of the Constitution contains three amendments not added into the main body of the document. The first involves eminent domain for land needed for drainage, while the second authorizes the state to construct highways. The third granted home rule to
Charleston County
Charleston County is located in the U.S. state of South Carolina along the Atlantic coast. As of the 2020 census, its population was 408,235, making it the third most populous county in South Carolina (behind Greenville and Richland counties). ...
in 1968, slightly before home rule was extended to every county.
Other provisions
Due to extremely strict
annexation
Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...
laws passed by the General Assembly in 1976, incorporated
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
in South Carolina are usually much smaller in area and population than those elsewhere in the fast-growing
Southeast
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
. However, when adjacent suburbs which would be annexed elsewhere are added in, they exhibit sizes and rates of growth similar to many municipalities in neighboring states, such as Georgia and North Carolina.
See also
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Benjamin Tillman
Benjamin Ryan Tillman (August 11, 1847 – July 3, 1918) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as governor of South Carolina from 1890 to 1894, and as a United States Senator from 1895 until his death in 1918. A whit ...
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Black Codes
The Black Codes, sometimes called the Black Laws, were laws which governed the conduct of African Americans (free and freed blacks). In 1832, James Kent (jurist), James Kent wrote that "in most of the United States, there is a distinction in re ...
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Constitution of the State of Mississippi
The Constitution of Mississippi is the primary organizing law for the U.S. state of Mississippi delineating the duties, powers, structures, and functions of the state government. Mississippi's original constitution was adopted at a constituti ...
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Gilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Weste ...
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Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
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History of the Democratic Party
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Lynching in the United States
Lynching was the widespread occurrence of extrajudicial killings which began in the United States' pre–Civil War South in the 1830s and ended during the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Although the victims of lynchings wer ...
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Nadir of American race relations
The nadir of American race relations was the period in African American history and the history of the United States from the end of Reconstruction in 1877 through the early 20th century when racism in the country, especially racism against A ...
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Reconstruction Era
The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...
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Red Shirts
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Redeemers
The Redeemers were a political coalition in the Southern United States during the Reconstruction era of the United States, Reconstruction Era that followed the American Civil War, Civil War. Redeemers were the Southern wing of the Democratic Par ...
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White League
The White League, also known as the White Man's League, was a white paramilitary terrorist organization started in the Southern United States in 1874 to intimidate freedmen into not voting and prevent Republican Party political organizing. Its f ...
References
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External links
Official site
{{Constitutions of the United States
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
South Carolina law
Government of South Carolina