USA > South Carolina > Marion County > A history of Marion county, South Carolina, from its earliest times to the present, 1901 > Part 6
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
as follows : St. James Santee, six; to Prince George Winyaw, four; to All Saints, two; to Prince Frederic, six, and to St. David, six-making twenty-four Representatives from the parishes named as within the district east of the Wateree ; while the whole district, exclusive of the said parishes, had only ten Representatives. (I. vol., Statutes at Large, p. 140, 13th sec- tion.) By the said Constitution of 1778, each parish and elec- tion district throughout the State elected a Senator. No pro- vision was made for the district east of the Wateree, except Prince George Winyaw and All Saints. They together could elect a Senator. There were some few other exceptions. No Senator or Representative was eligible unless he professed the Protestant religion. There is no evidence of any change in the law or Constitution in regard to representation until the Constitution of 1790 was made and adopted, and which became necessary in order to make our Constitution conform to the Constitution of the United States.
The Act of 1785 had created or established Liberty County (now Marion). The Constitution of 1790 recognized it, so far as to assign to it two Representatives in the House, and assigned to it and Kingston (Horry) together one Senator. Whilst all the little parishes in the low country each had three Representatives, except All Saints, which had but one, and Charleston, including St. Philip and St. Michael, had fifteen Representatives. Such counties as Williamsburg, Marlbor- ough, Chesterfield, Darlington, Chester, Fairfield, Richland, Lancaster, Kershaw, Claremont, Clarendon, Union, Spartan- ,burg and Greenville had only two Representatives each. In the Senate, Charleston (including St. Philip and St. Michael), had two Senators, each and every parish had a Senator, while Winyaw and Williamsburg together had one, Liberty and Kingston one, Marlborough, Chesterfield and Darlington to- gether had two Senators. Fairfield, Richland and Chester together had one. Lancaster and Kershaw together had one. Claremont and Clarendon together had one. (See article I., sections 3 and 7, Constitution 1790, I. vol., Statutes at Large, pp. 184, 185 and 186.) Article XI. reads as follows: "No Convention of the people shall be called unless by the concur- rence of two-thirds of both branches of the whole representa-
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
tion. No part of this Constitution shall be altered, unless a bill to alter the same shall have been read three times in the House of Representatives and three times in the Senate, and agreed to by two-thirds of both branches of the whole repre- sentation ; neither shall any alteration take place until the bill so agreed to be published three months previous to a new elec- tion for members of the House of Representatives; and if the alteration proposed by the Legislature shall be agreed to in the first session by two-thirds of the whole representation in both branches of the Legislature after the same shall have been read three times on three several days in each House, then, and not otherwise, the same shall become a part of the Constitu- tion." (I. Vol., Statutes at Large, page 192.)
The Constitution of 1790 was of force, and the people of the State lived under it, without alteration or amendment, for twenty years. The amendment ratified in December, 1808, which did not go into effect till 1810, made some change in the basis of representation. Population and taxation were the basis, and if there was a deficiency in either population or taxation, or of both, there was a provision for some represen- tation, as will be seen. And representation varied every ten years, according to the population as shown by the census every tenth year, which was provided for, and the taxation for each decade might show. The amendment of December, 1808, was as follows : "The House of Representatives shall consist of one hundred and twenty-four members, to be apportioned among the several election districts of the State according to the num- ber of white inhabitants contained and the amount of all taxes raised by the Legislature, whether direct or indirect or of whatever species paid in each, deducting therefrom all taxes paid on account of property held in any other district, and adding thereto all taxes elsewhere paid on account of property held in such district. An enumeration of the white inhabitants for this 'purpose shall be made in the year one thousand eight hundred and nine, and in the course of every tenth year there- after, in such manner as shall be by law directed; and Repre- sentatives shall be assigned to the different districts in the above mentioned proportion by Act of the Legislature at the session immediately succeeding the above enumeration. 5
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
"If the enumeration herein directed should not be made in the course of the year appointed for the purpose by these amendments, it shall be the duty of the Governor to have it effected as soon thereafter as shall be practicable.
"In assigning Representatives to the several districts of the State, the Legislature shall allow one Representative for every sixty-second part of the whole number of white inhabitants in the State; and one Representative also for every sixty-second part of the whole taxes raised by the Legislature of the State. The Legislature shall further allow for such fractions of the sixty-second part of the white inhabitants of the State, and of the sixty-second part of the taxes raised by the Legislature of the State, as when added together they form a unit.
"In every apportionment of Representatives under these amendments, which shall take place after the first apportion- ment, the amount of taxes shall be estimated from the average of the ten preceding years; but the first apportionment shall be founded upon the tax of the preceding year, excluding from the amount thereof the whole produce of the tax on sales at public auction.
"If, in the apportionment of Representatives under these amendments, any elective district shall appear not to be en- titled, from its population and its taxes, to a Representative, such election district shall, nevertheless, send one Represen- tative; and if there should still be a deficiency of the number of Representatives required by these amendments, such defi- ciency shall be supplied by assigning Representatives to those election districts having the largest surplus fraction, whether those fractions consist of a combination of population and taxes, or of population or of taxes separately, until the number of one hundred and twenty-four members be provided.
"No apportionment under these amendments shall be con- strued to take effect in any manner, until the general election which shall succeed such apportionment.
"The election districts for members of the House of Repre- sentatives shall be and remain as heretofore established.
"The Senate shall be composed of one member from each election district as now established for the election of members of the House of Representatives, except the district formed by
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
the parishes of St. Philip and St. Michael, to which shall be allowed two Senators as heretofore."
Such was the Constitution of 1790 and amendments of 1808, made with reference to representation in the State Legislature. Taking into consideration the time when it was framed and the circumstances which brought it about, the persons composing the Convention and the historic facts antecedent thereto and leading up to it, the most casual reader cannot fail to see its purpose. It was to secure and perpetuate the power of those who had dominated the State from 1704 up to that time (1790) a period of, say, eighty-five years. It is well under- stood by those who have read and kept up with the history of the State, to what party allusion is here made. The Church of England, the Episcopal Church, is meant. In 1704, that church secured legal establishment. (Vol. II., Statutes at Large, page 236, et sequens. )
The caption of the Act is, "An Act for the establishment of religious worship in the provinces according to the Church of England, and for the erecting of churches for the public wor- ship of God, and also for the maintenance of ministers and the building convenient houses for them." There are thirty-five sections of the said Act, covering ten pages. The said several sections cannot here be given in full, for the want of space. It was, however, provided that lands should be taken up or bought upon which to erect the churches and for church-yards, ceme- teries, out-houses, &c., and to have built thereon the church and all necessary out-buildings, together with convenient and commodious parsonages and chapels of ease, and to employ ministers or rectors at such salary as might be agreed on, and all to be paid for out of the public treasury. At this time there was only one Church (of England), St. Philip, in Charleston, and the same provisions were made for all such Episcopal Churches that might be erected in future; though at that time, and, perhaps, at all times since, the Episcopalians were greatly in the minority, yet they managed to hold to this advantage, laying off parishes till the Revolution, and erecting churches to the number of twenty-four, mostly on the coast or in the low country. (Ramsay, II. vol., p. 5.) Thus the Epis- copal Church gained political ascendancy and held it till the
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
Revolution or until 1790, having all their church expenses paid by the public, besides other advantages, their religion costing them but little comparatively, while dissenting denominations had to build and maintain their own churches or do without them, if too poor to buy and build and support their own min- isters-a most iniquitous arrangement, unjust and tyrannical. Many amendments to the law were subsequently made, but none to weaken their political power and advantage. They held it with a death-like grip. The Revolutionary War brought no change in the law. It may have diminished some of its rigors, but no repeal of the obnoxious law. No disposi- tion was manifested after the Revolutionary War ended to re- peal the unequal and unjust laws. There is a considerable difference between "skinning and being skinned." They had been extracting money from the people to support their re- ligion for more than one hundred years-very pleasant to them, but very unpleasant to the taxpayers. The Constitution of the United States was made in 1787, and was submitted to the States for ratification or rejection. The Convention of South Carolina called for the purpose ratified and adopted the United States Constitution in May, 1788. Having ratified that instru- ment, she of necessity was obliged to put herself in line with it. Hence a Convention of the State to frame another Constitution was called, and the Constitution of June, 1790, was the result. South Carolina was in a dilemma. She had either to give up her legislation in favor of the Episcopal Church-so dear to the hearts of its adherents, though iniquitous and oppressive to all other classes-or remain out of the Union formed by the Constitution of the United States. She chose between the two evils the former, and retained the latter position which she had assumed in 1788, by ratifying the Constitution of the United States. Being shorn of her discriminating power, hitherto exercised in favor of the Episcopal Church, and to the discom- fort and injury of all dissenting denominations, she determined to hold on to the political power she had obtained and wielded for near a century. She had the Convention of 1790 called to frame a new Constitution, and in that to perpetuate her politi- cal power and influence, through parochial representation. The low county parishes dominated that Convention. Its
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
membership was composed of delegates from each parish and district as provided for representation in the Legislature under the Constitution of 1778, as hereinbefore stated. They out- numbered all other delegations at least two to one; they could and did make a Constitution just such as suited the views of the low country, and thereby in the fundamental law of the State perpetuated their power and influence in the Legislature. They fixed representation so as thus, under the forms of law, to control and influence the legislation of the State. The Con- stitution of 1790 in this regard is "iron bound" and "rock ribbed." No future Convention of the people could be called, or any amendment or alteration made in that Constitution, unless it was by bill, introduced in the Legislature, and read three times, on three several days, in both the Senate and House of Representatives, and upon its second and third readings, must be agreed to by two-thirds of the whole representation in each house. And this is not all. The proposed alteration or amendment, after being thus agreed to, must be published pre- vious to a new election for members of the House of Repre- sentatives; and if the alteration proposed by the Legislature shall be agreed to in their first session by two-thirds of the whole representation in each branch of the Legislature, after the same shall have been read on three several days in each house, then, and not otherwise, the same shall become a part of this Constitution. Thus it is seen that the low country, by means of their parochial representation, secured to them- selves the power to control the legislation of the State, and also. to prevent any legislation which looked to the curtailment of their power. They kept and maintained their power until after the war between the States, the Confederate War. First by the Constitution of 1865, made under the auspices of Governor B. F. Perry, and under the proclamation of Andrew Johnson, then President of the United States. The Constitution of 1865 broke up the parish system of the low country and de- stroyed its power, so long enjoyed and originally so oppres- sively exercised. We were not allowed to live under the Constitution of 1865. A maddened and fanatical Congress of the United States disagreed with Andrew Johnson, the Presi- dent, as to his method of restoring the late seceding States to
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
proper relations to the Union, and passed the Reconstruction Acts of Congress, putting the South under a military govern- ment. The President, Andrew Johnson, vetoed those Acts, and the Congress readopted and passed them over his veto by a two-thirds vote of that body. Those Acts divided the South- ern States into military divisions, and put a commanding general over each division, to carry out at the point of the bayonet, if necessary, those Acts. Many among us remember too well the hardships and rigors of the enforcement of those Acts. Burdensome and annoying as they were, our people, with a fortitude unequaled, bore them all in mute obedience to the "powers that be" until they were consummated by the Con- stitution of 1868-a Constitution made by carpetbaggers, scal- awags and negroes. That Constitution, odious as it was, and with it at the time the intelligence of the State had no sym- pathy, yet it did, as did the Constitution of 1865, strike a death- blow to parochial representation in the Legislature of the State, and thereby the citizens everywhere in the State were relieved of the parish system, and its unjust and discriminating power- in the interest of a favored class, and against all others equally concerned and equally entitled to a fair share of the benefits of legislation.
It may be asked, why so much space is given to the discus- sion of this subject? It is answered by saying that it affected the people of Marion County to her injury. Marion County was, and has been all the time, an integral part of the State, and whatever affected the State, affected her pro tanto. To some few people, the revelations here made are news, and to many they are already familiar. Such political machinery can never again set itself up in South Carolina. The schoolmaster is, and has been, abroad in the land. The people are too intelligent, and know and appreciate their rights too well ever to allow of such again.
The first legislative notice taken of Marion District by that name is to be found in the Act of 1798, Ist section, 7th vol. Statutes at Large, page 283, by which the name was changed from Liberty County to Marion District, on page 284 of the said 7th vol. of the Statutes at Large. In the said first section of the said Act are the following words: "One other district
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
to be named Marion District, to comprehend the county now called Liberty County, according to its present limits." This section of the Act changes the name in some instances, as well as also the counties, to be called districts for the whole State. By section II. of the said Act, Courts were established in the following words : "That in each of the said districts by this Act established, there shall be held, from and after the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred, by one or more of the Associates Judges of this State for the time being, and at such places as shall be appointed by or under this Act, a Court of Sessions, and a Court of Common Pleas, to possess and exercise, respectively, each Court, in its respec- tive district, the same power and jurisdiction now held and exercised by the several Circuit or District Courts of this State in their respective districts, and shall sit at the times following, that is to say : for Marion District, at Marion Court House, on the first Mondays in March and October in every year." The fourth section of the Act distributed the Courts into circuits. "And that the several Courts of Marion District, Darlington District, Marlborough District, Chesterfield District, Fairfield District, Kershaw District, and Sumter District, shall form one other Circuit, to be named the Northern Circuit, and that the Solicitor of the said Northern Circuit shall attend each of the Courts of the said Northern Circuit, and prosecute therein, respectively, all suits and prosecutions on behalf of the State, according to the usage and custom of the existing Circuit Courts of the State." These Courts were made Courts of record, juries provided for, Clerks and Sheriffs to be appointed, and their duties prescribed. The County Courts after Ist Jan- uary, 1800, to have no jurisdiction, original or appellate, of any causes, civil or criminal, and after 1800, all causes, civil or criminal, pending in the County Courts were transferred to the Court of Sessions or Common Pleas, as the case might be, to the Courts hereby established. It was further enacted, "That from and after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred, the several Courts of General Sessions of the Peace, Oyer and Terminer, Assize and General Gaol Delivery and of Common Pleas, now established and held in this State, shall be, and the same are hereby, forever abolished; and that
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
all suits, appeals and indictments then depending in any of the said Courts (except the Court of Charleston District, in which the business already commenced shall be continued in the District of Charleston, established by this Act), shall be transferred in the manner following, that is to say: when any district shall contain two or more of the districts established by this Act, the suits, appeals and indictments depending in the superior Courts of law of such districts shall be transferred to that new district established by this Act, within such district, wherein the defendant or appellee resides ; and where there are two or more defendants or appellees residing in different new districts within the limits of such district, then to such one of the said new districts as the plaintiff or appellor shall direct, and where more of the defendants or appellees reside in such district, then to such of the new district therein as the plaintiff or appellant shall direct; and all indictments to the new district where the offence was committed, and all the said suits and indictments shall be continued, proceeded on and determined in the respective Courts to which they shall be transferred as aforesaid; and all records of the said Superior Courts hereby abolished shall be transferred to the nearest district established by this Act, there to be kept and continued."
(Section XI. of Act of 1798, 7th vol. Statutes at Large, an Act to establish an uniform and more convenient system of judicature.) Section XXIII. of said Act appoints Commis- sioners to locate court houses and gaols, and to superintend building the same, and for Marion District, the following named gentlemen were appointed: "Colonel John McRae, Dr. Thomas Wickham, John Ford, John Orr, Benjamin Har- relson, James Crawford, Thomas Harley and James Rie; that they be, and are hereby, appointed Commissioners for the purpose of fixing on a convenient and central location whereon to establish and build a court house and gaol in the District of Marion, and to superintend the building of the same." A very good Commission as is supposed. The men appointed set about the work they were appointed to perform. They only had the year 1799 to perform the work assigned them-the time was too short, with the facilities then to be had for such undertakings. By the terms of the Act, the
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A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
rst Court was to be held first Monday in March, 1800. Tra- ition informs us, that the first Court held in the county, nd under the terms of this Act, was held about two miles elow the present court house, just across Smith Swamp, on he plantation owned and occupied by Colonel Hugh Giles, fterwards owned and occupied by the late Samuel Stevenson, nd now by W. W. Baker. The very spot where the house tood was shown the writer by Mr. Stevenson while he owned t. The new court house then in course of construction was not n condition to be used ; therefore, this little log house, probably ixteen feet square, was improvised for holding the first Court ver held in the county. Philip Bethea, the father-in-law of he writer, told him often that he attended the first Court held. t is supposed that the court house was completed during the rear-that court house is still in existence and in a good state of preservation. It was located somewhere on the public quare not far from where the present court house stands-a vooden building. It was occupied as a court house until 1823, when it was replaced by a brick building, which was built that ear and was located about the place where the new fire-proof building, lately constructed for the Clerk's office and for the Probate Judge now stands. The records in their offices are leemed most important, and hence this latter building, made ire-proof for the protection and safe preservation of those ecords. The court house erected in 1823 of brick was of jood material, but was found to be too small and contracted or convenience, and not adapted to the requirements of the growing county ; hence the present commodious and substantial rick building was constructed in 1853 and 1854, and it is well dapted to the purposes for which it was built, except that the entrance door should have been placed in the northern end of he building instead of the eastern side, where it is. The hrong coming in and going out where it now is, produces noise nd confusion-very often to the disturbance of the Court, to ttorneys, parties and witnesses engaged. Furthermore, a old east wind, when the door is open, comes rushing in from he door, to the great discomfort and annoyance of all within, nd necessitates keeping the door closed, which it is almost mpossible to do, as persons are frequently passing in and out,
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and the opening and closing the door every minute causes con- fusion. If the entrance was at the north end, much or all of these objections would be obviated.
As already stated, the first court house was a wooden struct- ure, which, doubtless, did very well as an initiatory court house, but was soon found to be insufficient for the purposes of its erection, and the powers that then were, had the brick one of 1823 built. Who the contractor was for the one built in 1800, we have not been able to find out. The contractor for the one built in 1823 was Enos Tart, a prominent man in his day. The court house of 1800 was sold or given to the late Thomas Evans, Sr., who moved it out of the public square and reconstructed it on his own lot, and converted it into a com- modious dwelling. The house still stands on said lot, and now belongs to the Hon. T. C. Moody, and is occupied at this writ- ing by said Moody and Stephen G. Miles and family. The house, though one hundred years old, seems to be perfectly sound and still in a good state of preservation. The writer supposes it was built of the very best material; if it had not been it would have gone to decay before this time. It was built before the day of turpentine vandalism. It is an evident fact, that the timber from which the turpentine has been ex- tracted soon rots-its very life is taken from it. It is like taking the blood from the animal, man included; life is de- stroyed, and soon goes into a state of decay. One hundred years ago the uses of turpentine had not been discovered, nor had the cupidity of man been excited to the destruction of our pine forests.
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