USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780 > Part 21
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In the meanwhile the legislature had been busily at work. The question of the disestablishment of the church while pressed had become merged in one of still greater importance. This was no less than the forming of an entirely new constitution. The Provincial Congress in March, 1776, had, as we have seen, assumed to form a con- stitution against the protest of many who maintained that such a fundamental instrument should only be framed by a full and free representation of the people called for the purpose. Under this Constitution which was to be in force only until an accommodation of the unhappy differences between Great Britain and America could be obtained, the present General Assembly had been elected and derived their authority from its provisions, and from its provisions only. There was no power or authority given by that Constitution to the General Assembly to amend or alter it. Whether the body enacting it had or had not been a prop- erly representative one for such a purpose, the instrument as it stood was the chart and limit of the authority of those assembled under it. By it legislative authority was vested in the President, the General Assembly, and Legis- lative Council, with a power of veto in the President. But the body sitting under the so-called Constitution had already assumed the right of amending it. With the
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assent of John Rutledge, President, this General Assembly had passed the ordinance whereby the oath prescribed by the Constitution of 1776 to support and defend that Con- stitution until an accommodation of the differences between Great Britain and America should take place, had been changed to one acknowledging the independence of the State, abjuring allegiance to the King, and swearing faith and allegiance to the State.1 If, then, this Assembly could alter the Constitution in one particular, why not in another ? and why not altogether ? Granting the right in the first instance, it was now too late to resist it because of the particulars in which it was now to be exercised.
These particulars, however, were most distasteful to many of those who had hitherto controlled, if not led, the revolutionary movement. Two of them were most ob- jectionable to a large party, to wit : (1) the disestablish- ment of the church, and (2) the establishment of a second chamber -a Senate in the place of the Legislative Council, to be elected by the people directly. These changes were far too democratic for the churchmen who had hitherto been in the control. The discussion lasted through the winter, and, strange to say, moved by some now unknown influence, Rawlins Lowndes, the extreme conservative, was now in full accord with Christopher Gadsden and William Henry Drayton in pressing this measure on the Assembly. The bill enacting the new Constitution was finally passed and sent to the President for his approval, but on the 5th of March President Rutledge vetoed it under the power given him by the Constitution of 1776.2 His reasons for so doing he gave in a very able speech to the Legislative Council and General Assembly. He declared that he had taken an oath to preside over the
1 Statutes of So. Ca., vol. I, 135.
2 So. Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette, March 12, 1778.
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people of the State according to the Constitution or form of government agreed to and resolved upon by the repre- sentatives of South Carolina in March, 1776, and it was therefore impossible for him without breach of this solemn obligation to give his sanction to the establishment of a different form of government. But he proceeded : If I were not restrained by an oath, I should nevertheless put a negative on the bill because it annihilates one branch of the legislature, and transfers the right of electing another branch from the General Assembly to the people, and nothing is clearer to me than that we have no lawful power to do so. For on the late dissolution of govern- ment the people, being at liberty to choose what form they pleased, agreed to one vesting an authority for making the laws by which they were bound in three branches, not to be violated or infringed, but to be preserved as a sacred deposit as that security of their lives, liberties, and prop- erties which, after mature deliberation, they deemed it wisest to provide. The legislative authority being fixed and limited, cannot change or destroy itself without sub- verting the Constitution from which it is derived. The people by that Constitution, he said, delegated to us a power of making laws, not of creating legislation ; and there can be no doubt that if we have the authority to take the right of electing a legislative council from that body in which the Constitution placed it and give it to another, we may not only do the like with the right of electing members of assembly and a president, but vest the election of both the Assembly and Council in another body instead of the people, and the election of a president in some other body than the council and assembly ; if we have the power to lop off one branch of the legislature, we may cut off either of the other branches and suffer the legislative authority to be exercised by the remaining
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branch only, or abolish the third also, and invest the whole authority in some other person or body. Then after arguing from experience that it was not chimerical that such infractions might be attempted, he comes to another more serious objection : --
" Supposing, however," he continues, " that we had power to form a new constitution, I apprehend that the causes assigned for it are altogether insufficient. The bill recites that the present constitution was temporary only, and suited to the situation of public affairs when it was resolved on looking forward to an accommodation with Great Britain, an event then desired. But that the united colonies have since been constituted independent States by the declaration of the honorable Continental Congress, and it is therefore become abso- lutely necessary to frame a constitution suited to that great event. Admitting our form of government to be temporary, it is to con- tinue until that accommodation shall take place, until peace between Great Britain and America shall be concluded, though I do not hold that it must then be altered, and I think should not unless a better can be devised. We still look forward to such an accommodation, an event as desirable now as it ever was, so that the situation of public affairs is in this respect the same as when the constitution was established ; and though indeed since the Declaration of Independence the style of this coun- try is somewhat altered, having been heretofore one of the united colonies, and being now one of the United States of America, yet it exercised, and constitutionally, the same supreme power before as it has since that period. Such declaration therefore cannot make it necessary to change the form of government nor can I conceive any reason which docs. The good of the people," continued President Rutledge, "being the end of govern- ment, that is the best form under which they are happiest, they being the fittest judges of what would be most productive of their happi- ness, preferred the present mode of electing a legislative council to that which is offered for electing a senate, probably because it ap- peared more likely that persons of the greatest integrity, learning, and abilities would be chosen by and from amongst their representa- tives when assembled, than by electors in their several parishes and districts, and it may have seemed incongruous that there should be two representative bodies, the less controlling the greater. The people also preferred a compounded or mixed government to a simple democracy, or one verging toward it, perhaps because
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however unexceptionable democratic power may appear at first view, its effects have been found arbitrary, severe, and destructive. Cer- tain it is that systems which in theory have been much admired on trial have not succeeded, and that projects and experiments relative to government are of all schemes the most dangerous and fatal. The peo- ple having adopted such a constitution as seemed to them the most perfect, when it is not even surmised that any grievance or incon- venience has arisen from it, and where they are satisfied with and happy under it (which I firmly believe they are), if we had author- ity I should conceive it neither politic, expedient, nor justifiable to change this form for another, especially as I think the one proposed will not be better than or so good as what we now enjoy ; and whether it would or not is a speculative point which time only can determine."
President Rutledge closed the speech with saying he was not vain enough to imagine that what he had said could influence the minds of the Assembly in a matter which had been so lately the subject of debate, and hav- ing delivered his sentiments with candor he thought it proper to resign the office of President.1
The resignation of President Rutledge was unexpected, and threw the Assembly into great confusion. That body, however, immediately referred the speech to a committee of which Rawlins Lowndes was chairman, a majority of which resolved to report resolutions drawn by Rawlins Lowndes, declaring it to be the opinion of the committee that nothing contained in the temporary constitution passed on the 26th of March, 1776, should be construed to constrain or prohibit the legislature from making any amendments or alterations to it. But on the contrary from the very nature of that constitution being " a temporary " regula- tion of the internal policy of the State it became abso- lutely necessary to revive and improve it. That the oath of office taken by the President could oblige him no longer
1 Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. I, 132, 138.
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to maintain the Constitution to which it referred than until the legislature thought proper to alter it, other- wise what the legislature intended as a temporary regula- tion might be rendered perpetual and an unalterable law. The bill for establishing the Constitution of the State pre- sented to the President the day before, and rejected by him, was calculated to render the Constitution of the country more perfect and unexceptional, and to give stability and permanence thereto; that the fact of the President refusing his assent to a bill of such magnitude which had for many months almost wholly engrossed the attention of both Houses and the public, afforded incon- testable proof of the wisdom, necessity, and propriety of taking away in the future this veto power. The com- mittee finally declared it their opinion that in consequence of the President having resigned, that the House together with the Legislative Council should proceed to the elec- tion of another officer to fill the vacancy "agreeable to the spirit of the Constitution of March 6, 1778." But now arose the question how could that be done if the Constitution of March 6, 1778, had not yet been adopted ? The committee of the House by a majority vote adopted these resolutions ; but it was deemed necessary to obtain a conference with the Legislative Council on the subject, and as the time was pressing to end the anarchy between the two constitutions. The conference only came to three general resolutions, viz .: (1) That the President had a right to resign ; (2) that his resignation should be accepted; (3) that a new President should be elected the next day. These were adopted by both Houses.1 An election was thereupon had, and Arthur Middleton was chosen ; but he, too, was unwilling to approve the new Constitution, and declined. A second election was then had, and Rawlins
1 MS. volume of Christopher Gadsden, entitled So. Ca. Miscellan.
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Lowndes was elected and accepted, and on the 19th approved it.1
On the 11th of March a motion was made in the General Assembly that the thanks of the House be presented to John Rutledge, Esq., late President of the State, for his vigilant and faithful discharge of the duties of that important sta- tion, and that the Speaker be desired to signify the same by letter. But this compliment was not allowed to pass unchal- lenged. It was opposed, and some time was spent in debate upon it, when the previous question was moved ; and upon this, viz .: "Whether the question should now be put ? " the House divided tellers ; for the yeas, Captain Ladson, for the nays Captain Sanders. The yeas went forth 57, the nays 26. The main question, viz. : "That the thanks of this House be given to John Rutledge, Esq., late President of the State," then being put, the House again divided ; the tellers on this question were for the yeas Colonel C. C. Pinckney, for the nays Hon. Mr. Edwards. The yeas went forth 68, the nays 15. A motion was then made that the vote of thanks to the President be amended by inserting at the end the following words : " from the commencement of his administration to the time of his resignation." The resolution was thus made to read : -
" Resolved unanimously that the thanks of the House be given to John Rutledge, Esq., late President of the State, for the vigilant and faithful discharge of the duties of that important station from the commencement of his administration to the time of his resigning the same ; and that the Speaker do signify the same to him by letter."
General Gadsden adds a note in his manuscript account of these proceedings : -
"N.B. Colonel Pinckney, Sen'r, moved this last amendment, seconded by C. G., intending thereby to except from the thanks the late Presi-
1 So. Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette, March 12, 1778; Ramsay's Revo- lution, vol. I, 138.
VOL. III. - R
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dent's last act, that of an approbation to the speech rejecting the constitution."
It is proverbial that politics makes strange companions. Here was presented a striking instance, in which Rawlins Lowndes and Charles Pinckney, two leading conserva- tives, were acting with Christopher Gadsden, the extre- mist, to overthrow the influence of the Rutledges. But the year before Richard Hutson had written to Isaac Hayne that Messrs. Lowndes and Pinckney had thrown off the mask, and argued strongly for having the church continued upon its former footing : now they were sup- porting Gadsden in the adoption of a constitution which would disestablish it. John Rutledge could afford gener- ously to overlook this curtailment of the words of the compliment when he saw the report of the tellers on the main question. President or not, he was still the leader of the people of South Carolina.
But John Rutledge's position, however strong in itself, was certainly inconsistent with that of his speech upon the opening of the session. He had then urged the Assembly to continue their opposition to the Crown until it relinquished all hopes of revenue and conquest and agreed to a peace which would secure the sovereignty and independence of America. Now he was telling the Assem- bly that he still looked forward to an accommodation with Great Britain as desirable as it ever was. It is almost amusing to observe the gravity with which he speaks of the Constitution of 1776 as emanating from the people when we recollect how it was adopted against Rawlins Lowndes's protest by a body which was in no sense a free and full representation of the people, but was little more than a self-constituted one. Then, too, as we have before pointed out, John Rutledge had by assenting to the ordi- nance for establishing an oath of abjuration and alle-
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giance, admitted the right of the Assembly to amend the Constitution. The truth, however, no doubt was, that at heart Rutledge did not wish to see the door closed to a reconciliation with the mother country, and that these innovations, the disestablishing the church and setting up a pure democracy, still more alarmed him as to the ulti- mate results of a final separation from Great Britain. His position was, no doubt, that of a large part of the planters and merchants of Carolina. They had gone into resistance against the principle of taxation without repre- sentation, but without any idea of separation from Eng- land, and many, very many of them, would have ridden with him to Philadelphia, as he had offered to do when Gadsden two years ago first announced the idea, to pro- test against it; and now that they found the movement culminating in setting aside the church from the govern- ment, and setting up a democracy pure and simple, their hearts turned again with longing to the mother country, and, to them, her good old ways. As has been observed by a writer upon this subject, all, both Whigs and Tories, were born and had grown up under a monarchy, and the abstract question of renouncing or continuing it was one upon which men of undoubted patriotism differed widely. Very many of the Whigs came into the final measure of separation with great reluctance and doubt, and hesita- tion prevailed even in the Continental Congress.1 This was especially true of South Carolina.
But if the conduct of John Rutledge was inconsistent, that of Rawlins Lowndes was still more so. He had been the most conservative of all the leaders of the Revolution. His prudence had provoked the impatience and satire of Arthur Middleton and William Henry Drayton, who, in 1775, had dubbed him the great " Procrastinator." He
1 The Am. Loyalists (Sabine), 67.
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had vigorously protested against the Constitution of 1776, and had been shocked at Christopher Gadsden's readiness to agree to a separation from England ; but a year before he had with Charles Pinckney opposed the disestablish- ment of the church, the first step toward the new Con- stitution. And yet now we find him with Christopher Gadsden advocating its adoption, drawing the resolution to override Rutledge's veto of it, and accepting the Presi- dency resigned by Rutledge and declined by Middleton, because it closed the door to a reconciliation with the mother country. He, the conservative of conservatives, accepts the Presidency to set in motion the new condition of things : the abjuration of the King, the disestablish- ment of the church, and the institution of a pure democ- racy. Of this curious condition of things we have no explanation. The destruction of John Rutledge's papers, the burning of Crowfield, the family seat of Lowndes, with all of his, and the loss of records in the two in- vasions of South Carolina precludes the historian from any satisfactory solution of this, among other interesting questions, which must now remain forever in doubt.1
Christopher Gadsden, however, was not satisfied. He had carried the Constitution, it is true, against John Rut- ledge. But he felt that John Rutledge's power was still great, that he was still the strongest man in the State, and he was very indignant at being made Vice President under Lowndes, whom he had made President. Just before the adjournment of the House Colonel James Parsons had been elected Vice President, but he had declined on
1 In his speech against the adoption of the Constitution of the United States in the Legislature of the State Mr. Lowndes said : " He was very much originally against a declaration of independency ; he also opposed the instalment law, but when they received the approbation of the people it became his duty as a good citizen to promote their due observance." Elliot's Debates, vol. IV, 297.
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account of the state of his health, and thereupon Chris- topher Gadsden had been elected. But so far from esteem- ing this an honor, he regarded it as a device of his enemies to get rid of him. He writes to Drayton then in the Continental Congress on the 1st of June : 1 __
"I find by yr direction that you knew the House had dubbed me Vice Presid. This was done the last hour of their sitting by the plentitude of the wanton power of a bare House. Parsons was excused on acct of his ill health, & I at that time full as bad, & that they knew, forced into his place, I saw plainly their views, but could not avoid accept'g without throwing the state into confusion. But this I did not do without letting them know I plainly perceived their motive. To get rid of me at the next meeting, & to make me ineligible at the next election.""
But however much Christopher Gadsden may have chafed at this second place into which he was put, and correctly or otherwise attributed it to a political manœuvre, he loyally supported Rawlins Lowndes in the difficult position in which he was placed, to inaugurate a new gov- ernment in the face of an opposition which was really in the majority. For the people wanted John Rutledge with whatever constitution they had. He had resigned the Presidency, but he had lost none of his strength. Whether Gadsden was right or wrong in the motives he attributed to his own election as Vice President, the result was that on the 3d of April John Rutledge was at once returned as a member of the Assembly from Charlestown in the place of Gadsden who, in accepting that office, had thus made room for him. John Rutledge was too wise to sulk from affairs because of his defeat, and we shall soon see him elected the first Governor under the Con- stitution which he now had vetoed, and which Gadsden and Lowndes had carried over his veto.
1 MS. volume of Christopher Gadsden, entitled So. Ca. Miscellan.
CHAPTER XII
1778
WE must now recur to the effects which the surrender of Burgoyne had produced in Europe. The greatest ex- pectations had been entertained in Great Britain from his expedition, and the fall of Ticonderoga and his rapid and splendid success in its first stages had promised their fulfilment. A junction of his army from Canada, with that of Sir Henry Clinton at New York, was confidently expected, and it was hoped that by their junction a deci- sive blow would be given to the rebellion by cutting off New England, its seat, as it was believed, from the other colonies. The disappointment of the British nation at large, at its failure, and the total loss of the army, was great ; but that of the government was still greater, and in a fit of despondency the ministry determined to give up everything for which they had originally contended. On the 10th of December, a few days after the surrender of Burgoyne had been announced, when Parliament was about to adjourn for Christmas, Lord North announced that at the close of the holidays he would bring in a proj- ect for conciliation, and accordingly in February he intro- duced two bills which were passed through both Houses of Parliament, and received the Royal assent on the 11th of March. By the first of these the duty on tea imported into America, which was the cause of dispute, was repealed, and declaration was made that the King and Parliament would not in future impose any tax or duty whatsoever payable in his colonies, except only such as should be
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necessary for the regulation of trade, and in such case that the net proceeds should be applied to the use of the colony in which it should be collected under the authority of the assemblies. By the other of these acts authority was given to the King to appoint commissioners with full power to treat, consult, and agree with any assemblies of men whatsoever in America, and even with individuals, con- cerning any grievances existing in the government of any of the colonies or in the laws of Great Britain extending to them, with a proviso, however, that such an agreement should not be binding until ratified by Parliament -- a proviso which may have been necessary on the part of the ministry, but which made the offers of the commissioners merely tentative and experimental and not binding on their principal - an objection which was at once seized upon by those in America who were not disposed to listen to overtures of any kind. The commissioners were, how- ever, vested with absolute power in their discretion to proclaim a cessation of hostilities by sea and land ; for opening an intercourse with the mother country ; for sus- pending the operation of all acts of Parliament relating to the North American colonies passed since the 10th of February, 1763 ; and for granting pardons to all descrip-
tions of persons. Well for England would it have been had these acts been passed by Parliament when first sug- gested by Lord Barrington on the part of the ministry, rather than that of the 21st of December, 1775, declaring the colonies in rebellion and outlawing the people. It was too late now that the sword had been drawn to make such an appeal, especially so, following a great disaster to the King's armies. Nevertheless had these measures been taken before the question had been made upon the adop- tion of a new constitution in South Carolina, closing the door to a reconciliation, it is not improbable that John
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