4 the state, the registers of mesne conveyances in each district, attorney general, furveyor general, powder-receiver, collectors and comptrollers of the customs, and waiters, be chosen in like manner, by the senate, and house of representatives, jointly, by ballot, in the house of representatives, and commiffioned by the governor and commander in chief, for two years. That none of the faid officers respectively, who shall have served for four years, shall be eligible to serve in the faid offices, after the expiration of the faid term, until the full end and term of four years, but shall continue in office until a new choice be made: Provided, that nothing herein contained, shall extend to the several persons appointed to the above offices refpectively, under the late constitution. And that the present, and all future commiffioners of the treasury, and powder receivers, shall each give bond, with approved security, agreeable to law. 4 30. That all the officers in the army and navy of this state, of and above the rank of captain, shall be chosen by the fenate and house of representatives, jointly, by ballot, in the house of representatives, and commiffioned by the governor and commander in chief; and that all other officers in the army and navy of this state, shall be commiffioned by the governor and commander in chief. ****** છ???????????????? ????????? ?? ?? 31. That in case of vacancy, in any of the offices above directed to be filled by the fenate and house of representatives, the governor and commander in chief, with the advice and confent of the privy council, may appoint others in their stead, until there shall be an election by the senate and house of representatives to fill those vacancies respectively. 32. That the governor and commander in chief, with the advice and confent of the privy council, may appoint, during pleasure, until otherwise directed by law, all other necessary officers, except such as are now by law directed to be otherwife chofen.. A 33. That the governor and commander in chief shall have no power to commence war, or conclude peace, or enter into any final treaty, without the consent of the senate and house of reprefentatives. 34. That the resolutions of the late congreffes of this state, and all laws now of force here (and not hereby altered), shall so continue, until altered or repealed by the legislature of this state, unless where they are temporary, in which cafe they shall expire, at the times respectively limited for their duration. 35. That the governor and commander in chief for the time being, by and with the advice and confent of the privy council, may lay embargoes, or prohibit the exportation of any commodity, for any time, not exceeding thirty days, in the recefs of the general affembly. 36. That ajl persons who shall be chosen and appointed to any office, 4 A T2 office, or to any place of trust, civil or military, before entering upon the execution of office, shall take the following oath: " I, A. B. do acknowledge the state of South-Carolina to be a free, independent, and sovereign state, and that the people thereof owe no allegiance or obedience to George the Third, king of Great Britain: And I do renounce, refuse, and abjure, any allegiance or obedience to him: And I do fwear or affirm (as the case may be) that I will, to the utmost of my power, support, maintain and defend the faid ftate, against the faid king George the Third, and his heirs and successors, and his or their abettors, assistants, and adherents, and will serve the said ftate in the office off with fidelity and honour, and according to the best of my skill and understanding. So help me God." 37. That adequate yearly falaries be allowed to the public officers of this state, and be fixed by law. 38. That all persons and religious societies, who acknowledge that there is one God, and a future state of rewards and punish ments, and that God is publicly to be worshipped, shall be freely tolerated. The christian Proteftant religion shall be deemed, and is hereby constituted and declared to be the established religion of this state. That all denominations of christian Protestants in this state, demeaning themselves peaceably and faithfully, shall enjoy equal religious and civil privileges. To accomplish this defirable purpose, without injury to the religious property of those focieties of chriftians, which are by law already incorporated, for the purpose of religious worship; and to put it fully into the power of every other society of christian Proteftants, either already formed, or hereafter to be formed, to obtain the like incorporation, it is hereby conftituted, appointed, and declared, That the respective societies of the church of England, that are already formed in this ftate, for the purposes of religious worship, shall still continue incorporate, and hold the religious property now in their poffeffion. And that, whenever fifteen or more male persons, not under twenty-one years of age, profeffing the chriftian Proteftant religion, and agreeing to unite themselves in a fociety, for the purposes of religious worship, they shall, (on complying with the terms hereinafter mentioned) be, and be conftituted, a church, -and be esteemed and regarded in law, as of the established religion of the state, and on a petition to the legislature, small be intitled to be incorporated, and to enjoy equal privileges. That every society of chriftians, fo formed, shall give themselves a name or denomi nation, by which they shall be called and known in law; and all that associate with them for the purposes of worship, shall be esteemed as belonging to the society so called: But that, previous to the establishment and incorporation of the respective societies of every denomination as aforesaid, and in order to intitle them Vahereto, cach society so petitioning, shall have agreed to, and subscribed, subscribed, in a book, the following five articles, without which, no agreement or union of men, upon pretence of religion, shall intitle them to be incorporated, and esteemed as a church of the established religion of this state: First, That there is one eternal God, and a future state of rewards and punishments. Second, That God is publicly to be worshipped. Third, That the chriftian religion is the true religion. Fourth, That the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testa. ment are of divine inspiration, and are the rule of faith and practice. Fifth, That it is lawful, and the duty of every man, being thereunto called by those that govern, to bear witness to truth... That every inhabitant of this state, when called to make an appeal to God, as a witness to truth, shall be permitted to do it in that way which is most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience. And, that the people of this state may for ever enjoy the right of electing their own paftors or clergy; and, at the fame time, that the state may have sufficient security for the due difcharge of the paftoral office, by those who shall be admitted to be clergymen, no person shall officiate as minifter of any established church, who shall not have been chosen by a majority of the society to which he shall minifter, or by perfons appointed by the faid majority to choose and procure a minifter for them, nor until the minister so chosen and appointed, fhall have made and subscribed the following declaration, over and above the aforesaid five articles, viz. "That he is determined, by God's grace, out of the holy scriptures, to instruct the people committed to his charge, and to teach nothing (as required of neceffity to eternal, salvation) but that which he shall be perfuaded may be concluded and proved from the scripture; that he will use both public and private admonitions, as well to the fick as to the whole, within his cure, as need shall require, and occasion shall be given; and that he will be diligent in prayers, and in reading of the holy Scriptures, and in such studies as help to the knowledge of the same, that he will be diligent to frame and fashion his own self and his family according to the doctrine of Christ, and to make both himself and them, as much as in him lieth, wholesome examples and patterns to the flock of Christ; that he will maintain and set forwards, as much as he can, quietness, peace, and love, among all people, and especially among those that are or shall be committed to his charge. No person shall disturb or molest any religious assembly, nor shall ufe any reproachful, reviling, or abusive language, againft any church; that being the certain way of disturbing the peace, and of hindering the converfion of any to the truth, by engaging them 1 them in quarrels and animosities, to the hatred of the profeffors, and that profeffion which otherwise they might be brought to affent to. No perfon whatsoever thall fpeak any thing, in their religious assembly, irreverently or feditiously of the government of this state. No perfon shalt, by law, be obliged to pay towards the maintenance and support of a religious worship that he does not freely join in, or has not voluntarily engaged to fupport: But the churches, chapels, parsonages, glebes, and all other property, now belonging to any focieties of the church of England, or or any other religious societies, shall remains and be secured to them for ever. The poor shall be supported, and elections managed, in the accustomed manner, until laws shall be provided, to adjust those matters in the most equitable way 39. That the whole state shall, as foon as proper laws can be palfed for those purposes, be divided into districts and counties, and county courts established. 40. That the penal laws, as heretofore used, shall be reformed, and punishments made, in some cafes, less sanguinary, and, in general, more proportionate to the crime." 41. That no freeman of this state be taken, or imprisoned, or disleized of his freehold, liberties or privileges, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any manner destroyed, or deprived of his life, liberty, or property, but by the judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land." i 11 42. That the military be subordinate to the civil power of the state. 43. That the liberty of the press be inviolably preserved. 44. That no part of this constitution shall be altered without a notice of ninety days being previoufly given; nor shall any part of the fame be changed without the consent of a majority of the *members of the fenate and house of representatives. 45. That the fenateland house of reprefentatives shall not proceed to the election of a governor or lieutenant-governor, until there be a majority of both houses present. poin L In the Council-Chamber, the 19th Day of March, 1778. moduld swim or Affented to, to που πίσωτηριο HUGH RUTLEDGE, Speaker of the Legislative Council. 6 RAWLINS LOWNDES., THOMAS BLE, Speaker of the General Affembly. In the GENERAL ASSEMBLY, the 19th Day of March, 1778. Published by order of the House, 2 PETER TIMOTHY, C. G. A. The CONSTITUTION of the State of Georgia, unanimously agreed to, in CONVENTION, the 5th of February, 1777 2 WHEREAS the conduct of the legislature of Great-Britain for many years past, has been so oppreffive on the people of America, that of late years, they have plainly declared, and asserted a right to raise taxes upon the people of America, and to inake laws to bind them in all cases whatsoever, without their confent; which conduct being repugnant to the common rights of mankind, hath obliged the Americans, as freemen, to oppose such oppressive measures, and to affert the rights and privileges they are intitled to, by the laws of nature and reason; and accordingly it hath been done by the general consent of all the people of the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, RhodeIsland, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, the counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia, given by their representatives met together in general congress in the city of Philadelphia. And whereas it hath been recommended by the faid Congress on the fifteenth of May last, to the respective assemblies and conventions of the united states, where no government, sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs, hath been hitherto established, to adopt such government, as may, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and fafety of their constituents in particular, and America in general. And whereas the independence of the united states of America. has been also declared, on the fourth day of July, one thousand seven, hundred and seventy-fix, by the said honourable congrefs, and all political connection between them and the crown of GreatBritain is in consequence thereof diffolved. We, therefore, the representatives of the people, from whom all power originates, and for whose benefit all government is intended, by virtue of the power delegated to us, do ordain and de clare, and it is hereby ordained and declared, that the following rules and regulations be adopted for the future government of this ftate. 1 1. The |