Thursday, May 24, 2007
Constitution -- Question 2
Answer this question if your last name starts with the letters F-L. The first constitution, called the Fundamental Constitution, was a failure. Yet, at the same time it laid the groundwork for a powerful legislature, an entrenched elite, and conflict between the lowcountry and the upcountry. Explain.
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4 comments:
The Fundamental Constitution was picked a part only to use the parts that applied to the
”local situation in colonial Carolina.” The Fundamental Constitution provided two-house parliament, which served as a legislative branch. The upper house of the two-house parliament consisted of seven proprietors, who were given numerous powers. They could build towns, counties, a judicial system, and train soldiers, and wage war. Orders were made to distribute power to other counties besides Charleston; however, the orders were ignored and Charleston continued to dominate. The fact that Charleston tended to dominate politically, a conflict between the low country and upcountry arose. To make things worse, proprietors were charging rent to people outside the colony. Not only were the guidelines of the Fundamental Constitution creating conflict, but it also was not clear. Many proprietors misunderstood some of the guidelines in the Fundamental Constitution, which eventually lead to the failure of the Fundamental Constitution. Although the Fundamental Constitution failed, the basic framework was everything the writers intending it to be.
Julie Kate
As we read this we saw that the Fundamental Constitutions provided for a two- house parliament so they could make and revise laws. The upper house was composed of deputies of the proprietors, the oldest noblemen and men chosen by the lower house. The lower house were representatives of different counties and towns. Proprietors were given varies power by the charter to create counties, towns, cities, forts; to establish a judicial system and train soldiers and so on. Which is not all so bad but what was really a big problem was that there were friction between old and new settlers along with the proprietors. To me it was like one had a vision and wanted to take it there as the other had a different vision. Both may have been right in there mind but was pulling against each other then with each other. So the idea was great all it was boiled down to was working together to see the finish product work.
Randy Lucas
The Fundamental Constitutions were designed by the Lords Proprietors. They never really worked in South Carolina but they were a jumping-off point for future constitutions. Social order was a large part of the constitution. The eight Lords Proprietors developed a government with a ranking system. The oldest Proprietor was the palatine. He would be succeeded by the next oldest and so on. The remaining seven Proprietors were given other posts. The palatine’s court was the government in the colony. It had the authority of the king in the colony. Laws were made by a two-house parliament. The constitution required belief in God and worship in the church. Nobility was assigned based on the amount of land one had and three titles were awarded to the nobles. This idea for nobility never worked. Many counties were made by the constitution and power was meant to be distributed between them. When Charleston refused to do this a dispute between the upcountry and lowcountry began. The rules laid down by the constitution were not understood by many which fueled the dispute. Due to this fact, the constitution ultimately failed.
-Sarah Luckey
Trying to set up and execute a complex scheme of government based on the English system of nobility from 3,000 miles away was nearly impossible. The Lords understood nothing about the reality of living on the frontier of Carolina and did not have sufficient power to make their schemes work. The colonists used whatever parts of the government structure they could to do what they felt they had to do, and that meant that the Assembly was where business leaders met to make decisions. All of this was centered in Charleston, and those in the Assembly were the elite of the colony. All profitable commerce had to flow through Charleston at that time. Later as populations moved inland this elite would be challenged, and as is always the case, those with power do not give it up easily. But in the late 1600s the conflict was between the Charleston elite and the proprietors, and when the local elite appealed to the King, he took over the colony.
Going beyond the answer to this question, the struggle was transformed to one between the Governors appointed by the King and the Assembly. This became the basis for legislative distrust of strong governors, a legacy that we are yet living with.
This was a tough question, but all of you gave reasonably good answers. Julie Kate and Sarah had particularly good detail in their answers.
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