Monday, June 4, 2007
Constitution -- Question 6
Answer if your last name starts with the letters F-L. The 1868 Constitution, which South Carolina was forced to write by the Radical Republicans in the Congress, was a dramatic departure from previous constitutions. Explain how it was different. However, this constitution failed. Explain why it failed.
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6 comments:
During 1868, a new state Constitution was developed. Previous state Constitution’s had changes things such as; renaming President to Governor, and legislative council to senate. The idea of separation of church and state arose, which lead to the Anglican Church losing all of its power in government. Also, the legislative branch had moved headquarters away from Charleston to Columbia, which was in the middle of the state. However, all of these things were already established in previous state Constitutions. The Constitution of 1868 allowed blacks to vote, which was a major step in society. In fact, 70 of the 124 delegates were black. For the first time, an extensive Bill of Rights was established. Also, popular elections were established, elimination of the poll tax, and for the first time allowed the people of the state to approve the Constitution. “The vote on the new Constitution was along racial lines.” Whites in South Carolina did not like the idea of “taxation without representation” and fought hard to end Republican rule. It ultimately failed due to the lack of support it received.
Julie Kate Keeney
The 1868 Constitution was different because it began to separate Church and State. It brought about racial issues that created more problems as well and therefore never gained enough support so eventually failed.
CoShendra Jackson
The 1868 Constitution was the constitution for the common people. Since the majority of the delegates were voted to office by blacks, the constitution was good for both whites and blacks. This constitution was the first the have a real Bill of Rights. It also allowed for popular election. The government in the state moved from Charleston to Columbia. Columbia is in the center of the state, so it was an equal distance to travel for all people. Also, the idea of separating church and state arose. This constitution had a lot to do with race. Since blacks could now vote for delegates, the number of white people who were against blacks let it be known in many ways; one of the most memorable: the Ku Klux Klan. The South Carolina government attempted to maintain order but, because whites desired to end Republican rule in the state, the constitution failed.
-Sarah Luckey
Julie Kate and Sarah both have excellent answers, though as Julie Kate points out, the state capitol had already been moved. It was more than just more separatin between church and state, as CoShendra says, it was all about giving political power to average people, especially to blacks for the first time.
Blacks having power was too much for "unreconstructed" whites in the state. Interestingly, even though they later took power away from blacks, things like the bill of rights were popular with poor whites, so it stayed in the next and last constitution written in 1985.
I'm sorry I didn't know that we had two question to answer for today. But here is my answer everyone.
Things that brought to my attention that was different was how the majority of the voters were now black at this time. What was it 70 out of 124 delegates in South Carolina’s new convention were black. This was a time that broke ground for I would consider the blue collar workers. We saw that this time that the Bill of Rights for South Carolina came in. Back in 1790 there was not one and 1865 there wasn’t really one neither but 3 years later it developed. We would also see that citizens started to take part in developing what is needed such as creating and maintaining a free public school system and for the first time the Constitution was submitted to the people for approval. But with all that work into that it still fail because of the lack of support because it wasn’t the traditional way of life they have lived. They the white people didn’t want to change.
Randy Lucas
This was a simple separation of church and state.
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