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the state, the registers of mefne conveyances in each district, attorney general, furveyor general, powder-receiver, collectors and comptrollers of the cuftoms, and waiters, be chofen in like manner, by the fenate, and houfe of reprefentatives, jointly, by ballot, in the house of reprefentatives, and commiffioned by the governor and commander in chief, for two years. That none of the faid officers refpectively, who fhall have ferved for four years, fhall be eligible to ferve in the faid offices, after the expiration of the faid term, until the full end and term of four years, but fhall continue in office until a new choice be made: Provided, that nothing herein contained, fhall extend to the feveral perfons appointed to the above offices refpectively, under the late conftitution. And that the present, and all future commiffioners of the treasury, and powder receivers, fhall each give bond, with approved fecurity, agreeable to law.

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30. That all the officers in the army and navy of this state, of and above the rank of captain, shall be chofen by the fenate and house of representatives, jointly, by ballot, in the house of reprefentatives, and commiffioned by the governor and commander in chief; and that all other officers in the army and navy of this ftate, fhall be commiffioned by the governor and commander in chief.

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31. That in cafe 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 ftead, until there fhall be an election by the fenate and houfe of reprefentatives to fill thofe vacancies refpectively.

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32. That the governor and commander in chief, with the advice and confent of the privy council, may appoint, during pleafure, until otherwife directed by law, all other neceffary officers, except fuch as are now by law directed to be otherwife

chofen.

33. That the governor and commander in chief fhall have no power to commence war, or conclude peace, or enter into any final treaty, without the confent of the fenate and houfe of representatives.

34. That the refolutions of the late congreffes of this ftate, and all laws now of force here (and not hereby altered), fhall fo continue, until altered or repealed by the legislature of this state, unless where they are temporary, in which cafe they fhall expire, at the times refpectively 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 all persons who shall be chosen and appointed to any T2

cffice,

office, or to any place of truft, civil or military, before entering apon the execution of office, fhall take the following oath :

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"I, A. B. do acknowledge the state of South-Carolina to be a free, independent, and fovereign 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 cafe may be) that I will, to the utmost of my power, fupport, maintain and defend the faid ftate, against the faid king George the Third, and his heirs and fucceffors, and his or their abettors, affiftants, and adherents, and will ferve the faid ftate in the office of 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 ftate, and be fixed by law.

38. That all perfons and religious focieties, who acknowledge that there is one God, and a future ftate of rewards and punishments, and that God is publicly to be worshipped, fhall be freely tolerated. The christian Proteftant religion fhall be deemed, and is hereby constituted and declared to be the established religion of this ftate. That all denominations of chriftian. Proteftants in this ftate, demeaning themselves peaceably and faithfully, fhall 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 purpofe of religious worship; and to put it fully into the power of every other fociety of chriftian Proteftants, either already formed, or hereafter to be formed, to obtain the like incorporation, it is hereby conftituted, appointed, and declared, That the refpective focieties of the church of England, that are already formed in this ftate, for the purposes of religious worship, fhali ftill continue incorporate, and hold the religious property now in their poffeffion. And that, whenever fifteen or more male perfons, not under twenty-one years of age, profeffing the chriftian Proteftant religion, and agreeing to unite themfelves in a fociety, for the purposes of religious worship, they fhall, (on complying with the terms hereinafter mentioned) be, and be constituted, a church, -and be efteemed and regarded in law, as of the established religion of the ftate, and on a petition to the legislature, fhall be intitled to be incorporated, and to enjoy equal privileges. That every fociety of chriftians, fo formed, fhall give themselves a name or denomi nation, by which they fhall be called and known in law; and all that affociate with them for the purposes of worship, shall be efteemed as belonging to the fociety fo called: But that, previous to the establishment and incorporation of the refpective focieties of every denomination as aforefaid, and in order to intitle them yahereto, each fociety. fo petitioning, shall have agreed to, and fubfcribed,

fubfcribed, in a book, the following five articles, without which, no agreement or union of men, upon pretence of religion, thall intitle them to be incorporated, and esteemed as a church of the established religion of this ftaté:

Firft, That there is one eternal God, and a future ftate 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 infpiration, and are the rule of faith and practice.

Fifth, That it is lawful, and the duty of every man, being thereunto called by thofe that govern, to bear witness to truth....

That every inhabitant of this ftate, when called to make an appeal to God, as a witnefs to truth, fhall be permitted to do it in that way which is moft agreeable to the dictates of his own confcience. And, that the people of this ftate may for ever enjoy the right of electing their own paftors or clergy; and, at the fame time, that the ftate may have fufficient fecurity for the due dif charge of the paftoral office, by thofe who fhall be admitted to be clergymen, no perfon fhall officiate as minifter of any established church, who fhall not have been chofen by a majority of the fociety 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 chofen and appointed, fhall have made and fubfcribed the following declaration, over and above the aforefaid five articles, viz.

"That he is determined, by God's grace, out of the holy fcriptures, to inftruct the people committed to his charge, and to teach nothing (as required of neceffity to eternal, falvation) but that which he fhall be perfuaded may be concluded and proved from the fcripture; that he will ufe both public and private admonitions, as well to the fick as to the whole, within his cure, as need fhall require, and occafion fhall be given; and that he will be diligent in prayers, and in reading of the holy Scriptures, and in fuch studies as help to the knowledge of the fame; that he will be diligent to frame and fafhion his own felf and his family according to the doctrine of Chrift, and to make both himself and them, as much as in him lieth, wholesome examples and patterns to the flock of Chrift; that he will maintain and set forwards, as much as he can, quietness, peace, and love, among all people, and efpecially among thofe that are or fhall be committed to his charge."

No perfon fhall disturb or moleft any religious affembly, nor fhall ufe any reproachful, reviling, or abufive 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

them in quarrels and animofities, to the hatred of the profeffors, and that profeffion which otherwife they might be brought to affent to No perfon whatsoever shall fpeak any thing, in their religious afembly, irreverently or feditiously of the government of this tate. No perfon fhall, by law, be obliged to pay towards the maintenance and fupport of a religious worship that he does not freely join in, or has not voluntarily engaged to fupport: But the churches, chapels, paríonages, glebes, and all other property, now belonging to any focieties of the church of England, or any other religious focieties, fhall remains and be fecured to them for ever. The poor fhall be fupported, and elections managed, in the accustomed manner, until laws fhall be provided, to adjust those matters in the moft equitable way.

39 That the whole ftate fhall, as foon as proper laws can be palled for thofe purpofes, be divided into diftricts and counties, and county courts established.

40. That the penal laws, as heretofore used, fhall be reformed, and punishments made, in fome cafes, lefs fanguinary, and, in general, more proportionate to the crime.

41. That no freeman of this ftate be taken, or imprisoned, or difleized of his freehold, liberties or privileges, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any manner destroyed, or deprived of his life, liberty, property, but by the judgment of his peers, or by the law of

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the land.

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42. That the military be fubordinate to the civil power of the ftate.

43. That the liberty of the prefs be inviolably preferved.

44. That no part of this conftitution fhall be altered without a notice of ninety days being previoully given; nor fhall any part of the fame be changed without the confent of a majority of the members of the fenate and house of reprefentatives.

45. That the fenateland house of reprefentatives fhall not proceed to the election of a governor or lieutenant-governor, until there be a majority of both houses present.

In the Council-Chamber, the 19th Day of March, 1778.

suodated shim or Affented to, o
o'qmexa t... sledy

HUGH RUTLEDGE, Speaker. of the Legislative Council.

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# RAWLINS LOWNDES.

THOMAS BEE, Speaker of the General Affembly.

In the GENERAL ASSEMBLY, the 19th Day of March, 1778.

Published by order of the House,

PETER TIMOTHY, C. G. A.

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The CONSTITUTION of the State of Georgia, unanimouy agreed to, in CONVENTION, the 5th of February, 1777.

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WHEREAS the conduct of the legiflature of Great-Britain for many years paft, has been fo oppreffive on the people of America, that of late years, they have plainly declared, and afferted a right to raise taxes upon the people of America, and to nake laws to bind them in all cafes whatfoever, without their confent; which conduct being repugnant to the common rights of mankind, hath obliged the Americans, as freemen, to oppose fuch oppreffive measures, and to affert the rights and privileges they are intitled to, by the laws of nature and reafon; and accordingly it hath been done by the general confent of all the people of the ftates of New-Hampshire, Maffachusetts-Bay, RhodeIfland, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jerfey, Pennsylvania, the counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Suflex on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia, given by their reprefentatives 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 laft, to the refpective affemblies and conventions of the united ftates, where no government, fufficient to the exigencies of their affairs, hath been hitherto established, to adopt fuch government, as may, in the opinion of the reprefentatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their conftituents in particular, and America in general.

And whereas the independence of the united states of America. has been alfo declared, on the fourth day of July, one thousand feven, hundred and feventy-fix, by the faid honourable congrefs, and all political connection between them and the crown of GreatBritain is in confequence thereof dissolved.

We, therefore, the reprefentatives of the people, from whom all power originates, and for whofe benefit all government is intended, by virtue of the power delegated to us, do ordain and declare, and it is hereby ordained and declared, that the following rules and regulations be adopted for the future government of this ftate.

1. The

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