The 1868 state constitution for South Carolina was revolutionary because it embodied many democratic principles absent from previous constitutions. The new document provided for population alone, rather than wealth or the combination of wealth and population, as the basis for House representation. It also continued popular election of the governor. Additionally, the 1868 constitution abolished debtors’ prison, provided for public education, abolished property ownership as a qualification for office holding, granted some rights to women, and created counties.
The popularly elected governor was given a veto that required a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly to override. A two-thirds legislative vote was also required to issue any bonded debt. In 1873 an additional amendment required that two-thirds of the voters confirm an increase in the general obligation debt of the state.
The 1868 constitution’s Article X provided for a uniform system of free public schools. Although not implemented until decades later, the constitution mandated that the schools should separate for at least six months each year and that all children had to attend school at least twenty-four months (four academic years) as soon as enough facilities were available. Provisions for the deaf and blind were also ordered. Schools were financed by a poll tax, and an 1878 amendment added a property tax to increase support for public education. Maintenance of the state university was made mandatory, and the creation of a normal school and an agricultural college was also required. The status of the newly freed African Americans was also solidified in the 1868 constitution. Race was abolished as a limit on male suffrage. Disfranchisement could be only for murder, robbery, and dueling. The Black Codes that had passed under the constitution of 1865 were overturned. There was no provision against interracial marriage, and public schools were open to all races.
