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History 599A: Seminar in South Carolina Studies
July 22, 2004
Lesson Plan: Voting Rights in South Carolina: colonial era-present
Correlation: This lesson correlates to several South Carolina Social Studies Standards.
Indicators to be taught in the lesson include:
8-2.3 South Carolina's first constitution
8-2.4 political tensions between people of the upcountry and lowcountry and their
disagreements over representation in the General Assembly
8-4.4 South Carolina's constitution of 1868
8-5.2 Constitution of 1895, BenjaminRyan Tillman, and increased racial conflicts
8-6.3 Suffiage for women
8-7.4 CivilRights Movement
.
Objective: The student will be able to identifYchanges in individualvoting rights and
political power during the course of South Carolina history, and draw conclusions about
the importance of exercising the right to vote in our state and national electiQns.
Activity: The teacher may choose to conduct this activity as an individualor a
cooperative learning group assignment. Students willread selections :tromSouth
Carolina: ThecHistoryofan American State and answer questions :tromthe reading.
Students may then view a PowerPoint presentation, then discuss critical thinking
questions with their classmates.
.
Reading #1: p. 189. A New Constitution for South Carolina. After reading the
selection, answer the following questions:
'1. What was the main issue at the Constitutional Convention of 1790?
2. What qualified someone to vote in South Carolina under the new Constitution?
3. Who did not have the right to vote?
Reading#2: p. 217. South Carolina Politics. After reading the selection, answer the
following questions:
1. What change in political power occurred in 1808?
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What change in voting rights occurred in 1810?
Reading # 3: p.334. The Constitution of 1868. After reading the selection, answer the
following questions:
1. How did representation change after 1868?
2.
What group gained the right to vote?
3. Who did not yet have the right to vote?
lc
Reading #4: p.365. The Constitution of 1895. After reading the selection, answer the
following questions:
1. Which group lost the right to vote after 1895?
2. In which ways did the government attempt to take the right to vote away :tromthat
group?
3. How could the state do this, if the 15thAmendment gave all male citizens the right
to vote?
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History 599A: Seminar in South Carolina Studies
July 22, 2004
Reading #5: pp.379-380. Women's Suffiage. After reading the selection, answer the
following questions:
1. When didwomen gain the right to vote in the United States?
2. When did South Carolina officiallyratifYthe 19thamendment? (SC women were
allowed to vote before that, however)
Reading #6: pp. 477- 478. Securing Voting Rights. After reading the selection,
answer the following questions:
1. Whatdidthe VotingRightsAct of 1965do?
.
2. WhichAtrican American leader was instrumental in bringingnational attention to
black voter discrimination?
Students will then view the PowerPoint presentation, "South Carolina Votes" to review
the material covered in reading and discuss critical thinking questions in the presentation.
Materials:
Home, Paul A. and Patricia Klein. South Carolina: The History of an American State.
Selma,AL: Clairmont Press, 2000.
South Carolina Votes PowerPoint (printed slides attached)
Assessment: Teachers may collect completed questions.
Voting in ColonialSouth
Carolina
.
South Carolina Votes
Acquiring the franchise in South
Carolina
Who Can Serve?
. Any
free male with 50 acres of land could
vote.
. The Election Act of 1721 defined a voter
as a free white Christian male, 21 years of
age, who owned 50 acres of land or paid
20 shillings ($25.50) in taxes and lived in
South Carolina for one year.
Colonial Voting Chart
.
In order to serve in the Commons House,
an individual had to be a voter and own
500 acres of land and ten slaves, or
property worth 1,000 pounds ($25,500)
. By the mid-1700s, about half of the adult
white males in the low country could
qualify to hold office.
Vote
Wealthy white men over
21
No Vote
Poor white men
Women
Slaves
Think about this:
. Why was land ownership a requirement for
voting and holdingoffice?
State Government
. South Carolina became
.
.
.
.
a state when it adopted
a constitution in early 1776.
The constitution created a bicameral legislature.
Voters elected members of the lower house
Members of the lower house elected members
to the upper house.
The Low Country had more representatives than
the Up Country, even though the Up Country
had a greater population.
Discussion
. How did the Low Country maintain a
majority in the House of Representatives if
their population was smaller?
Constitution of 1790
. A new constitution approved in 1790 gave the
.
Up Country a small boost in representation, but
the Low Country still maintained a majority.
Property qualifications were also increased
-
Members of the House of Representative had to awn
500 acres of land and 10 slaves, or land worth 150
pounds ($11,000)
Senators had to have 1000 acres and 20 slaves
.
.
Changes
An amendment passed in 1808 established
election districts that balanced power between
the Up Country and Low Country. It apportioned
representatives on the basis of population and
payment of taxes.
- Eachparishand districtwouldelectone senator
Early 1800s Voting Rights
Vote
White men over 21
Another amendment passed in 1810 granted
suffrage (the right to vote) to "every white man of
the age of twenty-one years."
No Vote
Women
Slaves
Discussion
Reconstruction
. What happened in the Up Country during
. After the Civil War, a constitution was
adopted in 1868, under the direction of the
U.S. general in charge of South Carolina.
. This
new constitution made several
the early 1800s that may have helped
these amendments to pass?
changes
- Representation was to be based on
population alone, not population and wealth.
- All property requirements for office holders
were abolished
- All men were given the right to vote.
Reconstruction Voting Chart
Vote
Men
.
No Vote
.
Many white South Carolinians were
determined to reverse the provisions of the
1868 Constitution. Why?
Women
Black Disfranchisement
Jim Crow Voting Chart
The Constitution of 1895 effectivelytook
the right to vote away from black men.
- Voters
had to pay a poll tax six months in
advance or pass a literacy test
- A new voter was required to read a portion of
the constitution, or be able to understand
explain the section if it were read to him.
- South Carolina also disfranchised blacks by
using:
..
Eight box law
GrandfatherClause
Vote
White men over 21
No Vote
Women
African-Americanmen
Discussion
.
Why did South Carolina use such means
to restrict voting?
. Why could they not pass a law to officially
20th Century Changes
.
.
take the right to vote from AfricanAmericans?
In 1920, women won the right to vote
when the 19thAmendment was ratified.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 gave the
federal government the power to ensure
that voting was fair and free of
discrimination.
. The
24th Amendment
tax
.
.
20th Century and Beyond
Power to Vote
Men over 21
Women (1920)
African-Americans
(1965)
Young Adults 18+
(1974)
No Power
People who do not
exercise their right to
vote
abolished the poll
The 26th Amendment lowered the voting
.
.
age to 18.
Discussion
Why do you think it took so long for all
adults in South Carolina to get the right to
vote?
Would anyone in your family been able to
vote in South Carolina in 1776? In 1900?
Why or why not?
. Is it important for all eligible citizens to
exercise their right to vote?
SOurces: Home, Paul A. and Patricia Klein. SOuth Caroina: The Historv of an
American State. Selma, AL: Clairmont Press, 2000.
Edgar, Wetter. SOuth Caroftna: A Historv. Columbia, SC: University of SOuth
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