| 1704 Act Requiring Assembly Members to Conform to the Church of England
On May 6th 1704, an “Act for the more effectual Preservation of the Government” was ratified in Open Assembly in the Province of Carolina. The Act cites religious differences in the Assembly as the cause of animosities, contentions, and obstructions of public business. For this reason, the Act required that all members of the Common House of Assembly be followers of the Church of England and regularly partake of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Not only must a member prove that he is a regularly communing member of the Church of England, but he must take an Oath swearing to work toward the good and welfare of the Church.
Even from the beginning, the Act received critical treatment from some. The Act was called absurd, specious, and ridiculous. The main worries seemed to be economic in nature. It was argued that the Act would create obstructions to public business (“Whether the hardships it would put upon more than two thirds of the People of Carolina, would not certainly cause greater Animosities and Obstructions to Public Business”). Other fears included: a) that other colonies might retaliate with similar Acts (“it might . . . prompt and animate ill designing men by such like Methods to procure somewhat of the same nature in our Foreign Plantations”); b) that such an act would drive away many and discourage settlement (“such a treatment of Protestant Dissenters . . . would drive away many and keep back more from adventuring to transport themselves [to Carolina]”); and c) negatively affect trade in the colony (“hinder the exportation of many English Manufactures, prove a great Discouragement to trade and lessening of Her Majesty’s Customs”).
The primary concerns had little to do with citizen’s rights being violated and more to do with the practical effects the Act would cause to the colony as a whole. The colony needed people to populate its lands and cultivate the area so as to increase trade. If this Act drove out people and discouraged new settlers from entering South Carolina, the colony would suffer. They realized, for the purposes of developing the land and being a trading partner, it did not matter whether the person was a dissenter (i.e. dissenter from the Anglican church) or a member of the Church of England. They were in wild, rugged, sparsely populated, North America and they did not want legislation that would make the area even more devoid of people. Additionally, they realized that such an Act would just exacerbate tensions between dissenters and Anglicans. The animosity created would hinder trade and Anglican interests in other colonies might be threatened if similar Acts against the Anglicans were passed in retaliation. Luckily, this law did not stay on the books for very long as Queen Anne repealed it within a few years of its passage in the Assembly of South Carolina.
Encouraging French Protestant Settlers
In 1761, an Act was passed which was intended to encourage foreign Protestants (non-Anglicans) to settle in South Carolina. Although, Anglicanism was still the established church in South Carolina, the colony wanted as many settlers as it could get, even if they were non-Anglicans. By explicitly endorsing policies that benefited non-Anglicans and spending money to encourage their settlement, the colony was putting their economic interest ahead of their desire to preserve the Church of England as the established church.
Letters arranging the logistics of certain settlement agreements cite various economic benefits surrounding additional settlers. One letter that related to potential settlers from the South of France stated that “their knowledge in the culture of silk and vines, it is hoped they may be particularly useful to the Colonies and to the Public.” Another letter cites the reason for the encouraged settlement of French Protestants as a “method of peopling the new governments with useful and industrious inhabitants.” The Assembly of South Carolina was even willing to spend £ 500 sterling in establishing the French Protestant settlement in order to “make them useful to the Colony.” A useful populous which will cultivate and develop the land and economy is more important than ensuring an Anglican population.
Encouraging Protestants to Unite for Safety against the Blacks and Indians
p. 102 of Collections of Historical Work and Woodmason’s sermon |