Early state constitutions restricted the franchise along race and property lines inconsistently.

Evidence

Three months later, on March 26, 1776, without asking Congress, the South Carolina Provincial Congress followed New Hampshire’s example in adopting a written constitution to serve “until an accommodation of the unhappy differences between Great Britain and America can be obtained.” Also republican in nature, the South Carolina Constitution provided for an elected assembly that chose the council, with members of both branches electing the president. Under it, free, white, adult, male landowners could vote—a narrower electorate than in New Hampshire, which did not impose property or racial restrictions on voting and had few enslaved people. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 170

Categorization

• DEFINE: Contrast of New Hampshire and South Carolina voting rules clarifies what republican rule meant concretely in 1776.
• XREF: connects to: State form only loosely correlates with style of racial rule — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 43

Broader Connections

• State form only loosely correlates with style of racial rule #complicates (0.75) — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 43