South Carolina’s republican constitution shifted Adams’s view of southern willingness to abandon royal rule

Evidence

Adams had worried that “the Reluctance of the Southern Colonies to Republican Government,” as he put it, would deter “the Barons of the south” from acquiescing in the “popular Principles” needed to reject aristocratic rule characterized by a governor and council appointed by the Crown. Instead, South Carolina now led the way in adopting a republican government. “It has Spread visible Joy,” he exalted about South Carolina’s act, “and if North Carolina and Virginia should follow the Example, it will Spread through all the rest of the Colonies like Electric Fire.” — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 163

Categorization

• XREF: Directly serves the course’s theme of competing founder arguments over the republican form versus monarchical-aristocratic rule — ties to how constitutional first principles split by region. — connects to: Southern aristocratic attachment to royal rule delayed their independence support — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 122

Broader Connections

• Southern aristocratic attachment to royal rule delayed their independence support #corroborates (0.85) — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 122