April 5, 1861; The Charleston Mercury
Our readers have already been informed that a vote on the Constitution has been taken in the South Carolina State Convention, and that it has been accepted by a vote of some twenty against one hundred and fifty. The Convention is almost unanimous, we understand, in objecting to two provisions: one, the admission of anti-slave States by even a two-thirds vote of the Houses of Congress; and the other is the continuance of a partial, instead of a full, representation of persons who are slaves, in the Congressional apportionment. Besides these, there are many in the Convention who object to the insertion of the slave trade prohibition into the Constitution, instead of leaving it to legislative enactment, as in the old instrument. These, we believe, are the only matters to which any serious exception is taken, although doubtless many would like to have had the duties on imports specifically limited to ten or fifteen per cent ad valorem, and many would have preferred a more responsible way of electing the President, than by the present party caucus system. With these exceptions, and as a whole, it is generally regarded as an admirable Constitution, and one which will make us a prosperous and happy people for generations to come, if we have but the wisdom to keep our Confederation one of pro-slave republics exclusively, and not to mix it of States having different domestic institutions and antagonistic views. No more of irrepressible conflict, and hands off with the North, is clearly our policy.
Those who have supposed the ratification of the Constitution by this State a matter of any doubt, have troubled themselves with uncalled for anxiety. There has been no uncertainty from the time the Constitution was first published. Had South Carolina occupied another position than the prime mover in this revolution, and had other circumstances warranted it, she might have made a point on objectionable features of omission and insertion in the Constitution–at least first tried to have them corrected. But prominent as she has been, and in the unsettled condition of affairs, she has not hesitated a moment about accepting a Constitution, which, if not entirely satisfactory, yet embodies many important and radical improvements upon the United States Constitution. It is probable that with the proposal of some of the amendments she desires, for the consideration and action of the Confederate States, however unlikely their adoption may be, South Carolina will ratify the new Constitution by a vote approximating to unanimity.