Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1856-07-16

poorest man in district shares equally will
the richest in the influence which the taxa
bic property Of the latter commands through
out the State.
1t is, therefore not an Objectionable, but
on the contrary, a judicious provision of ou
constitution, that taxation should have it:
equal weight with population. Our wise
forefathers remembered that the great strug
gle with the mother country originated from
the fact that the people who were taxed
were taxed without being represented in the
parliament which imposed the burden. II
occurred to them that tho two sole objects
Of legislation were persons and property
and that both of them should be legally pre-.
sent in the body which made the laws in
regard to them.
And it was, in the judgment of the fra.
mers of our constitution, necessary that
these two elements should be acknowledged
in their system, in equal degree: that taxa.
tion should not predominant to the oppres.
sion of persons, and that population should
not on the other hand prevail to such excess
as to tyrannize over the rights of property.
Had taxation alone been the basis of rep.
resentation, their government would no lon.
ger have been republic; or, had popula.
ton alone been the basis, the few rich would
have been liable to become the prey of the
many poorer. As it was, and is, the aim
and interest of every citizen to acquire prop.
erty, the State made careful provision that
it should be guarded by this compromise
and, as it was impossible that every indirid.
ual should possess it in equal degree, or that
each district should possess it in equal pro.
portion to its population, she proportioned
one half the representation in the largest of
the two Houses, to taxation, that the week
might have an equal power with the strong.
Now, if her scheme had made persons alone
the object Of representation, life and liberty
might have always been secure, because eve.
ry man enjoys them to the same extent; and
there could be no general law made to con.
troll one mans life and liberty, which would
not to some measure, and no more, regulate
those of every other man throughout the
State. But such would not have been the
case in respect to property. It is not pos
sessed by all equally, and general law in
relation to it would--though it might ope.
rate benefcially for some-prove source
of tyranny TO others. But, by our constitu.
tion, the rights of all, in their persons and
through the district representations, which
blend the two elements of population and
taxation to that especial purpose.
Moreover, had property alone been repre-.
sented the legislative power Of the State
would have remained in narrow belt Of
wealthy districts along the sea coast. Had
persons been the only element acknowledged,
that power would now have been confined
to as narrow a belt of populous districts
along the mountains.* So that the wise
foresight of our fathers, in admitting the
two elements in their compromise, has proved
and will continue to prove, a blessing to the
great middle country, which now may cope
with both sections, and will in due time hold
the balance of power between them.
Taxation, moreover, pays all the expenses
of the government; all the compensation to
each citizen for his services TO the people /;
all the appropriations Of the public to inter-
nal improvements, and every other item Of
the States expenditure. How rerklessly
would the legislature put their hands into
the common purse, if they were not by this
compromise made responsible to the tax
payers!
This regulation enters into every feature
of our State government, and into every
measure of our legislation; and yet abridges
no mans personal rights, while it protects
his rights both Of person and property. The
old property qualification Of the voters,
which was once thought necessary to pro-
tect property, has now been removed to the
of the district; and while eve
ry citizen has now right to vote, the two
elements Of taxation and population are rep.
resented in every vote he gives for his legis.
lators. And which, moreover, no amount
of property can enable the rich to Cypress
the poor, since each has but single vote; (;
so now no mans msfortunes can make him
so poor, that he has not an equal voice in
the State with any other man.
These two elements, then, which in every
other State in the Union are always in con.
hict, are in our noble constitution made to
harmonic. And thus the poor man in the
wealthy districts, is protected in his personal
rights, when they come in collision with the
interests Of property and the man of wealth
in the populous districts is protected in his
personal rights, when they come in collision
with the interests of property; and the man
of wealth in the populous districts is protec-
ted in bis rights of property against the ag.
gressions of population. Every man, there
fore, is interested in this wise adjustment;
because in it's two features, it not OILY pro.
tects his life and his liberty, but the property
he may acquire, and that of his children
after him.
Mr.. Calhoun, in his great Discourse on
the Constitution and government Of the
United States, has held up the present con.
stitution of South Carolina as model; be-.
cause it was based, by means of these three
elements population, taxation and election
distrcts) more perfectly than any other, up.
on principle which developed every exer.
else Of her power, not upon representation
of bare majority Of population alone, but
upon one of the concurrent majorities Of all
her various sectional interests also. What a
masterly conception is that of this great
statesman, of making the concurrent major.
tiles Of The various interests of the people
the basis OF representation in free republic
Had he never been known to the world by
any thing else than this, it alone would have
Kan anainiant 10 give him nlana amnnn