Subject: Journal of the Commons House of Assembly
Resent-Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1998 16:49:18 -0700 (PDT)
Resent-From: SCROOTS-L@rootsweb.com
Date: Tue, 07 Apr 1998 19:52:32 -0400
From: "Steven J. Coker" 
Organization: http://www.wp.com/Coker/faq.htm
To: SCROOTS Forum 

Source:
The Colonial Records of South Carolina
The Journal of the Commons House of Assembly
Published by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 51-62239
ISBN: 1-880067-28-5

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Journal of the Commons House of Assembly
October 6, 1757-January 24, 1761
Terry W. Lipscomb, Editor
First Edition, 1996
Series Preface

"IN THE ORIGINAL SERIES PREFACE to the Journals of the Commons House of
Assembly, J. H. Easterby charged that South Carolina's past negligence
concerning the publication of its original records had deprived the state of its
rightful place in the history of the United States. If this criticism is less
accurate today than in 1951, the change will have to be considered a major part
of Dr. Easterby's legacy to the state. During his tenure as director of the
South Carolina Archives Department prior to his death in 1960, the Archives
began publishing letterpress editions of the more important colonial and state
records series, edited according to the standards of modern scholarship, indexed
thoroughly, and printed in a sturdy well-designed format.

The Commons House Journals were an obvious choice for first priority in Dr.
Easterby's ambitious new publications program. The extant manuscripts of this
series, preserved among the South Carolina public records for over two hundred
years, contain remarkably full accounts of proceedings in the lower house of the
provincial assembly. Gaps in the records occur infrequently between September
20, 1692, the date of the oldest surviving manuscript, and September 15, 1775,
when the Assembly was dissolved for the last time. Since the Commons House
Journals were regarded as a key to the study of all other colonial records, as
well as an important original source for South Carolina history, their
publication became a primary goal of the Archives Department. Under Dr.
Easterby's direction, the journals covering the period from 1736 to 1750 were
published in nine volumes, the last of which appeared in 1962. During the
following decade, work on the journals was temporarily suspended while the
Archives went through a period of growth and expansion. With the appearance of
the 1750-51 Commons House Journal in May 1975, the South Carolina Department of
Archives and History resumed publication of the series on a regular basis.

Future volumes will appear in chronological order until the journals through
1775 have been published. The journals of the period prior to 1708 and for the
years 1724-1727 and 1734-1735 were printed in an earlier series edited by Dr.
Easterby's predecessor, A. S. Salley, Jr. The plan is to ultimately reprint
these journals in volumes that will correspond in form with the others in the
present series and to include the pre-1736 volumes that have never been printed.
To accomplish this it has been found necessary to dispense with volume numbers
and to designate each volume merely by the dates of the General Assembly.

In the earlier volumes of this series, the editorial policy was to present the
texts of the journals in the same style that a contemporary printer would have
used. This manner of presentation was so influenced by Dr. Easterby's individual
editorial style that the present editor has found it necessary to adopt a more
conventional expanded style. Otherwise, the format of the series has been left
essentially unchanged. Somewhat fuller annotation is used than formerly, but no
attempt has been made to supply comprehensive background information in
footnotes. Aside from textual matters, the notes are intended to clarify
passages in the manuscript, to encourage a perceptive reading of the text, and
to cite relevant material from other records.

The printed version of the Commons House Journal essentially reproduces the
complete text of the manuscript. The marginal summaries are omitted, but they
are carefully checked for significant information, and are used in editing the
text. Writs of election are transcribed in full on their first appearance in
each volume; subsequent writs are printed in the form of abstracts. The title
pages and running heads of the manuscript are replaced by new ones in the
printed journal, and a new list of members done in the usual format of the
series is substituted for the clerk's own list of members.

The editor's general rule is to reproduce, as nearly as practicable, the text
the clerk intended to write. Obvious slips of the pen are silently corrected.
Brackets are used to draw attention to words or passages accidentally omitted in
the manuscript, matter reconstructed from damaged portions of the record, and
any phrases supplied by the editor that a slip of the pen has left open to
question. Editorial interpolations (such as "[sic]" or "[torn]" always appear in
italics.

Except for rare instances where a slight change can clarify a passage, the
original spelling and capitalization are retained, and a generally conservative
approach is taken toward changes in punctuation. Contracted words marked by a
tilde (~) or occurring at the end of a line are spelled out, but intended
abbreviations of titles, honorifics, measures, names, dates, and such other
words as may commonly be abbreviated today, are kept. Superscript letters are
brought down to the normal line, and the symbols "y" and " " rendered as "th"
and "per," "pre," or "pro." Abbreviated common nouns are spelled out. Where some
additional point of punctuation is necessary (as at the end of a sentence or an
abbreviation) one is supplied, and superfluous punctuation marks (e.g., colons
after non-abbreviations) are deleted. Commas are generally added to set off
short phrases in apposition to a name. Words emphasized in the manuscript are
rendered in italics, except where the emphasis in the manuscript does not
indicate stress. But the only significant alteration to the text is the addition
of quotation marks around full titles of acts, bills, and ordinances after
introduction. This practice means that the internal punctuation of the titles
(often indicating chapters and clauses, and occasionally giving clues to the
history of the legislation) can be retained without obscuring the narrative of
the proceedings. In addition, the quotes help to clarify titles of bills that
amend or repeal former legislation.

No attempt is made to reproduce the arrangement of the text on the manuscript
page. Indentions are standardized, and shortened lines flushed out. Tables and
lists are presented in the simplest form consistent with the sense of their
arrangement in the manuscript. Short introductory phrases that are set off in
the manuscript are incorporated in the succeeding paragraph (although the
original punctuation is then retained to keep the sense of a pause). The
positioning of datelines, signatures, and forms of address is made uniform.
Verbatim transcripts of signed or dated written papers are set off slightly from
the body of the text. Breaks in the manuscript are marked with three dots (less
than half a line blank), six dots (more than half a line blank), or a bracketed
explanation.

Texts of written papers, petitions, and committee reports have been
systematically compared with copies of the same items in the journals of the
Upper House and Council, and significant discrepancies have been noted...."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The index has the following additional explanatory notes.

"The index is a slightly modified version of the form devised for this series by
J. H. Easterby. It is designed to furnish a guide to the procedure of the
Commons House, as well as to provide a ready reference to all persons, places,
and subjects dealt with in the course of the journal. For this reason, the main
alphabetical sequence of the index is interrupted at intervals by lengthy
numbered lists of written papers-acts, bills, messages, ordinances, petitions,
reports, resolutions, speeches, and addresses.

Indexing of these legislative papers is done according to the following rules:

1. Bills and ordinances are numbered and entered in the order they are first
mentioned. The title used is the fullest given after the incorporation of all
additional clauses and amendments. Every reference to the bill is recorded, and
if it passed, this is noted by use of the subentry "ratified." References to the
bill after its ratification and until the dissolution of the Assembly are also
recorded to avoid a second entry of the bill as an act, but the subentry
"mentioned" is then used.

2. Acts and ordinances of former assemblies are numbered and entered in the
order in which they are first mentioned, with the full title of the statute
provided. Every reference to these is recorded. Acts referred to only by a brief
title (e.g., Quit Rent Act) are entered in the main index under the first word
of the title. When the full title of such legislation can be readily identified,
it is also numbered, entered in the list of acts, and cross-referenced from the
short title.

3. Addresses, messages, petitions, reports, resolutions, and speeches are given
titles and numbered and entered in order of their presentation as papers. To
simplify use of the cross-referencing system, the only page reference usually
included is that of the text. Somewhat fuller entries are given for concurrent
resolutions and papers discussed at length by the House. Full procedural
references for these papers will generally be found under the appropriate
subject heading or proper name in the main index.

In the written papers, cross-references are used to show the sequence of
directly related business. References enclosed in parentheses refer back in
time, while "see also" references point forward. Thus a report made in
consequence of a petition will contain the petition number in parentheses. If
the report results in a message, a "see also" reference will be given to the
message number. In the case of acts, bills, and ordinances, complete page
references are given instead of cross-references, providing an uninterrupted
history of legislation.

In this index, the following general rules have been followed in entering
personal and geographic names, topics, and offices and institutions.

1. Names of members of the Commons House are marked with asterisks.

2. Personal names in general are entered according to the spelling found most
frequently in the text, except in the case of well-known or easily identified
persons whose names are misspelled by the clerk.

3. Abbreviated forenames of persons are given in full unless the name for which
the abbreviation stands is doubtful. Names of persons lacking surnames are
entered with an identifying phrase (e.g., Pharis, slave of Samuel Wells).

4. Military titles and titles of courtesy are omitted unless they are necessary

(a) to distinguish between persons of identical names,

(b) as an aid in the identification of a person whose forename cannot be
supplied,

(c) to identify a little-known military or naval officer in regular service, and

(d) to identify a married woman referred to only by her husband's name. Other
titles (e.g., Dr.) are retained.

5. Geographic names are entered according to the modern spelling favored by the
U.S. Board of Geographic Names, except in cases where the modern form would be
an anachronism (e.g., Charles Town).

6. Common names are entered according to an accepted conventional
spelling-either a recognizable archaic form closest to the one used in the
journal (e.g., gaols) or the modern form.

7. In the case of most civil offices (e.g., public treasurer), entries are
included both for the office and the name of the officeholder. Cross-references
are provided from each entry to the other unless the page references are
identical.

8. The names of vessels and the titles of contemporary publications are given in
italics.

9. Only those committees that have the character of standing committees or serve
as continuing committees on special business are entered, but all page
references to each of these-rather than cross-references to the papers produced
by them-are recorded.

The letter-by-letter mode of alphabetization has been used throughout, except in
the case of subentries under bills and concurrent resolutions, which follow a
historical sequence. Multiple cross-references under written papers are not
alphabetized, but are listed in chronological order as a further aid to the
user."

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