The South Carolina Royal Council, 1720-1763

Abstract

-T HE classic definition of a royal councilor, the one used by the Board of Trade in its instructions to colonial governors, said that councilors should be of good life and well affected to our government and of good estates and abilities and not necessitous persons or much in debt.' South Carolina governors, too, followed this pattern in nominating members of the council. They employed such descriptions as English Gentleman of an exceeding fair Character who has been settled many years in this Province, and is esteemed one of the richest Merchants in it, and a man who practices the Law with great Success and [has] an unblemished reputation.2 In practice, however, the Board of Trade paid scant attention to intangibles like reputation and character. Instead it emphasized the extent of a prospective councilor's estate and the quality of his affection to the Crown. In effect, it asked two questions about a nominee for the council: Is he a man of wealth and prominence in the colony? Can we trust him to support our policy? Between 1720, when the Crown assumed the government of the colony, and I763, the Board of Trade named a total of forty-nine men to serve on the twelve-man South Carolina councils Even with established criteria, how-