BLYTHEWOOD, S.C. (AP) - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson often says one of his professional guidebooks is the state constitution. On Friday, the top prosecutor got to hold that original document as he spoke with students about how his office is charged with following it - and how the constitution itself has changed through the years.
Wilson visited Blythewood’s Round Top Elementary with officials from the state Department of Archives and History. Escorted by a Richland County sheriff’s deputy, agency director Eric Emerson brought the state’s original constitution, which dates to 1776, to show to students.
From the agency’s climate-controlled vaults, where 35 million documents are housed, Emerson also retrieved South Carolina’s 1895 constitution, which limited the ability of blacks to vote in the state. That portion was later amended, Wilson noted, pointing out that the state’s governing documents are malleable and subject to change at the will of the people.
“We didn’t always do the right thing as a state,” Wilson said. “We don’t want to forget about it. We want to recognize that it happened.”
Emerson also displayed South Carolina’s original copy of the Bill of Rights and an introductory letter bearing President George Washington’s signature. The dozens of students gathered in the school’s multi-purpose room let out gasps of surprise and delight as they realized they were looking at an actual document signed by the nation’s first president.
Wilson says he loves the opportunity to get students engaged in civics by showing them how historical documents impact their lives today.
“It really does bring history alive, when these kids read about the documents, and they read about the people behind the documents, the good and the bad of our history,” he said. “It’s one thing to read about, but it’s another thing to actually get to see it.”
The prosecutor, who said his post-politics career might include a stint as a teacher, said he felt as giddy as the students when he laid eyes on the historical artifacts in front of him.
“It was really fun to watch their faces when you bring out a 200-year-old document, and their eyes get really big, because they’re realizing how much bigger this history is.”
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Kinnard can be reached at https://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP
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