South Carolina Archives
Series Description

Committee Reports, 1776-1879

CREATOR: General Assembly.

TITLE: Committee reports

DATE: 1776-1879; (bulk 1782-1866)

VOLUME: 44.55 cubic ft.

ARRANGEMENT: Series arranged chronologically by year and there under by arbitrarily assigned modern number, with a No Date (N.D.) sequence filed separately.

BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL NOTE: Committees in this period are predominantly of two types, special (or select) and standing. Special committees deal with a single specific issue and dissolve. Standing committees deal with a category of issues and are permanent. Examples of standing committees in this period are Ways and Means, Judiciary, Agriculture, Education, Finance, Military, Federal Relations, Medical, and Labor.

SUMMARY SCOPE NOTE: A legislative committee report is a written account of a portion of the General Assembly charged with the duty of examining or deliberating on some matter referred to them by the House or Senate. The report, an outgrowth of English practice, usually contains information on the course of their deliberation and recommends specific actions. Usually it is written in reference to a problem or issue submitted in a petition, a grand jury presentment, or a message from the governor. Committee reports make it possible to trace the disposition of many issues presented to the legislature.

The text of a committee report can range from a portion of a page to more than ten pages. Almost always, the committee chairman signs the finished report. When a report is undated, sometimes an approximate or circa date can be assigned by determining the committee chairman's service in the General Assembly. Occasionally, a resolution is added to the committee report directing that the actions recommended by the committee be put into effect.

INDEX/FINDING AID: Indexed to the item level in the repository's On - line Index to Legislative Papers, 1782-1866.  Most items are also indexed in a fifteen-reel computer output microfilm (COM) Index to Legislative Papers made available by the repository in 1991. The numeric code 0010 004 was used to designate this series in the computer output microfilm index.

These indexes include personal names, geographic locations, and subject terms. The names of businesses, manufacturing firms, specific railroad companies, similar incorporations, churches, educational institutions, benevolent and social organizations, fire companies, and military organizations were indexed with topics.

HIERARCHICAL NOTE: Forms part of the records of the General Assembly.