North and South Carolina were Restoration colonies. After the Restoration in England, Charles II had granted loyal courtiers with land grants in America (13). He issued the charter for Carolina as a proprietary colony to keep the Spanish and French out (15). It consisted of present day North and South. This joint charter stipulated land titled to eight proprietors with kingly power similar to Lord Baltimore in Maryland. It was first chartered in 1663, then given a new charter in 1665 to extend the land farther. The proprietors bestowed huge estates to themselves and divvied up the rest through the Headright System. Additionally, the proprietors granted religious freedom, thus establishing a government separate from religion. They also formed a representative assembly in hopes of attracting settlers from other American colonies, which would also avoid the expenses of financing expeditions from England. However, one proprietor convinced the rest to finance these expeditions from England. There was a group of 100 people who established the colonial capital Charles Town, also known as Charleston, in 1690. Following John Locke’s principles, the Fundamental Constitution for Carolina was drafted in 1669, which then divided the colony into equal sized counties. Colonial voice depended on the size of land holdings of solely proprietors, nobles, and other landowners. However, in reality, the colony ended up developing differently than the initial ideas based on Locke. In 1719, the colonists seized control of the colony as a result of the proprietors inability to control the tensions between the rich versus other settlers. In 1729, the king divided Carolina into North and South Carolina (13).
The Carolina Charter of 1663 issued by King Charles II (28)