THE SOUTHERN COLONIES.
72. The Settlement of the Carolinas.—As we have seen, attempts had been made to settle in the region between Spanish Florida and Virginia, both by French Huguenots and by Englishmen sent out by Raleigh. But all such efforts had failed. After the founding of Jamestown, hunters and other adventurous spirits wandered through southern Virginia into what Charles I. subsequently granted to Sir Robert Heath as “The Province of Carolina.” This grant was not used, but the Virginia Burgesses authorized exploring expeditions into the new region, and in 1653 some Virginian dissenters who had been harshly treated formed a colony in North Carolina, which they called Albemarle. Other parties, including Quakers and individual settlers, gradually pushed into the section.
73. Grant of the Carolinas to Clarendon and Berkeley.—In 1663 Charles II. turned over the province to a group of favorites, among whom were the famous historian, the Earl of Clarendon, and Sir William Berkeley, the governor of Virginia. The settlers of Albemarle had their land claims recognized, and were given a governor in the person of William Drummond, a Scotchman who had settled in Virginia. South of Albemarle, on the Cape Fear River, a number of emigrants from the island of Barbadoes had planted a colony, known as Clarendon, under the leadership of Sir John Yeamans, who continued as governor under the new proprietors. Thus there were a northern and a southern Carolina almost from the first.
74. Liberality of Proprietors.—The proprietors were very liberal to their colonists. Indeed, in the northern province the first legislature actually felt bold enough to decree that no debts contracted by settlers previous to their coming to Carolina could be collected within its borders,—a proceeding which naturally attracted some not very desirable immigrants.
75. Locke’s Constitutions.—But the proprietors made a great mistake when they intrusted to the celebrated philosopher, John Locke, the task of drawing up a scheme of government for their provinces. He prepared a document known as the “Fundamental Constitutions,” in which he seemed to forget most of the advances toward individual and popular liberty that had been made since the Middle Ages. Various divisions of the territory were to be presided over by orders of nobility known as Landgraves, Caciques, etc. The tenants were called “leetmen,” and could not leave the estate of their lord without his permission, nor could their children be anything but leetmen through all generations. It is needless to say that this scheme for a mediæval aristocracy in a land not yet cleared of forests was doomed to failure, for it at once produced discontent in the settlements, to which that of Charleston (originally Charlestown, founded in 1670) was now added.
76. Progress of the Carolinas.—For some time the proprietors left the settlers of Albemarle, or the North Carolinians, as we may now call them, severely alone, and the people managed to live by means of a rude sort of agriculture and by trade with New England. When governors were appointed for them, troubles at once ensued, and the legislature in 1688 actually drove out Governor Seth Sothel, who by his corruption and tyranny had amply deserved his fate. At Charleston, however, things went much better, and population and trade increased, while the arrival of considerable numbers of French Huguenots added greatly to the moral and intellectual advancement of the settlers. But there were some troubles. For example, the Scotch settlement at Port Royal was completely destroyed by the Spaniards; yet the proprietors would not allow the Carolinians to chastise their enemy. Then, too, the Huguenots were for some time denied political rights, and the numerous dissenters had trouble with the Church of England people. Trade restrictions and the constant presence of pirates in the harbor of Charleston and on the coast were also a source of embarrassment. Finally, there was a series of bad governors, and it was not until 1695, when one of the proprietors, John Archdale, a shrewd and good Quaker, came from England as governor, that things began to improve.
References.—The bibliography is much the same as for Chapter II., with the addition of: David Ramsay, History of South Carolina (2 vols.); Edward McCrady, History of South Carolina (3 vols.); Alexander Johnston, Connecticut (“American Commonwealths”); E. H. Roberts, New York (“American Commonwealths”); W. H. Browne, Maryland (“American Commonwealths”); C. F. Adams, Massachusetts, its Historians and its History; F. L. Hawks, History of North Carolina (2 vols.); J. T. Scharf, History of Delaware (2 vols.); J. T. Scharf, History of Maryland (3 vols.); S. G. Arnold, History of Rhode Island (2 vols.); S. G. Fisher, The True William Penn; W. H. Browne, George Calvert and Cecilius Calvert (“Makers of America”); O. S. Straus, Roger Williams. For both Chapters II. and III., see especially Thwaites, The Colonies, chaps, iv., vi., vii., and ix.
Several interesting novels have their scenes laid in the early colonial period; of these, Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter is the most famous. Cooper’s Water Witch and Simms’s Cassique of Kiowah describe early New York and Charleston. Irving’s History of New York by Diedrich Knickerbocker is practically a work of fiction and is full of humor. For more recent and other older novels, see Channing and Hart’s Guide, § 36 a.