Knight and Baronet, Vice-Chamberlain of our Household, and our trusty and
well-beloved Sir William Berkeley, Knight, and Sir John Colleton, Knight
and Baronet," he gave South Virginia, henceforth called the Carolinas,
a region occupying five degrees of latitude, and stretching indefinitely
from the seacoast toward the setting sun.

This huge territory became, like Maryland, a province or palatinate. In
Maryland was one Proprietary; in Carolina there were eight, though
for distinction the senior of the eight was called the Palatine. As in
Maryland, the Proprietaries had princely rights. They owed allegiance to
England, and a small quit-rent went to the King. They were supposed
to govern, in the main, by English law and to uphold the religion of
England. They were to make laws at their discretion, with "the advice,
assent, and approbation of the freemen, or of their deputies, who were
to be assembled from time to time as seemed best."

John Locke, who wrote the "Essay Concerning Human Understanding",
wrote also, with Ashley at his side, "The Fundamental Constitutions of
Carolina, in number a Hundred and Twenty, agreed upon by the Palatine
and Lords Proprietors, to remain the sacred and unalterable form and
Rule of government of Carolina forever."

"Forever" is a long word with ofttimes a short history. The Lords
Proprietors have left their names upon the maps of North and South
Carolina. There are Albemarle Sound and the Ashley and Cooper rivers,
Clarendon, Hyde, Carteret, Craven, and Colleton Counties. But their
Fundamental Constitutions, "in number a hundred and twenty," written
by Locke in 1669, are almost all as dead as the leaves of the Carolina
forest falling in the autumn of that year.

The grant included that territory settled by Roger Green and his men.
Among the Proprietors sat Sir William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia,
the only lord of Carolina actually upon American ground. Following
instructions from his seven fellows Berkeley now declared this region
separated from Virginia and attached to Carolina. He christened it
Albemarle. Strangely enough, he sent as Governor that Scotchman, William
Drummond, whom some years later he would hang. Drummond should have
a Council of six and an Assembly of freemen that might inaugurate
legislation having to do with local matters but must submit its acts
to the Proprietaries for veto or approval. This was the settlement in
Carolina of Albemarle, back country to Virginia,