Carolina Charter (Lesson Plan)

Students should have copies of the Carolina Charter and its transcription at their disposal. Written Document Analysis Sheets can be completed and discussed as an introductory activity.

Activities for studying a document for its informational value and its significance in history will be common ones for the study of any important document.

1. Divide the class into groups and have each concentrate on one portion of the document’s content and report what they have read to the class.
2. Identify the important points on note cards and post them around the room and discuss them.
3. Have student groups discuss the aspects of the Charter that affect people, places, things and ideas.
4. Discuss the differences in the colonial charters. How are they alike and different in what they give to the leaders of the various colonies?

Activities can also be done that place the document in the time period in which it was created.

1. Divide the class into groups and have each concentrate on an aspect of the late 17th Century in England: politics, culture, etc.
2. Divide the class into groups and have each concentrate on the major players, Charles II and the eight Lords Proprietor.
3. Research and report on life in the American colonies during the 17th Century.

Activities regarding the value of a document as an artifact would involve discussions about the physical document itself.

1. Discuss the appearance of the document.
2. Research royal and noble seals and why they were needed.
3. Discuss the different materials that documents have been written on and with.
4. Have students create their own illuminated document.

King Charles II of Great Britain granted the Carolina Charter to eight of his supporters on March 24, 1663 at Westminster in England, English monarchs made six earlier grants but no permanent
colony resulted from them. In 1578 Queen Elizabeth I granted Sir Humphrey Gilbert a royal patent but his two efforts to reach the New World failed. In 1584 Gilbert’s half-brother, Walter Raleigh, who sponsored, but did not sail with the two voyages, received the same patent. The second became known as the last colony. 

The known territory on the new continent was named Virginia, after the Virgin Queen Elizabeth I. With no permanent colony yet established, King James I issued the charter of South Virginia to London Company in 1606. Under this charter the first permanent English settlement in the new world was established at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. In 1609 the London Company was reorganized and a new charter was issued, but was replaced in 1612. In 1624, the company, wracked with internal dissension, had its charter revoked by James I, and Virginia became a royal colony. King Charles I made the sixth grant to Sir Robert Heath. It included a territory in southern Virginia (just south of what is today the State of Virginia) and called Carolana. The Heath grant was voided in 1660. 

King Charles II, in 1663, granted the Carolina Charter to Edward, Earl of Clarendon; Lord Craven; John, Lord Berkeley; Anthony Ashley Cooper; Sir George Carteret; Sir William Berkeley; Sir John Colleton; and George, Duke of Albemarle. These eight Lords Proprietors supported the king during the Restoration of 1660. The Charter outlined the territory of Carolina as lying between 31o and 36o north latitude and extending from the Atlantic Ocean as far West as the South Seas. The Proprietors ruled this territory that was known for the first time as Carolina. With the granting of the charter, the inhabitants of the territory of Carolina received a written guarantee of political and religious freedoms. 

The Charter is today a vital link in a chain of documents, beginning with the Magna Carta, which established and preserved our freedoms. In 1665 another charter, which amended the 1663 document, was granted. The Lord Proprietors sought this charter in order to move the northern boundary to 36o 30’ latitude to include the Albemarle Sound area, a prosperous region with a growing settlement. Under the Carolina Charter, the colonist claimed the same rights as Englishmen. 

In 1665, the inhabitants of the Albemarle Sound area exercised these rights and formed a Grand Assembly that met under Gov. William Drummond. The North Carolina legislature is a lineal descendant of this Grand Assembly that met under the rights and privileges granted in the Carolina Charter. There were about 2,000 settlers in the Albemarle Sound area and probably not more than 5,000 in the entire colony. Bath was the first town in what was to become North Carolina, having been established in 1705. 

Today North Carolina is one of seven states that possess their original charters. The six other states are Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. In 1947 an antique dealer in Surry, England offered the Charter of Carolina for sale. State officials and historians were interested in obtaining the document. It was possible that all states that lay in part of in whole within the territory of Carolina would want the document. North Carolina officials first established the authenticity of the Charter. The interested parties, led by Dr. Christopher Crittenden, Director of the State Department of Archives and History, obtained confirmation from a number of experts that the Charter was genuine. Because the legislature was not in session, money for its purchase had to be obtained by means other than through appropriation. Private citizens donated to the cause. Because the Charter was to be bought by the State of North Carolina, the dealer reduced his original price from $10,000 to 8,000. About the time the purchase was to be made, Great Britain reduced the value of its currency as it related to the United States dollar. It therefore took fewer dollars to meet the price stated in pounds by the dealer. The purchase finally came to slightly over $6,000. The Carolina Charter was purchased and presented to the state in 1949.