What Up, Nerds?
Between 1658 and 1660 eight men risked their lives working in a movement that was trying to replace the heir of an ambiguously benevolent dictator with the heir of their old de-throned king. They succeeded when they put the new king, Charlie Two, on the throne of England. Once king Charlie was secure in his place these eight men expected him to reward them for their part in helping to give him England.
They got their reward. It was a pretty expansive one, too. Three years after his coronation the king gave these three men a present. What was that gift?
The king wanted to use the gift to honor his dethroned and decapitated daddy, king Charlie One. So he called it the Carolina Colony--so called because Carolus is how you say Charles in Latin, and because "Charlolina" sounds stupid. One of those eight men who were given the colony was named Lord Shaftesbury. He had his favorite secretary draw up a constitution for the Colony. And that secretary? He was none other than John Goddamn Locke, the political-philosopher and father of liberal democracy. Locke, Shaftesbury, and a friend drew the document up, and this wonderful new transcontinental colony was bequeathed a constitution.
And so the Carolina Colony got off to a great start.
There was only one problem. There were not a lot of people who thought king Charlie had owned the land in the first place. Charlie had basically only called "dibs" on the area. And that weak claim was even weaker because the Spanish had already claimed it a hundred and seventy years earlier. Never mind the local American Indians who had also already dibs-ed it long before that.
The question is that of who supported Carolina's claim to the land?
Did the inhabitants of Carolina think that the English owned the land? Nope. There were enormous numbers of people who lived in the lands that Carolina Colony occupied. But they were the American Indians who'd been hanging out on the continent for a few tens of thousands of years already. They had very little reason the care what some guy named Charlie across an ocean declared about their land.
Did any other European countries think Charlie Two owned the land? No. People either recognized the Spanish right to that land or claimed it themselves. And there were actually Spaniards living in the territory to enforce Spanish rule.
But at least the English agreed that the territory belonged to England, belonged to the king, and belonged to those eight men. Those Englishmen were willing to fight to support their King's claim. And those who lived in Carolina could fight to enforce English administration. Surely there must have been at least a few Englishmen somewhere in this huge swath of land. Right?
Well. Let's look at the land's history.
Way back in the day the English had built Lost Colony at Roanoke within the bounds of Carolina Colony. That had disappeared mysteriously, but in the far northeast corner of the territory a small community of Englishmen had recently appeared. Ten years before Carolina Colony was chartered, there had been a few rapscallions in Virginia and other British colonies who had decided that the ungoverned Virginia frontier just had too much Johnny Law for them. So they picked up, left, and settled themselves on the inland shore of the Albermarle sound. This settlement is located in the northeast of modern North Carolina. Because of these settlers' dispositions, the Virginians called their settlement "Rogues' Harbor." That small Virginian frontier community constituted all of the Englishmen in Carolina.
So what the eight men had been given was actually lordship over these few citizens in Rogues' Harbor, and the right to fight off the Spanish and the local Indians before trying to colonize the rest.
Except it was an even worse deal than that. Because the king had messed up and drawn the border so that Rogues' harbor was actually just outside of the Carolina border to the northeast.
That meant that the number of Englishmen who actually lived in Carolina Colony was officially zero. The eight men had been given no citizens to live in their vast tract of territory.
So the king decided to be a little more generous, and in 1665 he added a little more land to Carolina. He added everything in the light blue below. This larger grant included the Spanish City of St. Augustine, in Florida. Needless to say, the Spaniards living there did not feel very Carolinian. Indeed, they still insisted the King of Spain's dibs from a hundred and seventy years earlier meant the whole continent belonged to them. And they were well enough armed to fight over the point. Undoubtedly the eight recipients of Carolina were somewhat less than overjoyed at this.
It is hard to imagine that the colony was the world's most attractive gift. But when your king gives you something you don't tell him "no." So the eight men accepted this vast swath of earth that several other people already owned. And they started planning how to make something out of it.
They decided that the first necessary step in improving Carolina was to try and get a few more Englishmen living in it. At least then they'd have somebody to rule. One man established the town of Clarendon near modern Wilmington, NC. But that town town didn't really take off though. It suffered from the northern Carolina problem of bad ports. And for the next five years Clarendon just puttered along and communed with Rogues' Harbor.
In 1670 the eight men decided to try to settle the colony again. They sailed a boat to the geographical center of the colony's east coast where they discovered a good harbor at the mouth of two rivers. They set up a new town on the edge of the wilderness there, and it flourished. They named the two rivers after one of the eight: Lord Shaftesbury. Shaftesbury's real name was Anthony Ashley Cooper. So one river was named the Ashley and the other was named the Cooper. They named the town after the king, and called it Charleston.
Charleston was a good place for a port and the city grew and flourished. Before long it was the biggest city in all of Carolina. But the success of this big old town was going to lead to some problems between the north and the south.
Between 1658 and 1660 eight men risked their lives working in a movement that was trying to replace the heir of an ambiguously benevolent dictator with the heir of their old de-throned king. They succeeded when they put the new king, Charlie Two, on the throne of England. Once king Charlie was secure in his place these eight men expected him to reward them for their part in helping to give him England.
They got their reward. It was a pretty expansive one, too. Three years after his coronation the king gave these three men a present. What was that gift?
 |
| It was all the land in blue. I wouldn't mind finding THAT under a Christmas tree. |
The king wanted to use the gift to honor his dethroned and decapitated daddy, king Charlie One. So he called it the Carolina Colony--so called because Carolus is how you say Charles in Latin, and because "Charlolina" sounds stupid. One of those eight men who were given the colony was named Lord Shaftesbury. He had his favorite secretary draw up a constitution for the Colony. And that secretary? He was none other than John Goddamn Locke, the political-philosopher and father of liberal democracy. Locke, Shaftesbury, and a friend drew the document up, and this wonderful new transcontinental colony was bequeathed a constitution.
And so the Carolina Colony got off to a great start.
There was only one problem. There were not a lot of people who thought king Charlie had owned the land in the first place. Charlie had basically only called "dibs" on the area. And that weak claim was even weaker because the Spanish had already claimed it a hundred and seventy years earlier. Never mind the local American Indians who had also already dibs-ed it long before that.
The question is that of who supported Carolina's claim to the land?
Did the inhabitants of Carolina think that the English owned the land? Nope. There were enormous numbers of people who lived in the lands that Carolina Colony occupied. But they were the American Indians who'd been hanging out on the continent for a few tens of thousands of years already. They had very little reason the care what some guy named Charlie across an ocean declared about their land.
Did any other European countries think Charlie Two owned the land? No. People either recognized the Spanish right to that land or claimed it themselves. And there were actually Spaniards living in the territory to enforce Spanish rule.
But at least the English agreed that the territory belonged to England, belonged to the king, and belonged to those eight men. Those Englishmen were willing to fight to support their King's claim. And those who lived in Carolina could fight to enforce English administration. Surely there must have been at least a few Englishmen somewhere in this huge swath of land. Right?
Well. Let's look at the land's history.
Way back in the day the English had built Lost Colony at Roanoke within the bounds of Carolina Colony. That had disappeared mysteriously, but in the far northeast corner of the territory a small community of Englishmen had recently appeared. Ten years before Carolina Colony was chartered, there had been a few rapscallions in Virginia and other British colonies who had decided that the ungoverned Virginia frontier just had too much Johnny Law for them. So they picked up, left, and settled themselves on the inland shore of the Albermarle sound. This settlement is located in the northeast of modern North Carolina. Because of these settlers' dispositions, the Virginians called their settlement "Rogues' Harbor." That small Virginian frontier community constituted all of the Englishmen in Carolina.
So what the eight men had been given was actually lordship over these few citizens in Rogues' Harbor, and the right to fight off the Spanish and the local Indians before trying to colonize the rest.
|
| You know what? Could I actually have a different reward? Please? Any different reward? |
Except it was an even worse deal than that. Because the king had messed up and drawn the border so that Rogues' harbor was actually just outside of the Carolina border to the northeast.
That meant that the number of Englishmen who actually lived in Carolina Colony was officially zero. The eight men had been given no citizens to live in their vast tract of territory.
So the king decided to be a little more generous, and in 1665 he added a little more land to Carolina. He added everything in the light blue below. This larger grant included the Spanish City of St. Augustine, in Florida. Needless to say, the Spaniards living there did not feel very Carolinian. Indeed, they still insisted the King of Spain's dibs from a hundred and seventy years earlier meant the whole continent belonged to them. And they were well enough armed to fight over the point. Undoubtedly the eight recipients of Carolina were somewhat less than overjoyed at this.
 |
| Oh yay, more of a reward I really don't want. |
It is hard to imagine that the colony was the world's most attractive gift. But when your king gives you something you don't tell him "no." So the eight men accepted this vast swath of earth that several other people already owned. And they started planning how to make something out of it.
They decided that the first necessary step in improving Carolina was to try and get a few more Englishmen living in it. At least then they'd have somebody to rule. One man established the town of Clarendon near modern Wilmington, NC. But that town town didn't really take off though. It suffered from the northern Carolina problem of bad ports. And for the next five years Clarendon just puttered along and communed with Rogues' Harbor.
In 1670 the eight men decided to try to settle the colony again. They sailed a boat to the geographical center of the colony's east coast where they discovered a good harbor at the mouth of two rivers. They set up a new town on the edge of the wilderness there, and it flourished. They named the two rivers after one of the eight: Lord Shaftesbury. Shaftesbury's real name was Anthony Ashley Cooper. So one river was named the Ashley and the other was named the Cooper. They named the town after the king, and called it Charleston.
Charleston was a good place for a port and the city grew and flourished. Before long it was the biggest city in all of Carolina. But the success of this big old town was going to lead to some problems between the north and the south.
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