the proprietors and their problems

The Proprietors and their Problems

Chapter 3 Notes

Settling the Albemarle Sound

• Necks are peninsulas located only in the northeastern corner of the state. These peninsulas are where the land is surrounded by water on three sides.

• Most are found on the Albemarle Sound and here is where the colony of Carolina has it orgins.


• These neighborhoods were the first European-based communities in what became North Carolina.

• During this time, the Carolina colony was owned by English aristocrats called the Lords Proprietors.

• The Proprietors and their colonists seldom got along.


• The Durants were among the first whites to settle what would become North Carolina

• George Durant was a partner in exploring the land with two other Virginians, Richard and Nathaniel Batts

• In 1629, King Charles I gave a vast tract of land south of the Dismal to his attorney general Sir Robert Heath.


• What brought George Durant and others to the Albemarle was the chance to grow more tobacco with less effort and expense.

• Durant and his neighbors were also speculating on land.

• Speculate is buying something in the hope that prices will later rises.


• There was another reason for people to settle in the Albemarle.

• Tobacco taxes, collected as customs duties had become a way that England could afford the expense of its colonies in the new world

• Custom duties are fees paid when a good was shipped out of a port.


• Virginia was watch to make sure their duties were paid.

• In the necks of North Carolina people became known as rogues which means cheater.

• That was because they often shipped their tobacco and other products through back channels without paying the tax collector.


• For several years, the Durants and their neighbors did well.

• Their ability to succeed was helped by the fact that the status of their property was uncertain.

The Chartering of Carolina

• Everyone of the Great Britain’s American colonies was eventually organized by a charter

• A charter was a contract granted by the king to individuals of groups who were to be in charge of settlement and then govern the settlers

• Virginia was granted to a group called the London Company

The Chartering of Carolina• These people ran the colony to make a profit • Virginia did not do very well, so the company

sold it back to the king in 1622• When the Durants and others moved south of

the Dismal Swamp, they still lived in Virginia• Everything changed in 1663, when the king of

England at that time, Charles II, created the new Carolina colony


• Charles II owned favors to those who had put him back in charge. So, he gave a group of English aristocrats the southern part of Virginia

• On March 24, 1663, eight Lords Proprietors received the Carolina charter

• In 1665, the king expanded their charter to include all the territory that is North Carolina


• The Proprietors were also given claim to all territory west to “the South Seas” another name for the Pacific Ocean

• The Lords Proprietors were some of the most powerful men in England

• These men did not want to go over there, they just wanted to make money

• Quit-rent is when the owner actually held title to his land, but he had to pay an annual land tax to the Proprietors


• The Proprietors saw the arrangement as a good deal for all concerned

• The Proprietors were obligated to govern the colony fairly for everyone

• They also had to protect the colonists from invasion and attack

• This was put into place by “the Concessions of 1665


• To ensure that this would work they put in the Fundamental Constitutions in 1669

• This document established a form of government run by men with an elaborate series of titles and ranks

• This document was also called the Grand Model• The Fundamental Constitutions gave people

titles so that they would know what their social class


• Most of the Albemarle settlers were not nearly as wealthy as their counterparts in Virginia

• Most Carolina settlers lived in wood framed huts

• They used the main room for work and play


• Farming was by no means advanced, even for that day

• Most of the farmers that day did not own a plow

• Most of the early Albemarle families did the work themselves

• Only about one in ten settles was an African slave


• More than one prosperous Virginian who came to the region called the people “lubbers” which refers to a lazy person

• There was no schools or churches in the Albemarle area

• The people worshiped in their homes

• A new faith came about in the area called the Quakers


• The same Albemarle “lubbers” who seemed lazy most days reacted energetically to any effect by the Proprietors to impose order on them

• The Albemarle settles were very assertive of their independence from the start

Culpeper’s Rebellion

• Albemarle settles from the start showed their independence in political matters

• When the Proprietors convened the first General Assembly one of the first laws it passed was a declaration that land deeds already held by the inhabitants be respected

• In 1673 the Proprietors decided to enforce the Navigation Act


• They listed which colonial goods-such as tobacco, dried fish, flour, or shingles- would be subject to customs duties

• The collection of those “duties” meant that many Albemarle residents who sold to New England shippers could no longer avoid the duties

• Most of the Albemarle residents wouldn’t pay


• Some residents of the Albemarle, however, sided with the Proprietors.

• One of these residents was Thomas Miller

• Miller and Eastchurch brought about Culpeper’s Rebellion

• In 1676, Miller and Eastchurch went to England to tell the Lords Proprietors of “the deplorable situation” in the colony


• George Durant set sail for England and presented the other side of the argument

• Since the Proprietors wanted to please the tax-loving king, so they appointed Eastchurch governor of the colony and made Miller the tax collector

• Miller sailed into Albemarle Sound in 1677 with a small ship he had armed to help collect the duties


• When George Durant returned from London, Miller tried to arrest him

• Eastchurch finally arrived and since he could legally claim the Proprietors had put him in charge, the rebels faced being charged with treason

• Treason is the act of trying to overthrow the government


• Eastchurch got sick and died, and the fighting resumed

• The proprietors were afraid that the king would think they could not manage the situation and take the colony back.

• They sent one of their own, Seth Sothel, to be governor.

• But Seth Sothel did not make it to Carolina due to pirates taking over the ship


• Now they make John Harvey governor because he was respected by almost everyone.

• He sent some quit-rent and customs duties back to England for the first time in six years.

• Shortly after that John Harvey died

Settling the Pamlico Sound

• The Lords Proprietors were always looking for a source of new quit-rent

• The Governor John Archdale convinced the General Assembly to divide the Albemarle into two counties

• County is an old English jurisdiction that allowed for local government

• The two counties were the Albemarle and Bath


• So many Virginians tried to leave for the Pamlico that Virginia tried to pass a law that would not allow them to move

• The Pamlico grew so fast that some of the newcomers stared the first town in Carolina, called Bath

• Bath started with about 12 houses • Soon more people moved in about 30

miles south of Bath.


• In 1711, the proprietors approved the establishment of New Bern, the colonies second town

• Refugees are people fleeing danger or persecution

• The settlement of the Pamlico caused a new round of troubles for the North Carolina colony


• At this time, the Proprietors turned to religion as a way to organize the colony

• North Carolina was notable for its lack of churches.

• There was many people at this time that did not have religion

• In 1701 and 1703, the General Assembly passed laws “establishing” the Anglican Church in the colony


• Establishment meant that all colonist offcially belonged to the Anglican faith, whether they wanted to or not.

• This meant all citizens were expected to pay church taxes in addition to the hated quit-rents


• In 1704, the General Assembly passed the Test Act

• The Test Act said that anyone who held public office had to take “the test.” He had to put his hand on a Bible and swear to uphold the principles of the Anglican Church.

• This was the beginning of the Cary’s Rebellion.

• The Cary’s Rebellion was fought between the Quakers and the Anglicans


• As Cary’s Rebellion kept the colony in an uproar, the Tuscarora Indians attempted to destroy the Pamlico settlements

• In 1711, they attacked when the colonist were tried and had their guard down

• Several hundred colonist were murdered• The most notable victim was John Lawson• The Tuscarora torture and execute

Lawson


• This war was not just about the lost of land

• The whites were evil people according to the Indians

• The Pamlico was “totally wasted and ruined.”

• Virginia would not send troops to help because they were still mad over the land that North Carolina had taken


• The Pamlico had to call on South Carolina for help

• The South Carolinians defeated the Tuscarora in a series of battles

• But, like most things in the early history of the colony, the struggle did not end

• The colonist angered the Tuscarora and they attacked the Pamlico again


• This time the Indians had an advantage because many whites were sick with yellow fever

• Again South Carolina had to come in and help defeat the Tuscarora

• This time the peace terms were not as generous, and what Indians were not forced into slavery generally decided to leave the region


• By the summer of 1714, the colony had its first “peace and quietness” since 1700

Settling the Cape Fear

• After the defeat of the Tuscarora more land came open for settlement

• The land of the Cape Fear was the greatest of all this land

• It became the most prosperous of all the land in the colony

• Most settlers turned to the production of naval stores


• The potential profits from naval stores soon drew settlers to the Cape Fear

• The Lords Proprietors considered the Cape Fear to be apart of South Carolina

• After some negotiation, the Crown brought back its interest in the lands that had become the colonies of North Carolina and South Carolina


• In 1729, North Carolina went from being a proprietary colony to a royal colony

• This means that it belongs to the king

• Just because it became a royal colony did not mean that things got better

the proprietors and their problems

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