George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 2, 17th edition.

‘ [151] wisdom has projected for Carolina;’¹ and the propri-

Chap. XIII.}

etaries believed they had set their seals to ‘a sacred and unalterable’ instrument, which they fearlessly decreed should endure ‘forever.’

As far as depended upon the proprietaries, the government was immediately organized; and Monk, duke of Albemarle, was constituted palatine. But the contrast between the magnificent model of a constitution and the humble settlements of Carolina, rendered the inappropriateness of the forms too ludicrously manifest. Was there room for a palatine and land graves, for barons and lords of manors, for an admiralty court and a court of heraldry, among the scattered cabins between the Chowan and the ocean?

Albemarle had been increased by fresh emigrants

1665

from New England, and by a colony of ship-builders from the Bermudas,² who lived contentedly with Stevens as chief magistrate, under a very wise and

1667

simple form of government. A few words express its outlines; a council of twelve, six named by the proprietaries, and six chosen by the assembly; an assembly, composed of the governor, the council, and twelve delegates from the freeholders of the incipient settlements,—formed a government worthy of popular confidence. No interference from abroad was anticipated; for freedom of religion, and security against taxation, except by the colonial legislature, were solemnly conceded. The colonists were satisfied; the more so, as their lands were confirmed to them, by a solemn grant,

1668, May 1.

on the terms which they themselves had proposed.³

The authentic record of the legislative history of

1669

North Carolina, begins with the autumn of 1669,⁴