Part 5

See, also, IRELAND: A. D. 1014.

NORMANS: A. D. 1000-1063. The Northmen in France become French.

See NORMANDY; A. D. 911-1000; and 1035-1063.

NORMANS: A. D. 1000-1194. Conquests and settlement in Southern Italy and Sicily.

See ITALY (SOUTHERN): A. D. 1000-1090; and 1081-1194.

NORMANS: A. D. 1016-1042. The reign of the Danish kings in England.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1016-1042.

NORMANS: A. D. 1066-1071. Conquest of England by Duke William of Normandy.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1042-1066; 1066; and 1066-1071.

NORMANS: A. D. 1081-1085. Attempted conquest of the Byzantine Empire.

See BYZANTINE EMPIRE: A. D. 1081-1085.

NORMANS: A. D. 1084. The sack and burning of Rome.

See ROME: A. D. 1081-1084.

NORMANS: A. D. 1146. Ravages in Greece.

See BYZANTINE EMPIRE: A. D. 1146.

NORMANS: A. D. 1504. Early enterprise on the Newfoundland fishing banks.

See NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1501-1578.

NORMANS: End--------

NORTH, Lord, Administration of.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1770, to 1782-1783.

NORTH ANNA, The passage of the.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1864 (MAY: VIRGINIA).

NORTH BRITON, Number 45, The.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1762-1764.

NORTH CAROLINA: Start--------

NORTH CAROLINA: The aboriginal inhabitants.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY, CHEROKEES, IROQUOIS TRIBES OF THE SOUTH, SHAWANESE, and TIMUQUANAN FAMILY.

NORTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1524. Discovery of the coast by Verrazano.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1523-1524.

NORTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1585-1587. Raleigh's attempted settlements at Roanoke.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1584-1586; and 1587-1590.

NORTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1629. The grant to Sir Robert Heath.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1629.

NORTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1639-1663. Pioneer and unorganized colonization.

"An abortive attempt at colonization was made in 1639, and a titular governor appeared in Virginia; but this, and a number of conflicting claims originating in this patent [to Sir Robert Heath], and sufficiently troublesome to the proprietaries of a later time, were the only results of the grant of Charles I. This action on the part of the Crown, and the official information received, did not, however, suffice to prevent the Virginia Assembly lending itself to a scheme by which possession might be obtained of the neighboring territory, or at least substantial benefits realized therefrom by their constituents. With this object, they made grants to a trading company, which led, however, only to exploration and traffic. Other grants of a similar nature followed for the next ten years, at the expiration of which a company of Virginians made their way from Nansemond to Albemarle, and established a settlement there. The Virginian Burgesses granted them lands, and promised further grants to all who would extend these settlements to the southward. Emigration from Virginia began. Settlers, singly and in companies, crossed the border, and made scattered and solitary clearings within the wilds of North Carolina. Many of these people were mere adventurers; but some of them were of more substantial stuff, and founded permanent settlements on the Chowan and elsewhere. Other eyes, however, as watchful as those of the Virginians, were also turned to the rich regions of the South. {2372} New England enterprise explored the American coast from one end to the other, in search of lucrative trade and new resting-places. After a long acquaintance with the North Carolina coast, they bought land of the Indians, near the mouth of Cape Fear River, and settled there. For some unexplained cause—possibly on account of the wild and dangerous character of the scattered inhabitants, who had already drifted thither from Virginia, possibly from the reason which they themselves gave—the New England colonists abandoned their settlement and departed, leaving a written opinion of the poor character of the country expressed in very plain language and pinned to a post. Here it was found by some wanderers from Barbadoes, who were of a different opinion from the New Englanders as to the appearance of things; and they accordingly repurchased the land from the Indians and began a settlement. At this date [1663], therefore, there was in North Carolina this infant settlement of the Barbadoes men, on the extreme southeastern point of the present State, and in the north-eastern corner the Virginia settlers scattered about, with here a solitary plantation and there a little group of farms, and always a restless van of adventurers working their way down the coast and into the interior. … Whatever rights the North Carolina settlers may have had in the eyes of the Virginians, who had granted them land, or in those of the Indians who had sold it, they had none recognized by the English King, who claimed to own all that vast region. It may be doubted whether anything was known of these early colonists in England; and their existence was certainly not regarded in the least when Charles II. lavished their territory, and much besides, upon a band of his courtiers and ministers."

_H. C. Lodge, Short History of the English Colonies, chapter 5._

ALSO IN: _J. W. Moore, History of North Carolina, volume 1, chapter 2._

NORTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1663-1670. The grant to Monk, Clarendon, Shaftesbury and others. The organized colonies.

"On the 24th March, 1663, King Charles II. granted to Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George [Monk], Duke of Albemarle; William, Earl of Craven; John, Lord Berkeley; Anthony, Lord Ashley [Earl of Shaftesbury]; Sir George Carteret, Sir John Colleton, and Sir William Berkeley, all the country between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, between 31° and 36° parallels of latitude, called Carolina, in honor of Charles. [The grant embraced the present States of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, as well as the two Carolinas.] In 1663, Sir William Berkeley, Governor of the Colony of Virginia, visited the province, and appointed William Drummond Governor of the Colony of Carolina. … Drummond, at his death in 1667, was succeeded by Stevens as governor. … The first assembly that made laws for Carolina, assembled in the fall of 1669. … A form of government, magnificent in design, and labored in detail, called 'The fundamental constitutions of Carolina,' were drawn up by the celebrated author of the Essay on the Human Understanding, John Locke. … On the death of Governor Stevens, who died in the colony full of years and wealth, the assembly chose Carteret for their governor, and on his return to England soon after, Eastchurch, who then was in Eng]and, was appointed governor, and Miller secretary."

_J. H. Wheeler, Historical Sketches of North Carolina, chapter 4._

"The earliest grant made to the lords proprietors did not include the whole of the present State of North Carolina. Its northern line fell short of the southern boundary of Virginia by half a degree of latitude. Notwithstanding this, an unwarranted exhibition of authority established virtually the proprietary dominion over this unappropriated territory. … Colonel Byrd of Virginia, who was born not long after the charter of 1665 was made, and who lived during the administration of Berkeley, states, and no doubt truly, that 'Sir William Berkeley, who was one of the grantees, and at that time governor of Virginia, finding a territory of 31 miles in breadth between the inhabited part of Virginia and the above-mentioned boundary of Carolina [36°], advised the Lord Clarendon of it. And his lordship had interest enough with the king to obtain a second patent to include it, dated June 30th, 1665.' By this patent very large powers were granted; so large that, as Chalmers has remarked, 'no one prerogative of the crown was preserved, except only the sovereign dominion. … The existence of the colony from Barbadoes, under Sir John Yeamans, that settled in the old county of Clarendon, from its inception in 1665 to its abandonment in 1690, forms but an episode in the proprietary history of North Carolina. The colony, like all others similarly situated, sought at first to make provision for the supply of bodily wants, in securing food and shelter only; but having done this it next proceeded to make profitable the gifts of Heaven that were around it. Yeamans had brought with him negro slaves from Barbadoes, and so inviting was the new settlement deemed, that in the second year of its existence it contained 800 inhabitants. … But with all this prosperity, the colony on the Cape Fear was not destined to be permanent. The action of the lords proprietors themselves caused its abandonment. … In 1670, the lords proprietors, who seem to have been anxious to proceed more and more to the southward, sent out a considerable number of emigrants to form a colony at Port Royal, now Beaufort, in the present State of South Carolina. The individual who led the expedition was William Sayle, 'a man of experience,' says Chalmers, 'who had been appointed governor of that part of the coast lying southwestward of Cape Carteret.' … Scarcely however, had Sayle carried out his instructions and made his colonists somewhat comfortable, before his constitution yielded to a new and insalubrious climate, and he died. … It was not easy for the proprietors immediately to find a fit successor; and, even had such been at hand, some time must necessarily have elapsed before he could safely reach the scene of his labors. But Sir John Yeamans was near the spot: his long residence had acclimated him, and, as the historian states, he 'had hitherto ruled the plantation around Cape Fear with a prudence which precluded complaint.' He therefore was directed to extend his command from old Clarendon, on the Cape Fear, to the territory which was southwest of Cape Carteret. This was in August, 1671. The shores with the adjacent land, and the streams making into the sea, were by this time very well known to all the dwellers in Carolina, for the proprietors had caused them to be surveyed with accuracy. {2373} On the banks of Ashley River there was good pasturage, and land fit for tillage. The planters of Clarendon, therefore, turned their faces southward, while those from Port Royal travelled northward; and so the colonists from both settlements met on the banks of the Ashley, as on a middle ground, and here in the same year (1671) they laid, 'on the first high land,' the foundations of 'old Charlestown.' In 1679, it was found that 'Oyster Point,' formed by the confluence of Ashley and Cooper rivers, was more convenient for a town than the spot previously selected, and the people, with the encouragement of the lords proprietors, began to remove thither. In the next year (1680) were laid the foundations of the present city of Charleston; thirty houses were built, and it was declared to be the capital of the southern part of the province, and also the port for all commercial traffic. This gradually depopulated old Clarendon. … We now return to trace the fortunes of the settlement on Albemarle, under Stephens. As before stated he entered upon his duties as governor in October, 1667. … His instructions were very full and explicit. The Assembly was to be composed of the governor, a council of twelve, and twelve delegates chosen by the freeholders. Of the twelve councillors, whose advice, by the way, the governor was required always to take and follow, one half was to be appointed by the Assembly, the other half by himself. To this Assembly belonged not only the power to make laws, but a large share of the executive authority also. … In 1669, the first legislature under this constitution assembled. And it is worthy of remark, that at this period, when the province may be said to have had, for the first time, a system of regular government, there was in it a recognition of two great principles which are now part of the political creed of our whole country, without distinction of party. These are, first, that the people are entitled to a voice in the selection of their law-makers; and secondly, that they cannot rightfully be taxed but by their own representatives. … The people, we have reason to believe, were contented and happy during the early part of Stephens' administration. … But this quiet condition of affairs was not to last. We have now reached a period in our history which illustrates the fact, that whatever wisdom may be apparent in the constitution given to the Albemarle colony by the proprietors, on the accession of Stephens, was less the result of deliberation than of a happy accident. … But the time had now come for the proprietors to carry out their magnificent project of founding an empire; and disregarding alike the nature of man, the lessons of experience, and the physical obstacles of an unsubdued wilderness (even not yet entirely reclaimed), they resolved that all should yield to their theories of government, and invoked the aid of philosophy to accomplish an impossibility. Locke was employed to prepare 'the fundamental constitutions.'"

_F. L. Hawks, History of North Carolina, volume 2, pages 441-462._

ALSO IN: _W. C. Bryant and S. H. Gay, Popular History of thee United States, volume 2, chapter 12._

NORTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1669-1693. The Fundamental Constitutions of John Locke, and their failure.

The royal grant of the Carolinas to Monk, Shaftesbury, Clarendon, and their associates invested them with "all the rights, jurisdiction, royalties, privileges, and liberties within the bounds of their province, to hold, use, and enjoy the same, in as ample a manner as the bishop of Durham did in that county-palatine in England: … Agreeably to these powers, the proprietors proceeded to frame a system of laws for the colony which they projected. Locke, the well-known philosopher, was summoned to this work, and the largest expectations were entertained in consequence of his co-operation. Locke, though subsequently one of the proprietors, was, at the beginning, simply the secretary of the earl of Shaftesbury. The probability is that, in preparing the constitution for the Carolinas, he rather carried out the notions of that versatile nobleman than his own. … The code of laws called the 'Fundamental Constitutions,' which was devised, and which subsequently became unpopular in the colony, is not certainly the work of his hands. It is ascribed by Oldmixon, a contemporary, to the earl of Shaftesbury, one of the proprietors. The most striking feature in this code provided for the creation of a nobility, consisting of land graves, cassiques, and barons. These were to be graduated by the landed estates which were granted with the dignity; the eldest of the proprietary lords was to be the superior, with the title of Palatine, and the people were to be serfs." The tenants, and the issue of the tenants, "were to be transferred with the soil, and not at liberty to leave it, but with the lord's permission, under hand and seal. The whole system was rejected after a few years' experiment. It has been harshly judged as … the crude conception of a mind conversant rather with books than men—with the abstract rather than the practical in government and society. And this judgment is certainly true of the constitutions in the case in which they were employed. They did not suit the absolute conditions of the country, or the class of people which subsequently made their way to it. But contemplating the institution of domestic slavery, as the proprietors had done from the beginning—a large villanage and a wealthy aristocracy, dominating almost without restraint or responsibility over the whole—the scheme was not without its plausibilities. But the feudal tenures were everywhere dying out. The time had passed, even in Europe, for such a system. … The great destitution of the first settlers left them generally without the means of procuring slaves; and the equal necessities, to which all are subject who peril life and fortune in a savage forest and on a foreign shore, soon made the titular distinctions of the few a miserable mockery, or something worse."

_W. G. Simms, History of South Carolina, book 2, chapter 1._

"The constitutions were signed on the 21st of July, 1669;" but subsequently revised by the interpolation of a clause, against the wishes of Locke, establishing the Church of England. "This revised copy of 'the model' was not signed till March, 1670. To a colony of which the majority were likely to be dissenters, the change was vital; it was scarcely noticed in England, where the model became the theme of extravagant applause. … As far as depended upon the proprietaries, the government was immediately organized with Monk, duke of Albemarle, as palatine." But, meantime, the colonists in the northern part of the Carolina province had instituted a simple form of government for themselves, with a council of twelve, and an assembly composed of the governor, the council, and twelve delegates from the freeholders of the incipient settlements. {2374} The assembly had already met and had framed some important laws, which remained "valid in North Carolina for more than half a century. Hardly had these laws been established when the new constitution was forwarded to Albemarle. Its promulgation did but favor anarchy by invalidating the existing system, which it could not replace. The proprietaries, contrary to stipulations with the colonists, superseded the existing government, and the colonists resolutely rejected the substitute." Much the same state of things appeared in the South Carolina settlements (not yet separately named), and successive disorders and revolutionary changes made up the history of the pseudo palatinate for many years.

_G. Bancroft, History of the United States (Author's last revision), part 2, chapter 7 (volume 1)._

In 1693, "to conciliate the colonists, and to get rid of the dispute which had arisen as to the binding force of the 'Grand Model,' the proprietors voted that, 'as the people have declared they would rather be governed by the powers granted by the charter, without regard to the fundamental constitutions, it will be for their quiet, and the protection of the well-disposed, to grant their request.' This abrogation of the labors of Locke removed one bone of contention; but as the 'Grand Model' had never been actually carried into effect, the government went on much as before. Each of the proprietaries continued to have his special delegate in the colony, or rather two delegates, one for South Carolina, the other for Albemarle, the eight together constituting the council in either province, over which the governor presided as delegate of the palatine, to whom his appointment belonged."

_R. Hildreth, History of the United States, chapter 21 (volume 2)._

The text of the "fundamental constitutions" is printed in volume 9 of the 12th edition of Locke's complete works, and in volume 10 of several prior editions.

NORTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1688-1729. Slow progress and unprosperous state of the colony. End of the Proprietary Government.

In 1688, Carolina (the northern province) being afflicted with a governor, one Seth Sothel, who is accused of every variety of extortion and rapacity, the colonists rose up against him, tried him before their assembly, deposed him from his office and drove him into exile. "The Proprietors demurred to the form of this procedure, but acquiesced in the substance of it, and thereby did something to confirm that contempt for government which was one of the leading characteristics of the colony. During the years which followed, the efforts of the Proprietors to maintain any authority over their Northern province, or to connect it in any way with their Southern territory, were little more than nominal. For the most part the two settlements were distinguished by the Proprietors as 'our colony north-east of Cape Fear,' and 'our colony south-west of Cape Fear.' As early as 1691 we find the expression North Carolina once used. After that we do not meet with it till 1696. From that time onward both expressions are used with no marked distinction, sometimes even in the same document. At times the Proprietors seem to have aimed at establishing a closer connexion between the two colonies by placing them under a single Governor. But in nearly all these cases provision was made for the appointment of separate Deputy-Governors, nor does there seem to have been any project for uniting the two legislative bodies. … In 1720 the first event occurred which throws any clear light from without on the internal life of the colony. In that year boundary disputes arose between Virginia and her southern neighbour and it was found necessary to appoint representatives on each side to settle the boundary line. The chief interest of the matter lies in the notes left to us by one of the Virginia Commissioners [Colonel William Byrd]. … After making all … deductions and checking Byrd's report by that of graver writers, there remains a picture of poverty, indolence, and thriftlessness which finds no counterpart in any of the other southern colonies. That the chief town contained only some fifty poor cottages is little or nothing more than what we find in Maryland or Virginia. But there the import trade with England made up for the deficiencies of colonial life. North Carolina, lacking the two essentials of trade, harbours and a surplus population, had no commercial dealings with the mother country. … The only possessions which abounded were horses and swine, both of which could be reared in droves without any care or attention. … The evils of slavery existed without its counterbalancing advantages. There was nothing to teach those habits of administration which the rich planters of Virginia and South Carolina learnt as part of their daily life. At the same time the colony suffered from one of the worst effects of slavery, a want of manual skill. … In 1729 the faint and meaningless shadow of proprietary government came to an end. The Crown bought up first the shares of seven Proprietors, then after an interval that of the eighth. In the case of other colonies the process of transfer had been effected by a conflict and by something approaching to revolution. In North Carolina alone it seems to have come about with the peaceful assent of all parties. … Without a struggle, North Carolina cast off all traces of its peculiar origin and passed into the ordinary state of a crown colony."

_J. A. Doyle, The English in America: Virginia, Maryland and the Carolinas, chapter 12._

NORTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1710. Palatine colonization at New Berne.

See PALATINES.

NORTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1711-1714. Indian rising and massacre of colonists. Subjugation and expulsion of the Tuscaroras.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: IROQUOIS TRIBES OF THE SOUTH.

NORTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1740. War with the Spaniards in Florida.