North Carolina:
Land of Contrasts
Chapter 3
The Proprietors and Their Problems
Study Presentation
©2007 Clairmont Press
Chapter 3:
The Proprietors and
Their Problems
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Section 1: Settling the Albemarle Sound
Section 2: The Chartering of Carolina
Section 3: Culpeper’s Rebellion
Section 4: Settling the Pamlico Sound
Section 5: Settling the Cape Fear
Section 1: Settling the Albemarle
Sound
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
– How did the geography of North
Carolina affect its early
development?
Section 1: Settling the Albemarle
Sound
What words do I need to know?
1. neck
2. speculate
3. customs duty
Section 1: Settling the Albemarle
Sound
Introduction
• “Necks” (peninsulas) along the Albemarle
Sound were early neighborhoods for
European settlement
• 1650s-1700s: North Carolina governed by
English Lords Proprietors
• English leaders and colonists often did not
get along
Settlers from the North
• 1629: King Charles I gave large section of lands
south of the Great Dismal Swamp to Sir Robert
Heath; this grant was not used, however
• George Durant, Richard and Nathaniel Batts
were early settlers
• Virginians moved south to Carolina for the
chance to grow more tobacco with less effort
(good soil) and expense (free land)
• Early settlers “speculated” that Carolina lands
would one day be as profitable and expensive
as Virginia’s
Carolina “Rogues”
• Durant and others were known as rogues
(cheaters) because they exported their
tobacco and other crops without paying
the export tax (customs duties)
• By mid-1660s, settlers were doing well
• Location allowed growing of corn and
wheat to sell to English merchants
• It was undetermined whether these
settlers were part of Virginia or another
colony
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Section 2: The Chartering of
Carolina
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
– How did Carolina become a
separate colony?
Section 2: The Chartering of
Carolina
What words do I need to know?
1. charter
2. Lord Proprietor
3. quit-rent
Section 2: The Chartering of
Carolina
Introduction
• charter: a contract by the king to individuals or
groups to be in charge of a colony’s settlement
• 1663: King Charles II gave lands of southern
Virginia to some of his supporters
• The lands were called Carolina, after King
Charles I, and the leaders were eight Lords
Proprietors (rulers and owners of the property)
• 1665: Charter expanded to include lands that
are now South Carolina, Georgia, and northern
Florida and west to the Pacific Ocean!
The Lords Proprietors
• The Proprietors were among the most powerful
men in England
• Proprietors planned to sell the land
inexpensively, then make money from a property
tax called a quit-rent
• Part of the quit-rent paid the colony’s expenses;
the Proprietors kept the rest
• Albemarle Sound named for the Duke of
Albemarle (commander of the English army)
• Two rivers named for Sir Anthony Ashley-Cooper
(national treasurer) – Charles Town established
where the Ashley and Cooper rivers met
The Lords Proprietors – cont.
• 1669: Fundamental Constitutions approved by
Proprietors
• Called the “Grand Model”: created a class
system for the colony similar to England’s
• Albemarle began to be
less profitable as Charles
Palatine
High class
Town area found fortune
Caciques
growing rice
Landgraves
• Poor access to the sea
Yeoman
Lower class
hurt Albemarle
Social and Economic Conditions
• Most Albemarle settlers poorer than those of Virginia
• Houses were wood frame huts held together with
wooden pegs
• No plows for farms, only hoes and shovels
• Men sometimes called “lubbers”; had a reputation for
laziness
• Few churches – people worshipped in their homes
• 1672: “Society of Friends” (Quakers) new religious
group from England –believed in worship without a
minister
• Independent style of the Quakers suited many
• Proprietors had difficulty getting the quit-rents from the
independent Albemarle lubbers
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Section 3: Culpeper’s Rebellion
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
– How did issues about taxation
cause problems between the
Albemarle residents and the
Proprietors?
Section 3: Culpeper’s Rebellion
What words do I need to know?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
General Assembly
Navigation Acts
Culpeper’s Rebellion
governor
treason
Section 3: Culpepper’s Rebellion
Introduction
• 1668: Great Deed of Grant – approved by the first
Carolina General Assembly and the Proprietors – stated
that all existing land deeds would be honored and quitrents would be the same as Virginia’s
• 1673: Navigation Acts enforced by Proprietors – taxed
exported items such as tobacco, fish, flour, and shingles
• The Acts were designed to bring more money to the King
• Most Albemarle residents ignored the tax or worked to
avoid paying it
• Thomas Miller and Thomas Eastchurch supported the
tax as a way to earn money for themselves
The Beginnings
• 1675: Miller and Eastchurch visit the Proprietors
in England to discuss the “deplorable conditions”
• George Durant defended the colonists, saying
they were too poor to pay the taxes
• Eastchurch was made governor; Miller was
made tax collector
• Durant threatened to rebel
• Eastchurch delayed his return to return to
Carolina to be married; Miller was sent on to
take charge
Miller the Tyrant
• 1677: Miller arrived back in Carolina with an
armed ship – he began arresting and fining
anyone he did not like
• Durant arrived later, distributing weapons around
Durant’s Neck
• Miller and his followers were imprisoned by
Durant’s group
• Governor Eastchurch arrived, but got sick and
died before the problems were resolved
• The Proprietors sent several governors to the
Albemarle, but few quit-rents made their way to
England
Durant and Friends Win
• 1680: a hearing was held to determine the
source of problems in the Albemarle – Miller was
blamed
• Virginia began to claim the Albemarle and
demanded the quit-rents
• 1683: Governor Sothel arrived, behaving as if the
colony were his private estate and punishing or
jailing those who disagreed with him
• 1691: The frustrated Proprietors split the colony;
the governor moved to Charles Town where
customs duties on rice exports were high
• The “north” Carolina region had a deputy
governor, George Archdale, a Quaker who
generally left the people alone
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Section 4: Settling the Pamlico
Sound
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
– How did the Proprietors try to use
religion to gain control in North
Carolina?
Section 4: Settling the Pamlico
Sound
What words do I need to know?
1. county
2. refugee
3. cede
Section 4: Settling the Pamlico
Sound
Introduction
• In order to get more colonists, the Proprietors
offered cheap land to refugees from European
wars
• 1696: Governor Archdale divides Albemarle into
two counties
• Ocracoke Island grew due to its location near
Atlantic shipping lanes
• Virginia sought a law forbidding its citizens from
moving to the Pamlico
First Towns
• The Pamlico’s first towns were Bath
(1705) and New Bern (1711)
• Bath was named for an English seaport
• New Bern named after Bern, Switzerland –
the new town’s first residents came from
Europe seeking religious freedom
• Queen Anne helped pay for the refugees’
trip to America
Cary’s Rebellion
• 1701 & 1703: In order to better organize the
colony, the Proprietors tried religion
• North Carolina was divided into parishes
• English parishes had one church – everyone in
the parish was baptized, worshiped, married,
and was buried in their parish church
• Church of England = Anglican Church
• All citizens officially belonged to the church,
whether they wanted to or not – had to pay
church taxes in addition to quit-rents
• 1704: Test Act – General Assembly said any
office holder must swear an oath to uphold the
Anglican Church
Cary’s Rebellions – cont.
• Governor Cary used Test Act to keep Quakers
from holding office
• Quakers were good, tax-paying citizens and
appealed to the Proprietors
• A new governor was sent, and angry North
Carolinians prepared for a fight
• Cary joined the Quakers and fought for his job –
made himself governor 1708-1711 and let
Quakers hold office
• 1711: Edward Hyde arrived as new governor –
with the help of English soldiers, he threw out
Cary and his followers and restored the Anglican
Church
The Tuscarora War
• 1711: Tuscarora Indians tried to destroy Pamlico
settlements
• Several hundred colonists killed
• Tuscarora were angered by:
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–
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loss of their land
loss of hunting lands
cheating by white traders
kidnapping of Indians to sell as slaves
• Virginia refused to send troops to assist unless
Governor Hyde gave back lands north of
Albemarle Sound
• South Carolina troops arrived – mostly Indians
who did not like the Tuscarora
The Tuscarora War – cont.
• Colonel John Barnwell achieved a temporary
compromise, but it was not supported by the
General Assembly
• 1712: The Tuscarora attacked again during a
yellow fever outbreak
• 1713: James Moore of South Carolina defeated
the Tuscarora – Indians were forced into slavery
or left the region
• 1712: Proprietors officially separated North and
South Carolina
• 1715: North Carolina revised all its laws; oaths
to the Anglican church were now avoidable,
however, the quit-rents remained
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Section 5: Settling the Cape Fear
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
– How and why were the lands of
Cape Fear settled?
Section 5: Settling the Cape Fear
What words do I need to know?
1. naval stores
2. bounty
3. royal colony
Section 5: Settling the Cape Fear
Introduction
• Defeat of the Tuscarora opened new lands for
settlement in the Cape Fear region
• Settlers hoped to grow rice and sell naval stores
(pitch, turpentine, and tar from longleaf pines
were needed to keep ships from leaking)
• Millions of acres of longleaf pine were available
• 1723: Maurice and James Moore led settlers into
the region
• They paid their quit-rents in advance to Governor
Burrington of North Carolina in order to gain
access to the lands
Blank Patents
• Governor took land deeds (blank patents)
to the mouth of the Cape Fear, sold them
to the Moore’s and others, and let them fill
in the blanks about the land at a later time
• The Moores and their families took over
80,000 acres – became known as “the
Family”
• The frustrated Proprietors decided to sell
out their interest in the annoying colony
The End of Proprietorship
• 1729: King George II bought back North
and South Carolina – now “royal colonies”
• Lord Granville refused to give up his oneeighth interest in the colonies
• The king ruled the whole colony, yet
received seven-eights of the taxes
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