STEPHENS SUCCEEDS DRUMMOND there were no changes in the administration. Up to 1667 Albemarle had not been laid off into precincts, but the freemen of the settlement chose twelve deputies, called in the legislation of 1666 "committee," to represent them; and the General Assembly, composed of the governor, his council, appointed by himself, and the representatives of the people, sat together as one body and enacted laws and had the power to establish courts and define their jurisdiction. 1667-69 Of Stephens we know but little. His relations with the Proprietors and people seem to have been pleasant. He became the owner of Roanoke Island, and otherwise identified his interests with the growth of the colony. The Stephens governor and council held a court for the county, which exercised chancery powers, and had jurisdiction over estates. They sat without pay, but it is probable that considerable gain was made by way of compensation for public service by a monopoly of trade with the Indians. settlers 95 1667 That Stephens was a gentleman of culture and standing Character of may well be surmised from what is known of his wife; and in like manner it appears that Harvey and some of the other settlers in Albemarle were the equals in social condition of the best of the Virginia planters of that time. Such was the real character of the original settlement, made, as Lawson asserts, by men of substance. The Great Deed Grand It was during Stephens's administration that the Lords The Proprietors were pleased to answer favorably the petition Assembly of the Grand Assembly of 1665, so termed, perhaps, because when the petition was prepared the people had not elected delegates, but themselves assembled under the instructions to Governor Berkeley; and for many years the legislative body of Albemarle continued to call itself "the Grand Assembly." On May 1, 1668, under the seal of the province, the Lords Proprietors, in response to this request, granted that the inhabitants of Albemarle should hold their lands upon the 1668 The Great Deed Legislation of 1669 The Virginia debtor law same terms and conditions as the people of Virginia, by which the rent became only a farthing an acre and was payable in commodities at a fixed price and not in money. This concession was regarded so highly that the instrument containing it was called "The Great Deed," and in after years it played an important part in North Carolina matters, and for many years the General Assembly required that it should be securely kept in the personal possession of the speaker of the house. At the session of the Assembly held in 1669 there were passed seven acts that have come down to us. One of these recites that no provision had been made for defraying the expenses of the governor and council in time of the courts, and "as the General Assembly thinks it unreasonable that they should spend their time in the service of the county and not have their charges borne, therefore every one who brings a suit in court and is cast shall pay thirty pounds of tobacco" as a sort of tax fee to pay the expenses of the governor and council. Prior to that the governor and council composed the only court held, for as no precincts had been laid off, there were no precinct courts. In order that Albemarle should not be behind Virginia in offering inducements to settlers, an act was copied from the Virginia statutes prohibiting the institution of any suit for any debt against a person who should come into Albemarle until after five years had elapsed from his arrival. In 1642 Virginia had passed a similar law, which was formally re-enacted by the Virginia Assembly in 1663, and the settlers in Albemarle coming from Virginia brought with them the remembrance of this legislation as a Virginia institution; and, indeed, similar laws were adopted in other colonies. There were no ministers in the colony, and but few in Virginia; so an act was then passed that legalized marriage as a civil institution, and provided that a marriage solemnized by the governor or any of his council in the presence of three or four of the neighbors, the certificate thereof being registered by the secretary, should be a valid THE EARLIEST KNOWN LEGISLATION marriage, and any person violating such a marriage should be punishable as if it had been performed by a minister. This marriage law was born of the necessity of the case; and as it was founded in reason, the civil marriage thus instituted at Albemarle has since been adopted by all of the enlightened states of the American Republic. These acts were transmitted to England for the approval of the Lords Proprietors, and meeting with their approbation, received their sanction and became the law in the colony. 97 1669 1669 CHAPTER IX CARTERET'S ADMINISTRATION, 1670-73 The Fundamental Constitutions.-Changes introduced by them.-The first meeting under the Grand Model.-Carteret governor.The Grand Model in practice; The precincts.-The nobility.-The Palatine's Court.--The Quakers.-First dissatisfaction.-Carteret sails for England.-John Jenkins deputy-governor.-Visits from Edmundson and Fox. The Fundamental Constitutions The banishment of Clarendon and the long illness of Albemarle made an opening at court for the higher rise of Lord Ashley, a man of superior mental powers and capabilities. He had inherited great wealth, had been studious in the law and in the sciences, and, possessing a strong influence with the people, soon attained the highest position and power among the statesmen of England. A Presbyterian and somewhat of a free thinker, among his intimates was John Locke, the scholar and philosopher, with whom he contracted a friendship based on their common sympathy with civil and philosophical freedom. In 1667 Locke became his secretary, and took up his abode in Ashley's residence. Shaftesbury The Lords Proprietors had requested Ashley to prepare a permanent constitution for Carolina, and in the summer of 1669 a rough draught was submitted to them of that famous instrument which has come down to posterity as Locke's Fundamental Constitutions or the Grand Model of Government. This instrument was adopted and signed by the Lords Proprietors on July 21, 1669. The rise of The purposes avowed in it were to provide for the better settlement of the government, to establish the interests of the Proprietors with equality and without confusion, to conform the government agreeably to the English monarchy, and to avoid erecting a numerous democracy in their province. THE FUNDAMENTAL CONSTITUTIONS England had just passed through the experiment of the Commonwealth, the course of which was marked by many deplorable excesses. The Proprietors had seen stalwart republicans, seeking an escape from evils of their own creation, unite in offering a crown to Cromwell, and had witnessed the establishment of a monarchy clothed with arbitrary power under the specious title of Protector; and most of them had suffered severely in their fortunes and in their persons during those convulsions; and now that the ancient constitution of the kingdom had been restored, largely through their own instrumentality, they wished to avoid erecting an unsteady and unrestrained democracy in their possessions. They were themselves of the nobility, and possessed in Carolina under the grant of the king even the regal powers that were enjoyed by the owners of the Palatine County of Durham. Not unnaturally, they sought to guard their individual rights and privileges. As there were eight Proprietors, to establish equality among them was a chief care. Eight great offices were created: one, the Pala- The eight tine, was assigned to the oldest Proprietor, and upon his death the next in seniority succeeded him. The Palatine was the executive, and the other Proprietors were to be the admiral, chamberlain, chancellor, constable, chief justice, high steward, and treasurer of the province. Carolina was to be divided into counties, and there was to be an hereditary nobility established in each county consisting of one landgrave and two caciques. The other inhabitants were freemen and leetmen, as the landholders were called in the county of Durham; and the institution of negro slavery was recognized. An alien by subscribing the Fundamental Constitutions thereby became naturalized, but no person over seventeen years of age could have any benefit or protection of the law who was not enrolled as a member of some religious profession acknowledging the Deity. Each county was to be laid off into eight seignories, eight baronies, and four precincts, and every precinct was to be subdivided into six colonies. One of the seignories was to 99 1669 great offices |