Facsimile reproduction (portion) of the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina, 1669. After the 1663 Charter was granted, Sir William Berkeley, governor of Virginia, was instructed to set up a government in the Albemarle area of Carolina. A general plan of government—the Concessions and Agreement—was followed after January, 1665, but prved to be unsatisfactory. Lord Ashely prepare a constitution, the result was the drafting of the Fundamental Constitutions. The authorship is attributed by many to John Locke, who served as secretary to Ashely. Five different editions were tried before they were declared unworkable and abandoned. Despite their shortcomings, features such as the requiement that births, marriages, and deaths be recorded, that land titles be registered, that there be trial by jury, and that religious toleration be recognized were liberal provisions for the time. (t) |
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