Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina
(1669-1698)

Introduction

This document is often attributed to John Locke and indeed he did play a role in writing it. He was paid by the eight Lord Proprietors for making copies of it in 1669, and his handwriting is on some of the copies of the draft between the first and second versions or “schemes.” But many others played a role as well, especially over time. Its contents had to adhere to the 1663 Charter for Carolina; they also had to be approved by all of the proprietors, who signed each of the five schemes, as it was revised over time. It is a legal document, approved by the eight owners of Carolina, the eight Lord Proprietors, all of them men who helped restore Charles II to his crown.

• George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle (1608–1670)
• Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon (1609–1674)
• John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton (1602–1678)
• William Craven, 1st Earl of Craven (1608–1697)
• Sir George Carteret ( c. 1610–1680)
• Sir William Berkeley (1605–1677)
• Sir John Colleton, 1st Baronet (1608–1666)
• Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury (1621–1683).

Locke was secretary to the last of the Proprietors, the Earl of Shaftesbury. There is a complex politics here: Locke’s father, like John Milton, had supported parliament and Oliver Cromwell. After Cromwell’s death in 1657, anarchy had slowly descended on England, with parliamentary troops splitting into various factions. As a consequence John Locke approved of the restoration of King Charles II in 1660, and after Locke was hired by Shaftesbury in 1667, helped to craft this frame of government for Carolina on principles that aligned with the divine and hereditary rights of kings.

Locke’s involvement with the Carolina plan and also with Charles II’s Council on Foreign Plantations, for which he was secretary between 1672-1674, is what made him think so deeply about principles of government. His Two Treatises of Government, first published in 1689, two decades after the first version of the Fundamental Constitutions, were written in reaction to the ideas sketched here and pursued generally by Charles II. For his role as secretary to the Council for Trade and Plantations, he was paid in stock of the Royal African Company between 1672-1674. Both Locke and Shaftesbury split from Charles II pointedly in 1675, when Shaftesbury became the leader of the new opposition party, called the Whigs. At that time Locke sold his stock, helped Shaftesbury to publish a pamphlet that challenged Charles II’s tyranny, and fled to France in fear of prosecution for sedition.

This page will eventually provide access to all five versions of the Fundamental Constitutions. At present, the version below is from the first published version from 1672 (the second scheme).

Holly Brewer

Lauren Michalak

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