A proprietary colony: Exploring the Charter of Carolina
In this lesson for grade 8, students will examine the 1663 Charter of Carolina and complete a graphic organizer exploring the elements of the Charter. Students will then write a letter to the King of England from the perspective of one of the Lords Proprietors.
A lesson plan for grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies
Learn more
- Primary source: The Charter of Carolina (1663) In the Charter of Carolina, King Charles II of England granted the eight men known as the Lords Proprietors rights to the land that became North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Primary source includes historical commentary.
Related pages
- "The present state of North Carolina": Making decisions: In this lesson, students read an excerpt from John Lawson's 1709 book A New Voyage to Carolina and use a graphic organizer to decide whether they would have emigrated to Carolina as a result of reading Lawson's book.
- Families in colonial North Carolina: In colonial families, the father had absolute authority over his family, and wives and children were expected to do as they were told. And everyone, even young children, worked to sustain the family.
- Marriage in colonial North Carolina: In the colonial period, how and when people got married depended on whether they were indentured servants, slaves, free laborers, or wealthy people. Many marriages were informal and validated by the community rather than by a legal license.
Related topics
- Learn more about Charter of Carolina, North Carolina, colonial, history, and social studies.
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In this lesson students will examine a primary source document, the Charter of Carolina (1663). Students will cite references from the document to support their interpretation of specific sections of the charter. Students will complete this activity by taking on the role of one of the Lords Proprietors in writing a letter thanking the King for this grant. While the lesson is written as a small group activity, the worksheet can be done individually or in small groups. It can also be a teacher-directed lesson, with the teacher asking the questions and the students/groups answering orally.
Learning outcomes
Students will:
- study the Charter of Carolina (1663)
- evaluate a primary source document
- cite references from a primary source to support their own interpretation
- engage in critical thinking
- take on the role of one of the Lords Proprietors in thanking the King for this grant
Teacher preparation
Materials needed
- White board or chart paper
- Computer with internet access for each group of students or a computer for each student
- Copies of the graphic organizer — you may want to copy these front and back
- Optional — a transparency of the graphic organizer or the graphic organizer projected by computer onto a white board
Time required for lesson
1 hour with the processing activity as homework
Procedure
Preview activity
Spend about five minutes on this preview.
- Ask the students to imagine that they have been given an island that they and their friends will be able to govern.
- Have them think about some of the powers that they would have as the rulers of this island.
- As the students brainstorm, list these powers on a white board or chart paper.
Activity
- Put the students into groups of four. Give each group a copy of the graphic organizer and at least one computer with internet access. Assign a recorder for each group, or have the groups choose a recorder.
- Have students access the Charter of Carolina.
- Explain that the students will be examining the Charter of Carolina, the document that granted the colony of Carolina to eight men. Ask the students to look at the sidebar on the left of the document. Each of these headings will help the students get a better understanding of the charter. Direct their attention to the sidebar section called “Reading the Charter.” Explain that they will use this method to get a general understanding of the Charter of Carolina:
You may want to start by skimming the headings we’ve added in the sidebar. Then look at the highlighted passages and read the comments to understand what’s going on. From there, you can read forward and backward in each paragraph to get some context.
As they use the graphic organizer, each group will examine the document, filling in the blocks and answering the questions or explaining the notes. Then each group should extract one sentence from the document to support their answers or explanations. - Give the groups 30 minutes to examine the document and fill in the graphic organizer. (Some classes or groups of students may need more time.) If time is a factor, you may choose to assign different groups to do specific parts of the organizer — there are 19 headings.
- After groups have completed the chart, have each group choose the three sections they believe are the most unfair and the three they feel are the most fair. They must be able to explain why they chose them.
- Ask the recorder for each group to share one fair and one unfair part with the rest of the class. Hopefully, since each group will have chosen three, there will not be a lot of repetition.
- After all the groups have shared their responses, ask the class to evaluate the Charter of Carolina:
- Would it be a workable plan?
- Is it more fair or unfair? To whom?
- Would these rules have encouraged you to move from your home to Carolina in the 1600s? Why or why not?
- Would you have liked to live under these rules?
- Why do you think the Charter was set up the way it was?
Processing activity
- Ask the students to take on the role of one of the Lords Proprietors. Have them write a formal letter to the King thanking him for the grant of the Carolina Colony. They need to include in their letter the specific portions of the charter that most appeal to them and why. They can use the Charter as an example for the flowery language that was used at the time for a document of this importance, and their letter should reflect this language.
Assessment
The graphic organizer should be complete, with an explanation and reference from the document for each section. There are many possible answers for this.
The class discussion will allow the teacher to gauge the comprehension of the students. Include student participation in your assessment.
The letter to the King should be assessed by the following: It should be written in the form of a letter, language should be appropriate, and it should include examples of the sections of the charter that would have been most beneficial to the Lords Proprietors, along with an explanation of the reasons they included those portions. You may choose to check grammar and spelling, but some of your students may be aware that spelling was not standardized at this time.
The Charter of North Carolina graphic organizer
| Sidebar notation | Answer the question or explain | Examples from the document |
|---|---|---|
| Who were the Lords Proprietors and what did they wish to do? | ||
| What was the extent of the land being granted? | ||
| What were the powers regarding the Church? | ||
| What was the extent of the Lords Proprietors’ power? | ||
| How was the province of Carolina named? How did the charter provide for its good government, including legislative assemblies and courts? | ||
| What was the power of the Lords Proprietors to make laws when a legislative assembly is unavailable, within certain constraints? | ||
| “The King’s subjects are permitted to emigrate to Carolina, and shall remain the King’s subjects there, as will their descendants.” | ||
| “Settlers in Carolina may trade freely, subject to the laws of England.” Why did this section include ‘subject to the laws of England’? | ||
| “To promote trade and settlement, import duties are suspended for four years.” | ||
| How did the Charter give power to make and control ports for trade? | ||
| Who had the power to tax imports and exports with the consent of the settlers’ legislative assembly? | ||
| Who had the power to grant or sell land? | ||
| What did it mean to have the power to confer hereditary titles upon settlers in Carolina? What were those titles? | ||
| Why was having the power to establish towns and to arrange for their defense so important? | ||
| “Power to raise armies.” | ||
| “Power to declare martial law in case of rebellion was one that belonged to the Lords Proprietors.” What is this and why is it important? | ||
| “Inhabitants of Carolina to be subjects of the king and not subject to the laws of other colonies or nations.” Why was this section included? | ||
| “Inhabitants permitted free exercise of religion.” Why was this such an issue? | ||
| “The Lords Proprietors should be given benefit of the doubt in court.” What does this mean? |
- Three unfair sections — include reasons they are unfair:
- Three fair sections — include reasons they are fair:
North Carolina curriculum alignment
Social Studies (2003)
Grade 8
- Goal 1: The learner will analyze important geographic, political, economic, and social aspects of life in the region prior to the Revolutionary Period.
- Objective 1.03: Compare and contrast the relative importance of differing economic, geographic, religious, and political motives for European exploration.
- Objective 1.05: Describe the factors that led to the founding and settlement of the American colonies including religious persecution, economic opportunity, adventure, and forced migration.
- Common Core State Standards
- English Language Arts (2010)
History/Social Studies
- Grades 6-8
- 6-8.LH.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
- Grades 6-8
- English Language Arts (2010)
- North Carolina Essential Standards
- Social Studies (2010)
Grade 8
- 8.H.1 Apply historical thinking to understand the creation and development of North Carolina and the United States. 8.H.1.1 Construct charts, graphs, and historical narratives to explain particular events or issues. 8.H.1.2 Summarize the literal meaning of...
- 8.H.3 Understand the factors that contribute to change and continuity in North Carolina and the United States. 8.H.3.1 Explain how migration and immigration contributed to the development of North Carolina and the United States from colonization to contemporary...
- Social Studies (2010)
