No. 24. Charter of Connecticut

April 23/May 3, 1662

IN May, 1661, the General Court of Connecticut appointed a committee to prepare a petition for a royal charter. Governor Winthrop, to whom the negotiations were intrusted, had the influential support of Lord Say and Sele and the Earl of Manchester; and in April, 1662, the charter was granted. The boundaries, as defined by the charter, included New Haven. The delay of the latter colony in proclaiming Charles II., and its tender treatment of the regicides, had brought it into disfavor with the king; and it now, under the lead of Davenport, resisted annexation, and appealed to the Commissioners of the United Colonies. But the conquest of New Netherland by the English, in 1664, and the grant to the Duke of York of territory as far east as the Connecticut River, hastened submission; and in December of the latter year a committee was appointed to arrange for the union. A quo warranto was issued against the Connecticut charter in 1684, but judgment was not entered. When Andros demanded the charter, in 1687, it was secreted, and remained hidden until 1689, when, upon the deposition of Andros, government under the charter was resumed. The State constitution of 1776 continued the charter in force, with a few changes, and it remained the fundamental law of Connecticut until the adoption of a new constitution in 1818.

REFERENCES. Text in Connecticut Colonial Records, II., 3-11. Winthrop's instructions, the address to the King, and the letter to the Earl of Manchester, are in ib., I., 579–585. For the proceedings in New Haven, see the New Haven Colonial Records, 1653–1665, passim. See also Bowen's Boundary Disputes of Connecticut; Trumbull's Connecticut, I., chap. 12; Doyle's Puritan Colonies, II., 154-162.

Charles the Second, [&c.] Whereas, by the severall Navigations, discoveryes and successfull Plantations of diverse of our loveing Subjects of this our Realme of England, Severall Lands, Islands, Places, Colonies and Plantations have byn obtayned and setled in that parte of the Continent of America called New England, and thereby the Trade and Comerce there hath byn of late yeares much increased, And whereas, We have byn informed by the humble Petition of our Trusty and welbeloved John Winthrop, John Mason, Samuell Willis, Henry Clerke, Mathew Allen, John Tappen, Nathan Gold, Richard Treate, Richard Lord, Henry Woolicot, John Talcott, Daniell Clerke, John Ogden, Thomas Wells, Obedias Brewen, John Clerke, Anthony Haukins, John Deming, and Mathew Camfeild, being Persons Principally interested in our Colony or Plantation of Conecticutt in New England, that the same Colony or the greatest parte thereof was purchased

and obteyned for greate and valuable considerations, And some other parte thereof gained by Conquest and with much difficulty, and att the onely endeavours, expence and Charge of them and their Associates, and those under whome they Clayme, Subdued and improved, and thereby become a considerable enlargement and addition of our Dominions and interest there, Now Know yea, that in Consideration thereof, and in regard the said Colony is remote from other the English Plantations in the Places aforesaid, And to the end the Affaires and Busines which shall from tyme to tyme happen or arise concerning the same may bee duely Ordered and managed, Wee have thought fitt, and att the humble Petition of the Persons aforesaid, and are graciously pleased to Create and Make them a Body Pollitique and Corporate, with the powers and Priviledges herein after mentioned; And accordingly wee... by theis presents... Doe Ordeine, Constitute and Declare That they, the said John Winthrop . . . [and others] . . ., and all such others as now are or hereafter shall bee Admitted and made free of the Company and Society of our Collony of Conecticut in America, shall . . . bee one Body Corporate and Pollitique in fact and name, by the Name of Governour and Company of the English Collony of Conecticut in New England in America; And further, wee . . . Doe Declare and appoint, that for the better ordering and manageing of the affaires and businesse of the said Company and their Successors, there shall be one Governour, one Deputy Governour and Twelve Assistants, to bee from tyme to tyme Constituted, Elected and Chosen out of the Freemen of the said Company for the tyme being, in such manner and forme as hereafter in these presents is expressed; which said Officers shall apply themselves to take care for the best disposeing and Ordering of the Generall busines and affaires of and concerning the lands and hereditaments herein after mentioned to bee graunted, and the Plantation thereof and the Government of the People thereof. And . . . Wee doe . . . Constitute and appoint the aforesaid John Winthrop to bee the first and present Governour of the said Company; And the said John Mason to bee the Deputy Governour; And the said Samuell Willis, Mathew Allen, Nathan Gold, Henry Clerke, Richard Treat, John Ogden, Thomas Tappen, John Talcott, Thomas Wells, Henry Woolcot, Richard Lord and Daniell Clerke to bee the Twelve present Assistants of the said Company; to contynue

in the said severall Offices respectively untill the second Thursday which shall bee in the Moneth of October now next comeing. And further, wee. . . Doe Ordaine and Graunt that the Governour of the said Company for the tyme being, or, in his absence by occasion of sicknes, or otherwise by his leave or permission, the Deputy Governour for the tyme being, shall and may from tyme to tyme upon all occasions give Order for the assembling of the said Company and calling them together to Consult and advise of the businesse and Affaires of the said Company, And that for ever hereafter, Twice in every yeare, (That is to say,) on every second Thursday in October and on every second Thursday in May, or oftener, in Case it shall be requisite, The Assistants and freemen of the said Company, or such of them (not exceeding twoe Persons from each place, Towne or Citty) whoe shall bee from tyme to tyme thereunto Elected or Deputed by the major parte of the freemen of the respective Townes, Cittyes and Places for which they shall bee soe elected or Deputed, shall have a general meeting or Assembly, then and their to Consult and advise in and about the Affaires and businesse of the said Company; And that the Governour, or . . . Deputy Governour. . ., and such of the Assistants and freemen of the said Company as shall be soe Elected or Deputed and bee present att such meeting or Assembly, or the greatest number of them, whereof the Governour or Deputy Governour and Six of the Assistants, at least, to bee Seaven, shall be called the Generall Assembly, and shall have full power and authority to alter and change their dayes and tymes of meeting or Generall Assemblies for Electing the Governour, Deputy Governour and Assistants or other Officers, or any other Courts, Assemblies or meetings, and to Choose, Nominate and appoint such and soe many other Persons as they shall thinke fitt and shall bee willing to accept the same, to bee free of the said Company and Body Politique, and them into the same to Admitt and to Elect, and Constitute such Officers as they shall thinke fitt and requisite for the Ordering, mannageing and disposeing of the Affaires of the said Governour and Company and their Successors. And wee doe hereby . . . Establish and Ordeine, that once in the yeare .., namely, the said Second Thursday in May, the Governour, Deputy Governour and Assistants of the said Company and other Officers of the said Company, or such of them as the said Generall Assembly shall thinke fitt,

shall bee, in the said Generall Court and Assembly to bee held from that day or tyme, newly Chosen for the yeare ensuing, by such greater part of the said Company for the tyme being then and there present. . . . And Knowe yee further, That Wee ... Doe give, Graunt and Confirme unto the said Governor and Company and their Successors, All that parte of our Dominions in Newe England in America bounded on the East by Norrogancett River, comonly called Norrogancett Bay, where the said River falleth into the Sea, and on the North by the lyne of the Massachusetts Plantation, and on the South by the Sea, and in longitude as the lyne of the Massachusetts Colony, runinge from East to West, (that is to say,) from the said Narrogancett Bay on the East to the South Sea on the West parte, with the Islands thereunto adjoyneinge..

No. 25. Explanatory Navigation Act

1662

QUESTION having arisen in regard to the definition of English built ships and English mariners, under the act of 1660, these terms were further defined by a section of the act of 1662. Only the section in question is here given. REFERENCES. Text in Statutes of the Realm, V., 394, 395. The act is cited as 14 Car. II., c. 11.

AN ACT for preventing Frauds and regulating Abuses in His Majesties Customes.

[Sec. V.]... And that no Forreign built Ship (that is to say) not built in any of His Majesties Dominions of Asia Africa or America or other then such as shall (bona fide) be bought before the First of October One thousand six hundred sixty and two next ensuing and expresly named in the said List shall enjoye the priviledge of a Ship belonging to England or Ireland although owned or manned by English (except such Ships only as shall be taken at Sea by Letters of Mart or Reprizal and Condemnation made in the Court of Admiralty as lawful Prize) but all such Ships shall be deemed as Aliens Ships and be liable unto all Duties that Aliens Ships are liable unto by vertue of the said Act

The omitted part of the section requires Collectors of Customs to transmit to the Court of Exchequer lists of foreign-built ships, English owned.

for encrease of Shipping and Navigation And whereas it is required by the said Act that in sundry cases the Master and three fourths of the Mariners are to be English it is to be understood that any of His Majesties Subjects of England Ireland and His Plantations are to bee accounted English and no others and that the number of Mariners be accounted according to what they shall have been during the whole Voyage.

No. 26. First Charter of Carolina

March 24/April 3, 1662/3

THE region later known as Carolina had been included in the original Virginia grant of 1606; but no permanent settlements had been made, and on the revocation of the third Virginia charter, in 1624, the territory became subject to the disposal of the Crown. In 1629, Sir Robert Heath, then attorney-general, received from Charles I. a grant of the region south of Virginia, between 31° and 36° north latitude, under the name of Carolana; but no use was made of the grant, and no further attempt was made to develop the country until the grant of a charter to Clarendon and his associates, in March, 1662/3. An order in council of Aug. 12/22, 1663, declared the Heath patent void for non-user; but claims under it continued to be urged until 1768, when the descendants of Daniel Coxe, of New Jersey, to whom the patent had been transferred in 1696, received from the Crown a grant of 100,000 acres of land in New York in satisfaction of their claim. REFERENCES. Text in Statutes at Large of South Carolina (Cooper's ed., 1836), I., 22–31. The Heath grant is in Colonial Records of North Carolina, 1., 1-13. For the documentary sources see, beside the Records, Carroll's Historical Collections of South Carolina; Sainsbury's Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, V., VI. On the early history of South Carolina, McCrady's History of South Carolina under the Proprietary Government is of prime importance; see also Rivers's Sketch of the History of South Carolina; Whitney's Government in the Colony of South Carolina, in Johns Hopkins Univ. Studies, XIII., Nos. I and 2. On North Carolina see Hawks's History of North Carolina, II.; Bassett's Constitutional Beginnings North Carolina, in Johns Hopkins Univ. Studies, XII., No. 3.

CHARLES THE SECOND, [&c.].

Ist.

WHEREAS our right trusty, and right well beloved Cousins and Counsellors, Edward, Earl of Clarendon, our high Chancellor of England, and George, Duke of Albemarle, Master of our horse and Captain General of all our Forces, our right trusty