The Carolinas - North and South

The Province of Carolina, originally chartered in 1629, was an English and later British colony of North America. Because the original charter was unrealized and was ruled invalid, a new charter was issued to a group of eight English noblemen, the Lords Proprietor, on March 24, 1663.^[5] Led informally by Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, the Province of Carolina was controlled from 1663 to 1729 by these lords and their heirs.

Shaftesbury and his secretary John Locke, devised an intricate plan to govern the many people arriving in the colony. The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina sought to ensure the colony's stability by allotting political status by a settler's wealth upon arrival - making a semi-manorial system with a Council of Nobles and a plan to have small landholders defer to these nobles. However, the settlers did not find it necessary to take orders from the Council. By 1680, the colony had a large export industry of tobacco, lumber, and pitch.

In 1691, dissent over the governance of the province led to the appointment of a deputy governor to administer the northern half of Carolina. The division between the northern and southern governments became complete in 1712, but both colonies remained in the hands of the same group of proprietors. A rebellion against the proprietors broke out in 1719 which led to the appointment of a royal governor for South Carolina in 1720. After nearly a decade in which the British government sought to locate and buy out the proprietors, both North and South Carolina became royal colonies in 1729.

  

source:  Wikipedia