Lord Ashley, John Locke, and the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina

The History of the Americans

Notwithstanding the promising expeditions of William Hilton and Robert Sandford, by the end of 1666, with the Carolina proprietors waging war with the Netherlands and contending with plague and fire in London, the Carolina project was on the brink of failure. Then the youngest proprietor stepped forward; the venture received new vigor under the leadership of Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord Ashley.

With his friend and confidant John Locke, Lord Ashley would develop a fantastically – some would say hilariously – detailed plan of government for Carolina that would never be put into effect, but which would inspire and confound historians and even be cited by courts into our own time, the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina. This episode is about Ashley, Locke, and those strange Fundamental Constitutions.

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Selected references for this episode (Commission earned for Amazon purchases through the website)

George Bancroft, History of the United States of America: From the Discovery of the Continent

Edward McCrady, The History of South Carolina Under the Proprietary Government 1670-1719

L. H. Roper, Conceiving Carolina: Proprietors, Planters, and Plots 1662-1729

Jennifer Welchman, “Locke on Slavery and Inalienable Rights,” Canadian Journal of Philosophy, March 1995.

John Locke