Thursday, September 9, 2010

History of Charleston 1677 - 1783

It is old as cities go in America,
its settlement in its present location
dating back to 1677, but it was not
incorporated under the name of Charleston
until 1783. Previously to that it had been called
Charles Town,
named in honor of the very virtuous king of Great
Britain, Charles IL, who, by
charter
in 1663, ''was graciously pleased to grant " to certain "
Lords Proprietors " a vast region, larger than his own "
tight little island,"
comprising both the Carolinas and a great deal more
besides, of whose real extent
either he or they knew very little. The trifling
circumstance that the land was not
his to give was of small consequence. Charles was
" hard up," if it be proper to
apply that expression to royalty, and there, as
elsewhere in America, it was
expected
of the colonists to quiet both the question of
title and the real owners at
the same time, if need be. The names or titles
of these Lords Proprietors of Charleston
are
preserved in the two Carolinas in the names of
counties,south Carolina; the towns
Charleston and counties of Beaufort in both States;
Albemarle Sound and the counties of Carteret,
Craven and Granville,
in North Carolina, and others their names
remain, but their authority in
Charleston south carolina was of short duration,
the government of the Province
of Carolina having been transferred to the Crown
in 1719 — so far as it concerned
Charleston and South Carolina.

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