Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol I).djvu/160

 120 such laws were consonant with reason, and, as near as conveniently, may be agreeable to the laws and customs of the realm of England. It also provided, that the inhabitants and their children should be denizens and lieges of the kingdom of England, and reputed and held as the liege people born within the kingdom; and might inherit and purchase lands, and sell and bequeath the same; and should possess all the privileges and immunities of natural born subjects within the realm. Many other provisions were added, in substance like those in the former charter. Several detached settlements were made in Carolina, which were at first placed under distinct temporary governments; one was in Albemarle; another to the south of Cape Fear. Thus various independent and separate colonies were established, each of which had its own assembly, its own customs, and its own laws; a policy, which the proprietaries had afterwards occasion to regret, from its tendency to enfeeble and distract the province.

§ 132. In the year 1669, the proprietaries, dissatisfied with the systems already established within the province, signed a fundamental constitution for the government thereof, the object of which is declared to be, "that we may establish a government agreeable to the monarchy, of which Carolina is a part, that we may avoid making too numerous a democracy." This constitution was drawn up by the celebrated John Locke;