Carolina Charter (1663) Guarantees Slaveholders' Rights; Enslaved Africans Begin Arriving

The 1663 Charter of Carolina granted by King Charles II to eight Lords Proprietors included explicit protections for slaveholders' rights, and the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina (drafted 1669, largely by John Locke) declared that 'every freeman of Carolina shall have absolute power and authority over his negro slaves.' Enslaved Africans began arriving in the colony from its earliest settlement, with many brought by Barbadian planters who imported both their enslaved workforce and their slave codes to the new colony.