North Carolina: Polity Style: 1731-1776
| 14/25 May 1729 | an agreement for the surrender of title and interest of the Lords Proprietors in the Province of Carolina is approved in accordance with an act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain (House of Commons on 6/17 May 1729, House of Lords on 10/21 May 1729, received Royal Assent on 14/25 May 1729) (British Commons Journal, 21:361; British Lords Journal, 23:427, 437; South Carolina Laws 1736, 2:482-500) [1] |
| 25 Jul/5 Aug 1729 | the surrender of the Charter of Carolina is accomplished upon the issuing of a warrant for the payment of £17,500 by the Treasury Board to seven of the eight Lords Proprietors in pursuance of an act of 14/25 May 1729 [2][3] |
| 25 Feb/8 Mar 1731 | the Province of North Carolina is placed under the administration of a Governor and Council in accordance with letters patent (commission) issued by command of the King of Great Britain on 15 Jan/10 Feb 1730, which was read and published on 25 Feb/8 Mar 1731 in Edenton (North Carolina Colonial Records, 3:66-73, 3:211-212) [4] |
| 25 Feb/8 Mar 1731 - 4 Jul 1776 | Province of North Carolina |
| 4 Jul 1776 | the British colonies represented in the Continental Congress are proclaimed free and independent states in accordance with a declaration approved at the session of the Congress held on 4 Jul 1776 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Continental Congress Journals, 5:510-515) |
| 1 Aug 1776 | the Declaration of Independence, approved by the Continental Congress, is proclaimed at a public ceremony held in Halifax on 1 Aug 1776 (North Carolia Colonial Records, 10:688; Jones' Defence of North Carolina, pp. 268-269) [5] |
- Full title: An Act for establishing an Agreement with Seven of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina, for the Surrender of their Title and Interest in that Province to His Majesty.
- A Royal Warrant by the Queen, as Guardian of the Kingdom, for the payment of £17,500 "to Edward Bertie, of Gray's Inn, Samuel Horsey, of St. Martin's in the Fields, Henry Smith, of Caversham, Oxford, and Alexius Clayton" directed to the Lords of the Treasury is recorded in King's Warrant Book, 29:379-380, under #489 on 24 Jul/4 Aug 1729; the warrant from the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury is dated 25 Jul/5 Aug 1729 (Great Britain Treasury Books Calendar 1729-1730, p. 267); the actual payment appears to have taken place on 30 Jul/10 Aug 1729 as evident from a notice in The Daily Journal, No. 2675, 4 Aug 1729, p. 1, col. 3: "The Lords Proprietors of South Carolina having signed at the Treasury a Deed of Conveyance and Surrender of their Rights and Title of that Province, to the Crown, the Sum of 20,000 l. was on Wednesday last issued out of the Exchequer, being the Purchase Money agreed for..."
- Lord Carteret refused to sell his interests and continued to hold a one-eighth undivided share in the territory of North Carolina and South Carolina until 1744, when he gave up all claims to the remaining parts of the province in return for a large strip of land in North Carolina bordering on Virginia (North Carolina Colonial Records, 4:655-663)
- The establishment of two governments in Carolina and de facto partition of the province took place when the Lords Proprietors began to appoint separate governors (or deputy governors) for "the part of our province of Carolina that lyes South and West of Cape Fear" and for "the part of our Province of Carolina that lyes North and East of Cape Fear"; de iure Carolina remained undivided political entity until the surrender of the charter in 1729.
- At its meeting on 27 Jul 1776, the Council of Safety appointed 1 Aug 1776 as the date for the public proclamation of the Declaration of Independence at the Court House in Halifax. Jones recounts the details of the ceremony as reported by an eyewitness, though he cites no additional sources.