"Rights as Englishmen" was a phrase used frequently on the eve of the American Revolution by people in North Carolina and other colonies who understood and wanted to assert their position under the English Crown. The phrase referred to the rights and privileges granted specifically to colonists in Carolina by the 1663 charter from King Charles II. These basic rights were recognized to be the same as those enjoyed in England by subjects of the Crown. In the colonists' minds, their rights were being violated in several dire ways, particularly through "taxation without representation." Other rights were also considered essential, among them freedom of worship and the right to share in the fish and mineral bounty of the New World.
Copyright Notice: This article is from the Encyclopedia of North Carolina edited by William S. Powell. Copyright © 2006 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. For personal use and not for further distribution. Please submit permission requests for other use directly to the publisher.
Reference:
Hugh T. Lefler and Albert Ray Newsome, North Carolina: The History of a Southern State (1963).
Additional Resources:
"Rights as Englishment", Encyclopedia: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401803613.html
Citation
Powell, William S. "Rights as Englishmen." NCpedia. Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press. Accessed on December 12th, 2024. https://ncpedia.org/rights-englishmen.