The 300th Anniversary of North Carolina Stepping Out on Its Own

Our colleagues at NCpedia remind us that today marks the 300th anniversary of the Carolina Proprietors’ official appointment of Edward Hyde as governor of the northern half of the Carolina province.

As William S. Powell writes in North Carolina Through Four Centuries:

Unhappy over the chaotic conditions in their province, the Lords Proprietors decided on 7 December 1710 to appoint a governor of North Carolina ‘independent of the Governor of Carolina.’ They selected Edward Hyde, a distant relation of Queen Anne through the Proprietor of the same name. A year passed before his instructions were ready and the appointment was approved by the crown. His commission was dated 24 January 1712. This marked the separation of Carolina into two parts–North Carolina and South Carolina.

Viva la separacion!