Absolute Power and Authority

This essay offers a detailed textual study of the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina in light of its history of extensive revisions. In due course, it considers Locke’s considerable secretarial presence and, more guardedly, his authorial presence in these revisions. The Fundamental Constitutions imagined an aristocratic republic in a colonial setting; and its fundamental ideology was one of proprietary absolutism. Its ever-changing articles on absolute power, slavery, and religion are of greatest interest. Important in themselves, they also invite inquiry into their points of contact with Locke’s political theory.