The 1663 Charter outlined the territory of Carolina as lying between 31° and 36° north latitude and extending from the Atlantic Ocean as far west as the South Seas. The Proprietors ruled this territory that was known for the first time as Carolina. With the granting of the Charter, the inhabitants of the territory of Carolina received a written guarantee of political and religious freedoms.

The 1665 charter, which amended the 1663 document, was granted. The Lords Proprietors sought this charter in order to move the northern boundary to 36°- 30' latitude to include the Albemarle Sound area, a prosperous region with a growing settlement.

Under the Carolina Charter, the colonists claimed the same rights as Englishmen. In 1665, the inhabitants of the Albemarle Sound area exercised these rights and formed a Grand Assembly under Governor William Drummond, the colony's first.

The North Carolina legislature is a lineal descendant of this Grand Assembly that met under the rights and privileges granted in the Carolana Charter.

By 1669, there were about 2,000 settlers in the Albemarle Sound area and probably not more than 5,000 in the entire colony.