A
restoration colony was one of a number of
land grants in
North America given by
King Charles II of England in the later half of the 17th century, ostensibly as a reward to his supporters in the
Stuart Restoration. The grants marked the resumption of English
colonization of the Americas after a 30-year hiatus. The two major restoration colonies were the
Province of Pennsylvania and the
Province of Carolina. From
The American People- Creating a Nation and a Society- Sixth Edition:
In 1663, three years after he was restored to his father's throne, England's Charles II granted a vast territory named Carolina to a group of supporters during his years of exile. Its boundaries extended from
Virginia southward to central
Florida and eastward to the
Atlantic Ocean. Within this potential empire, eight London-based proprietors, including several involved in
Barbados sugar plantations, gained governmental powers and semifeudal rights to the land. The system of governance planned for Carolina had both feudal and modern features. To lure settlers, the proprietors promised religious freedom and offered land free for the asking. But onto this generous land offer they grafted a scheme for a semimedieval government in which they, their deputies, and a few noblemen would monopolize political power. Reacting to a generation of revolutionary turbulence in England, they designed Carolina as a model of social and political stability in which a hereditary aristocracy would check boisterous small landholders.