Arriving by sea

The port of Charles Town (now Charleston) was colonized by the British Empire under King Charles II in the latter half of the 17th century. Drafted by John Locke and adopted in 1669, the Fundamental Constitutions of the Carolinas confirmed the authority of the Lord Proprietors under the British Crown and provided the first legal declarations for the colony (which initially included the land south of Virginia to the north of Florida). Working for Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper at the time, Locke’s work in the Constitutions and his Two Treatises of Government (1689) influenced the development of the colony during its first three decades.

clothed in man’s state of nature

In Locke’s Two Treatises of Government, he records ideas about “man’s state of nature” wherein exists a “perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature” (Locke 1689). In this text as well, Locke emphasizes the state of the natural environment and his perspective of the available land: “For I aske whether in the wild woods and uncultivated wast of America left to Nature, without any improvement, tillage or husbandry, a thousand acres will yeild the needy and wretched inhabitants as many conveniencies of life as ten acres of equally fertile land” he writes (Locke 1689). This assumption that nature is a wasteland for the sake of man building his own kingdom will be re-applied for the next 350 years. Writing in 2020, one university professor suggests, “In America, we have yet to come to terms with the fact that climate change tells us there are some places where growth is no longer possible. In a way, we need to come up with a new definition of what success means beyond simple growth” (Young, quoted in Gaul 2020).

they descend on marsh

While Locke outlines the notions of equality, liberty, and just punishment for suffering and damage, these historical documents provide a foundation for the colonialism in America as the explorers arrive from England to conquer and establish laws upon a land that was already occupied by several native tribes, such as the Catawba, Cherokee, Kiawah, Ittiwan, Wando, and more (Nicholson). Today, many of the regions, natural landmarks, and street names refer to these native groups. 

Charted from the east

The use of the word “charted” emphasizes the structure that the Lord Proprietors projected onto the environment upon which they arrived, where they organized the location of the colony and the individual property plots that would bring order to what was otherwise deemed wilderness. 

and pronounced “commodious”

John Lawson uses the term "commodious" in his travelogue written during his trip through Charleston in 1700 (published 1709). In his work, he describes a land that sits at a confluence which makes it “very convenient for trade” (Lawson 1709, 2). Lawson’s work reinforces the re-appropriation of nature as an “accumulation strategy” discussed by contemporary geography scholars today (Swyngedouw 2015). 

Ours is common land.

The final mention of “common land” refers to John Locke’s description of property rights in his Two Treatises of Government, in which he details the accumulation of private property through means of labour and assigning value to the land.