The charters: a continent for twenty marks and two elk (1629–1670)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upOur lens: how we read it
Year: 1629 · Places: Carolinas, Northeast, Europe
The case
Our case: kings in London granted our land coast to coast before most of it was ever seen: Massachusetts from the Atlantic to the South Sea; Carolina to eight lords for twenty marks a year; a quarter of the continent for two elk and two beaver. The price paid to the people of the land: none.
What this case proves for us
Point 4: The land was carried away on paper. Land was granted on paper by people who had never seen it, for nothing paid to the people living on it.
Point 8: Repair is owed. The grants list the Crown's share of gold and silver: the take was planned from the start.
Background
English kings granted charters to companies and proprietors: Massachusetts Bay in 1629, Carolina in 1663, the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670.
Our evidence
Exhibit A · Record: Massachusetts, 1629Land "from the Atlantick and Westerne Sea and Ocean on the East Parte, to the South Sea on the West Parte," "To HAVE and hould, possesse and enioye."
Exhibit B · Record: Carolina, 1663Eight "true and absolute Lords Proprietors" over land "only inhabited by some barbarous people," for "the yearly rent of twenty marks" and "the fourth part of all gold or silver ore."
Exhibit C · Record: Rupert's Land, 1670"TO HAVE, HOLD, possess and enjoy," for "two Elks and two black Beavers" whenever the king visited.
Exhibit D · Pattern: Sold unseenKings granted land they had never seen, coast to coast; the price paid to the people of the land in each paper: none.
Exhibit E · Our lens: Our lensThe rights to our land were sold on paper before most of it was ever seen.
Cross-examination
How did a king in London own land from the Atlantic to the South Sea?
What did the people living on it get? Nothing, in any of these papers.
Verdict: we won
We won on the charters themselves. Our land was granted coast to coast for twenty marks and two elk, with nothing paid to the people on it.
How we won
Massachusetts: Atlantic to the South Sea.
Carolina: eight lords, twenty marks a year.
Rupert's Land: two elk and two beaver.
Where this gets us
Level 1: Awakening. The sale of our land, on their own paper.
To reach level 2, Paperwork, we still need:
Every charter's land mapped against the nations living there.
The gold and silver the Crown's share actually collected.
The original card
SUMMARYThe charters: a continent for twenty marks and two elk (1629–1670) (Nov 13, 2026; dossier money/20)
RECORDMassachusetts Bay (1629): land "from the Atlantick and Westerne Sea and Ocean on the East Parte, to the South Sea on the West Parte," "To HAVE and hould, possesse and enioye."
RECORDCarolina (1663): eight "true and absolute Lords Proprietors" over land "only inhabited by some barbarous people," for "the yearly rent of twenty marks" and "the fourth part of all gold or silver ore."
RECORDHudson's Bay Company (1670): "TO HAVE, HOLD, possess and enjoy" Rupert's Land, rent "two Elks and two black Beavers" whenever the king visited
PATTERNkings in London granted land they had never seen, coast to coast; the price paid to the people of the land in each paper: none
LENS (WW9)the rights to our land were sold on paper before most of it was ever seen
SOURCEMassachusetts Bay (Avalon); Carolina (Avalon); HBC Charter (Gutenberg).