One historian has distinguished him as "of Cleve", the name of the plantation he developed in King George County, Virginia, which he represented in the House of Burgesses for nearly three decades, from 1736 until his death in 1764.

His father was the richest man in Virginia in his lifetime, and so powerful based on his roles on the Governor's Council as well as land agent for the Northern Neck Proprietary and accumulated wealth that contemporaries nicknamed him "King Carter".

After his father's death, Charles Carter moved north to King George County, after buying a plantation he would develop and called "Cleve".

Carter held many local political offices, and continuously (but part-time, as was the custom) represented King George County in the House of Burgesses from 1736 until his death in 1764.

The Society awarded Carter a gold medal for his effort, and in August 1763, Governor Francis Fauquier reviewed a report of several eminent men who visited Cleve and praised both the red and white wines made from European stock.

[6][7][8] In 1768, several years after this man's death, Virginians exported 135 gallons of wine to England, but the General Assembly's ambitious 1769 plan to hire a French winemaker to establish a vineyard east of Williamsburg failed.

His nephew William Fitzhugh (son of this man's sister) had more success both as a planter and politician, and represented King George County during the American Revolutionary War.

Charles Jr.'s legal success may have caused his uncle Edward Carter to enlist Thomas Jefferson's assistance in dismantling the entail system because of financial problems with his own son.

In any event, this man's eldest son by his next wife, John Hill Carter (perhaps named to honor his uncle who never reached legal age) married Philadelphia Claiborne of King William County in 1771 and assisted the patriots in the American Revolutionary War.

Although claimed reimbursement for provisions supplied to patriots in 1777, as well as fathered a daughter Anne who married lawyer John Lyon, he was dead or left the Commonwealth by 1787.