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HISTORY
OF
NORTH CAROLINA
. VOLUME 1 1
THE FEDERAL PERIOD
1783 — 1860
By WILLIAM K. BOYD, PH. D.
Professor of History, Trinity College
ILLUSTRATED
PUBLISHERS
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
/ CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1919
(i 1
Copyright, 1919
BY
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
TO
PREFACE
In the present volume the effort has been to emphasize
movements rather than events, ideals rather than men, or-
derly development rather than phenomena of antiquarian in-
terest. Such an undertaking has required a constant refer-
ence to contemporary records and the exposition of many
movements which have been hitherto neglected or slightly
treated. Consequently the volume may leave the impression
of a series of monographic studies rather than a conventional
narrative history. That perhaps is necessarily the character
of the treatment of any subject in which social and economic
forces are emphasized.
The year 1836 is the first dividing line in the history of the
state after the Revolution. Prior to that date political con-
ceptions and ideals of social and economic duty bore the stamp
of British heritage ; thereafter the spirit of American democ-
racy made rapid progress. The constitutional convention of
1835, the rise of the whig and democratic parties, the estab-
lishment of a public school system, the foundation of asylums,
the building of railways through state aid, and reform of the
law — these matters, treated in considerable detail, are evi-
dence of a new order. It has also been my effort to outline
the regime they displaced; to the antiquarian it has the
greater interest, whereas to him who prefers life in action
the epoch after 1836 will always make a stronger appeal.
I wish to express my sense of obligation to many who have
upheld my hands in gathering material. To a number of
former students in Trinity College I am indebted for use of
their researches in North Carolina history. To the authori-
ties of the Trinity College Library and the State Library I
am under obligation for special courtesies. To the South
Atlantic Quarterly and the Historical Papers of the Trinity
vi PREFACE
College Historical Society I am obligated for permission to
embody in the text portions of articles I have contributed to
their pages. Col. Fred A. Olds of the State Hall of History
at Raleigh has rendered indispensable service in securing
illustrations.
January, 1919. William K. Boyd.
* 7
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Political and Social Conditions, 1783-1787 1
CHAPTER II
Federal Relations, 1783-1787 21
CHAPTER III
*
Federalists and Republicans, 1790-1815 47
CHAPTER IV
Courts, Boundaries, Land Disputes, Indian Removal, Locating
the Capital 66
CHAPTER V
Social and Economic Conditions, 1800-1836 83
CHAPTER VI
State of the Finances 105
CHAPTER VII
Banking Problems, 1804-1835 119
CHAPTER VIII
The Agitation for Constitutional Refokm \\i> the Convi \
tion of 1835 139
vii
viii CONTEXTS
CHAPTER IX
Federal Politics, 1824-1836 166
CHAPTER X
Religious Development After the Revolution 185
CHAPTER XI
Slavery and the Free Negro ; Legal, Economic and Soclvl. . . . 202
CHAPTER XII
The Whig Regime ; Domestic Policy 225
CHAPTER XIII
The Whig Regime ; Domestic Policy 242
CHAPTER XIV
The Whig Regime ; Politics, State and Federal, 1836-1847 263
CHAPTER XV
Decline of the Whig Party, 184S-1S52 288
CHAPTER XVI
Party Politics, 1852-1860 308
CHAPTER XVII
Agriculture, Manufactures, Mining, Transportation 331
CHAPTER XVIII
Academies and Higher Education 354
CHAPTER XIX
Tin: Press, Literature, Professional and Moral Organizations 374
History of North Carolina
CHAPTER I
POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS, 1783-1787
Finance — Loyalists — The State of Franklin
On April 19, 1783, Governor Alexander Martin formally
notified the General Assembly of North Carolina that His
Britannic Majesty had recognized the independence of the
United States on the preceding November 30th. "Nothing
now remains," he added, "but to enjoy the fruits of uninter-
rupted Constitutional Freedom, the more sweet and precious
as the tree was planted by virtue, raised by the Toil, and
nurtured by the blood of Heroes." 1
Undoubtedly a new era opened, but the readjustment from
war to peace was by no means easy. Among the population
of 350,000, slave and free, there was neither unity nor amity.
The divergence between the planters of English extraction
in the tidewater section and the small farmers of the pied-
mont, mainly Scotch-Irish and Germans, was as distinct as
in the days of the Regulation. During the war thousands had
been loval to the British cause, and the conflict in its later
stages had been a veritable civil war. Victory on the field of
battle was followed by a policy of proscription. The agencies
of intellectual and moral progress were prostrate. There had
been no printing press in the state since 1778. Many of the
academies had closed their doors, and no step had been taken
to carry out the mandate of the state constitution regarding
education. Religion was at a low ebb ; the Church of England
1 State Records, XIX, 243.
Vol. II— 1
2 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
had collapsed with the opening of the Revolution, and all de-
nominations suffered by the confusion of war and the preva-
lence of eighteenth century scepticism. Commerce was de
moralized, not only by the crippling of foreign shipping, but
also by interstate tariffs. There was also antagonism be-
tween the planters and the merchants, revealed in the tax
laws. In governmental affairs there was confusion and cor-
ruption. The local officers were in arrears with the settle-
ment of the tax lists, the state's share of the continental ex-
penditures was unpaid, the currency was so depreciated as
to be practically worthless, and the laws enacted since 1776
were diffuse, conflicting, and uncodified. " Neglect of duty,"
said Governor Martin, "abuses of power, Disobedience of
Laws, your monies unaccounted for, and public credit sunk,
all call for your authority and correction. These weaken the
springs of government and relax their vigor." With such
a background political strife became intense and partisan.
Military leaders, unwilling to see their influence wane after
laying down their arms, entered politics. "Then began,"
says McRee, "a contest hot enough, between thought and
action. ' ' 2
The process of readjustment began immediately. In the
summer of 1783 Robert Keith established a printing press at
Newbern and published the North Carolina Gazette; the next
year a second press was established at Halifax, and another
at Hillsboro in 1786. In place of public schools private acad-
emies were chartered, fifteen between 1783 and 1788. For
care ol the poor the election of wardens in each county was
ordered in 1785 and for the same purpose the glebe lands in
Granville County were confiscated. The ideal of equality
bore fruit in the abolition of entails in 1784. The return of
peace brought an increase of land values. Roads were re-
paired and rivers improved by direction of private acts of
the legislature. Restrictions on foreign commerce being re-
moved, there was such a demand for manufactured goods
that markets were inflated. Social organization also felt
the impulse of new life. In October, 1783, a branch of the
2 Life and Correspondence of James Iredell II, 81.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 3
Societv of the Cincinnati was established in Hillsboro. In
1787 the Grand Lodge of the Masonic Order, extinct since
1776, was revived. The churches also rallied to the oppor-
tunity before them. In 1784 the Methodist Societies took
on the clothes of a denomination in Baltimore and on North
Carolina soil were projected its first publishing enterprise
and its first preparatory school. The Presbyterians in 1788
organized the Synod of the Carolina s, and by 1790 expan-
sion of the Baptists revived with the formation of new as-
sociations.
Contemporary with these unifying influences were three
problems which kept alive old issues, aroused the spirit of
partisanship, and checked the development of a sound pub-
lic policy. First of these was the currency. During the Revo-
lution, as in colonial days, the main source of revenue was
fiat money. A new denomination, the state dollar, supplanted
the colonial pound and shilling. Between 1775 and 1780
$6,590,000 in paper were authorized. As taxes for redemp-
tion were suspended, depreciation set in, amounting to 50 to 1
specie in 1780 and 800 to 1 in 1784. As depreciation in-
creased, a new obligation was invented, certificates or promis-
sory notes, bearing interest either in specie or in paper.
The amount issued is unknown, but in one year (1781) $26,-
250,000 in certificates were offered as bounties to volunteers in
the army. For redemption three measures were adopted ; the
sale of confiscated property, land grants beyond the moun-
tains, and taxation. In 1782 the value of the certifi-
cates in specie was 150 to 1 for those issued prior to 1781, and
800 to 1 for those issued after that date, bounty certificates ex-
cepted, but the value of the latter was also rated at 800 to 1 in
1784. Besides depreciation there were other evils connected
with the certificates, notably counterfeiting and fraud. The
crowning revelation came in 1786, when it was discovered that
over a score of individuals had secured forged certificates and
due bills for military service, signed by military officers, and
had presented them to the Commissioners of Army Accounts,
whose dutv was to settle claims arising from the Revolution.
The commissioners were a party to the fraud, for they re-
ceived a discount for the false certificates and due bills which
4 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
they approved. These were then cashed by the treasurer to
the amount of £47,175.17^4 before the governor detected the
swindle and forbade further redemption. The legislature of
1786 made an investigation, ordered the arrest of the of-
fenders and their prosecution at the succeeding term of
court at Warrenton. A number of indictments were returned,
and nine individuals were found guilty. Among those impli-
cated was Memecun Hunt, treasurer of the state ; he resigned
from office and was succeeded by John Haywood in 1787.
The total amount of certificates issued and the total
amount redeemed cannot be ascertained. "It has been al-
leged," wrote Hugh Williamson, "that our certificate debt
bears some resemblance to that many headed monster which
defied danger; whenever one of its heads was cut off, two
other heads arose to support the loss." 3 In 1786 the amount
of the certificate debt was estimated at £786,264.6, face value,
with an annual interest charge of £47,571.1%. The next year
the amount outstanding was estimated at £1,000,000, with
accrued interest of £60,000.
In the light of this experience with paper money, further
issues would seem inadvisable. In fact by 1782 paper was
so worthless that specie, which had disappeared as inflation
set in, returned to circulation and the revival of commerce
after the war ended seemed to promise a further diffusion of
hard money. But a majority of the people were small farm-
ers, far removed from good markets, among whom money
was always scarce. The result was a demand for a new issue
of paper to take the place of the Revolutionary currency.
So in 1783 £100,000 were emitted, to be redeemed by the
sale of confiscated property, with a scale of depreciation to
be used in settling debts contracted in the old money. The
term "state currency' : was applied to this new issue, and
the denominations of pound and shilling were adopted to dis-
tinguish it from the state dollars of the Revolutionary period.
Again depreciation set in; the remedy adopted in 1785 was
another issue of £100,000. By 1787 depreciation at home was
:; Letters of Sylvius VI.
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Revolutionary and Post-Revolutionary Currency
6 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
at the rate of 13s paper to 8s specie, while outside the state
the currency was practically valueless.
The new issues, like the certificates, illustrate the low
standard of public morality. Fraud and corruption were
soon manifest. Of the issue of 1785, £36,000 were reserved
for the purchase of tobacco which was to be sold and the
proceeds applied to the state's quota of the continental debt.
The commissioners who purchased the tobacco were allowed
to offer 50s per hundred, which was higher than the market
price. Considerable weight was lost in storing and trans-
ferring the leaf. Finding a purchaser was difficult. The
delegates in Congress were authorized to act as selling agents,
and they succeeded in making a contract with an English firm
at $3.50 per hundred (Spanish milled dollars), for about half
the authorized purchase. After more than 100,000 pounds
had been delivered, the company failed, but credit to the
amount due by the company was allowed the state by the
continental authorities. A small sale was negotiated by Rich-
ard Blackledge with a French firm ; he withheld the proceeds
on the ground that he had a claim against the state for sup-
plies furnished during the war. However the legislature
refused to credit his case and forced a settlement. Altogether
£37,577 were spent for tobacco, more than the law allowed,
exclusive of commissioners' fees, the cost of storage, and
transportation. The amount sold was less than the amount
purchased. The story of inefficiency spread beyond the state
and became one of the public scandals of the time.
The effects of paper money and certificates on business
morality were perhaps their worst feature. On account of
depreciation transactions were honeycombed with fraud.
"Some time ago," wrote "Williamson, "a young adventurer
in North Carolina married a widow who had three children.
She chanced to have three thousand hard dollars in the house,
two-thirds of which belonged to the children. The guardians
claimed their share of the specie for the children, and the
honest step-father is now buying up paper at twelve or thir-
teen shillings for the dollar; and such money will be a legal
payment for the use of the orphans. Is it strange that paper
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 7
depreciates when such men are profited by the deprecia-
tion?" 4
Trade and credit were demoralized. One of the first duties
after the war was to make provision for the settlement of
debts. In 1783 the statute of limitations was suspended from
all debts contracted between July, 1776, and June, 1784, and
suits for collection of debts contracted prior to May, 1783,
were forbidden until a year from that date, unless the debtor
attempted to leave the state to avoid payment. In render-
ing decisions the courts were directed to give judgment in
specie according to a scale of depreciation, although the bond
or contract had been made in Revolutionary currency, and the
law making that currency legal tender for the payment of
debts was repealed. This statute was so vague in its terms
that several questions arose which the courts undertook to
settle. First was the extent to which the repeal of the tender
law could be applied. Creditors went so far as to claim that
payments previously made should be revised to meet the
terms of the new scale of depreciation, and that all debts
already contracted and unpaid should be settled according
to the new standard. Such a principle would have worked
untold hardship on the debtors. Hence the courts held that
the law of 1783 did not "destroy the effect and operation of
the laws upon transactions that had already taken place under
them," that the scale of depreciation applied only to obliga-
tions assumed and unadjusted since depreciation began in
1777, and that in settling debts contracted during the Revolu-
tion payment should be made according to a rate of deprecia-
tion for the year in which the debt was contracted.- On the
other hand debtors tried to take advantage of the law by
settling their obligations, payable in specie, in state cur-
rency, according to the ratio between the two set forth in the
scale of depreciation. But the courts held that the scale of
depreciation could be applied only to the year 1783 in which
it was enacted, not to previous years, and could not be binding
on contracts made in the future, and that in the absence of
any prohibition the juries might settle all cases of deprecia-
4 Letters of Sylvius II.
8 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
tion between specie and paper after 1783. A favorite method
of adjusting depreciation was to allow damages for withheld
interest equal to the difference between the depreciation fixed
in the law and the actual depreciation. 5 Thus the sphere of
judicial activity was enlarged and the doctrine of implied
powers invoked. Much of the opposition to the courts which
characterized the period was due to this policy toward de-
preciation.
Paper money was closely related to political development.
There was a strong minority opposed to the inflation of the
currency. Among its members were some of the strongest
minds of the state. Prominent were James Iredell and Sam-
uel Johnston. They were the leading spirits in a popular
meeting at Edenton in August, 1783, which protested against
the monetary policy of the legislature. James Hogg, writing
to Iredell, described the legislators which carried through
the first £100,000 bills of credit as "a set of unprincipled
men, who sacrificed everything to their popularity and pri-
vate views." Any policy that would check the issue of paper
or would not give the state full credit for obligations dis-
charged thereby, was certain to meet opposition. Herein lay
one of the causes of the opposition to the ratification of the
Federal Constitution and to the assumption of state debts
by Congress.
The cleavage between the conservatives and the radicals
disclosed by the currency problem was intensified by the
policy toward the loyalists, especially as that policy affected
rights of property. According to the Bill of Rights prefixed
to the Constitution of 1776, property in the soil was "one of
the essential rights of the collective body of the people."
Hence the State of North Carolina succeeded the Crown as
head of the land system. The Bill of Rights also provided
that titles of individuals holding under laws previously en-
forced should not be affected. Spite of this guarantee the
legislature, acting on the British theory that aliens could
not hold property within the realm, confiscated the lands of
5 Anonymous, 1 Haywood, 138 ; Burton vs. Bullock, Conference
Reports, 372; Winslow vs. Bloom, 1 Havwood, 217.
6 McRee, Iredell II, 46.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 9
those who were absent from the state on July 4, 1776, and did
not return and become loyal citizens, as well as the property
of those guilty of treason. Later the property of certain cor-
porations and certain individuals was specifically singled out
for confiscation. However in all cases the rights of widows
and the interests of dependents were protected. To what ex-
tent the confiscation laws were enforced during the war is
unknown ; in 1780 and 1781 they were relaxed and pardon was
offered to such loyalists as would join the continental army.
With the advent of peace the policy toward loyalists naturally
came up for revision. In 1783 pardon was extended to all
except those who accepted commissions from the Crown, or
were guilty of murder, rape, and arson, or were specifically
named in the confiscation laws.
In contrast to the policy of proscription was the Treaty
of Peace which provided that creditors should meet with no
lawful impediment in the collection of debts, that Congress
should recommend to the states the restitution of confiscated
property of real British subjects, and that no further confis-
cation should be made or prosecution entered for participa-
tion in the war. Controversy at once began; one faction
urged a literal conformance to the treaty, while the other held
that the treaty did not refer to laws already made, so placing
local interests and prejudice above national obligation. In
the legislature of 1784 bills to repeal the confiscation laws
so far as they were inconsistent with the treaty were de-
feated, and commissioners were appointed to collect and sell
confiscated property. By 1786 sales amounting to £221,374.1.6
were reported. In 1785 the proscriptive policy gained an-
other victory, for the courts were forbidden to entertain suits
for recovery of property the title of which originated in sales
under the confiscation laws. In 1787 negroes, horses, and
other property of the British army left in North Carolina were
also confiscated, and in 1789 individuals who had aided or
abetted the British cause were denied the right to hold office.
The law of 1785 injected into the controversy a new is-
sue, the relation of the legislature to the judiciary. The
extension of judicial interpretation, already developing in
the matter of the currency, now reached a crisis in the treat-
10 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
ment of the loyalists. In December, 1785, a decision rendered
at Wilmington held that fines could not be remitted until
paid into the treasury and so set aside a private act of the
legislature. In May, 1786, one Bayard brought suit at New-
bern for recovery of property sold to Singleton under the
confiscation laws. Abner Nash, defendant's counsel, moved
that the suit be dismissed and cited the law of 1785 forbidding
the courts to hear cases involving the validity of the confis-
cation law. Opposing the motion were James Iredell, Samuel
Johnston, and William E. Davie, who argued that the clause of
the Constitution of the state which guaranteed jury trial took
precedence over any act of the legislature. The court refused
to dismiss the case, but deferred judgment in the hope that the
legislature would repeal the statute. Consequently the session
of the legislature which met in November, 1786, saw a test of
strength concerning the power of the courts. Charges were
preferred against the judges for their decisions in the matter
of fines and failure to dismiss the case of Bayard vs. Single-
ton. Two of the judges, Samuel Spencer and John Williams,
attended the hearings, but the third, Samuel Ashe, was absent,
declaring the charges malicious and groundless and that in
his judicial character he was "righteous and therefore bold."
The report of the committee on the conduct of the judges,
holding that they were not guilty of misconduct, was adopted.
Thus were the guarantees of the Constitution placed above the
will of the legislature, and the doctrine of judicial review
was approved. The controversy gave rise to considerable
pamphlet literature. Iredell's essay defending judicial re-
view was widely quoted in other parts of the country where
the principle was under criticism, and the doctrine was main-
tained by him when he later became a member of the Supreme
Court of the United States.
However loyalists were not yet given the protection of
the treaty, for the judges had imposed fines on those return-
ing to the state, holding that the privilege of returning as
stated in the treatv to be a recommendation, and thev also
held that pardons did not give the right to sue in the courts.
Moreover the decision in Baj/ard vs. Singleton, rendered in
May, 1787, after the legislative inquiry, upheld the confisca-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 11
tion laws. 7 A more liberal policy was made possible ^in
1787 when the legislature ratified the Treaty of Peace.
Thereafter debts to loyalists were held valid by the courts,
but titles arising from the confiscation laws were protected
on the ground that the guarantee of individual property
rights in the Bill of Rights was intended to extend only to
citizens of the state. For years litigation was frequent.
The most prominent case was that of William, Earl Coven-
try, successor by devise to the title of Earl Granville, who
brought suit in the Federal District Court of North Caro-
lina in 1801 to secure possession of the Granville District.
Failing- to secure a favorable verdict, the plaintiff appealed
to the Supreme Court of the United States, but no decision
was ever rendered.
The problem of the loyalists and the courts was of vast
political significance. Like the currency question, it marked
the division between the conservatives and the radicals!
Wrote Iredell in 1783 : ''Not only the most wanton injury has
been done to individuals, but the national character has been
disgraced, as more than one article of the Treaty of Peace
has been expressly violated. If such things are much longer
suffered, this will not be a country to live in, and in the mean-
time they must deeply wound the feelings of every man of
sensibility and honor. " s
No less vital than the problems of the currency and the
loyalists was that of the western lands. Beyond the moun-
tains lay a vast area, at present the State of Tennessee. Its
colonization began with the Watauga Settlement just prior
to the Revolution, and its expansion had continued during
the war. From the original Washington County, Sullivan
was formed in 1779 and Greene in 1783, while on the distant
Cumberland Nashboro was founded in 1780 and the County
of Davidson was organized in 1783. At the end of the war the
population west of the mountains was approximately 25,000.
Between the western settlements, notably those of the Watau-
ga region, and the older section of the state east of the moun-
tains, there was considerable antipathy. Its earliest evidence
7 I N. C. Repts., 5.
8 McRee, II, 51.
12 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
is seen in the Watauga Association; it relaxed during the
stress of war, but with the return of peace the tension was
renewed and civil war was barely averted. The immediate
causes of the strained relations were three; the land policy
of North Carolina, the need of Congress for new financial
resources, and the ambition of the Watauga people for state-
hood.
The financial policy of North Carolina during the Revolu-
tion was characterized by a reliance, as far as possible, on
paper money. This, together with the collapse of the re-
striction on land grants, imposed by the British government,
gave rise to a fever of speculation. County land offices were
opened in 1777, and for three years, until paper money was
greatly depreciated, land was rapidly entered. Then, in 1780,
land grants were offered as inducements to military service,
and a military reservation was created south of the Virginia
line and east of the Tennessee River, in which each soldier
was to have 200 acres, increased to 640 in 1781, and one
prime slave. In 1783 all public land, except that reserved to
Indians and the military reservation, was made security for
the new state currency of that year at the rate of £10 for
each 100 acres. Thus the policy of the state was to use va-
cant land as bounty to soldiers and to redeem paper money.
In the meantime the land problem became involved with
continental affairs. A movement among the states to cede
their western lands to Congress was proposed by Maryland.
North Carolina was not in the vanguard of those responding,
for the land policy above outlined seemed to preclude part-
ing with any territory. But in 1780, and again in 1783,
Congress recommended the cession of all transmontane lands
in the interest of the national debt. In fact national finances
were in even worse plight than those of the states. The
experiment of meeting expenses by making requisition on
the states had proved a failure. North Carolina was notori-
ously delinquent, making no payment after 1780. By
1784 considerable sentiment had developed in favor of ceding
the western lands for the public obligations.' Such a policy
seemed advantageous for local as well as continental reasons.
With the return of peace bounties ceased; moreover there
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 13
was a movement to levy a continental land tax and to appor-
tion requisitions according to population. Evidently the less
territory, the less would be North Carolina's portion in meet-
ing future expenditures. In the light of these facts the ces-
sion of western land was advisable, especially if the land
ceded should pass to the credit of the state's accounts with
the Continental Congress. Therefore by an act of cession
passed in April, 1784, the transmontane lands were granted
to Congress with the following restrictions ; that neither the
lands nor the inhabitants should in the future be counted in
estimating North Carolina's share of the expenses in the
Revolution, that the bounties provided for officers and sol-
diers should be protected, that the territory granted should be
considered a common fund for the benefit of the states, that
one or more new states should be created out of it, and that
if Congress should not accept the cession, the lands should
revert to the state. A supplementary statute also, provided
that until the United States accepted the cession, the sov-
ereignty of North Carolina should remain unimpaired. Evi-
dently self-interest as well as regard for the national welfare
prompted the cession of western lands; a reduction of the
state's continental obligation in the future, prospective
benefits to be shared with the other states, and the protection
of military bounties offered. Yet these terms seemed to some
too liberal, and a protest was filed, signed by William R.
Davie and thirty-six others. Their dissent was based on the
need of liquidating the state debt with the western lands, the
fact that North Carolina's quota of the continental debt was
really unknown, and that full credit had not been given the
state by the continental authorities for all military services
rendered.
The act of cession did not reach Philadelphia in time for
acceptance, for Congress and the legislature adjourned on
the same day, June 3rd. In July Hugh Williamson, member
of the North Carolina delegation in Congress, expressed to
Governor Martin his disapproval of the cession. The burden
of his criticism was sectional injustice in adjusting conti-
nental accounts. North Carolina had not been given credit
for aid to South Carolina and Virginia and for expeditions
14 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
against the Indians, whereas New Hampshire and Pennsyl-
vania had obtained credit for militia service, and other states
were demanding similar credit; Congress had also taken no
step to quiet the Southern Indians; Massachusetts had filed
claims for part of the territory ceded by Virginia, and Geor-
gia had so far made no cession of territory; Rhode Island
had refused to ratify the proposed five per cent duty on
imports. He therefore recommended that North Carolina
reconsider the act of cession and hold the western lands
until these matters could be adjusted. "If we should immedi-
ately complete the cession," he said, "we shall give up the
power of making advantageous terms and shall lose the argu-
ment which shall bring others to adopt federal measures. "
Yet he realized that an ultimate cession of western land was
imperative. "On the other hand, should we sell out what
remains of this territory to the western inhabitants what-
ever inconveniences they may suffer, they will lose the pros-
pect of becoming a separate state ; the quota of our State will
be doubled, though we shall hardly have the means of paying
half of our present quota. In that case we shall give up the
means of making terms or the power of adopting better
measures if better should present themselves. The situation
is critical. Perhaps it is most consistent with prudence to
make a pause. Whatever shall finally appear to be for the
honor and true interest of the state may be done twelve
months hence as well as now. But we may do wrong things
which may not be undone. ' ' 9 The upshot was that at the
next session of the legislature, in October, 1784, the act of
cession was repealed.
In the meantime discontent with the government of North
Carolina was brooding beyond the mountains. It was claimed
that the state had not paid the Indians for land they had
vacated, thus endangering peace ; that courts were not regu-
larly held or the law properly enforced; and that the system
of taxation was unjust, for it made no discrimination between
the value of lands on the frontier and those near the centers
of trade. There was also a social cleavage, a feeling of su-
9 State Records, XVII, 94.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
15
periority toward the frontier on the part of the older counties.
One of the members of the legislature in discussing the act
of cession remarked that the "Inhabitants of the western
country are the offscourings of the earth, fugitives from jus-
tice, and we will be rid of them at any rate." Consequently
John Sevier
the news of the cession was received with joy, especially
among the people of the Watauga region. Independence from
North Carolina seemed assured and statehood naturally in
order. A committee consisting of two from each of the cap-
tains' districts proposed a convention to meet at Jonesboro.
Elections were held in all the transmontane counties except
Davidson, and the convention met on August 23, 1784. The
presiding officer was John Sevier, and Land on Carter was
16 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
secretary. It was decided to petition Congress to accept the
North Carolina cession, and by a vote of 28 to 15 to per-
fect a state organization. A second convention was called
to frame a constitution. When it met in November, the
North Carolina legislature had repealed the act of cession,
and to conciliate the westerners had created for them a new
judicial district, called the District of Washington, and also
a brigadier-generalship of militia for that region. To the
latter office John Sevier was appointed. Thus the opposi-
tion to statehood, apparent in the first convention, became
stronger in the second, which consequently broke up in dis-
order. In the elections for a third convention Sevier himself
opposed the movement for independence. However, the con-
vention met on December 14, 1784, and proceeded to form a
constitution. Even among the advocates of statehood there
was division. One faction, led by Rev. Samuel Hunter, pro-
posed a constitution which had certain divergencies from
that of North Carolina. Among these were universal suf-
frage, educational and moral qualifications for office holders,
popular election of governor and county officers, limitation on
imprisonment for debt, exclusion of ministers, lawyers, and
doctors from office, and a single house of legislature. The
other faction, led by Sevier, favored a close adherence to
the constitution of North Carolina, and the name Franklin
instead of Frankland for the new state ; it proved to have a
small majority. Drafts of each constitution were submitted
to the people for approval, and a fourth convention, which
met in November, 1785, adopted the more conservative docu-
ment and also the name Franklin. In the meantime elections
for the legislature were held in March, 1785. That body,
when it convened, elected Sevier governor, appointed county
officers, created new counties, incorporated Martin Academy,
and fixed salaries in commodities.
These activities amounted to defiance of North Carolina,
for not only had the sovereignty of the state been specified
to last until Congress should accept the cession, but the act
of cession itself had been repealed. The future of Franklin
depended therefore on the question of the attitude of Con-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 17
gress, the co-operation of other frontier communities, and
the policy of the North Carolina authorities.
One of the first acts of the Franklin legislature was to
appoint William Cocke delegate to the Continental Congress
to lay before that body the affairs of the nascent state. As
the act of cession had been repealed, Congress could do
nothing but advise North Carolina to reconsider its action.
Later Cocke appealed to Benjamin Franklin; his advice was
not to continue in the policy of separation. However hope
of federal action revived at the time of the Federal Conven-
tion. The argument then advanced was that, as the act of
cession gave Congress twelve months to consider or reject
the offer, the repeal was illegal, and the way was open for
federal intervention. A direct bid for such action was prob-
ably made by reserving the proceeds from Indian land sales
for the payment of Franklin's quota of the federal debt; but
the matter was not formally presented for the consideration
of the convention.
The Franklin authorities also sought the co-operation of
neighboring frontier settlements. Chief of these was Wash-
ington County, Virginia. There grievances existed against
the Virginia government. Col. Arthur Campbell, justice of
the peace and county lieutenant, declared the people would
take up arms rather than submit to further unjust taxation.
Two petitions were sent to Richmond, asking for the erec-
tion of a new state whose boundaries might include Franklin.
But the Virginia legislature had no sympathy for such a
plan, and in 1785 declared that any attempt to form an inde-
pendent government within the limits of the state would be
considered high treason. The Franklinites, strange to say,
also sought the co-operation of the Cherokee Indians. It was
thrice reported in 1785 that negotiations were pending, look-
ing to the incorporation of the Cherokees with the State of
Franklin. The Indian negotiations were not fruitful, for
land treaties were not agreed to by all the Cherokee chiefs.
In the desire for expansion an expedition was sent to Muscle
Shoals to make occupation under titles from Georgia. The
hostility of the Creeks was thus aroused, and negotiations
were opened with Georgia for an Indian war. However, Con-
Vol. II— 2
18 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
gress intervened, appointing three commissioners, one from
South Carolina, one from Georgia, and one from North Caro-
lina, to pacify the redmen, so checking the possibility of ex-
pansion by the State of Franklin. Interest was also mani-
fested in the greatest of all western problems, the naviga-
tion of the Mississippi. According to a report, two delegates
were sent to a convention of western settlers in the Kentucky
district to consider the Mississippi question. Another report
declared that a legion of 150 men was authorized to march
against the Spanish. Evidently, if the colonists of the Mis-
sissippi valley should take such matters in their own hands,
a new confederacy might result; by co-operation, Franklin
might secure membership in it; but that prospect did not
mature.
Thus the Franklinites had to meet their most pressing
problem, the attitude of the State of North Carolina, alone.
A clause in the Constitution of 1776 looked forward to the
establishment of two or more states west of the mountains.
This constitutional provision, the necessity of ultimate ces-
sion as outlined by Williamson, the distance of Franklin from
the older sections of the state, together with the general con-
fusion of the times, led to a policy of conciliation as well as
of firmness. Alexander Martin, governor during the develop-
ment until April, 1785, sent a special messenger to inform
Sevier of the repeal of the act of cession. The legislature of
Franklin replied: "We are induced to think that North Caro-
lina will not blame us for endeavoring to promote our own
interest and happiness, while we do not attempt to abridge
hers, and appeal to the impartial world to determine whether
we have deserted North Carolina or North Carolina deserted
us." 10 Martin then issued a proclamation calling on the
people to return to their allegiance, declaring that their
grievances were removed by the court law and the militia
district, and that resistance might lead to civil war. More
conciliatory was Governor Caswell, who assumed office in
April, 1785. Writing to Sevier, he declared he had not seen
Martin's proclamation, indicated that the payment to the In-
10 S. R., XXIT, 637.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 19
dians was ready to be delivered, and suggested that lie himself
might soon visit the west. He also sent commissions for North
Carolina officers, and soon there were two sets of officials,
those exercising authority under North Carolina and those
under Franklin. The legislature of North Carolina in Janu-
ary, 1787, was also conciliatory, offering pardon and oblivion
to all who would return to allegiance and remitting taxes from
the end of 1784 to that time. Sevier also became moderate.
In October, 1786, he declared that Franklin did not desire any
terms but such as were consistent with the honor and interest
of both parties, and in March, 1787, he made an agreement
with Evan Shelby, his successor as brigadier of militia, for
cooperation in criminal matters and the suspension of all civil
suits except wills and deeds, and that the people should pay
taxes to either North Carolina or the State of Franklin.
However the Franklin legislature was more radical ; it im-
posed fine and imprisonment on any who accepted commis-
sions from North Carolina, opened a land office, and offered
bounties to all who would enlist in the militia and resist the
administration of the mother state. Where the legislature
led, Sevier followed. In strong contrast to his conservative
attitude, he now wrote Governor Caswell: "We shall con-
tinue to act independent and would rather suffer death, in
all its various and frightful shapes, than to conform to any-
thing that is disgraceful." Bitterness and retaliation de-
veloped. As Sevier had originally opposed separation and
then drifted with the movement, John Tipton, after the re-
peal of the act of cession, returned to his allegiance to North
Carolina. These two now became the leaders of rival fac-
tions in Franklin. In August, 1787, Tipton with fifty men at-
tempted to seize the Franklin court records in Washington
County, but found himself opposed by 200 Franklinites. From
time to time conflicts of minor importance occurred. Shelby
asked Governor Caswell for 1,000 troops in 1787. Again the
governor was conciliatory. In an address he appealed to the
sober judgment of the people, pointed out the imminent dan-
ger of an Indian war, such a war having actually broken
out in Davidson County in 1786, and held out hopes of some
action bv the North Carolina legislature. In fact at the sue-
20 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
ceeding session of the legislature representatives from the
original Watauga counties appeared and were given seats,
while the Franklin legislature also sent delegates to present
claims for separation. The legislature extended the act
of oblivion, and by March, 1788, the State of Franklin col-
lapsed, for Sevier's term then expired and no session of the
Franklin legislature met to elect a successor. Sevier him-
self was chosen a member of the North Carolina legislature
in 1789, and took his seat after a special act pardoning him
had been adopted.
CHAPTER II
FEDERAL RELATIONS, 1783-1787
State Rights and Nationalization — The Federal Conven-
tion and the Ratification of the Constitution
The attitude of North Carolina toward continental author-
ity reflected motives of self-interest and patriotic devotion.
Liberal military support was given the Revolution, but state
authority was maintained over all troops, even regiments in
the continental line, often to the extent of conflicting with
Congress. Delinquent in meeting its quota of national ex-
pense, generous response was made to recommendations for
financial reform. In 1781 Congress was granted authority to
levy a five per cent impost on foreign goods, and in 1782 the
charter of the Bank of North America was validated. How-
ever, with the last year of the war the condition of federal
finances became more serious. The continental currency had
depreciated, the states were hopelessly in arrears with their
requisitions, and radical reform or bankruptcy were inevitable
alternatives. L T nder the advice and leadership of Robert
Morris, Congress in the spring of 1783 proposed certain
amendments to the Articles of Confederation. In its policy
toward these, North Carolina also displayed an interesting-
balance of self-interest and altruism.
The first of the proposed amendments made population,
five slaves counting as three whites, the basis of apportioning
requisitions among the states. Now land granted or sur-
veyed had been made the basis of apportionment in the Arti-
cles of Confederation through the unanimous votes of the
Southern delegates in Congress, for it was believed that a
land basis, restricted to surveyed or improved land, would
impose the least burden on the South. By 1783 opinion was
21
1
Cfi Hupj^
/
I
North Carolina Delegates to the Convention of 1787
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 23
changing. North Carolina had granted thousands of acres
as bounties to soldiers ; speculation was rife, land was being
granted and surveyed more rapidly than it was being im-
proved and made productive. Hence arose a feeling that
population, five slaves counting as three whites, would incur
less requisition than land. Hugh Williamson and William
Blount, delegates of North Carolina in Congress, favored the
change. The second recommendation was that the continental
authorities be allowed to levy a specific duty on imports for
twenty-five years. To this the North Carolina delegates of-
fered no opposition, since the foreign commerce of the state
was comparatively insignificant, and whatever burden in-
volved would therefore be borne by other states. The third
recommendation, however, was far more drastic. It was
nothing less than a direct land and poll tax, the levy on land
to be according to the number of acres, irrespective of qual-
ity. Williamson and Blount saw in this a hardship, but their
interest was overshadowed by the fourth recommendation,
the cession to Congress of all land west of the mountains.
This they approved only on condition that North Carolina
receive full credit for all services in the Revolution and that
any state organized out of the ceded territory should assume
its quota of the continental debt.
These recommendations were submitted to the legislature
in the spring of 1784. They had the endorsement of William-
son and Spaight and also of Governor Martin. Approved by
a legislative committee, they were adopted without protest,
except the cession of western lands. Moreover, another rec-
ommendation, forwarded after these, was readily endorsed;
that Congress should have the right to prohibit the importa-
tion of foreign goods in any ships except those owned by
citizens of the United States, a measure aimed at the re-
strictive commercial policy of England. None of these meas-
ures went into operation, for those relating to revenue and
navigation were not approved by all the states, and the
cession of western lands was repealed by the next legisla-
ture. However North Carolina's record in the movement to
revise the Articles of Confederation was unsurpassed; only
one other state, Delaware, approved all the recommendations
24 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
of Congress. Moreover in 1785, after the recommendation
for the control of navigation had failed of general approval,
a local attainment of its ends was sought by levying five
shillings per ton on every vessel of a nation, on entering a
North Carolina port, which did not have a commercial treaty
with the United States, and a duty of twenty per cent above
the regular schedule on its cargo, except goods manufactured
in the United States from domestic raw material.
The legislation of 1784 marks the high tide of interest in
continental affairs. Thereafter less attention was given to
Congress; frequently the state had been unrepresented in its
deliberations, but the absence of delegates in 1785 and 1786
became notorious. For this, financial conditions were to a
large extent responsible. The salaries of Congressmen were
small, the depreciation of the state currency made them almost
worthless outside of North Carolina, the treasury was so
low that salaries could not always be paid, and in some
instances the transportation of tobacco and other products
north was the only means by which the North Carolina dele-
gates could meet their expenses. The custom of appointing
five delegates to serve in rotation, adopted in 1785, also
proved a failure. Yet the sense of responsibility for conti-
nental affairs .only waned and did not die, for in 1787 on the
recommendation of Congress the Treaty of Peace was enacted
into the law of North Carolina.
In the meantime a new movement to revise the Articles of
Confederation was inaugurated. In July, 1786, Governor
Caswell and the Council of State appointed five commission-
ers to attend the Trade Convention at Annapolis. Of these
only one, Hugh Williamson, made an effort to go, and he
arrived the day the convention adjourned. Then came the
call for the Federal Convention to meet in Philadelphia for
the purpose of remedying the defects in the Articles of Con-
federation. The legislature which met in November. 1786,
was much concerned with the investigation of the judiciary,
frauds in the army accounts, and the affairs of the State of
Franklin. Largely through the efforts of James Iredell, the
convention movement was approved. Five delegates were
elected, of whom three, Willie Jones, Alexander Martin, and
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 25
Governor Caswell, were said to oppose, and two, Davie and
Richard Dobbs Spaight, to favor, a revision of the Articles
of Confederation. Jones and Caswell declined to serve, and
acting under the law approving the convention, Caswell ap-
pointed in their places Hugh Williamson and William Blount.
As these two favored the movement for revision, the char-
acter of the delegation was changed, all except Martin being
in sympathy with the desire to amend the Articles.
The convention organized May 25, 1787. The impression
made on one of their colleagues by the North Carolina mem-
bers has been preserved in the notes of William Pierce, dele-
gate from Georgia. To him Blount was a " character strongly
marked for integrity and honor, plain, honest, sincere," about
thirty-six years of age; Williamson, a " gentleman of educa-
tion and talents ' ' who ' ' enters freely into public debate from
his close attention to most subjects, but who is no orator,"
forty-eight years of age; Davie, "silent in the convention,"
whose "influence was always respected," age thirty; Martin,
"not formed to join public debate, being no speaker," age
forty. 1 Of these delegates Williamson was most active in
the convention, speaking more frequently and being appointed
to more committees than his colleagues from North Carolina.
Williamson and Spaight were present from their arrival until
adjournment; Davie and Martin left before the convention
rose, while Blount, although present at adjournment, was
absent most of the time, attending sessions of the Continental
Congress in New York.
When the convention proceeded to business, resolutions
were offered by Randolph of Virginia which were revolu-
tionary. Instead of revising the Articles of Confederation,
they provided for three branches of government, a supreme
legislature, executive, and judiciary. The legislature was
to consist of two houses, the first elected by the people, the
second by the first, with the right to negative laws infringing
the Articles of Union and to use force against any state re-
sisting its authority. The executive was to be chosen by the
legislature, and with the judiciary was to act as a council of
1 Notes on the Federal Convention (Am. Hist. Review, vol. III).
26 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
revision with the power to veto acts of the legislature. The
judiciary was to consist of supreme and inferior courts elected
by the legislature, the judges to serve during good be-
havior. These resolutions were the subject of discussion
from May 29th until late in June. The paramount issue was
one of nationalization advocated by the large states, especially
those with undeveloped western lands, and opposed by the
small states. The North Carolina delegates cast their lot
with the large states ; their sentiment was for nationalization.
Thus when Randolph proposed that representation in the
legislature be according to taxation or free population, it
was moved by Hamilton, of New York, and seconded by
Spaight, that "suffrage in the national legislature ought to
be proportional to the number of free inhabitants." It was
also Spaight who first suggested the election of members of
the upper house by the state legislatures, and as a result the
convention rejected the election of the second house by the
first as proposed in the Randolph resolutions. However the
North Carolina delegates agreed with the majority that the
proportion of membership in the upper should be the same as
in the lower house. Regarding the executive, Williamson and
Spaight favored election by the national legislature. Con-
cerning the veto power, the North Carolina delegates were
less nationalistic; they opposed joining the executive and
the judiciary in the revision of the laws, and Williamson sug-
gested as a substitute that in all legislation a two-thirds
majority be required; he was especially opposed to the legis-
lature having any power that would restrain the internal
police power of the states.
Against the nationalizing process there was increasing
discontent. The small states finally made the matter of rep-
resentation in the upper house a test of strength, demanding
equality of representation. In the midst of the debate Ben-
jamin Franklin called attention to 'the fact that the sessions
of the convention had not been opened with prayer and sug-
gested that application be made "to the Father of lights to
illuminate our understandings." Quite a discussion fol-
lowed; it was ended by Williamson who "observed that the
true cause of the omission could not be mistaken. The con-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 27
vention had no funds." 2 Finally there was a tie vote on the
matter of representation, North Carolina voting against
equality. A committee of one from each state was then chosen
to reach an adjustment, Davie representing North Carolina.
The committee reported in favor of equality in the Senate, and
of counting five negroes equal to three whites in apportioning
representation in the lower house.
The ensuing debate marked the crisis of the convention.
Three issues were involved. One was the equality of the
states in the Senate versus proportional representation.
Williamson, an exponent of the large state interests, de-
clared the committee's report the most objectionable of
any he had heard. Yet when its adoption was put to a
vote on July 7th, North Carolina voted aye, while Vir-
ginia and South Carolina were among the nays, and
Georgia was divided. Williamson declared that North
Carolina conceded equality in the Senate on condition
that money bills should originate in the lower house, thus
compromising the interests of the large states and the small
states. The question of apportioning representation in the
lower house was equally serious. The committee recom-
mended one member for every 40,000. The commercial in-
terests demanded and secured an amendment that represen-
tation in the future should be according to population and
wealth. To this Williamson was bitterly opposed, and he
contributed to its final rejection by moving that the census
by which the apportionment should be made should be limited
to free and slave population. Finally, the anti-slavery in-
terests were opposed to including slaves in the basis of rep-
resentation, while South Carolina and Georgia demanded
that the blacks be counted equal to whites. The three-fifths
compromise reported by the committee was defended by Davie
in strong language. "It was high time to speak out,"' he
said. "He saw that it was meant to deprive the Southern
states of any share of representation for their blacks. He
was sure that N. Carolina would never confederate on any
terms that did not rate them at least three-fifths. If the
2 Farrand, Records of the Federal Convention, I, 452.
28 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
eastern states meant, therefore, to exclude them altogether,
the business was at an end." 3 When the final ballot on the
compromise was 'taken, the North Carolina delegates were a
unit in its favor. Their vote was decisive and even magnani-
mous. Equality in the Senate was not to the interest of the
large states, and North Carolina ranked third in population;
hence four of the large states voted against the compromise,
and Massachusetts was divided. On the other hand, the four
small states, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and New Jer-
sey, were unanimously for equality. By forsaking the large
states, her natural allies, North Carolina secured the com-
promise and probably saved the convention from adjourn-
ment without accomplishing its purpose.
Equally interesting was the feeling of the North Caro-
lina delegates regarding the qualifications of senators and
representatives. Williamson favored a longer residence as
qualification for senators than for representatives, because
"bribery and cabal are more easily practiced in the choice of
the Senate which is to be made by the Legislatures composed
of a few men, than of the House of Representatives who will
be chosen by the people." On the other hand Davie was
more optimistic; to him it seemed right to refer "the ap-
pointment to Legislatures, whose agency in the general sys-
tem did not appear objectionable as it did to some others."
Davie also opposed proportional representation in the Senate
on the ground that large membership could not "possess the
activity and other qualities required in it." 4
The vote of the North Carolina delegates was also influ-
ential in another compromise, the adjustment of the slave
trade and navigation acts. The delegates of Virginia and cer-
tain northern states desired to prohibit the importation of
slaves, while the South, an agricultural section, feared the
power of Congress over commerce. The matter was referred
to a committee of one from each state, Williamson represent-
ing North Carolina. It reported against any restriction on
the importation of slaves prior to 1800, with no restriction
on navigation acts. The South Carolina and Georgia dele-
3 Ibid, I, 593.
4 Ibid, I, 487, 542.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 29
gates were not satisfied ; they demanded and secured an exten-
sion to 1808 of the time limit within which the slave trade
should not be prohibited, and also demanded that a two-thirds
vote be required for all acts of Congress regulating trade.
Virginia, led by George Mason, opposed any concession to the
slave trade but favored restrictions on the regulation of com-
merce. The North Carolina delegates took a middle ground,
placing the interests of union above those of section. Thus
Williamson declared that if the slave trade were at once
abolished, "the Southern States could not be members of
the union and it was wrong to force anything down that
was not absolutely necessary and which any state must dis-
agree to." 5 The matter was again referred to a committee
and its report gave the slave traffic lease on life until 1808.
Williamson then made his positon more clear, declaring
"that both in opinion and practice he was against
slavery ; but thought it more in favor of humanity from a view
of all circumstances to let South Carolina and Georgia in un-
der these terms than to exclude them from the union." 6 With
regard to the regulation of commerce the sentiment of the
North Carolina delegates was likewise liberal. Williamson
favored a two-thirds majority for trade laws but did not think
it vital "because if the majority of the Northern States should
push their regulations too far, the S. States would build ships
for themselves." Spaight likewise declared that "the South-
ern States could at any time save themselves from oppression
by building ships for their own use." Thus while the South
Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia delegates drifted toward par-
ticularism, the North Carolina delegates placed union above
sectional interests, and worked for compromises.
The attitude of the North Carolina delegates toward other
problems of the convention was also notable. On the vexed
question of the executive they favored election by the national
legislature. When choice by electors was under discussion,
Williamson moved that the number of electors from each state
"should be regulated by their respective members in the first
branch." On July 24th, four days after the electoral system
» Ibid, II, 373.
6 Ibid, II, 415.
30 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
had been adopted, it was reconsidered on motion of Houston,
seconded by Spaight, and Williamson made a lengthy criti-
cism. He declared that "the proposed electors would cer-
tainly not be men of the first or even of the second grade in
the states. These would all prefer a seat in the Senate, or the
other branch of the Legislature." Moreover, Williamson did
not like the unity of the executive; he wished the executive
power to be lodged in three men taken from three districts
into which the states might be divided. "As the executive is
to have a kind of veto on the laws and there is an essential
difference in the interests between the N. and the S. States,
particularly in the carrying trade, the power will be danger-
ous if the executive is to be taken from part of the union, to
the part from which he is not taken. " 7 Ultimately the elective
system was re-adopted, but on the final ballot of September
6th, North Carolina voted nay. Likewise the count of elec-
toral votes in the Senate was opposed by Spaight. "If the
election or the electors is to be crammed down, he would pre-
fer their meeting all 'together and deciding finally without any
reference to the Senate," and he moved "that the electors
meet at the seat of General Government." 8 Williamson
seconded the motion, but it received only one vote, that of
the North Carolina delegation. The North Carolina delegates
also favored a long term for the President and ineligibility
for re-election. When the four-year term was finally adopted,
the North Carolina delegation gave the only negative vote.
The idea of impeachment was first suggested by Williamson,
who moved, and it was seconded by Davie, that the executive
be ' ' removable on impeachment and conviction of malpractice
or neglect of duty." It was Williamson also who fixed the
majority to override the veto at two-thirds, a provision se-
cured on the floor of the convention after the committee on
unfinished parts of the Constitution, of which he was a mem-
ber, had reported in favor of three-fourths.
Closely allied with the veto power was the question of
the judiciary and civil rights. The North Carolina delegates
opposed the union of the executive and the legislature in the
' Ibid. TT, 100.
8 Ibid, II, 526.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 31
revision of laws, and as a substitute Williamson suggested
that every act be passed by a two-thirds majority. He was
also opposed to any power of the national government which
would restrain the states in the regulation of their internal
police, and at the close of the convention he suggested that
jury trials be guaranteed in all civil cases.
When the work of the convention was concluded, the Com
stitution was signed by Blount, Spaight, and Williamson,
Davie and Martin having left the convention before its work
was completed. The Constitution was submitted to Congress
and by Congress to the states for ratification or rejection.
The ensuing campaigns in North Carolina were the most
exciting since the early years of the Revolutionary movement.
Instead of the amended Articles of Confederation, for which
delegates had been sent to Philadelphia, an entirely new in-
strument of government was before the people. In state pol-
itics there had been for some time a marked division between
radicals and conservatives. That cleavage was now accentu-
ated. The radicals, who had stood for inflated currency and
proscription of the loyalists, saw in the Constitution a sur-
render of state sovereignty. The conservatives found in it
a "supreme law of the land" which would protect property
rights, stabilize the currency, and promote trade and other
vital interests against particularistic policies. The latter as-
sumed a party name, federalists, while the former were
known as anti-federalists. First in the field with the new
issue were the federalists. Before the adjournment of the
Philadelphia convention, Williamson suggested the election
of a conservative governor as a preliminary step, and in the
state elections of August, 1787, the Constitution was an issue,
although the final draft had not been completed. The rad-
icals were victorious, securing a majority in both Commons
and Senate. When the legislature met in November, the Con-
stitution had been forwarded to the state authorities. Real-
izing the importance of the issue, partisanship relaxed, Samuel
Johnston, a conservative, was elected governor, a state con-
vention was called to meet at Hillsboro on July 21, 1788, and
copies of the Constitution were ordered to be printed for dis-
tribution among the people.
James Iredell
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 33
The convention campaign was hotly contested. Among
the candidates were the ablest political leaders in the state.
The case for the federalists was best presented by James Ire-
dell. He was the author of an " Address by the Grand Jury of
the Edenton District," drawn up in November, 1787, which en-
dorsed the Constitution as a remedy for the unpaid national
debt, the unfulfilled Treaty of Peace, the demoralized com-
merce, and other problems. 9 In January 1788, under the pen
name of "Marcus," he also wrote a reply to George Mason's
"Objections to the New Constitution." 10 Both pamphlets
were scattered far and wide, the latter having a circulation
outside the state. Later, in May, 1788, Davie and Iredell
jointly produced a third pamphlet supporting the Constitution.
Equally notable was the campaign of the anti-federalists.
Its cue was given by Willie Jones, of Halifax, ultra-democrat
in theory, aristocrat in practice, intimate with the Virginia
school of individualism. "The poor were to be ruined by
taxes," he declared, "and no security for freedom of con-
science" was given. In the Wilmington district Timothy
Bloodworth, the blacksmith politician, led the opposition,
while Joseph McDowell, Thomas Person, and Joseph Winston
were anti-federalist candidates in the west. The state judi-
ciary, foreseeing the power to be of the federal courts, was
completely an'ti-federalist. Important also was the attitude of
the clergy politicians. David Caldwell, the most prominent
Presbyterian divine and long influential in politics, was an
anti-federalist candidate. So was Lemuel Burkitt, a promi-
nent Baptist minister and leader. An interesting glimpse of
his activity in the campaign has been left by Elkanah Wat-
son, who passed through North Carolina in 1788 :
"The week previous to the election, I was riding in com-
pany with Major Murfee, who has been already introduced
to the reader, and a Dr. Garvey, a warm hearted and ener-
getic Irishman, several miles in the interior from Winton,
where we noticed a paper pasted upon a tree, which read as
follows: 'Notice! — On Wednesday next, at three o'clock, all
persons desirous of hearing the new Constitution explained,
9 McRee. II. 181.
10 Ibid, IT, 186.
Tol. n— 3
34 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
by Elder B 1, are requested to attend his church in the
Woodlands, 17th March 1788. ' The time appointed was only
two days previous to the election.
"We felt indignant, at what we deemed an insidious at-
tempt to deceive the community; and determined to be pres-
ent in order to counteract his movement. On our arrival we
found a horse hitched to every tree about the church, and the
interior of the building crowded. We pressed our way into
seats a little distance from the pulpit. B 1 had been some
time at his nefarious work, explaining the Constitution to
suit his unhallowed purposes. He frequently cast a suspicious,
disconcerting eye upon our pew. He then began to explain
the object of the ten miles square, as the contemplated seat
of the government. 'This, my friends,' said the preacher,
'will be walled in or fortified. Here an army of 50,000, or
perhaps 100,000, will be finally embodied, and will sally forth
and enslave the people, who will be gradually disarmed. ' This
absurd assumption set our blood in fermentation, strongly
excited already in party feeling. We consulted the moment,
and agreed to possess ourselves of the seat directly under
the pulpit, and make an effort to discuss the subject or break
up the meeting. We arose together, Garvey with the Consti-
tution in his hand, supported by Murfee on his right and my-
self on his left. Garvey turned towards B 1, and said, in
a loud voice:
" 'Sir, as to the ten mile square, you are' — here he was
interrupted by a general movement and buzz, which instantly
swelled into a perfect uproar. At this crisis we were in a
most critical situation, and only saved from violence by the
personal popularity of Murfee, who was universally beloved.
We were glad to pass out with the torrent, gain our horses,
and be off. We however attained our object — the meeting
was dissolved.
"The next day Garvey and myself planned and executed
a caricature ; and as it was a new exhibition among the peo-
ple, we hoped it would have a good effect at the polls. A
clergyman was represented at the pulpit, dressed in his bands,
with a label proceeding from his mouth having this inscrip-
tion : — 'And lo, he brayeth !' This we committed to some reso-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 35
lute fellows, with instructions to post it up at the door of the
courthouse, on the opening of the polls ; they engaged to de-
fend and protect it. Some of B t's friends, stung to the
quick by the sarcasm, attempted to pull it down. A general
battle ensued. This obstructed as we desired, the voting.
Candles w T ere lighted in the courthouse; these were extin-
guished in the melee and both parties in great confusion were
left in the dark, literally as well as politically. I embraced
the opportunity of taking French leave. B 1 gained the
election, to our great annoyance." 1X
Much was expected from the example of other states, es-
pecially Virginia, where anti-federalism was strong. Ap-
parently extraneous influences did not shape the election in
North Carolina. The choice of candidates was determined
largely by social and economic forces. The variety of racial
elements in the population made unity of action on any issue
well-nigh impossible. A majority of the people were small
farmers and traders, possessing little worldly goods. Hence
a sense of individualism, devotion to rights and liberties al-
ready won, and distrust of ideals that did not originate at
home, characterized political thought. In contrast was the
Constitution, which contained no bill of rights guaranteeing
individual liberty, conferred on Congress the power of taxa-
tion and control over the currency, and provided for a system
of justice independent of the state courts. Hence when the
elections occurred, the anti-federalists won by a majority of
100 delegates, a majority unequalled in any other state.
When the convention met, the anti-federalists conceded to
Samuel Johnston the honor of presiding. They then proposed
through Jones to vote at once on ratification without debate,
adjourn, and so save the people unnecessary expense. After
a plea for a discussion by Iredell, Jones yielded. An extended
debate followed. The policy of the anti-federalists was to
say little, to make short, incisive criticism of some clauses
of the constitution, to keep silent regarding others, and to
throw the burden of debate upon the federalists. Though
two of the delegates to the Philadelphia convention, Davie
11 Watson, Men and Times of the Revolution, 262 ff.
Willie Jones
\
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 37
and Spaight, were present, the ablest defense of the consti-
tution was made by Iredell, while Judge Spencer was the
leading spokesman of the opposition. Criticism was opened
by Doctor Caldwell, who proposed that the convention for-
mulate certain principles of government based on the theory
of compact between the people and the rulers, by which the
Constitution should be judged. In reply Iredell repudiated
the idea of compact. "Our government," he said, "is founded
on much nobler principles. The people are known with cer-
tainty to have originated it themselves. Those in power are
servants and agents, and the people without their consent
can remodel their government whenever they think proper,
not merely because it is oppressively exercised, but because
another form will be more conducive to their welfare. It is
upon the footing of this very principle that we are now met
to consider the constitution before us." 12 Again Iredell won
his point; Caldwell's plan of formulating principles of gov-
ernment was rejected, and the convention decided to con-
sider the Constitution clause bv clause.
The first objection raised was that of consolidation versus
confederation. The words, "We the People," in the pre-
amble were denounced by Taylor of Wayne as an assump-
tion of power. "Had it said, 'We the States,' there would
have been a Federal intention * but, sir, it is clear
that a consolidation is intended. Will any gentleman sav
that a consolidated government will answer this country?
* I am astonished that the servants of the legisla-
ture of North Carolina should go to Philadelphia and instead
of speaking of the State of North Carolina, should speak of
the people. I wish to stop power as soon as possible, for
they may carry their assumption of power to a more dan-
gerous length. I wish to know where they found the power
to say, We the People, and of consolidating the states." 13
The answer of the federalists, best presented by Davie, was
that in the past governments purely federal had signally
failed; hence it was necessary to invoke the sovereignty of
12 Elliott. Debates in the Several State Conventions, Etc., IV, 40
(Edition of 1836).
1 3 Ibid, 53.
38 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
the people ''in order to secure the tranquility of the states
and the liberty of the people." Although the foundations
were laid on the people, "the state governments are the pil-
lars upon which this .government is extended over such an
immense territory and are essential to its existence." In
another connection he declared that "the State governments
can put a veto, at any time, on the general government by
ceasing to continue the executive power," viz., by refusing to
choose presidential electors. Maclaine, another federalist,
declared that "this is a government for confederated states,
that consequently it can never intermeddle where no power
is given." Evidently the federalist argument against con-
solidation was that sovereignty, according to the Constitution,
is divided between the people and the states.
Unconvinced by the federalist theory of sovereignty, the
anti-federalists pointed out the possibilities of oppression and
tyranny. Illustrative was the power of Congress to levy di-
rect taxes, which was held to be dangerous, liable to interfere
with the taxing power of the states, and to bring suffering to
the people. ' ' It may happen, for instance, ' ' said Judge Spen-
cer, "that if ready money cannot be immediately received
from the profits of individuals from their taxes, their estates,
consisting of lands, negroes, stock, and furniture, must be set
up and sold at vendue. We can easily see, from the great
scarcity of money at this day, that a great distress must hap-
pen in the country. * * * Such property will sell for
one-tenth part of its value. Such a mode as this will in a few
years deprive the people of their estates." In contrast he
favored the system of requisition on the states by Congress,
the states to make the actual levy, with authority for Con-
gress to "take out of the pockets of the people at large if
the states fail to pay the taxes in a convenient time." 14
Along with federal taxation might come a host of federal
officers, removable only by impeachment. "These senators
and members of the House of Representatives will appoint
their friends to all offices," said Taylor, and "these officers
will be great men, and they will have numerous deputies un-
14 Ibid, 97, 98.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 39
der them. The receiver general of the taxes of North Caro-
lina must be one of the greatest men of the country. Will
he come to me for his taxes? No. He will send his deputy,
who will have special instructions to oppress me. How am
I to be redressed! I shall be told that I must go to Congress
to have him impeached. This being the case, who am I to im-
peach? A friend of the representatives of North Carolina.
For, unhappily for us, these men will have too much weight
for us; they will have friends in the government who will
be inclined against us, and thus we may be oppressed with
impunity. ' ' 15 In reply Maclaine pointed out that impeach-
ment applied only to higher officers of the United States, that
the courts of common law would afford redress against the
corruption of minor officials. Johnston also pointed out that
direct taxes would not be so burdensome as requisitions,
since "if the government have it in their power to lay those
taxes, we will give them credit to borrow money on that
security, and for that reason it will not be necessary to lay
so heavy a tax, for if the tax is sufficiently productive to
pay the interest, money may always be had in consequence of
that security." This argument, however, did not appeal to
the financial instincts of the small farmers. "Borrowing
money is detrimental and ruinous to nations," said McDowell.
"The interest is lost money. We have been obliged to bor-
row money to pay interest." 16
In similar vein were other criticisms of federal power.
The authority of Congress over federal elections was
strongly denounced. "It deprives the people of the very
mode of choosing" their representatives, said Spencer. "It
seems to throw the whole power of election in the hands of
Congress. It strikes at the mode, time and place of choosing
representatives. It puts all but the place of electing sena-
tors into the hands of Congress. This supercedes the neces-
sity of continuing the state legislatures." 17 According to
Bloodworth, "Congress will make the time of election so
long, the place so inconvenient, and the manner so oppressive,
15 Ibid, 71, 72.
16 Ibid, 193.
17 Ibid, 77.
40 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
that it will entirely destroy representation * * * The
elections may be in such a manner that men may be ap-
pointed who are not representatives of the people. * * *
As to the place, suppose Congress should order elections to
be held in the most inconvenient place, in the most incon-
venient district, could every person entitled to vote attend
at such a place ? Suppose they order it to be laid off into so
many districts and order the election to be held within each
district; yet may not this power over the manner of election
enable them to exclude from voting every description of men
they please?" 1S
The co-operation of the President and the Senate in the
appointing power and in the negotiation of treaties was held
to violate the principle of the separation of powers, and
doubly dangerous since the Senate, which had the power of
correction through impeachment, might be particeps criminis
with the President. More vigorous was the opposition to
provisions for a federal judiciary. Spencer granted the de-
sirability of an appellate court, but saw danger in the es-
tablishment of minor federal courts. "There will be, with-
out any measure of doubt," he said, "clashings and animosi-
ties between the jurisdiction of the federal courts and the
state courts, so that they will keep the country in hot water.
The state judiciaries will have very little to do. It
will be almost useless to keep them up." 19 The absence of
any guarantee of jury trial in the federal courts was also
emphasized. "Can it be supposed any man of common cir-
cumstances," said McDowell, "can stand the expense and
trouble of going from Georgia to Philadelphia there to have
a suit tried? Can it be justly determined without the benefit
of a trial by jury? These are things which have justly
alarmed the people. What made the people revolt from
Great Britain? The trial by jury, that great safeguard of lib-
erty was taken away, and a stamp duty was placed upon
them." 20 The question of jury trial raised and emphasized
another objection, the absence of a Bill of Eights. "When
18 Ibid. 79. 80.
19 Ibid, 148.
20 Ibid, 154.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 41
individuals enter into society," said Spencer, "they give up
some rights to secure the rest. There are certain human
rights that ought not to be given up, and which ought in
some manner to be secured." These should be especially
guaranteed, since the federal courts would operate on indi-
viduals rather than states, their officers would be under oath
to support the Constitution, and there was no clause in that
instrument reserving to the states powers not granted.
The defense by the federalists at this point was that the
purpose of the federal courts was simply to compel obedi-
ence to federal laws and to secure uniformity of justice
among the state courts. Moreover, the impracticability of a
guarantee of jury trial was pointed out by Iredell. "The
trial by jury," he said, "is different in different states. It is
regulated one way in the State of North Carolina and another
way in the State of Virginia. It is established a different way
from either in several other states. Had it then been inserted
in the Constitution that the trial by jury should be as it had
been heretofore, there would have been an example, for the
first time in the world, of a judiciary belonging to the same
government being different in different parts of the same
country." 21 The federalists also held that a Bill of Rights
by its nature was not essential to a written constitution, and
that the people through the Constitution "expressly declare
how much power they do give and consequently retain all
they do not."
The one practical issue of North Carolina politics injected
into the debate was that of the currency. The anti-federal-
ists claimed that the inhibition on the states to issue bills of
credit would impair the value of the state currency of 1783
and 1785 and that it would prevent contracts made in paper
money from being settled in specie. In reply Iredell pointed
to the prohibition of ex post facto laws, but Maclaine ad-
mitted that federal taxes would be levied only in specie.
Fear was also expressed that the Northern states, in which
the principal industry was commerce, would have a majority
in Congress and cause to be adopted a currency policy which
2i Ibid, 172.
42 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
would be unsatisfactory to the South, which was agricultural.
The prohibition of state laws impairing the obligation of
contracts was also attacked as a possible means of forcing
North Carolina to redeem paper money at face value. The
probable assumption of state debts was also criticized in pro-
phetic vein by Galloway. "I trust this country will never
leave it to the hands of the general government to redeem the
securities which they have already given. Should this be the
case the consequence will be, that they will be purchased by
speculators, when the citizens wall part with them perhaps
for a very trifling consideration. Those speculators will look
at the constitution and see that they will be paid in gold and
silver. They will buy them at a half crown in the pound, and
get the full value for them in gold and silver." 22
Such was the trend of the debate. To the modern reader
the objections of the anti-federalists are apt to seem trivial,
based on a superficial knowledge of the Constitution. Un-
doubtedly the federalists had a clearer and profounder under-
standing of its provisions. Yet in the anti-federalist argu-
ment there was something of the prophetic element, for as
the years have passed the state courts have been over-
shadowed in importance by the federal judiciary, too often
Congress as well as the national courts has been unrespons-
ive to the will of the people, and the influence of the states on
the destiny of the country has become relatively less, and that
of the Federal Government, relatively greater.
After six days of discussion Samuel Johnston moved that
the Constitution be ratified and that amendments be proposed,
a procedure adopted in other state conventions. But Willie
Jones, silent during the debate, took the floor and proposed
instead of the vote on ratification, the submission of amend-
ments and the deferring of further action to the future. Such
a policy, he maintained, would insure amendments to the
Constitution, in support of which he quoted Jefferson's let-
ter to Madison to the effect that rejection by four states would
insure amendments. As a concession to the federalists he
recommended a resolution that the legislature should levy
22 Ibid, 194.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 43
an impost duty similar to that adopted by Congress, the pro-
ceeds of which should be paid to Congress. After strenuous
objection by Johnston, Iredell, and Davie, Jones' proposal
was adopted. A Declaration of Rights in twelve clauses and
also twenty-six amendments were thereupon recommended.
These were identical with the Bill of Rights and amendments
submitted by Virginia except six of the amendments, which
forbade Congress to declare a state in rebellion without the
consent of a two-thirds vote in both Senate and House, to
confer special privileges on any company of merchants, to
ratify treaties that interfered with federal laws, to levy taxes
on coastwise ships in transit, to interfere with redemption of
state currency and its liquidation, or to introduce foreign
troops in the United States without the vote of two-thirds of
both houses. Then the convention, having been in session for
eleven days, adjourned on August 4, 1788.
The federalists were undaunted by defeat in the conven-
tion. In fact the trend of events elsewhere gave them cour-
age. Virginia had ratified the Constitution in June, over a
month before the Hillsboro convention had convened, and
New York ratified shortly after it adjourned, leaving Rhode
Island and North Carolina the only states not in the Union.
Earnest efforts were made to win the state elections, which
occurred in August. Again the anti-federalists won. After
the legislature met, a bill for a second state convention was
rejected in the House of Commons, a joint resolution for a
second federal convention was adopted, and five delegates
were elected. However, the federalists were busy among
their constituents, and soon a flood of petitions for a recon-
sideration of the Constitution poured in. At last the radicals
yielded, and a second convention was called to meet at Fay-
etteville. The date fixed was November 16, 1789, by which
time the new government would be fully organized and its
policy towards amendments would be tested. Thus an issue,
that of amendments, was kept open, which might possibly be
used against ratification. But the federalists in the first Con-
gress, under the leadership of Madison, conceded the need of
further guarantees of liberty and in May, 1789, brought for-
ward the matter of amendments. The result was the first
44
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
ten amendments which met the principal objections raised in
the Hillsboro convention, and removed the last arguments
against ratification. Hence the Fayetteville convention rati-
fied the Constitution on November 22, 1789, the seventh day
of the session, by a majority of 118. Believing that all dan-
gers of the federalist system had not been eliminated, the con-
vention also recommended eight amendments; that Congress
Convention Hall, Fayetteville, in Which the Constitution
Was Ratified
should not interfere with federal elections except when the
states failed to provide adequately for them, that no state
should be interfered with in the liquidation of its debts, that
Congressmen should not hold federal office during their term
of service, that the journals of the Senate and House be pub-
lished once a year, that accounts of federal income and ex-
penditure also be published annually, that no navigation or
commerce law be passed without a majority of two-thirds,
that no soldier be enlisted for a longer period than four years
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 45
in time of peace, and that some tribunal other than the Sen-
ate be provided for the impeachment of senators.
The belated ratification of the Constitution raises two
questions. First is the wisdom of the course adopted. Con-
cerning this there have been two views. One regards the
action of the Hillsboro convention as a victory of provincial-
ism and prejudice over the forces of progress from which
the state gained nothing. The other view is that the refusal
to ratify in 1788 was an act of sacrifice in the interest of
principles which ultimately triumphed in the first ten amend-
ments, and that the timely submission of those amendments
was hastened by the action of the Hillsboro convention. The
case for either interpretation rests on too slight evidence to
be convincing. Moreover those disposed to criticize the policy
pursued have almost uniformly eulogized Johnston, Iredell,
and Davie, and found nothing to praise in Willie Jones. Like-
wise those who seek to justify the delay in ratification are
prone to exalt Jones and to disparage his opponents. Thus
has the historical literature of the state perpetuated the
early prejudices of the federalists and anti-federalists. How-
ever, a few facts loom more prominent with the passing of
years. The Constitution proposed a radical change in the
nature and structure of government; consequently there was
bitter opposition in practically every state. In North Caro-
lina there was never the slightest insinuation of political log
rolling or corrupt influence at work in favor of ratification;
the will of the people was plain and it was unobstructed.
Yet the Hillsboro convention, while undoubtedly registering
the popular will, did not reject the new form of government,
but by offering amendments and adjourning, left open the
way for later ratification.
The second question always raised by the state's policy
is one of political science. What was the status of North
Carolina between the organization of the new government in
March, 1789, and ratification the following November? For
this the answer is clear and unmistakable; in the light of
actions by Congress and by the state, North Carolina was a
sovereign and independent power. Tariff laws were en-
acted which treated North Carolina as a foreign country,
46 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
goods imported from its ports into those of the states in
the Union being subject to the same duties as goods im-
ported from Europe. Nor was the judiciary act to operate
within North Carolina. In diplomacy the record also re-
veals independence, for Hugh Williamson, representing the
interests of the state at the seat of the national government,
protested against the tariff law and urged such a division
of the national debt that North Carolina might assume its
quota. Communications were also opened with the Spanish
Minister in regard to the Indians west of the mountains.
Evidently North Carolina was exercising sovereign powers
when ratification placed limitations on its role as an inde-
pendent state. Next to the last member to join the Union, it
was also next to the last to undertake secession in 1861.
CHAPTER III
FEDERALISTS AND REPUBLICANS, 1790-1815
Party Issues — The Political Revolution of 1800 — The War
of 1812
In the election for the first Congress the federalists were
successful. Both the senators chosen by the legislature,
Samuel Johnston and Benjamin Hawkins, were federalists.
Three of the representatives, Williamson, John Steele, and
John Sevier, were also federalists, while their opponents
succeeded in electing only two, John B. Ashe and Timothy
Bloodworth.
Political interest centered around the financial program
of Alexander Hamilton, which appealed to the commercial
and financial rather than to the agricultural sections of the
country. The assumption of state debts was condemned
in resolutions of the legislature which declared that assump-
tion without the consent of the states would be "an infringe-
ment of the sovereignty of this state, and prove eventually
injurious and oppressive." 1 The senators and representa-
tives were directed to prevent the evil operations of such
acts in any future assumption. Senator Johnston favored
the funding of the national debt, but desired that distinction
should be made between original purchasers and specula-
tors. In the meantime the congressmen did not arrive at
New York until after the funding of the national debt was
provided for, but their vote did prevent temporarily the as-
sumption of the state debts. The objections of North Caro-
lina to this measure were well stated by Williamson; that it
would increase the burden of taxation, that North Carolina
1 S. R. XX, 1055.
47
48 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
had already imposed taxes to meet its Revolutionary debt,
that one of the amendments to the Constitution recommended
at the Hillsboro convention was that no state should be
interfered with in the redemption of its paper currency or
the liquidation of its securities, that no settlement should
be made by the Federal Government until the accounts of each
state in the United States should be settled, and that if any
debt were assumed it should consist of the amount due from
the Federal Government to the states. In the end there was a
compromise, the national capital being located in the South
in return for sufficient votes to carry the assumption bill.
However the North Carolina delegation unanimously voted
against assumption, and the legislature filed the following
protest :
Resolved, That the assumption of state debts by the Con-
gress of the United States, without their particular consent,
is an infringement on the sovereignty of this state, and may
prove eventually injurious and oppressive to the same, dan-
gerous to its interests, and senators and representatives are
directed to prevent evil operation of such acts in future as-
sumptions. 2
No less unanimous was the opposition of North Carolina
to the excise. Resolutions were adopted by the legislature
instructing its senators to oppose the measure. Distant mar-
kets made money scarce and prices high; hence the surplus
grain crop was distilled into whiskey and was peddled by the
farmers on their way to market, thus becoming an important
money product. John Steele, federalist, declared "a more
exceptional mode of taxation could not be devised than the
excise. A direct or poll tax would not be so odious. Such
was the aversion of the people to it that they would prefer
almost any alternative."' 5 In order to equalize the burden,
Williamson suggested that taxes should also be levied on
beer and cider, and on the final vote Steele and Williamson,
as well as Ashe and Bloodworth, were in the opposition. Re-
sistance to the excise was threatened in the western counties,
but the following year the law was revised, exempting the
2 Ibid.
3 Annals, First Cong., II, 1848.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 49
smaller stills from the tax, and so relieving most of the North
Carolina farmers from its operation.
On the bank bill there was a division among the North
Carolina representatives, Sevier and Steele favoring, and
Ashe, Bloodworth and Williamson opposing it. The Jay
treaty of 1795 was also the source of considerable criticism.
The objection on the part of North Carolina was made by
Holland, who declared that article nine, which enabled aliens
to hold land in the United States, would put in jeopardy
titles in the Granville district, which had been taken over bv
the state during the Revolution, and that if the article was
ratified and applied to the lands in question, it would be
resisted by force. 4 Likewise the provision in the treaty for
the liquidation of British debts was contrary to the interests
of the commercial classes in Eastern Carolina. On the final
vote all the North Carolina congressmen except one, William
B. Grove, voted with the opposition.
Interesting also to note was the prevalent feeling towards
the act of 1789 organizing the federal judiciary. Davie,
staunch defender of the federal system in 1788, wrote that
the judiciary act was "so defective in point of arrangement,
and so obscurely drawn, or expressed, that, in my opinion, it
would disgrace the composition of the meanest legislature of
the State." 5 Even Samuel Johnston, arch-federalist, wrote
from Philadelphia: — "The House have not given up the
idea of a reform in the judicial system; I do everything in
my power to keep it up." 6
The reaction against federalist policies was not confined
to speeches and votes in Congress. Within the state there
was a strong sentiment against various measures of Wash-
ington's administration. In 1790 the House of Commons re-
fused to take an oath to support the Federal Constitution.
In the same year also a state court of equity refused to
obey a writ of certiorari issued by the Federal District
Court ordering a case to be brought before it, and the legis-
lature passed a vote of thanks to the state judges for their ac-
4 Armals. 4th Confess. 1st session, 1129.
5 MeRee\s Iredell, II, 335.
6 Ibid.
Vol. II— 4
50 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
tion. Nor was this restiveness toward centralizing ten-
dencies confined to the opposition. In 1793 James Iredell,
who had been appointed a member of the United States Su-
preme Court by "Washington, wrote a dissenting opinion in
the case of Chisholm vs. Georgia, holding that Chisholm could
not sue the State of Georgia, on the ground that the states
were completely sovereign in regard to the powers they
had not delegated to the Federal Government. This was the
first states' rights opinion emanating from the court; Ire-
dell's theory of divided sovereignty became the working the-
orv of the Federal Government, and was a factor in that
public opinion which resulted in the twelfth amendment.
Federalist conception of the relation of senators and con-
gressmen to state authority also played a part in the re-
action against the party. Prior to the adoption of the Con-
stitution it had been the custom for the state's delegates in
the Continental Congress to correspond with the governor
regarding national affairs and to visit the annual sessions of
the legislature, and to take instructions from the body that
elected them. Gradually under the new regime there devel-
oped an aversion to this tradition. First to revolt were the
senators; Johnston and Hawkins did not give an account of
their stewardship at the sessions of the legislature, and
Johnston voted for the excise bill, against which instructions
had been adopted. Hence, early as 1790 the legislature
adopted resolutions directing senators to use their efforts for
open sessions of the Senate, and that they correspond with
the legislature when it was in session and with the gov-
ernor between sessions. On the expiration of Johnston's term
in 1792, he was replaced by Alexander Martin. Although the
federalist members of the lower house were not yet in revolt
against the idea of responsibility to the legislature, the re-
action against their party reached its height in 1793 when
the republicans carried all the congressional districts save
one, the Cape Fear, and from then to the end of our early
party history the republicans elected a majority of the North
Carolina congressmen. President "Washington himself was
not spared partisan criticism. In 1794 Timothy Bloodworth
made an issue of the President's neutrality proclamation, was
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 51
elected to the legislature, and became senator in 1795 in
place of Hawkins. In Congress the reply to Washington's
last address was criticized by Nathaniel Macon as too adula-
tory, and Macon, Blount, Holland, and Matthew Locke voted
against its adoption. In the presidential election of 1796
Adams received only one electoral vote from North Carolina.
The revolt of the state from federalist control did not
escape the attention of republican leaders elsewhere. By
1798 there was a movement to induce North Carolina to join
in a revolt against the alien and sedition laws. John Taylor,
of Caroline, Virginia, suggested to Thomas Jefferson that
Virginia and North Carolina secede and form the nucleus of
a new confederation. Jefferson was equally dissatisfied with
federalist policies, but he placed union above section. "If we
reduce our union to Virginia and North Carolina," he wrote,
"immediately the conflict will be established between the rep-
resentatives of these two small states and they will end by
breaking into other simple units. ' ' 7 Jefferson therefore sug-
gested that a protest only be made against the notorious alien
and sedition laws, and that North Carolina join with Virginia
in that protest. However, in 1798 there was a strong federal-
ist reaction in North Carolina; hence Kentucky was chosen
by Jefferson to join in the protest instead of North Carolina,
and the articles adopted were known as the Virginia-Ken-
tucky resolutions.
The cause of the federalist reaction referred to was re-
sentment toward the French government, its perfidy and
insult to the United States being revealed in the X. Y. Z.
Correspondence. The war fever was aroused, federalists and
republicans rallying to the support of the President. In the
local elections of 1798 the federalists won a majority in the
State Senate, Davie was elected governor by the legislature,
and in the congressional elections six districts went federal-
ist. An address to the President of the United States, ex-
pressing loyalty and co-operation, was drafted by the legis-
lature. Consequently when the Kentucky resolutions were
submitted to the legislature of North Carolina there was no
7 Jefferson, Writings (Ford Ed), VII, 263.
52 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
response; in the Senate resolutions instructing the state's
delegation in Congress to work for the repeal of the alien
and sedition laws were defeated, but similar resolutions were
adopted in the Commons, where the republicans had a major-
ity. Also Alexander Martin failed to be reelected to the
United States Senate on account of his vote for the alien and
sedition laws ; his successor was Jesse Franklin.
Such was the drift of politics as the presidential election
of 1800 approached. The federalists, encouraged by recent
victories, hoped to carry the state for Adams. But the issue
of war with France was removed by the treaty of 1799. Hence
the federalist appeal to loyalty could apply only to the re-
ports of secession sentiment in Virginia. To assure victory
a bill was introduced in the legislature of 1799 to place the
choice of presidential electors in the legislature. It was
defeated by a small republican majority in the House. The
early federalist prospects for victory did not mature. The
party experienced a loss of leadership. Iredell died in 1799,
Samuel Johnston was in his dotage, Davie resigned as gov-
ernor to accept a mission to France, and was abroad when
the election took place. Moreover Spaight and Stone, two
of the congressmen elected in 1798, demanded a repeal of the
alien and sedition laws and finally left the party. Contempo-
rary with this loss of leadership by the federalists, a new and
powerful factor did much to rally the republicans. This was
the Raleigh Register, the first republican newspaper in the
state. It was established in 1799, its first number ap-
pearing on October 22. Its editor was Joseph Gales, an
English radical, who had been forced to leave his native
country on account of the opinions contained in his paper,
the Sheffield Register. In 1795 he arrived in Philadelphia
and soon became known as an expert reporter of proceedings
in Congress. Realizing the need of a party organ in North
Carolina, Nathaniel Macon and other republicans persuaded
Mr. Gales to come to Raleigh and establish the Register. The
editorials were spirited and readable, and during the cam-
paign copies of the paper were sent to a large number of
doubtful voters free of charge. Alarmed by the aggressive-
ness of the Register, William Boylan, editor of the Minerva,
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 53
moved his paper, which was federalist, from Fayetteville to
Raleigh. Thus begins the history of the partisan press in
North Carolina. An interesting incident was a physical con-
flict between the two editors on the streets of Raleigh. Gales
brought suit for damages against Boylan. The trial was
Joseph Gales
removed to Hillsboro. The jury awarded the plaintiff dam-
ages of £100, and Gales, after paying the attorney's fees,
donated the remainder to the Raleigh Academy. The influ-
ence of Gales and his paper extended beyond the confines of
North Carolina. He secured an interest in the National In-
telligencer, organ of the republicans at Washington, and in
1807 Joseph Gales, Jr., became the congressional reporter
and in 1810 sole owner of the Intelligencer. In 1812 he was
joined in the ownership by his brother, William W. Gales, who
54 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
had for three years been associated with the elder Gales in
the Register. On the retirement of Joseph Gales, Sr., the
editorship of the Register was continued by his son, Western
R. Gales.
The result of the presidential election of 1800 was a vic-
tory for the republicans. However, the federalists secured
four of the electoral votes, quite a gain over the vote of 1796.
This was undoubtedly due to the reaction against France and
the strong appeal to conserve the Union made by the fed-
eralists.
The election of 1800 marks a revolution in American poli-
tics, a decisive victory of the Jeffersonian republicans over
federalism, yet as far as North Carolina was concerned there
was in the election no guarantee of permanent supremacy.
The four electoral votes for Adams suggest a rugged indepen-
dence when contrasted with the solid vote of Virginia, South
Carolina, and Georgia for Jefferson. There were also four
federalist congressmen, and until the end of the Second War
with England the Salisbury, Fayetteville, and Edenton dis-
tricts manifested distrust of republican measures. Some of
the clergy were also hostile to the recent political change ;
a minister in Orange County prayed that "God would send
the name of Republicanism to its native Hell." Moreover
federalistic ideals had attracted men of ability, vision, and
character. With the return of Davie from France earlr in
1801, plans were laid for opposition to the new regime. Con-
sequently Jefferson and his advisors did not rest easy with
laurels recently won. A new weapon was found in the fed-
eral patronage. Macon wished to make party loyalty the
sole test for appointment; instead, Jefferson adopted the
policy of offering certain high offices to federalists in order
to weaken their party allegiance. Hence Benjamin Hawkins
was appointed one of the commissioners to the Creek Indians,
and was also consulted concerning other appointments. Davie
likewise accepted a commission to treat with those Tuscarora
Indians who had not removed from North Carolina. John
Steele, first Comptroller of the United States Treasury, re-
mained in office until his resignation in 1802.
The undoing of the North Carolina federalists was not
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 55
accomplished by Jefferson's seductive'policy but by their in-
difference, if not resistance, to the popular will. This was
disclosed in their attitude toward the repeal of the Judiciary
Act of 1801. By that law the federalists had increased the
number of circuits and created a number of circuit judgeships
to which President Adams had appointed federalists. One
of Jefferson's measures of reform was to have the law re-
pealed on the ground that it was unnecessary. The North
Carolina legislature, thoroughly in sympathy with the Jef-
fersonian idea, instructed the senators and recommended to
the representatives, to vote for the repeal. However the four
federalist members of the House from North Carolina dis-
regarded the recommendation and voted against repeal.
Their explanation was partly expediency, that an increase of
circuits and judges was actually needed, and also constitu-
tionality, that the repeal of the law violated the independence
of the judiciary. Two of the members defended at length
their vote before the House. Stanly declared: "Should this
measure pass it will be the first link in that chain of measures
which will add the name of America to the melancholy cata-
logue of falling republics." Henderson exclaimed: "If the
doctrine intended by the gentleman of the other side of the
House should become the settled construction of the Constitu-
tion and enlightened America acquiesce with that construction,
I declare for mvself, for mvself alone, I would not heave a
sigh or shed a tear over its total dissolution. The wound you
are about to give it will be mortal ; it may languish out a mere
existence for a few years, but it will surely die. It will
neither serve to protect its friends nor defend itself from
the omnipotent energies of its enemies. Better at once to
bury it with all our hopes. " s These remarks clearly indi-
cate a lack of sympathy of the federalists with Jeffersonian
ideals. Failure to heed the instructions of the legislature
raised the issue of responsibility to the popular will, and in
the election of 1804 there was a reaction, the state sending a
solid republican delegation to Congress. An interesting inci-
dent of the campaign was the contest between Davie and Al-
8 Annals of 7th Congress, 1st session, 523, ff ; 569, ff.
56 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
ston in the Halifax district. Alston was victorious and Davie,
chagrined at defeat, retired from politics and from the state,
spending the remaining years of his life on his plantation on
the Catawba River in South Carolina.
The victory over federalism was not followed by una-
nimity toward dominant republican policies. The same inde-
pendence that characterized federalism in North Carolina was
also a feature of the republican party. Illustrative was the
attitude of Nathaniel Macon. As Jefferson was the idealogue
of democracy, Macon personified democracy through char-
acter. Honesty, economy, simplicity, and the rights of the
states as the best protection of the agricultural interests, were
principles concerning which he was uncompromising. Elected
Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1801 in recogni-
tion of North Carolina's loyalty to the republican cause, he
soon realized that his ideals did not permit an unqualified sup-
port of the administration. With the impeachment of the fed-
eralist judges he had little sympathy, believing that public
opinion did not demand it, He opposed the policy of the
government to recognize the validity of land grants which had
been made and then revoked by the legislature of Georgia
in the Yazoo district, which had been ceded to the United
States in 1802. With the co-operation of John Randolph of
Virginia he was successful in his opposition, for no settlement
of the claims was made until 1814, after their validity had
been established by the Supreme Court. Moreover, Macon
did not favor the rise of Madison to power, who was slated
for the presidential succession, but preferred Gallatin of
Pennsylvania. How stiff-necked the Speaker might become
is shown by his vote on the resolution submitting the twelfth
amendment to the Constitution to the states ; it lacked one vote
to make the required two-thirds majority. Macon claimed the
right, as a member of the House, to cast a vote for the
measure, overruled the opinion that the Speaker's vote was
limited to tie cases, and thus the amendment was submitted.
Macon was not alone in his disaffection. Of one mind
with him were John Randolph, of Virginia, whom Macon ap-
pointed chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and
Nicholson, of Maryland. These insurgents were known as the
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 57
"Quids," and frequently voting with them were Richard
Stanford, of Hillsboro, Thomas Wynns, of Hertford, and
Joseph Winston, of Surry County. In 1806 the rank and file
of the House became restive over the disaffection of these
members. In order to shelve Randolph as chairman of the
Ways and Means Committee, there was a movement to take
from the Speaker the right of appointing standing committees.
It failed by only two votes. Macon, yielding to the desire of
the majority, appointed Joseph Clay of Pennsylvania to
head the committee of which Randolph had been chairman
since 1801. The following year Macon himself lost the speak-
ership ; he then became reconciled to the leadership of Madi-
son and also broke with Randolph.
In the meantime foreign affairs became the dominant
national problem. In the efforts toward their solution Macon
and his colleagues from North Carolina manifested their in-
dependence. In reply to England's interference with Ameri-
can trade, Congress in April, 1806, enacted the non-importa-
tion law, which prohibited the importation from England
of such goods as could be manufactured in the United States.
It was criticized by Macon, who feared war would result, by
pointing out that any diminution of the customs would require
increase of the internal taxes, which would be a burden to
the South. However, at the final vote on the measure the
only North Carolinian in opposition was Richard Stanford.
Non-importation was a failure. 'It was followed by grave in-
sults over the right of search and a more drastic interference
with American shipping by the French decrees and the Brit-
ish orders in council. Upon Jefferson's recommendation
Congress adopted the embargo act of 1807, which forbade
American ships to engage in foreign trade. Macon did not
approve of the measure, and on the final vote five of the North
Carolina representatives were among the nays, Blackledge,
Alexander, Culpepper, Holland, and Stanford. The embargo
forced no concession from Europe and created discontent at
home. It was superseded by the non-intercourse act of 1809,
which prohibited trade with France and England, but sanc-
tioned it with the countries not under their control. Again
58 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
the North Carolina delegation was divided. Macon favored
continuance of the embargo, believing total severance of trade
relations to be the best guarantee against war, and of like
mind were Blackledge, Blount, and Stanford. When negotia-
tions with England proved fruitless, Macon, as chairman of
the special committee on foreign relations, introduced a meas-
ure which, if adopted, might have forced England to terms
and so have avoided war. Its principle was that of the
British navigation acts, closing the ports of the United States
to British and French ships and admitting goods of those na-
tions only when imported directly in American vessels. This
was an administration measure framed after consultation with
Madison and Gallatin. Although it passed the House, it met
defeat in the Senate, due to a faction in the party bitterly
hostile to Gallatin. Thereupon in April, 1810, Macon re-
ported a new measure, really the work of Taylor of South
Carolina. It repealed the non-intercourse act, making com-
mercial relations free, but authorized the President to pro-
hibit trade with England or France in case one of them re-
voked its commercial decree. The law was known as Macon
Bill No. 2. It proved ineffective. Napoleon promised revo-
cation of the French decrees. Madison thereupon suspended
intercourse with England, but Napoleon did not fulfill his
promise, and the French continued to seize American ships.
These results were doubtless no surprise to Macon, for he
had voted against the law, and likewise Archibald McBryde,
John Stanly, and Richard Stanford.
The demoralization of trade resulting from the failure to
adjust foreign relations threatened a party crisis in North
Carolina. In 1808 three of the electoral votes were cast for
Pinckney, federalist candidate, and in the congressional
campaign also the federalists carried four districts, Wil-
liam Kennedy being elected from the Tarboro, Archibald
McBryde from the Fayetteville, Joseph Pearson from the
Salisbury, and John Stanly from the Newbern district.
Moreover there was division in the republican ranks. Willis
Alston of the Halifax district showed marked independence
by voting for the recharter of the national bank in 1811.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 59
Lemuel Sawyer, of Eclenton, denounced efforts at compro-
mise in foreign relations, and declared that only war would
meet the situation, while Richard Stanford often voted with
the federalists. Hence as the presidential election of 1812
approached, there was alarm lest the federalists carry the
state. To prevent such a catastrophe, the legislature of 1811
transferred the choice of electors from the people to the leg-
islature in order that Madison might receive the full vote of
the state. However the measure proved unpopular. In the
legislature of 1812 there were sixty federalists, among them
Gaston, Steele, Stanly, Grove, and Henderson. Nor was the
measure popular with the republicans. James Mebane, the
member who had introduced it, was defeated by Murphey, and
when the legislature of 1812 met, the federalists and anti-
electoral republicans procured the repeal of the law and the
adoption of a resolution proposing an amendment to the Fed-
eral Constitution guaranteeing popular choice of electors. In
the meantime the war fever increased, especially in the South-
west, and war was declared on England on July 18, 1812.
However, Pearson, McBryde, and Stanford voted against the
declaration, and David Stone, elected senator in 1812, was
soon out of sympathy with the policy of the Government.
The war aroused considerable martial response in North
Carolina. The call for 7,000 militia by the federal authorities,
the state's quota of 100,000 to be detached for United States
service, was met almost entirely by volunteers. However the
problems of equipment and coast defense were serious and
became the subject of controversy. According to state law
members of the militia should arm and equip themselves, a
task well-nigh impossible considering the unusual number
called out. Moreover the kind of arms used in the United
States service was not to be had, because the act of Congress
of 1808 requiring a deposit of federal arms among the states
had not been complied with so far as North Carolina was
concerned. Hence equipment for the militia was not secured
until the legislature appropriated $50,000 for supplies and
$25,000 for arms in 1813, and $55,000 for arms in 1814. Re-
imbursement for these expenditures became a matter of con-
60 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
troversy between the state and federal governments, and
the matter to this day has not been settled. The coast de-
fenses were inadequate. At Wilmington were half a dozen
gun boats, all out of commission. Shortly before the war
opened companies of regular troops at Fort Johnston, below
"Wilmington, and Fort Hampton, near Beaufort, were with-
drawn. Thus the state was virtually unprotected from in-
vasion. In May, 1813, citizens of Beaufort and Wilmington
petitioned Governor Hawkins concerning defense. The Gov-
ernor in turn laid the case before the War Department, and
Senators Stone and Turner interviewed President Madison.
Anxiety was well grounded, for on July 11, 1813, Admiral
Cockburn, with a fleet of one seventy-four, three frigates, one
brig, and three schooners appeared off the coast, entered
Ocracoke Inlet, landed at Portsmouth and Shell Castle, seized
two American vessels, destroyed considerable personal prop-
erty, and impressed live stock. Governor Hawkins at once
organized a relief expedition, consisting of the militia of the
central and eastern counties, but the British sailed southward
for Florida without attacking Beaufort or Wilmington. There
were no further raids of sufficient import to call out the mili-
tia. The only activities of the North Carolina troops during
the war were beyond the boundaries of the state. In 1814
a regiment was sent to the Creek country and another to
Norfolk, Virginia, and in 1815 a third was ordered for serv-
ice on the Southern frontier of the United States.
The state's martial association with the conflict was prin-
cipally through the achievements of three individuals, Otway
Burns, Johnston Blakeley, and Benjamin Forsythe. Of these
three Burns only operated from North Carolina. When
the war began, he was in command of a merchantman plying
between Newbern and Portland, Maine. At once lie pur-
chased a larger and swifter ship, which he named the "Snap
Dragon," took out letters of marque and reprisal, organized
a stock company to defray initial expenses, and for two years
preyed on British commerce all the way from Newfoundland
to South America. The amount of spoils taken is unknown,
but one voyage brought in $2,500,000 worth. Auctions of
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62 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
the booty hold in Newbern were attended by merchants and
traders and were advertised as far west as Raleigh. In
June, 1814, the "Snap Dragon," then under command of a
lieutenant, was captured by the British. Other privateers ply-
ing from North Carolina ports were the "Lovely Lass," of
Wilmington, the "Hero," of Newbern, and the "Hawk," of
Washington.
In the navy lasting fame was achieved by Johnston Blake-
ley. A native of Ireland, educated at the University of North
Carolina, he became a midshipman in 1800 and by July, 1813,
had risen to the rank of master commandant. In charge of
the "Enterprise," he captured the British brig of the same
name, and was then transferred to the "Wasp," a sloop built
after the war opened, with an armament of twenty thirty-two
pounders and two eighteen-pounders. Running the British
blockade at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Blakeley sailed
straight for the English channel, and for two months during
the summer of 1814 he was the terror of English merchant-
men. He also won two naval victories, one over the British
brig "Reindeer," for which Congress voted him a gold medal,
the other over the sloop "Avon." His ship mysteriously
disappeared in August, 1814.
In the army laurels were won by Benjamin For sy the. A
native of Stokes County, he was appointed second lieutenant
of the Sixth United States Infantry in 1800, but was soon
after honorably discharged. In 1808 he re-entered the serv-
ice as captain, and in 1813 was promoted to the rank of major,
and in 1814 to that of lieutenant-colonel. During the war his
regiment was stationed at Ogdensburg on the Canadian fron-
tier, and was very active in operations along the St. Law-
rence River, notably in the capture of Elizabethtown, in Feb-
ruary, 1813, and of Fort George in May of the same year.
Forsythe himself was slain in a skirmish near Odelltown on
June 28, 1814.
Notable as were the achievements of Blakeley and For-
svthe, their most memorable service was to awaken in North
Carolina a sentiment of state pride and public spirit. The
legislature voted Blakeley a sword ; when it became known
that the "Wasp" and her commander were lost, the legisla-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 63
ture also resolved to make his infant daughter, Uclney Maria,
a ward of the state, by providing for her education. Likewise,
the legislature made a ward of Forsythe's son, James N.,
by providing for his education. Annual appropriations were
made for young Forsythe until 1825, when he left the Univer-
sity and entered the navy. Then the lump sum of $750 was
ordered to be invested for him, principal and interest to be
paid upon reaching his majority. However the young man
lost his life in the wreck of the "Adinet" in 1829 before he re-
ceived the endowment established for him. The annual ap-
propriation for Maria Blakeley was continued until 1829.
The interest and generosity shown by these appropriations
were in strong contrast to the apathy toward public causes
that had prevailed in earlier years and marked the dawn of a
new epoch in public expenditures.
The most important aspect of the war so far as North
Carolina was concerned was its political aspects. The con-
flict opened during a reaction against the leaders of the re-
publican party, caused by the act of 1811 which placed the
choice of presidential electors in the legislature rather than
the people. Consequently sixty federalists were returned to
the legislature of 1812, and in the House of Commons John
Steele was defeated for the speakership by a vote of 64 to 59.
The obnoxious electoral law was repealed and resolutions
were adopted recommending an amendment to the Federal
Constitution guaranteeing to the people the choice of presi-
dential electors. Failure of the Federal Government to im-
prove coast defenses was the subject of protest in the session
of 1813. Resolutions that were really a censure of the War
Department were defeated after a warm debate ; a more mod-
erate memorial was adopted expressing disappointment at the
neglect of coast defenses in the past and asking protection for
the future. The memorial was presented to the President;
the only result was an inspection of the defenses by an agent
of the War Department. The same session failed to provide
for the assumption of the state's quota of the federal land
tax.
Criticism and defense of the national administration also
64 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
pervaded federal politics. Secret sessions and curtailment
of debate in Congress in the early months of the war aroused
protest by a number of members, among whom was Joseph
Pearson. In 1S12 a public meeting in Mecklenburg condemned
his attitude, while another in Rowan approved it and also de-
clared that the war was unwise and should be brought to an
end. In the congressional elections of 1813 the issue of direct
taxes or honorable peace was raised. Four federalist con-
gressmen were elected, Joseph Pearson, John Culpepper, Wil-
liam Gaston, and Richard Stanford. In Congress they joined
with fellow partisans from New England and the middle
states in opposing various war measures. Culpepper, Gaston,
and Pearson voted against the salt taxes of 1813, Stanford
joined them in opposing the tax on liquor dealers, Culpepper,
Pearson, and Stanford fought the embargo of 1813, and
Gaston joined them in a demand for non-interference with the
coastwise trade and the successful movement for its repeal.
Culpepper, Pearson, and Stanford voted against the mili-
tary appropriation of March, 1814, and all four voted against
the loan bill of that month authorizing the issue of $25,000,000
in bonds. The chief spokesman of the group was Gaston.
Bitter in denouncing the American policy that had precipi-
tated war, he opposed military operations in Canada while
negotiations were pending with England, early in 1814, and
held before Congress the spectre of a slave insurrection in the
South in case of a British invasion. How strong was the
spirit of partisanship is illustrated by an incident of January
21, 1814. Eppes, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee,
read to the House the report of the Secretary of the Treasury,
laying bare a condition of practical bankruptcy. He then
turned to Gaston and asked:
"Well, sir! Will your party take the government if we
will give it up to them ? ' '
"No, sir," replied Gaston. "No, sir! Not until you will
give it to us as we gave it to you." 9
Criticism of war measures reached a climax in the discus-
sion of the record of David Stone. Elected to the United
9 Perry, Life of George Tic-knor, I, 31.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 65
States Senate in 1812, he opposed the embargo of 1813, the
appointment of Albert Gallatin as one of the commissioners
to Europe in response to Russia's attempt at mediation, and
the direct levies on sugar, liquor licenses, and auctioneers as a
means of financing the war. A public meeting in Camden
County censured Mr. Stone and demanded that he "retire
into merited obscurity, vacate his seat in Congress, forbear
to let the sound of his unhallowed voice pollute that patri-
otic sanctuary." In the legislature of 1813 his record be-
came the subject of debate. Resolutions of censure were in-
definitely postponed in the House of Commons, but the ques-
tion was reopened and similar resolutions were sent down
for concurrence from the Senate. The report of a joint com-
mittee was then adopted by both houses, which declared that
Senator Stone had "disappointed the reasonable expecta-
tions, and incurred the disapprobation of this General As-
sembly." A protest, however, against the resolutions was
filed by a minority. Senator Stone remained impervious to
criticism until December, 1814, when he resigned, giving as
his reason for such action the pressure of private business.
As a parting shot he declared it unwise to continue the em-
bargo, to use the militia in distant operations, to tolerate short
terms of enlistment, and to send peace commissioners to Eu-
rope.
voi. n— s
CHAPTER IV
COURTS, BOUNDARIES, LAND DISPUTES, INDIAN
REMOVAL, LOCATING THE CAPITAL
For a generation after the election of 1800 interest in
party history was eclipsed by social, economic, and institu-
tional problems. Currency and finance, improvement of
transportation, an increasing demand for public schools, agi-
tation of constitutional reform, adjustment of land and bound-
ary disputes, the removal of the Cherokee Indians, round-
ing out the judicial system, — these questions marked the rise
of new interests, and some of them proved to be the basis
for a new epoch in party organization and development.
Among the first tasks after the Revolution was the adjust-
ment of the court system. During the colonial period the
control of the judiciary was the subject of controversy be-
tween the Crown and the Assembly. The Constitution of 1776
marked the victory of popular control, for it vested in the
legislature the election of judges and their salaries, also their
impeachment, and the erection of courts. In 1777 a court law
was enacted. It divided the state into six districts, in each of
which a court was to be held twice a vear.at six court towns, —
Wilmington, Newbern, Edenton, Halifax, Hillsboro, and Sal-
isbury. In 1782 sessions of court were also ordered for Mor-
ganton, and in 1787 for Fayetteville. The number of judges
was three, one of whom might hear all cases except demur-
rers, cases agreed, special verdicts, bills of exception, and
motions in arrest of judgment, which could be heard only by
two or more judges. An attorney-general, like the judges
elected by the legislature, represented the state in criminal
matters. Below these circuit courts were courts of pleas and
quarter sessions, held by the justices of the peace in each
county, and also the court of one justice, — all inherited from
66
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 67
the colonial period. In such a system, especially in the supe-
rior courts, there were many defects. The limitation of ses-
sions to the court towns worked a hardship on suitors and
witnesses, who often had to travel long distances. The num-
ber of judges was too small, resulting in congested dockets.
The judges were also dictatorial, often browbeating witnesses
and judges. On the other hand, the judges were not protected
from the enmity of the legislature, for although they could
not be removed during good behavior, their salary might be
reduced. Another defect was the absence of any system of
appeals.
The movement for reform began in 1790 when an addi-
tional judgeship was created; another was created in 1798,
and in 1806 the number of judges was increased to six. For
administrative purposes the circuits were grouped into two
ridings in 1790, the eastern riding including the districts of
Halifax, Edenton, Newbern, and Wilmington; the western
including Morganton, Salisbury, Fayetteville, and Hillsboro.
In each riding two judges were to hold court, but one in each
riding was to exchange circuit with one of another riding-
after each session. In 1806 the number of ridings was in-
creased to six. To expedite justice the office of solicitor-gen-
eral was also created in 1790, whose powers were identical
with those of the attorney-general. A more important change,
one in keeping with the democratic spirit of the times, was
made in 1806, by ordering a session of the superior court
for each county twice a year. Justice was thus brought
closer to the people, the lawyers had to seek clients in each
county instead of clients making long journeys to the old
court towns. The fees of attorneys and court officers were also
reduced to the level of those in the county courts. These re-
forms were bitterly criticized by lawyers, court officials, and
the interests identified with the old court towns. In Hills-
boro the representatives of Orange County were dined and
toasted as "a testimonial of the high approbation of the firm
and patriotic opposition which they made to the adoption
of the new judiciary system. ' ' * Some lawyers and court of-
Hoyt, Papers of Archibald DeBow Murphey, I, p. 8, n.
68 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
ficials, disgusted with the "apparent restless and destructive
spirit of innovation," left the state. Among them was John
Haywood, later known as one of the historians of Tennessee.
In the meantime judges were forbidden to express an opinion
as to facts presented in 1796, but not until 1835 was the reduc-
tion of their salaries forbidden during continuance in office.
The greatest reform was the creation of a Supreme Court
with the right to hear appeals from the superior courts.
This came as a climax to attempts to relieve conjested dock-
ets. The cause of the congestion was not entirely the small
number of judges, but also differences of opinion among them.
Illustrative was the case of Winstead vs. Winstead, the ques-
tion being whether levy and sale on the land of the husband
after death divested the widow of dower rights. One judge
failed to file his opinion, and the case was thereupon argued
before two other judges. One of these deferred his opinion.
Later Judge Williams again sat on the case, but as he had
changed his mind, there was another disagreement and the
case was finally stricken from the docket without decision.
Hence in 1799, on account of the inconveniences and delays
"from the want of a speedy and uniform decision for all
questions of law or equity arising in the circuit," due to dif-
ferences of opinion among the judges or desire for further
consideration, or lack of sufficient judges, the judges were
ordered to meet twice a year at Raleigh in June and Decem-
ber for a period of two years *to decide cases disagreed on
or those which one judge was unwilling to decide by himself.
An interesting feature connected with the law was the trial
of James Glasgow, Secretary of State since 1776. Tempta-
tion proved too strong for him, and in 1797 it was disclosed
that he had issued fraudulent warrants for land in Tennes-
see and the mountain section of North Carolina. His trial
was committed by the legislature to a special term of court
at Raleigh, and he was convicted. Interesting incidents of
the prosecution were that the defendant's counsel was John
Haywood, author of the new court law, and an attempt to steal
valuable documents in the comptroller's office by a faithful
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 69
slave of Glasgow, who was killed while breaking into the
building.
In 1801 the special sessions at Raleigh were continued for
three years and were dignified with the title Court of Con-
ference. Attorneys were also forbidden to appear before it.
In 1804 the Court of Conference was made permanent, and
the next year its name was changed to Supreme Court. In
1810 the judges were authorized to elect one of their number
Chief Justice, and the scope of litigation was widened by al-
lowing appeals, in which the attorney-general should repre-
sent the state. There were still limitations and difficulties.
The work of the judges on the circuits increased, making it
difficult to have a full meeting of the Supreme Court. It also
seemed unfair to require or allow a judge to be a member of
a court which heard appeals from his own decisions while on
the circuit. Moreover, suits themselves were never trans-
ferred from the superior courts to the Supreme Court, but
only questions of law arising from them; often after one of
these had been raised and settled, new viewpoints were dis-
covered, thus resulting in delay of justice. Also the salaries
did not make judgeships attractive to the abler lawyers.
There was, too, a need of a more specialized knowledge of the
law, notably in the domain of equity. Concerning the latter
defect, Governor Miller was especially emphatic. "The daily
delay attendant on a suit of equity," he wrote, "is proverbial
and amounts to an almost total denial of justice. The trial of
such a suit approaches near to novelty in our judicial pro-
ceedings, as every man who has been so unfortunate as to be
engaged in a contest of this kind, or who has been in the least
conversant with our courts, can very well attest. ' ' Ref orm in
1818 was sought by a reorganization of the Supreme Court.
By a statute of that year the tribunal was to consist of three
judges elected by the legislature who should give exclusive
attention to the court, should hold two sessions a year at
Raleigh, hear appeals only after decisions of the superior
courts had been rendered, and review the entire case instead
of questions of law. The judges should also hold court day
after day until all appeals were decided. Equity proceedings
were to be instituted directly before the Supreme Court, for
70 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
which it was a distinct court of equity. Thus justice was
made more swift and more efficient.
The reorganization of 1818 was not without opposition.
The salary of the justices ($2,500) was higher than that of
the circuit judges and even that of the governor. The tradi-
tion of close contact between members of the Supreme Court
and the people while the judges were on the circuit was vio-
lated. Apparently the tribunal of last resort was in no way
responsible to public opinion. Consequently for a number of
years there were efforts to reduce the salaries of the judges
and to restore the Supreme Court as it existed prior to 1818.
An important influence in preventing a reversion to the old
system was the election of William Gaston to the bench in
1833, when opposition to the court was strong and threatened
a victory. Gaston was author of the law creating the court ;
he was also a Catholic, and as such was apparently debarred
by the Constitution from holding office of trust ; yet his char-
acter and great services raised him above partisan prejudice,
and after his election the opposition to the Court is lost sight
of. In 1842 as a concession to the more distant western coun-
ties a session of the Court was established at Morganton.
The wisdom of the reorganization was soon manifest. The
state was fortunate in the choice of judges. Their decisions
not only refined justice in North Carolina, but brought re-
spect and prestige throughout the land, and the Court prior
to 1860 enjoyed unusual distinction.
Less vital than the court system, but likewise productive
of controversy, was the completion of the state's boundaries.
In 1803 commissioners were appointed by the legislature
to continue the South Carolina line, on which no surveys had
been made since 1772. The commissioners met similar offi-
cials from South Carolina at Columbia and in 1808 recom-
mended that the lines of 1735 and 1746 be accepted as far as
the Salisbury and Charleston road, at which point a diver-
gence be made to the southeast corner of the Catawba
lands, which should be followed as far as the Catawba River,
thence along the river to its forks, thence westward along the
line of 1772, and from its terminus westward along the par-
allel 35 degrees. This report was adopted, but in 1813 on ac-
""*»*. ****«"
Supreme Court, 1818
John Louis Taylor, Chief Justice
John Hall, Associate Justice Leonard Henderson, Associate Justice ;
Chief Justice, 1829
72 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
count of difficulties in establishing an accurate survey, the
boundary west of the line of 1772 was directed to run to a
ridge dividing the north forks of the Saluda and Pacolet
rivers, thence to another ridge dividing the Saluda and Green
rivers, thence to the main ridge "dividing the eastern and
western waters," following it to the Cherokee Boundary of
1797, thence to the east bank of the Chatooga River. The
report of the commission establishing such a line, was con-
firmed in 1815, with a few variations.
While negotiations with South Carolina were in course, a
controversy arose over the Georgia boundary. Its immedi-
ate cause was the disposition of a strip of land approxi-
mately twelve miles wide and two hundred long, just south of
the parallel 35 degrees, which is also the boundary between
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Originally a
part of South Carolina, the territory in question was ceded
to Congress, but in 1802 the United States ceded to Georgia
that part along the Georgia frontier. In the newly acquired
district Georgia organized the County of Walton; but the
northern boundary, the line 35 degrees, had never been sur-
veyed. Consequently North Carolina and Georgia issued
conflicting land grants, resulting in much disorder and vio-
lence. In 1806 Georgia appealed to Congress to establish
the line between North Carolina and Georgia. As the North
Carolina congressmen opposed the request, no action was
taken. The next year both states agreed to a survey and ap-
pointed a joint boundary commission. The surveyors em-
ployed were Dr. Joseph Caldwell for North Carolina and
Joseph Meigs for Georgia. They found that the supposed
location of the line 35° as claimed by Georgia was in reality
35°22'32", or twenty-two miles within North Carolina terri-
tory. Observations were made to find the correct latitude,
the most successful experiment being on Caesar's Head Moun-
tain. The commissioners reached an agreement. Their re-
port was accepted by North Carolina, but Georgia rejected
it and again appealed to Congress. An examination of the
controversy was made by a congressional committee. The
trend of opinion was so strongly favorable to North Carolina
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 73
that Georgia yielded to public opinion and dropped the con-
test.
Another boundary productive of dispute was that between
North Carolina and Tennessee. According to the act of
cession, enacted in 1789, the line was to follow the high moun-
tain ranges between Stone Mountain on the Virginia border
and the Georgia boundary. In 1795 a joint commission es-
tablished the line from the Virginia border to a point on the
Catalouchee turnpike as it crossed the Great Iron or Smoky
Mountain, a distance of 151 miles, the survey being halted
at that point on account of uncertainties regarding the Chero-
kee lands. In 1819 another joint commission undertook the
completion of the line. The act of cession directed the boun-
dary beyond the Iron or Smoky Mountain as follows: "Hence
along highest ridge of said mountain to the place where it
is called Great Iron or Smoky Mountain, thence along the
extreme height of said mountain to the place where it is called
Unicoe or Unake Mountain, between the towns of Cowee and
Old Chatta ; thence along the main ridge of said mountain
to the southern boundary of this state." The commission sur-
veyed and marked the line in accordance with this instruc-
tion, and its report was ratified by the legislatures of Ten-
nessee and North Carolina. However no settlements were
made until the removal of the Cherokee Indians in 1836.
Then Tennessee organized the Ocee District and issued land
grants, and North Carolina also began to issue grants after
1852. When the policy of issuing grants was adopted, the
markings on Smoky Mountain had become well-nigh obliter-
ated. Southwest of the Tennessee Eiver the mountain for a
distance of eight miles breaks into a number of ridges, the
chief of which are Hangover on the east and Big Fodder
Stack on the west. Then the ridges unite, but at County
Corner, a few miles further south, a similar division occurs
between State Eidge on the west and McDaniel Bald on the
east. Both Tennessee and North Carolina issued conflicting
grants for land between these ridges. Private suits resulted
in decisions by the Federal District Court in 1900 and 1902
favorable to North Carolina grants. To obviate future diffi-
culties, the State of North Carolina brought suit against the
74 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
State of Tennessee in the Supreme Court of the United States
and the decision, which was rendered in 1914, upheld the claim
of North Carolina to the disputed territory.
A controversy with Tennessee involving far greater stakes
than the adjustment of the boundary line arose over the valid-
ity of land warrants. The background of the dispute was
the land policy of North Carolina. In 1780 and 1783 a large
tract known as the Military Reservation was set aside to
meet the bounties offered the North Carolina soldiers in the
Continental Line. Its boundary began at the intersection of
Cumberland River and the Virginia line, ran south fifty-five
miles, thence west to the Tennessee Eiver, along that stream
to the Virginia line, thence east to the point of departure. In
1783 a land office was opened in Nashville to consider the
claims of soldiers. When the territory west of the mountains
was ceded in 1789, the land claims of the soldiers were dis-
tinctly protected; the act of cession provided that "lands
laid off or directed to be laid off" should enure to the use
and benefit of the claimant, and in case the Military Reser-
vation was not large enough to satisfy all claims, warrants
should be issued for other unappropriated lands in the ter-
ritory ceded, and the governor of North Carolina should have
the right to perfect titles claimed under entries not previously
perfected by grant or otherwise. The time set by North Caro-
lina for completing surveys and securing grants was 1792;
but the date was extended, although the right of extension
was not mentioned in the act of cession. Tennessee naturally
became restive, since sovereignty over lands within her boun-
daries was a matter of economic and political importance.
In 1799 the Tennessee legislature declared the State of Ten-
nessee sovereign over all ungranted land on the ground that
title was transferred to Tennessee on admission to the Union.
This act was immediately superseded, but in 1801 a state land
office was opened; prior entries, grants, and warrants of
North Carolina origin were validated, but every act toward
surveying or marking land under title from North Carolina
was subjected to a penalty of $5,000, and all grants of such
origin were excluded from the Tennessee courts. Soon after
a commission was appointed to confer with the North Caro-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 75
lina authorities, and in 1803 an agreement was reached by
which Tennessee was to perfect titles to claims which were
passed upon by North Carolina, provided the consent of
Congress could be secured, which was essential on account
of the vast amount of public land in Tennessee.
In 1806 came the reply of Congress. It was the cession
to Tennessee of all public lands east and north of a line ex-
tending from the intersection of Elk River with the Tennes-
see-Alabama line, thence north to the main branch of Duck
River, down that stream along the North Carolina Military
Reservation to the Tennessee River, and along that stream
to the Virginia line. This boundary was known as the Con-
gressional Reservation Line. East of it lay the North Caro-
lina Military Reservation, but restrictions in the North Caro-
lina act of cession as to land grants were specifically guar-
anteed, for the act of Congress stated that entries, rights of
location, and warrants of North Carolina origin not located
west of the Congressional Line on February 1, 1790, should
be located east of it on Tennessee lands. Within a few years,
when all the lands in the Military Reservation had been en-
tered, North Carolina began to satisfy remaining claimants
by grants south and west of the Congressional Line. Ap-
parently this was a violation of the agreement of 1803, but
North Carolina claimed it was not in force, as it was not
confirmed by the Congressional Act of 1806 except with con-
ditions which were destructive of the rights of the state.
Tennessee retaliated by imposing fines on any attempt to
carry out the North Carolina policy. In 1815 North Caro-
lina memorialized Congress, and in 1818 Congress authorized
Tennessee to issue grants and perfect titles east or west of
the Congressional Line. In the same year the Chickasaw
Indians who lived west of the line were removed, and Con-
gress authorized Tennessee to satisfy North Carolina claim-
ants in the Chickasaw District. The following year a com-
mission was appointed to examine and pass on all North Caro-
lina claims. A host of claims were filed ; it was estimated that
4,000,000 acres had been granted before the act of cession, and
by 1838 more than 8,000,000 more had been granted to North
Carolina soldiers. This was more than one-half the total
76 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
area of Tennessee. Alarmed at the number of unrecompensed
military heroes, Tennessee fixed October, 1822, as the final
date to file claims, but the time was extended until 1838, at
which date it was estimated that the remaining unsatisfied
claims amounted to 60,000 acres.
The principal beneficiary of these transactions was the
University of North Carolina. By gifts of Benjamin Smith
and Charles Gerrard, it received warrants for 33,920 acres;
by a resolution of the legislature in 1821, 14,724 acres were
also received, and likewise by right of escheat the right to
warrants of all soldiers dying intestate. Soon after the com-
promise of 1819 the institution decided to press its claims.
An agent was employed to search out escheated warrants on
a 50 per cent commission and Archibald DeBow Murphey
and James H. Bryan were appointed commissioners to repre-
sent the University in Tennessee. The Tennessee legislature,
alarmed at the probable magnitude of the escheated claims, in
1821 stayed the issue of grants. A compromise was reached by
Felix Grundy on behalf of Tennessee and the University's rep-
resentatives, by which the University was to cede to East Ten-
nessee College (later the University of Tennessee) 20,000
acres and to West Tennessee College (later the University of
Nashville) 40,000 acres. The total amount realized by the
University after the cost of controversy and litigation was
100,973 acres, the sale of which realized approximately
$200,000.
In the meantime a genuine expansion of territory was tak-
ing place through the removal of the Cherokee Indians. At
the close of the Revolution the Cherokees still occupied all the
land now in the bounds of the state west of the Blue Ridge
excepting the territory northeast of a line approximately half-
way between Asheville and Burnsville, which had been ceded
by the Indians to the state in 1777. The further elimination
of the Indians became a function of the Federal Government
after the adoption of the Articles of Confederation. In 1785
by the Treaty of Hopewell considerable territory west of the
Great Smokies, and also a large tract in the French Broad
region, were ceded. To this was added in 1791 a triangle ex-
tending west and northwest of Asheville to the Clinch River,
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 77
and in 1798 another triangular strip in the region of Hender-
sonville and Waynesville. In 1819 about half of the remain-
ing lands occupied by the Cherokees were ceded, and in 1835
a last cession, including all the land the Cherokees then occu-
pied, was negotiated.
Contemporary with the policy of removal was the rise of
the national spirit among the Cherokees. After the treaty of
1819 the Indians who remained adopted a republican form of
government and a written constitution, their capital being-
located at New Echota, Georgia. By 1835 there were 3,644
Cherokees in North Carolina. The treaty of that year pro-
vided that a limited number of Indians might remain and
become citizens of the United States, but this clause was
stricken out by President Jackson. There now followed a sad
and pathetic chapter of Indian history. Although practically
all the Cherokees protested against the removal treaty of
1835, an army of 7,000 men was sent to enforce the treaty.
Forts or stockades for collecting the Indians were erected,
among which were Fort Montgomery near Robbinsville, Fort
Hambric at the present site of Hayesville, Fort Delaney at
Old Valleytown, and Fort Butler at Murphy. Against con-
centration and removal there was resistance. Leadership was
taken by Old Man Tsali (Charley). He, his brother, his three
sons and their families were arrested and taken to a stockade
at the junction of the Tuckaseegee and Little Tennessee
rivers. There they fell upon their captors, killed four of
them, and made their escape. General Scott, convinced that
the escaped Indians could not be recaptured by the whites, and
also fearing their influence, offered a compromise by which
Utsali, Chief of the Cherokees, and 1,000 of his followers
might remain in North Carolina provided Old Man Tsali was
delivered up. Either by voluntary action or seizure by Utsali,
Tsali was secured and executed. Official documents in con-
firmation of the compromise do not exist: but many Indians
were allowed to remain and in 1846 their rights were recog-
nized by treaty, an annual allowance of $3.20 per capita being
granted. To protect their rights William II. Thomas was
appointed Indian Agent. For them he purchased five towns,
Bird-town, Paint-town, Wolf-town, Yellow-hill, and Big Cove.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 79
In these the Indians lived a civilized life with a constitution
framed for them by Thomas. Charles Lanman in 1848 made
the following comment on Cherokee life:
About three-fourths of the entire population can read in their own
language, and, though the majority of them understand English, a
very few can speak the language. They practice, to a considerable ex-
tent, the science of agriculture, and have acquired such a knowledge
of the mechanic arts as answers them for all ordinary purposes, for
they manufacture their own clothing, their own plows, and other
farming utensils, their own axes, and even their own guns. Their
women are no longer treated as slaves, but as equals ; the men labor in
the fields and their wives are devoted entirely to household employ-
ments. They keep the same domestic animals that are kept by their
white neighbors, and cultivate all the common grains of the country.
They are probably as temperate as any other class of people on the
face of the earth, honest in their business intercourse, moral in their
thoughts, words, and deeds, and distinguished for their faithfulness in
performing the duties of religion. They are chiefly Methodists and
Baptists, and have regularly ordained ministers who preach to them
on every Sabbath, and they have also abandoned many of their more
senseless superstitions. They have their own court and try their crim-
inals by a regular jury. . Their judges and lawyers are chosen from
among themselves. They keep in order the public roads leading
through their settlement. By a law of the state they have a right to
vote, but seldom exercise that right, as they do not like the idea of
being identified with any of the political parties. Excepting on festive
days they dress after the manner of the white man, but far more pic-
turesquely. They live in small log houses of their own construction,
and have everything they need or desire in the way of food. They arc,
in fact, the happiest community I have yet met with in this southern
country. 1
In 1862 Washington Morgan was sent by Gen. Kirby
Smith to enlist the Cherokees in the Confederate cause, but
Colonel Thomas persuaded them to join a Legion under his
command. About 400 responded, and were used as scouts
and home guards. They participated in a number of minor
battles, notably at Baptist Gap, Tennessee, in September,
1862. The Confederate Government made the same financial
allowance for the Indians as the Federal Government had
made. After the war, in 1868, the Cherokees adopted a con-
stitution at Cheowee, Graham County. Titles to land amount-
ing to 50,000 acres were established by litigation, and in 1875
the Department of Indian Affairs assumed guardianship.
1 Letters from the Alleghany Mountains, p. 94.
80 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
In 1889 the Eastern Band of Cherokees was incorporated
under the laws of North Carolina "with all the rights, fran-
chises, privileges and powers incident and belonging to cor-
porations under the laws of the State of North Carolina."
Of antiquarian interest, and also reflecting the rise of a
sense of patriotic pride, was the process of locating the capi-
tal, constructing the state house, and the contract for a statue
of Washington. In 1779 the legislature appointed a committee
to select a location in Johnston, Wake or Chatham counties
for a permanent capital. In 1781 choice was fixed on Hills-
boro and the public building at Newbern was ordered to be
sold. However in the summer of 1781 David Fanning and
his band of loyalists raided Hillsboro and captured Governor
Burke and other state officials. Hillsboro was now too near
the centre of military operations for safety, and at the next
session of the legislature the resolution making it the capital
was rescinded. During the next few years sessions of the
legislature were held at Halifax, Tarboro, Smithfield, Fayette-
ville, Newbern, Salem and Wake Courthouse. The Hillsboro
Convention of 1788, along with the consideration of the Fed-
eral Constitution, was authorized to "fix on the place of an
unalterable seat of government." So pressing was the other
business of the convention that the details of location were
left to the legislature with the general direction that the
capital be located within ten miles of a place chosen by the
convention. Balloting for the locality was then undertaken.
The competing sites were Tarboro, Smithfield, Fayetteville,
Newbern, Hillsboro, the fork of the Haw and Deep rivers, and
the Hunter plantation in Wake County. On the third ballot
the Wake County location received a majority of the votes.
But not until 1791 did the legislature undertake to carry out
the mandate of the convention. Then a commission was ap-
pointed to purchase land and lay off a capital city. The com-
mission met late in March, 179:2, and after a week's investiga-
tion decided on the Joel Lane plantation. In April a deed
was procured for 1,000 acres for which the state paid £1,378,
North Carolina currency, equivalent on face value to $3,445.
Plans for a city were drawn up, surveys were made, and at
the next session of the legislature the work of the commission
The First State House, Burned in 1831
From a rare old painting in the Hall of History at Raleigh
L ...■..,_
W. G. Randall, 190
Vol. II— 6
Residence of Joel Lane
82 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
was confirmed and the name Raleigh was given the projected
city. Sometime in 1792 the cornerstone of a state house was
laid in Union Square ; two years later the building was com-
pleted, being constructed of brick and having a dome, a ro-
tunda, and broad hallways. Between 1819 and 1822 porticoes
were built and a coat of stucco was added.
In the meantime a sense of public spirit pervaded the
legislature of 1815, and a resolution was adopted instructing
the governor to "purchase on behalf of the State a full length
statue of General Washington." No limitation was set on the
price, and after prolonged correspondence on the part of
Governor Miller, it was decided to follow the advice of
Thomas Jefferson and to place the contract with the Italian
artist Canova, and that he should be guided as far as possible
by Cerrachi's bust of Washington. In 1821 the work was
completed, for which the artist received $10,000. The statue
was sent to America on board the United States Ship Colum-
bus. It was landed at Boston, transhipped by a coast wise
vessel to Wilmington, thence up the Cape Fear River by boat
to Fayetteville, and across country from Fayetteville to
Raleigh, arriving at destination on December 24th.
Ten years later the Canova statue was practically de-
stroyed in a fire which consumed the state house. A new capi-
tol had to be built. After delay due to sectional rivalry and
the question of constitutional reform, $50,000 were appro-
priated for the work in November, 1832. The next year
$75,000 were appropriated, and in 1834 supervision of the
structure was given to David Paton, a Scotch architect then
residing in New York. Under his direction the existing splen-
did edifice was really planned and constructed, the work being
completed in 1840 at a total cost of $530,000.
CHAPTER V
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS, 1800-1836
The Fund for Internal Improvements — The Agricul-
tural Fund — The Literary Fund
For over three decades after 1800 adverse criticism of
social and economic conditions characterized all descriptions
of life in North Carolina. A conviction of stagnation and
decline rather than progress impressed those who had at
heart the public welfare. For the justification of this feel-
ing a few statistics are ample evidence. When North Caro-
lina entered the Federal Union in 1789, it ranked third among
the states in population; from 1800 to 1820, it stood fourth;
by 1830 it had dropped to fifth. From 1790 to 1830 the slave
population showed a greater percentage of increase than the
white. Land valuation in 1833 showed a decline compared
with that of 1815, although more acres were entered. Textile
products as late as 1810 surpassed those of Massachusetts,
but by 1830 the industrial revolution in the latter state gave
it precedence by a wide margin, while agriculture overshad-
owed all other economic activities in North Carolina. Thou-
sands left the state to find new homes in the Northwest or in
other parts of the South.
Among the influences contributing to this situation was
that of trade and commerce. Easy exchange of domestic
products was impossible ; in fact, the North Carolina farmers
and merchants were to a large extent dependant on distant
markets. Trade relations were determined by geography.
Nature divides the state into three distinct sections. First,
extending from the coast inland about 100 miles is an undulat-
ing, nearly level plane, which embraces two-fifths of the state's
total area. Along the western border of this plain runs a
83
84 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
granite ledge which marks the fall line of the eastern rivers ;
extending beyond for 200 miles is a wide table land, rising
from a low altitude in the east to 1,500 feet at the foot of the
Blue Ridge. Further westward, between the Blue Ridge and
the Great Smokies, lies a mountain plateau.
This sectionalism of nature was reinforced by racial and
economic influences. The eastern belt was colonized mainly
by Englishmen from the other colonies who sought better
land in the alluvial valleys of tidewater Carolina, Gradually
an extensive agricultural life, based on slave labor, developed.
The middle and western belts were settled mainly by Scotch-
Irish and Germans who migrated from Pennsylvania or from
South Carolina. There the slave system developed much
more slowly than in the eastern belt. The manufacturing im-
pulse was strongly in evidence. Hats were made of various
material. Hides were tanned, the state ranking fourth in
the number of tanneries in 1810. Other products were wagons
and farm implements for which iron was secured from bloom-
eries. The surplus grain was distilled and North Carolina
liquors were known far and wide in the South. Each family
also had its own loom, wheel, and cards. The mountain sec-
tion, between the Blue Riclge and the Great Smokies, was in
a more primitive condition than the other sections. Its de-
velopment was interwoven with the removal of the Cherokee
Indians, consummated by a series of treaties between 1777
and 1835. Its industrial life resembled that of the piedmont
plateau.
Now the economic development of these distinct sections
was checked by the condition of transportation and trade.
There was no market within the state at which staples could
be exchanged or the products of other states procured. This
fact is explained by the river systems. Of the large streams
which reach the ocean, only the Cape Fear empties directly
into the Atlantic; but the sand bars obstruct its mouth, and
beyond these lie the southernmost part of Smith's Island,
known as Cape Fear, and Frying Pan Shoals. "Together
these stand for warning and for woe ; and together they catch
the long majestic roll of the Atlantic as it sweeps through a
thousand miles of grandeur and power from the Arctic
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 85
towards the Gulf. It is the playground of billows and tem-
pests, the kingdom of silence and awe, disturbed by no sound
save the sea-gulls' shriek and the breakers' roar. Imagina-
tion cannot adorn it. Romance cannot hallow it. Local pride
cannot soften it. There it stands today, bleak and threaten-
ing and pitiless." 1 Hence Wilmington never developed a
trade commensurate with the resources of the southeastern
part of the state. The other navigable rivers of the east, the
Roanoke, the Tar, and the Neuse, reach the ocean through
Ocracoke Inlet, which is too shallow to float any except small
craft, and the danger of wreckage was so great as to make the
cost of lighterage and insurance very high. Consequently
the important trading centers of Eastern Carolina were
Petersburg and Norfolk, Virginia. Long distances and poor
roads to these places helped to make prices high. Illustrative
of the hardship imposed on commerce is a report to the legis-
lature in 1827 by citizens of Northeastern Carolina :
Your memorialists believe that the annual exports of the products
of our country through Ocracoke were not overrated when estimated
at five millions of dollars, requiring for their transportation and
actually employing two hundred thousand tons of shipping. They
find, from calculations carefully made and compared, that the charge
on these vessels for lighterage and detention at the Swash, averages
one dollar per ton, and amounts annually to two hundred thousand
dollars; that the additional rate of insurance, because of the risk of
detention at the Swash averages three-quarters of one per cent, and
amounts, on the exports and imports, to seventy-five thousand dollars,
and on the vessels, to sixty thousand dollars per annum. This annual
tax of three hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars upon the naviga-
tion of our section of the country, independently of the minor evils,
the vexations and difficulties of which will readily be perceived, cannot
bnt enhance the rate of freight or the cost of conveyance to market.
The price of freight from Norfolk and Wilmington to the West Indies
is from twenty to twenty-five per cent less than from the ports de-
pendent on Ocracoke Inlet ; which difference on bulky articles, such as
lumber, staves and shingles, amounts to thirty and forty per cent of
their original value. The freight and charges on articles shipped coast
wise for reshipment to their places of consumption, amount, on naval
stores, to twenty-five per cent, on cotton, to between ten and fifteen
per cent, and on staves, to fifty per cent of their original value. 2
1 Davis, Early Settlement of the Cape Fear.
2 Quoted from Report of the Board of Internal Improvements,
1833.
86 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
However, the section which suffered most on account of
its trade routes was the west, the region extending from the
eastern fall line to the Tennessee boundary. The general
course of its larger rivers is southeast, the Yadkin and Cataw-
ba flowing into South Carolina while the swift mountain
streams empty into the Tennessee or the Ohio. Trade routes
therefore led to Charleston or Greenville, South Carolina,
Augusta, Georgia, Knoxville, Tennessee, or even Philadel-
phia. The long journeys to these markets were made in
schooner wagons. Whiskey, distilled from the surplus corn
crop, was peddled on the way or exchanged for manufactured
articles. The high cost of some of the necessities of life is
illustrated by the price of salt, which was $1.50 per bushel
in Iredell, a western county, about $1 above the market price
at tidewater. Worst of all, in case of crop shortage in one
section, there was no good route by which staples could be
imported from another part of the state or abroad, and ac-
tual suffering often ensued. Thus in 1826 a crop failure in
Eastern Carolina drove the price of corn to $7, and that of
flour to $8 per barrel, and subscriptions for relief of the
suffering people were opened/' Twenty years later a similar
crop failure occurred in the western counties; there was a
plentiful harvest in the east, but no means of cheap and easy
transportation.
The conditions here outlined had an important bearing
upon the conduct of business. Writing in 1819 Murphey
said :
"Having no commercial city in which the staples of our
soil can be exchanged for foreign merchandise, our Merchants
purchase their goods and contract their debts in Charleston,
Petersburg, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. Part
of these debts are discharged by shipments of produce; the
balance in cash. Once in every year the state is literally
drained of its money to pay debts abroad. Our Banks not
being able to do as extensive business by Bank credits as is
s Niles' Register, Aug. 26, 1826. In 1825 corn worth 44 or 46 cts.
per bushel in Baltimore brought $1.25 in Wilmington, and flour worth
$4.75 in Baltimore brought $8.00 in Raleigh. Ibid., July 23, 1825.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 67
done in large commercial cities, are compelled to issue and
throw into circulation their notes to meet the demands of
commerce. These notes collected in immense numbers in
other States are returned upon our Banks for specie; and
the Banks are compelled not only to curtail their discounts
and press their dealers that they may call in their notes ; but
upon emergencies to suspend specie payment. The conse-
quence is that their notes depreciate, and merchants having
to make remittances to other States, sustain the most seri-
ous losses." 4
Equally serious was the effect of trade conditions on the
development of public spirit. Separated from one another,
the people of each section viewed all state problems from the
angle of self-interest. Said the Board of Internal Improve-
ments in 1833 :
"The citizens of the west are familiar with the laws, the
institutions, the politics and the towns of Tennessee, of South
Carolina and Georgia. A few of them have visited New York
and other eastern cities; but the individual is rare who pos-
sesses any accurate information with respect to Wilmington
or Newbern. On our northeastern border, Virginia is much
more extensively known to our citizens than the state which
should be the object of their affection; and on the south, an
extensive intercourse with Augusta, Savannah, and Charles-
ton transfers to those towns the attachments which should
center at home. He was wiser than man who said, 'Where
our treasure is, there will our heart be also.' No one who re-
flects for a moment on these facts, can be at a loss to dis-
cover the source of the sectional feelings and jealousies which
have so long distracted our public councils and retarded our
prosperity. ' '
Closely related with trade and commercial conditions was
the state of agriculture. Long distance to markets reduced
profits and made the prices of manufactured goods high.
Equally important were wasteful methods of tillage and the
neglect of soil improvement. In primitive times vast forests
stretched in every direction; trees, when they died and fell,
4 Memoir on Internal Improvements.
88 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
made a deposit of rich vegetable matter, furnishing a natu-
ral nourishment for seed. The white immigrants selected
the most promising spots, cleared the timber, loosened the
soil, and raised abundant crops. Then as the natural fer-
tility was exhausted, the land was abandoned for a new tract
that was likewise deforested and brought under cultivation.
Wrote a critic of agricultural methods in 1822 :
"This process has been going on till most of the tracts
whose situation and soil were most favorable to agriculture,
have been converted into old fields, and in our search after
fresh ground to open, we are driven to seek inferior ridge
land, such as our ancestors would have passed by as not worth
cultivating. * But the time has not come, or is not
far distant, when our old fields must be again brought under
cultivation." 5
Among the by-products of this agricultural condition, two
were preeminent. One was spsculation, the result of the
ever present desire for new virgin lands. It was estimated
in 1833 that nine-tenths of the farmers were anxious to
sell their landed property. The other was a steady
flow of population to other states in search of new homes.
"Go in any neighborhood," reported a legislative committee
in 1833, "and inquire of the seniors or heads of families,
how many children they have raised, and in what state they
do reside, and in nine cases out of ten, the answer will be, 'I
have raised some six or eight children; but the major por-
tion of them have migrated to some other state,' and adds
the parent, 'I am anxious to sell my land, to enable me to
follow them.' " G Agriculturally,- North Carolina before 1830
well deserved its reputation as the "Ireland of America.' :
Another influence which retarded progress was ignorance.
Illiteracy hung like a pall over all sections of the state. In
1810 Jeremiah Battle wrote that two-thirds of the people in
Edgecombe Countv could read, but onlv one-half the males
and one-third of the women could write. 7 "It is a notorious
5 Mitche 1 !, Agricultural Speculations.
,; Committee on Internal Improvements.
7 See Coon. Documentary Hist, of Public Education in N. C. I,
p. 68.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 89
fact," wrote an Edgecombe citizen in 1824, "that many of
our farmers of wealth and character, nay, even many of
our instructors and clergy, are notoriously deficient in Or-
thography, and Reading and Writing, and the commonest
rules of vulgar arithmetic." 8 In 1838 a Presbyterian min-
ister estimated that "we have probably 120 thousand chil-
dren between the ages 5 and 15 years, who are destitute of
common school education. " 9 In the same year a legislative
report on education pointed out "that those who have mixed
much with the people of our State know that there is an
average of nearly half of every family, who have received
no education and who are as yet unprovided with the means
of learning even to read and write." 10 In 1825 a writer in
the Western Carolinian declared that the "dullness and in-
capacity which is permitted to enter our legislative hall, and
disgrace us even in the national representation, and our for-
mer tame subserviency to the interest of another State,
evince most unequivocally the mental debasement of a large
portion of our population." 11 Toward education there was
apathy, even hostility, among the masses. "I have been
placed in circumstances, and there are few I fear who have
not been similarly situated," wrote Dr. Joseph Caldwell,
President of the University, in 1832, "where it would be
dangerous to the election of a candidate to have it thought
that he had any pretensions to information or culture, at
least beyond a bare capacity to read. And some miserable
being, to secure the great object of his ambition, has front-
lessly presented it as a sure and glorious passport to suc-
cess over the head of a rival, who was so unfortunate as to
have had some education, that he belonged to the class of
the ignorant, with whom the greater part considered it their
glory to be ranked." 12
Academies existed ; evidently they did not to any extent
reach the masses. Consequently the only remedy for illiter-
s Coon. op. cit., I, p. 244.
9 Ibid, II, 813.
10 Ibid, II, 862.
11 Ibid, I, 252.
12 Letters on Popular Education.
90 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
acy was to establish schools supported by the state to which
all children would be admitted. Sentiment for such a policy
dates from the later colonial period. As early as 1754
£ 6,000 in bills of credit were emitted for the foundation of
"a public school or seminary" to which George Vaughn, a
London merchant, agreed to contribute £ 1,000 per annum.
However, during the crisis of the French and Indian war
the money voted was used for military purposes and after
the end of the conflict it was not restored. Governor Dobbs
advised the British Government to allow a reissue of bills
of credit for that purpose, without results. The first vic-
tory for the ideal of public education was attained in the
Constitution of 1776, which declared in article 41 that "a
school or schools shall be established by the Legislature, for
the convenient instruction of youth, with such salaries to
the masters, paid by the public, as may enable them to in-
struct at low prices, and all useful learning shall be duly
encouraged, and promoted, in one or more universities."
This article was taken verbatim from the Constitution of
Pennsylvania. In partial fulfillment of its provisions the
University of North Carolina was founded in 1795, but for
over a generation no action was taken for establishing schools
of lower rank.
The failure to carry out the mandate for elementary edu-
cation was due to manv causes. One was its vague and uncer-
tain terms. Some interpreted it to mean the creation of public
schools by the legislature, others that its intent was to lend
aid to existing academies or to charter new ones. Indeed
many academies were chartered, but bills to extend state aid
to them were always defeated. Another hostile influence was
the sense of individualism which opposed any increase of the
state's activity. According to popular political thought, the
function of government was to restrain the lawless, not to
stand sponsor for social forces. Instruction was pre-eminent-
ly a parental obligation with which the state had no right to
interfere. Consequently the only conception of public educa-
tion was that of charity, to be undertaken by benevolent indi-
viduals. Illustrative were societies for education of poor
orphan children in Newbern, Fayetteville, Wilmington, "Ra-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 91
leigh, and in Edgecombe, Wayne, and Johnston counties,
established between 1800 and 1825. Aversion to taxation also
checked the growth of educational sentiment. The purpose
of taxation in a democracy, it was held, is to meet the neces-
sary expenses of government, and any violation of this prin-
ciple is dangerous to liberty. In fact the slender revenue
schedules and the general complaint of the depreciation of
property made impossible direct taxation for school purposes.
However, agitation for public schools opened early in the nine-
teenth century. Beginning with Governor Williams in 1802,
recommendations for a school system were frequently made
by the executives.
Evidently the improvement of trade relations, the stim-
ulation of agriculture, and the inauguration of a public school
system were the preeminent economic and social needs of
North Carolina. A new epoch opened in 1815 ; popular
apathy and legislative inactivity were supplemented by an
ever increasing interest in public affairs and also legislative
activity in their behalf. A number of influences were respon-
sible for this change. Throughout the United States the
close of the second war with England was followed by a
keener interest in domestic matters. Party strife subsided
with the collapse of the federalist party and made possible
concentration on matters pertaining to public welfare. Per-
sonifying the new epoch was Archibald DeBow Murphey, of
Orange County. Repudiating the traditional spirit of par-
tisanship, he consecrated his mind and heart to the cause of
social and economic reform. His reports on trade and edu-
cation mark him distinctly as the agitator and genius of his
time. The condition of public finances was also an important
factor in the new epoch. An inflation of the currency
through the issue of treasury notes and bank notes created
a speculative spirit favorable to large enterprises. At the
same time a new source of revenue, dividends and taxes from
bank stock, made possible state aid for public causes.
As there was general agreement that better trade rela-
tions would improve agriculture and also create new values
for taxation, the cause of internal improvement received first
attention. The steps in the evolution of the new policy were
92 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
halting. There were no guides to be found in experience
at home or precedent abroad. 13 Yet the appropriations were
for that day exceedingly liberal. The legislative committee
on inland navigation in 1815 recommended a comprehen-
sive survey with reference to navigation, and subscription
to one-third of the stock of the Tar, the Neuse, and the Yad-
kin Navigation companies, and also a similar subscription
to a canal that would connect the Yadkin and the Cape Fear
Archibald DeBow Murphey
rivers. The proposal for a survey was readily adopted. Dis-
cretion should have prevented appropriation for other pur-
poses until a report on surveys could have been made ; but
the demand for better trade conditions was so great that a
subscription of $25,000 was authorized to the capital stock
of the Eoanoke Navigation Company, capitalized at $300,-
000, and $15,000 to that of the Cape 'Fear Navigation Com-
13 Prior to 1815 there were chartered by the legislature 10 toll
roads. 12 canal companies and 15 navigation companies. None
received state aid and apparently none were serviceable. See Morgan.
State Aid to Transportation (N. C. Booklet, Jan. 1911).
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 93
pany, capitalized at $100,000. The next year $65,000 were
subscribed to the stock of other companies as follows: $6,000
to the Neuse River Navigation Company, chartered in 1812
with a capital of $50,000; $8,000 to the Tar River Naviga-
tion Company, a new corporation with authorized capital of
$75,000; $6,000 to the North Carolina Catawba Company,
chartered in 1788; $25,000 to the Yadkin Navigation Com-
pany, newly chartered with an authorized capital of $250,-
000, and $20,000 to the Lumber River Canal Company, also
a new corporation, with a capital of $200,000, to connect the
Yadkin and the Cape Fear. Later, in 1818, $5,000 were sub-
scribed to the stock of the Roanoke and "Pamptico" Canal
Company, organized with a capital of $150,000 to connect the
Roanoke and Pamlico rivers, and $2,500 to the Club Foot
and Harlowe's Creek Canal, chartered in 1813 to connect
Neuse River with Newport River, so affording an outlet to
the sea.
Thus a comprehensive policy for the improvement of
river navigation was adopted. The appropriations for the
improvement of the Roanoke, the Tar, the Neuse, the Cape
Fear, the connection of the Roanoke and the "Pamptico," and
the construction of the Club Foot and Harlowe's Creek Canal
were designed to benefit eastern North Carolina, while the
appropriation for the Catawba, the Yadkin, and the connec-
tion of the Yadkin and the upper Cape Fear were planned
to develop the west and to encourage intersectional relations.
Of the total subscribed, $61,500 went to eastern and $51,000
to western projects. Considering the condition of the pub-
lic finances, the appropriations were liberal; the state's im
come approximated $135,000, and the expenditures $130 r
000, per annum. It was expected that the subscriptions
would be paid from loans secured from the banks, but the
meager reports of the Treasurer and the Comptroller do
not make clear the method actually used.
During the next few years additional appropriations were
made for the above and also for other public works. The
largest amount again went to the east, as follows : for the
improvement of the Cape Fear River below Wilmington
$39,730 were spent; for the Plymouth Turnpike connecting
94 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Plymouth and Hyde County $2,500 were appropriated, and
also $300 for a road from Columbia to Gumneck; $25,000 for
additional stock in the Roanoke Navigation Company were
also voted, as well as $25,000 for stock in the Cape Fear Navi-
gation Company, and $12,500 for stock in the Club Foot and
Harlowe 's Creek Canal. Loans to the latter company amount-
ing to $18,000 were also made. For the development of the
west $2,548 were spent in improvement of Broad River, since
South Carolina undertook to improve the portion of the stream
in that state. Most significant were appropriations in the
mountain region, which developed rapidly after 1819. The
roads so favored with their appropriations, were as follows:
Wilkes County to the Tennessee line (two roads) $5,000; Old
Fort to Asheville, $1,500 ; Wilkesboro to Iredell County, $500 ;
Rutherf ordton to Asheville, $2,452 ; Jefferson to the Tennessee
line, $300 ; Saluda Gap to Tennessee, $500 ; Huntsville, Surry
County, to the Virginia line, $500.
For the success of the new policy two things were evidently
necessary — the establishment of a permanent source of rev-
enue from which the state could meet its subscriptions, and a
supervisory board or commission to direct and guide the
state's policy. In 1817 and again in 1818 the creation of such
a revenue and a board to administer it was recommended, but
not until 1819, after a favorable report by Hamilton Fulton,
the surveyor appointed under the act of 1815, was the recom-
mendation carried out. Then were provided the Fund for
Internal Improvements and the Board of Internal Improve-
ments.
Two sources of revenue were set aside for the fund. First
was the Cherokee Lands, consisting of approximately 1,000,-
000 acres in the mountain region to which the Indian titles
had been extinguished by the federal treaties of 1819. These
lands were now open to settlers. Commissioners were ap-
pointed to survey and divide them into four classes, which
should sell respectively for $4, $3, $2, and 50 cents to $2 per
acre. One-eighth was required of purchasers as first pay-
ment, notes being taken for the balance, redeemable in four
annual installments. The second source of revenue of the
fund was stock held by the state in the banks of Newbern and
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 1)5
•Cape Fear, 1,304 shares in the former and 1,250 in the latter ;
each bank was paying in 1819 dividends of 7 per cent. The
state was also to receive stock in each company aided equiva-
lent to the amount of money subscribed.
For the administration of the fund, the Board of Internal
Improvements was created. It consisted of six commissioners,
one for each of the judicial districts, elected by the legislature,
with the governor as member ex officio. It had authority to
appoint engineers, to make subscriptions to public works
authorized by the legislature, to report to the legislature "the
exact state of the Fund for Internal Improvements : The
progress, condition, and net income of all the public works
under their charge, the surveys, plans, estimated expense of
such new works as they may recommend to the patronage of
the General Assembly, together with such other important in-
formation as they may have it in their power to collect or
in relation to the object committed to their trust." In 1823
membership of the board was reduced to the governor and
three directors elected by the legislature, and in 1831 to three,
the governor, th.° state treasurer, and one elected member.
The growth of the Fund for Internal Improvements had
peculiar difficulties. First of all the accounts rendered by the
Board of Internal Improvements and by the Treasury, when
the income of the fund was investigated by the legislature in
1823, differed. With the report of the board as the basis, the
income of the fund from 1819 to 1823 was as follows: from
the Cherokee Lands, $110,217.70^, of which $39,560 was cash,
the remainder notes due from purchasers; from bank stock,
$27,870; and appropriations before the board was organized,
$6,264.06; total, $144,351,761/4. Expenditures had been $60,-
879.11, leaving about $70,657,061/4 in notes and $12,815.59 in
cash. However, Treasurer Haywood reported the income
from land sales to be $1,247 less than the estimate of the
board, and that the balance due the fund was $17,361.38i/>,
that claimed by the board being $12,815.59. In the adjustment
of accounts the lower cash balance of the board was ac-
cepted, while the amount due from Cherokee notes was entered
as $87,111,561/4. For the following three years the fund pros-
pered ; the cash income from 1824 to 1827 amounted to $118,-
96 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
269.70M>, expenditures were $109,265.52^, and the cash bal-
ance was $21,675. 16 1 /.. But in November a defalcation by the
recently deceased treasurer, John Haywood, was disclosed.
Of the total deficiency of $69,377.34 in his account, $22,195.15%
were charged to the Fund for Internal Improvements.
The most serious check to the growth of the fund, however,
was the decline of the dividends from bank stock. In June,
1827, the dividends of the Bank of Newbern dropped from 4
per cent semi-annually to 3H P er cent, in December to 3 per
cent, in December, 1828, to 2 per cent; in 1830 no dividends
were declared; one of 3 per cent was paid in 1831, but there-
after none until stock dividends at liquidation. In 1828 the
Bank of Cape Fear reduced its dividends from 3y 2 to 2 per
cent, passed one dividend in 1830, and all after January, 1831,
until reorganization in 1835. This policy of the banks meant
a decline of approximately $8,000 per annum for the Fund
during the years of reduced dividends and a total loss of
$18,000 per annum when dividends were suspended. Thus
while the annual income from 1824 to 1827 averaged $27,000,
during the succeeding four years the average income was
$11,000, and in 1832 and 1833, when no dividends were paid,
the average income was only $2,000.
Another cause of the decline of the Fund was the difficulty
in collecting the notes due on the Cherokee land sales. The
notes taken at the sales of 1819, 1821, and 1822, amounted to
$110,117,701/4. The balance uncollected in 1823 was $87,-
111.5614. Prior to 1829 the collections varied from $6,000 to
$15,000 per annum. Thereafter they declined, dropping in
1835 to $1,835.17. The amount of bonds still uncollected in
1833 was $49,332.67. One cause of this delinquency was the
financial depression which pervaded the state after 1828. In
1834 the treasurer was authorized to bring suit for the collec-
tion of notes due and unpaid, and similar action was taken in
later years, notably in 1842; but all delinquencies Avere never
settled, and no comprehensive report on Cherokee land was
ever made.
The expenditure for internal improvement from the initia-
tion of the policy to 1836, inclusive, was $291,446.50. How-
ever, of this amount only $205,388. 881/0 was from the Fund,
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 97
the balance being derived from the general revenue of the
state. The projects and the amount appropriated to each
were as follows :
Engineering $ 67,808.26
Stock Subscriptions —
Roanoke Navigation Co $50,000
Cape Fear Navigation Co 40,000
Yadkin Navigation Co 25,000
Tar River Navigation Co 1,200
Neuse River Navigation Co 1,800
North Carolina Catawba Co 2,400
Club Foot & Harlowe's Creek
Canal 15,000
Buncombe Turnpike 5,000
Plymouth Turnpike 2,500 142,900
Direct Appropriations —
Broad River 2,548
Cape Fear 39,730.16
Lumber River 427.20
Highways 16,452.00 59,157.36
Loans —
Club Foot & Harlowe's Creek
Canal 18,000
Old Fort and Asheville Road 2,000
Tenn. River Turnpike 2,000 22,000.00
Total $291,446.50
As paying investments or even successful in securing the
desired improvements these appropriations were a failure.
Only three of them yielded any dividends; these were the
Roanoke Navigation Company, which declared a dividend of
1% per cent in 1831 and 1833, the Cape Fear Navigation Com-
pany, which paid ten dividends averaging 4Vo per cent, and
the Buncombe Turnpike, which paid a few dividends averag-
ing 3 9/10 per cent. For all practical purposes, the Yadkin
Navigation Company, the Neuse Navigation Company, and
the North Carolina Catawba Company were by 1833 unsuc-
voi. n— 7
98 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
cessful, and the state's investment in them a complete failure.
The Club Foot and Harlowe's Creek Canal was reported to
be "productive of some benefits," but in 1834 work on it was
suspended. Of direct appropriations, that to the Cape Fear
was alone profitable, the construction of jetties and dredging
helping navigation considerably. The appropriations to roads
benefited those communities which they aimed to benefit.
Two facts explain the failure of this early policy toward in-
ternal improvements. The amount of work undertaken was
too great for the available revenue and there was a distinct
lack of experience and skill in carrying on the part of those
directing the enterprises. Said the report of the Board of
Internal Improvement in 1833 :
When attention was first called to the improvement of our internal
condition, by a distinguished son of North Carolina, the public mind
was seized and carried away by an amiable enthusiasm on a subject
which promised happy results — our citizens and the Legislature were
disposed to contribute freely to accomplish objects important to the
prosperity of the State, and beneficial to the individual contributors.
But, unfortunately for the success of our attempts, we had no ex-
perience to guide our efforts or to limit our expectations within proper
bounds. Excited to action by the brilliant success of similar attempts
elsewhere, and the splendid results which were anticipated from the
accomplishment of the projected improvements, many were under-
taken without due examination. In some instances a wild spirit,
which was generated by the circumstances of the times, diverted the
funds from a proper direction ; and the attempt in other instances to
gratify local feelings and interests, by commencing operations at
many different points, rendered the whole utterly useless, because none
could be completed. These and other circumstances ^contribute to dis-
appoint expectations, perhaps too sanguine, and produced doubts of
■ the success of any attempts at internal improvement in our State. * * *
The science of engineering was at that time little understood,
and no individual could be obtained competent to direct our opera-
tions. The politicians who devised the plans, undertook the execution
of the work and with a fund not larger than some of our citizens have
employed profitably on their own farms, improvements were com-
menced simultaneously at the sources of all the principal rivers of
the State. This system was persevered in until * * * about $50,000
were lost to the Treasury. The public disappointed by the results of
the expenditure, became discouraged and improvement was aban-
doned.
The most significant fact in the policy of internal improve-
ment was that in spite of its failures there arose a demand for
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 99
larger state aid. In this the Board of Internal Improvement
took the lead, recommending in 1821 that the state borrow
$500,000 to be spent in the improvement of transportation.
In 1825 and again in 1830 the recommendation was repeated.
In 1833 the amount recommended was $6,000,000. The desire
for larger expenditures was not limited to the board. In the
later 'twenties it took the form of a genuinely popular move-
ment. One basis for this popular demand was the rise of a
new form of transportation, the railway, for the development
of which private capital was not sufficient, The most notable
expression of the new sentiment was the "Numbers of Carl-
ton," published in 1825 by Dr. Joseph Caldwell, president of
the University, urging the advantages of railroads.
Popular interest was also expressed in a large number of
public meetings. In January, 1829, at a meeting in Raleigh
a definite organization was perfected by the friends of internal
improvement; a central committee was appointed, and also
local committees in each county of the state, to carry on^the
agitation. The climax in the agitation was reached in 1833
when delegates from forty-eight counties met at Raleigh and
adopted a memorial to the legislature asking for state aid to
various enterprises, amounting to $5,000,000.
The agitation produced no immediate result, the principal
reason being the conflict between the east and the west, which
was at fever heat from 1830 to 1835. By 1830 the counties
west of Raleigh had outstripped those to the east in popula-
tion; yet because representation was apportioned equally
among the counties, the east, with a larger number of counties,
had a larger representation in the legislature and controlled
legislation. Consequently there was a demand for constitu-
tional reform with especial attention to the matter of repre-
sentation, championed by the west and opposed by the east.
This issue was so acute that it obstructed all other questions.
Therefore the memorial of the Internal Improvement Conven-
tion of 1833 received no response from the legislature. A wave
of protest swept the state. Prominent leaders and newspapers
in the east as well as the west condemned the legislature for its
failure to heed the popular demand. It was also evident that
the matter of representation must be settled before economic
problems could be impartially considered. Hence the imme-
1 m
100 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
diate outcome of the agitation for internal improvement was
to strengthen the sentiment for constitutional reform. After
that issue was adjusted by the constitutional convention of
1835, a new chapter opens in the history of state aid.
However new means of financing public works had to be
found, for in 1835 the income of the Fund for Internal Im-
provements was only $14,736. This difficulty was overcome by
the distribution of the federal surplus revenue among the
states. Two other problems, however, had also to be met with
the surplus revenue ; one was the obligations due by the state
treasury, the other was the demand for aid to public edu-
cation.
That better markets would make agriculture more profit-
able was undoubtedly one of the influences which brought
about the Fund for Internal Improvements. Regeneration of
farming was also sought through the organization of agri-
cultural societies. Such a society was formed in Edgecombe
County as early as 1810, and others were established in Beau-
fort, Halifax, Cumberland, Wake, Guilford, Mecklenburg,
Chatham, and Surry. In 1819 the State Agricultural Society
was organized at Raleigh, but very little is known of its activi-
ties. In 1822 the policy of state aid was directly extended by
the creation of the Agricultural Fund,, consisting of the in-
come, not exceeding $5,000 per annum, from the sales of
vacant land, and uncalled-for sums in the hands of the clerks
of the County courts. Expenditures were authorized for three
purposes : the support of local agricultural societies, the pur-
chase and distribution of seeds, and publishing the reports
and proceedings of county societies. For supervision of this
work the presidents or delegates of the county societies were
constituted a Board of Agriculture. The activities of the
board were not extensive. One of its services was to issue
several pamphlets relating to agriculture; more important
was to undertake the publication of a geological survey of the
state. The first two parts, prepared by Prof. Denison Olm-
stead, of the university, were published in 1824 and 1825, the
third and fourth parts by Prof. Elisha Mitchell, of the same
institution, in 1826 and 1827. With the latter were also issued
a "Report on the Mineralogy of North Carolina" by C. Rothe,
a reprint from SiUiman's Journal of Science. These pamph-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 101
lets were not only the earliest publication of the State Geo-
logical Survey, but were also the first efforts toward a geo-
logical publication by any state in the Union. However there
seems to have been little inclination to take advantage of the
Agricultural Fund by the county societies, for in 1825 there
was an unexpended balance of over $7,000. This, and also all
future annual balances, were therefore appropriated to the
Literary Fund, established in the interest of public schools
in 1825.
There was a tremendous increase in the cause of public
education in 1815 and after, due to the same influences that
increased the interest in internal improvements. In 1815, the
year that the policy of state aid to transportation was adopted,
a joint committee on education was appointed by the legis-
lature, but it made no report. In 1816 another legislative com-
mittee submitted a report, written by Archibald DeBow
Murphey, which pointed out the importance of education to a
(people and to a state. "In all ages and in all countries," it
said, "the great body of the people have been found to be
virtuous in the degree in which they have been enlightened.
There is a gentleness in wisdom, which softens the angry pas-
sions of the soul, and gives exercise to its generous sensibili-
ties. And there is a contentment which it brings to our aid ;
humility in times of prosperity, fortitude in the hour of ad-
versity, and resignation in affliction. True wisdom teaches
men to be good rather than great ; and a wise providence has
ordered that its influence should be most felt where it is most
needed, among the great body of the poeple, who, constituting
the strength of the state, have no other ambition than to see
their country prosper and their wives and children and friends
happy. To the several classes which compose this great body,
the attention of the Government should be particularly di-
rected; to teach them their duties and enable them to under-
stand their rights." 14 The result was the appointment of an
ad interim committee to plan a school system. Its report,
also written by Murphey, is a landmark in the state's educa-
tional history. It outlined a system including grammar
schools, academies, the improvement of the University, and
14 Hoyt, Papers of Archibald DeBow Murphey, II, 49.
102 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
asylums for the deaf and dumb. The state should be divided
into townships and academy districts, whose appropriations
should be supplemented by aid from a Fund for Public In-
struction. Thus was foreshadowed the fundamental organiza-
tion of a modern public school system. A singular feature
of the report was that only the poor would be educated entire-
ly at public expense, — all for a period of three years, and the
more promising portion to be advanced through the whole
curriculum from primary school to university at public cost,
clothing and board included ; these in turn would be required
to enter the teaching profession and to instruct the poor free
of charge. There is a marked similarity between this report
and one presented to the Virginia legislature in the same year,
which was inspired by Thomas Jefferson. One member of the
committee, John M. AValker, submitted a separate report which
elaborated the details of the training for the promising poor.
Bills to carry into effect these recommendations were re-
jected, and a similar fate met similar bills at sessions imme-
diately following. The legislature was committed primarily
to internal improvements, and conservatism would not brook
expensive experiments for education until additional financial
resources could be found. By 1825 the financial opportunity
was at hand. In order to aid certain prominent banks, which
were being hard pressed by their creditors, and in whose stock
the state had invested, the legislature of 1823 ordered the pur-
chase of additional bank stock to be paid for with the issue
of $100,000 of treasury notes. As the dividends from this
new stock were not necessary for the regular expenses of the
Government, and as the experiments with internal improve-
ments were not promising, stock of the Bank of the Cape Fear
(680 shares) and of the Bank of Nfewbern (330 shares) was
appropriated to the cause of education. In addition the in-
come from five other sources was also utilized: viz., dividends
from the stock held by the state in the Cape Fear Navigation
Company, the Boanoke Navigation Company, and the Club
Foot and Harlowe's Creek Canal; license taxes paid by the
retailers of liquors and auctioneers ; the unexpended balances
of the Agricultural Fund ; the income from the sales of vacant
and unappropriated swamp lands; and $21,090 due from the
Federal Government for aid in removing the Cherokees. Thus
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 303
was constituted the Literary Fund. Its administration was
placed in charge of three trustees, the Governor and the
Speakers of the House of Commons and of the Senate. Bills
to establish schools immediately were rejected on the ground
that the revenue from the fund was insufficient, and efforts to
add new sources to the fund, such as lotteries and additional
bank stock, were also defeated. The income was therefore
reinvested by the trustees, thus creating a large principal, the
interest from which was finally used for educational purposes.
This was the distinguishing characteristic of state support of
public schools in North Carolina prior to 1860 ; it was derived
from an endowment rather than from direct taxation.
Prior to 1836 the Literary Fund suffered several misfor-
tunes. First of these was a temporary loss occasioned by
the defalcation of Treasurer Haywood. In November, 1827,
the free balance to the credit of the Fund was $28,201. 82y 2 ,
but an investigation of the treasurer's records — that officer
having recently died — showed that all of this except $17.50,
which had never been turned over to him, had been lost. How-
ever, in 1831, by order of the legislature $28,184,321/, with
interest was returned to the Fund, the total amount being
$29,074.96. Another misfortune was a decline in the dividends
from the bank stocks. In 1827 the Fund held as a result of
the act of 1825, 359 shares in the Bank of Newbern and 704
shares in the Bank of the Cape Fear, 29 shares in the Bank
of Newbern and 34 in the Bank of the Cape Fear having been
advanced by the state since 1825. The rate of dividends was
at that time 3 per cent semi-annually by the Bank of the Cape
Fear and 4 per cent by the Bank of Newbern. Among the
first investments by the trustees was the purchase of 78 shares
in the State Bank in 1827, the very year in which the dividends
dropped from 4 per cent semi-annually to 3y 2 semi-annually.
In 1828, although the dividends of all the banks had declined,
204 shares of the State Bank were bought at $90 per share, 50
shares in the Bank of the Cape Fear at $80, and 141 in the
Bank of Newbern at $80. The same year the State Bank paid
only one dividend of 2 1 / 2 per cent, then yielded one of 3 per
cent in 1829, and from 1830 to liquidation only 2 per cent semi-
annually. The Bank of the Cape Fear reduced its dividend
in 1828 to 2 per cent semi-annually, passed one dividend in
104 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1829, both in 1830, then paid one of 3 per cent in 1831, and
passed all until re-organization in 1835. The Bank of Newbern
also dropped to a 2 per cent basis in 1828, passed one dividend
in 1829, one in 1830, then paid one of 3 per cent in 1831, and
thereafter passed all until liquidation.
The investment of public funds such as the Literary Fund
in securities of declining value would today be regarded as a
violation of a trust. However, the banks were quasi-state in-
stitutions ; they were being hard pressed to meet their obliga-
tions to pay in specie, notably by the Second Bank of the
United States; and there was naturally a strong feeling that
state funds should support state institutions. Fortunately the
loss from the money actually invested by the trustees was
small, the State Bank and the Bank of Newbern paying at
liquidation $38,803, whereas $41,440 had been paid for shares
in these institutions by the trustees of the Fund. On the other
hand the capital dividends on the stock in these banks appro-
priated to the Literary Fund by the legislature were applied
to the general expenses of the government. Yet with such
experience in the past, one of the principal investments of
the Literary Fund after its re-organization in 1836 was in
bank stock. Fortunately the experience with the investment
was more satisfactory.
The other sources of revenue presented no specific prob-
lems. The sales of vacant lands up to 1836 amounted to
$55,133.73; license taxes, $31,371.68; auction tax, $6,513.98;
agricultural fund balances, $10,962.82; the Cape Fear Navi-
gation Company dividends, $4,484.34; the Roanoke Naviga-
tion Company dividends, $2,250.14; premium on exchange of
$12,000 United States notes, $1,100 ; from the United States
Government for money advanced for the removal of Chero-
kee Indians, $22,000; miscellanies, $6,083.60. These with the
bank dividends of $102,341.06 and a correction of $915.96 made
a total of $243,162.83. There were expended $239,317.83, all
of which except $5.50 was for bank stock, leaving a cash
balance of $3,845.09. 15
13 Totals have been computed from the reports made by the Treas-
urer, the Comptroller, and the Literary Board.
CHAPTER VI
STATE OF THE FINANCES
Taxation — Revenue and Expenditukes — Currency and
Banking
Undoubtedly an influence which retarded measures for so-
cial and economic progress was the state's financial system.
The revenue was small, approximately $50,000 in 1800 and
$111,000 in 1830. The sources of income were few, and there
was deep aversion to any increase of taxation. Governor
Swain in 1835 declared "the history of our state legislation
during the first half century of our political existence will
exhibit little more to posterity than the annual imposition of
taxes amounting to less than a hundred thousand dollars, one-
half of which constituted the reward of legislative bodies by
which they were levied, while the remainder was applied to
sustain the train of officers who superintend the machinery of
government. ' '
Another factor in the public finances was the policy toward
banking. Liberal charters to the banks permitted an excessive
issue of bank notes, so causing an inflation of the currency
which produced speculation and depression in business. Sub-
scription to bank stock by the state made possible the retire-
ment of the post-revolutionary currency, the first form of
public debt, and also aided in the foundation of the Fund for
Internal Improvements and the Literary Fund. On the whole,
the financial policy was characterized by inexperience and in-
competence. By 1836 the treasury was facing a serious deficit ;
the crisis was saved by the distribution of the federal sur-
plus. How deeply interwoven with the social and political
structure were financial policies, detailed analysis only can
show.
105
106 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
The public revenue was derived from three sources, taxa-
tion, dividends from bank stock, and sale of public lands. The
taxes in turn were of three kinds, the poll, the land, and those
which may be termed miscellaneous. Their history really
begins with the later Revolutionary period, when depreciation
of the currency forced a resort to taxation. Of all schedules,
the poll tax was the most stable ; prior to 1818, when it was
exceeded by the land tax, it yielded an income larger than
any other source of taxation; and in 1825 it again became
more productive and remained so until 1850. The rate on the
poll was, from 1790 to 1811, 2s ; from 1811 to 1813, 2s 6d ; but in
1813, when the rate .on land was increased to 12d per 100 acres,
the poll on the blacks was increased to 3s. In 1814, when the
official change from the state currency to that of the United
States was made in the revenue laws, the pole on whites and
blacks was' equalized, being fixed at 30 cents, while the land
tax was 8 cents on the $100 value ; but the next year the poll
was reduced to 25 cents, the ratio between land and poll of
three to one becoming the general custom of the law. In 1817,
when the land tax was reduced to 6 cents per $100 value, the
poll was likewise reduced to 20 cents, which remained the rate
until 1854. In 1806 the age limit was reduced from 60 to 50
vears, and in 1822 to 45 vears for whites. The constitutional
convention of 1835 provided for the equalization of the poll
between whites and blacks. In collection of the tax there was
much inefficiency; according to the eensus of 1830 there were
more taxable polls than those reported by the treasury for
1836, the revenue of the state losing approximately $8,000 per
annum.
The land tax was two-fold, a rate levied on 100 acres of
farm property and a rate on town lots equivalent to that on
300 acres of farm land. In place of the unit of 100 acres the
$100 valuation was substituted in 1814. Two characteristics
of the economic conditions were illustrated by the land tax.
First was the general aversion to taxation; reduction from
8 cents to 6 cents per $100 of valuation in 1817 was
made because large dividends were expected from bank
stock. The second characteristic was the decline in the valua-
tion of landed property. According to an assessment made
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 107
by the Federal Government in 1815, the lands of the state
were valued at $53,521,513, but a state valuation made in
1833 amounted to $42,916,633, a decline of over $10,000,000,
yet the acreage in the two years showed an increase of nearly
1,250,000 acres. One cause of the decline was undoubtedly
the inefficiency of the assessment law; another was the gen-
eral economic depression that pervaded the state.
In addition to the rates on poll and land were the miscel-
laneous taxes; they included licenses (such as carriage wheels,
stores, billiard tables, peddlers, gates, shows and curiosities,
brokers, and negro traders), imposts, and taxes on bank stock.
On this class the licenses were the most peculiar. The store
tax, from its origin in 1804 to 1809, was 50s on each store;
from 1809 to 1820 a distinction was made between wholesale
and retail houses, the former being taxed more than twice the
amount of the latter; but in 1820 the tax on retail merchants
was limited to those "who shall sell goods, wares and mer-
chandise, not the growth and manufacture of this state. ■ ' Like-
wise the peddler's tax was limited in 1810 to those who sold
goods not grown or manufactured in North Carolina. These
distinctions were evidently infractions of the Federal Con-
stitution, but distinction between the products of North Caro-
lina and those of other states remained in the revenue system
down to 1860.
There were other anomalies in the miscellaneous taxes.
One was the impost, a license of 50s levied from 1804 to 1810
on all who imported and sold goods not subject to the revenue
laws of the United States. Another was a tax of 2s 6cl on each
saw or row of teeth used in each cotton gin, the revenue being
applied to the payment for the patent rights on the cotton gin
held by Miller and "Whitney. Still another peculiar tax was
that on carriage wheels, levied from 1784 to 1793. The tax
on the stock of the banks of Newbern and Cape Fear held by
individuals was the most reliable of the miscellaneous taxes,
for it increased with each issue of stock by the banks, The
average annual amount realized from all miscellaneous taxes
from 1810 to 1834 was $8,958.
In 1808 the revenue was increased by dividends from bank
stock held by the state. Prior to 1819 the entire dividends
108
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
from the state stock were devoted to the redemption of paper
money and to general expenditures, but in 1819 and 1825 a
large part of the bank dividends were diverted to the Fund for
Internal Improvements and to the Literary Fund. Then fol-
lowed a period of decline in dividends, noted in the previous
chapter. The entire amount of bank dividends appropriated
to general expenses from 1808 to 1834 inclusive was $588,-
274.92, or $22,625.75 per annum.
Finally, the sale of public lands was also a source of rev-
enue, but the proceeds were appropriated to the Fund for In-
ternal Improvements and to the Literary Fund.
Classified statements of the annual revenue derived from
each source are not obtainable except for a few years prior to
1828. But the percentage of the revenue from each source
for 1805, 1812, 1818, 1825, and 1830 may be taken as typical;
for 1805 was a year prior to the charter of the banks, 1812
marks the beginning of the inflation of the currency, 1818 is
typical of the high dividends from the banks, while 1825 and
1830 illustrate the years of depression.
Year
Total
Revenue
Land
Tax
Per
Cent
of
Total
Poll
Tax
Per
Cent
of
Total
Miscellaneous
Taxes
Per
Cent
of
Total
Bank
Divi-
dends
Per
Cent
of
Total
18051 £26.026.1.101 £7,039.1.14
1812 eaaiKs.n.s 1 ««m n.;
27
28
25
29
22
£11,043.9.10
£15,103.7.2
$32,027.64
26.665.42
27.923.06
40
47
23
30
25
£7,943.19.16
33
24.3
19.5
16.8
41
£2.500
$43,430
21,412
13,840
.7
1818
1825
1830
$137,712.34
88,341.62
111.106.09
$35,528.16
26.111.95
24,547.57
$26,726.54
14.151.75
44,896.00
31.5
24.2
12.
The expenditures, like the revenue, were meager. From
1800 to 1812 the average amount was $67,469.16 per annum.
This included the redemption of certificates, which was cov-
ered by the receipts from land sales. In 1813 the expenditures
rose to $115,796.76, and from 1813 to 1835 inclusive the aver-
age annual expenditure amounted to $131,571.77. Among the
causes of this increase was the War of 1812 ; another was sub-
scriptions to stock of the banks and various navigation com-
panies, and still another w T as the redemption of treasury notes
which had been issued in 1817 and 1818. In 1829 and in each
year until 1836, excepting 1833 and 1834. expenditures were
greater than the receipts, as the following table illustrates :
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
109
Year
Balances of
Previous
Year
Receipts
Total
Available
Expenditures
Balance
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
183 4
1835
$93,3 43.54
74,014.12
69.750.84
33.023.29
7,924.73
57,877.24
68.433.41
$101,821.32
111,106.09
95,733.40
94,500.42
188.819.97
202.127.28
150.109.56
$195,165.12
185,120.21
165.484.24
127,523.42
196,744.70%
260.004.52
218.542.97
$121,151.10
115,369.37
132.023.29
119,598.68
138,867.46
191,571.11
171,686.30
$74,014.12
69,750.81
33.023.29
7.924.73
57,877.24
68.433-41
46.856-30
The immediate causes of this deficiency were the redemp-
tion of the treasury notes issued in 1823, the building of the
state capitol, and a decline in revenue due to the suspension
of bank dividends. But a deeper cause of the crisis was the
instability of the regular revenue, especially the lack of in-
crease in the land tax, which showed a small but steady decline
after 1820, and also the failure to get full returns from the poll
tax. Thus the revenue did not show a normal expansion to
meet the increased expenditures. In 1833 and 1834 the strain
was relieved by stock dividends from the Bank of Newbern
and the State Bank, but in 1836 a subscription for $375,000 to
the new Bank of the State of North Carolina fell due and the
treasury faced bankruptcy. In this crisis relief was found in
the surplus revenue distributed among the states by the Fed-
eral Government.
In the administration of the revenue there were disorder,
inefficiency, and corruption. At the close of the Revolution
the debts and arrears due from revenue officials amounted to
£10,890.8.11 in currency and £10,056.8.0 in certificates ; by 1793
this had increased to £43,310.12.3 currency and £42,441 certifi-
cates. Moreover, as indicated above, a vast amount of prop-
erty was not listed for taxation, and a large number of polls
paid no poll tax. In addition there was a loose method of
accounting which opened the way for misappropriation of
funds. A review in detail of the rules regarding administra-
tion of the revenue shows how imperative was the need of
reform and how late it came.
First of all, the methods of assessing and collecting the
revenue were unsatisfactory. For listing the property the
county court was responsible. It appointed assessors, con-
sisting of justices of the peace, who made an inventory of the
taxable property based on a sworn statement of the property
110 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
owners. The lists were returned to the clerk of the county
court, who sent one copy to the comptroller and another to
the tax collector. The collector, appointed by the county
court, paid the revenue to the sheriff, also an appointee of the
county court, who forwarded it to the state treasurer. Such
a method of levying and collecting the taxes had several grave
defects. One was that the local revenue officers were ap-
pointed by the county courts, whose members were appointed
by the governor on the recommendation of the members of the
legislature for the county. Thus the local officers were not
elected by the people and were not held responsible to them.
In each county there was an official ring, the members of which
were inclined to act in the interest of each other rather than
that of the state. By way of illustration, the clerks of the
countv courts often failed to take the bonds of the collectors,
which the law required to be equal to twice the amount of the
taxes to be collected. The sheriffs, who in 1791 became the
sole collectors, were notoriously corrupt. Although under
special bonds of £2,000 for the collection of the taxes, many
of them failed to settle their accounts with the treasurer and,
when suits were brought against them, judgment secured, and
their property attached and offered for sale, the reports re-
turned by the officials were, "Not sold for want of bidders."
The clerks of the court also did not always send the comp-
troller lists of the assessed property, and, strangest of all, the
delinquent officials often appealed to the legislature and se-
cured a dismissal of the suits against them pending in the
courts. Evidently there was a lack of sense of public duty in
the official class.
Another evil of the local administration was the small
recompense for the work required. In the early days the
collectors were paid at the discretion of the county courts;
later they were entitled to a commission of 3 per cent and
the sheriffs to 1 and 2 per cent; after the sheriffs assumed
the entire duty of collection, their commission was in-
creased to 6 per cent. According to Treasurer Haywood, the
better class of citizens would not work for such small com-
pensation.
As a means of protecting the state from dishonest officials,
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 111
citizens who had become involved in their accounts were in
1793 made ineligible for membership in the legislature, and
special collectors of arrears were appointed to settle the ac-
counts of delinquent officials. A considerable sum was realized
by the latter measure, how much cannot be ascertained. The
most efficient means of ending the corruption and inefficiency
in the local administration was the law of 1806 which pro-
hibited the reelection of a sheriff unless he showed receipt in
full for the taxes collected by him ; in the same year the clerks
of the county courts were made subject to a fine of $500 for
failing to report the assessment lists to the comptroller.
Another evil of the local administration was the imperfect
assessment of property. Each property holder gave in the
amount of his property under oath and valuation was made by
the assessors, but in case of over-valuation appeal might be
made to the county court; by a law of 1814 the assessors were
allowed to summon a jury of two free-holders to make a new
assessment if the land was under-valued by the owners ; and in
1819 a Board of Appeals of three was appointed by the court
of pleas and quarter sessions to hear complaints and to revise
the assessment. In 1819, also, the assessors were required to
have a copy of the Federal Assessment List of 1815; and
assessment in the future should not be less than that. But in
spite of this requirement the valuation of property in 1833
showed a decline in values since 1815.
Inefficiency was not confined to local administration. The
management of the finances by the officials of the state govern-
ment was marked by poor accounting, carelessness, and in-
competency, which finally bore fruit in defalcation. The state
financial officers were the treasurer and the comptroller, elect-
ed by the legislature. Their duties and relations to each other
were poorly defined. The treasurer, who received the revenue
from the sheriffs, made an annual report to the legislature,
and his accounts were formally examined by a committee on
finance. But his report was not a balance-sheet ; usually it was
a business letter, giving the amount of the balance of the pre-
vious year, the amount of the income, the expenditure, and
the balance at the close of the fiscal year. For a detailed
statement of expenditures and income reference had to be
112 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
made to the comptroller. His oversight of the income was
due to the fact that he received from the county court the tax
lists of the counties and so informed the treasurer of the
amount due from the sheriffs ; moreover each sheriff or reve-
nue officer was required to secure two receipts from the treas-
urer and to file one with the comptroller. Thus the comp-
troller kept check on the income of the state and the expend-
itures were likewise audited, for no draft or warrant could be
paid by the treasurer until certified by the comptroller, except
warrants for salaries of the members of the legislature and
the judiciary. However not until 1814 was the comptroller
required to make a printed annual report of the transactions
of his office to the legislature.
There were three defects in this method of public account-
ing. First of all, the comptroller did not have oversight of
the actual money in the treasury ; he did not know where the
cash was deposited, whether in bank or safety vault. It is a
matter of interest that a large sum of money was kept in a
trunk in the treasurer 's office long after banks were organized,
for the purpose of meeting the incidental expenses of the
government. Second, the auditing by the comptroller did not
include all the funds of the state. He had no supervision over
the appropriated revenue, consisting of the Fund for Internal
Improvements and the Literary Fund. These were cared for
and reported on by the treasurer alone. Third, the method of
bonding the treasurer was not adequate. By a law of 1784
the bond was fixed at £100,000, to be given before the treasurer
entered office and to be approved by the governor and the
council of state. But in 1801 the law was changed, so that the
bond was to be given thirty days after the election of the
treasurer and its amount was to be equal to the balance in
the treasury plus the expected income of the approaching
year. In 1819 the approval of the governor's council was with-
drawn. There was also no provision to compel the bonding
of the treasurer, nor was there any penalty on him for failing
to give security. For the year 1826-1827 no bond had been
given by the treasurer.
With such- a system of administration the way was open
for misappropriation of public funds. In 1827 a large de-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 113
falcation was disclosed. The treasurer from 1787 to 1827 was
John Haywood. Few officers of the time had to such an extent
as he, the respect and confidence of the people; he was popu-
larly known as that ''great and good man." There seems to
have been no suspicion of his management until 1820, and then
an investigation exonerated him. In 1827 he died, and when
the committee on the treasury at the succeeding legislature
examined the accounts and the money on hand, it was found
that $69,377.34 were lacking. Of this amount $28,1S4.32V>
were charged to the Literary Fund and $22,195.15% to the
Fund for Internal Improvements — a worthy example of the
result of exempting these funds from inspection by the comp-
troller. When the defalcation began, was never disclosed.
Tradition says that it was due to one of the clerks in the
office, but the report of the committee of investigation made
more likely a gradual use of the money for private purposes.
The popularity of Mr. Haywood among the people was so
great, however, that the defalcation was believed by many to
have been nothing but a false charge worked up by his enemies.
As the treasurer had given no bond for his last year's term,
the only method to recover the funds was to settle with his
estate. All private claims to his property, except the widow's
dower right, were surrendered. Sales were made from which
$47,601.3714 were realized, leaving a balance due of $21,735.96.
Suit was then entered against the estate for this amount ; the
executors submitted that they could raise only $7,176.60 and
judgment was accordingly entered. However only three pay-
ments were credited, amounting to $4,341.98. Thus a balance,
in principal and interest, of $17,740.40 apparently remained
unpaid.
Fortunately the finances were not seriously impaired by
the defalcation. The immediate result of the investigation of
the treasury was reform. Among the changes made were the
biennial instead of annual election of the treasurer; the re-
quirement of a bond, approved by the governor and the
speakers of the House and Senate, to the amount of $250,000,
to be given by the treasurer before entering on the duties of
Ids office ; an itemized account of receipts and expenditures to
.be reported to each session of the legislature and to be pub-
Vol. II— 8
114
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
lished with the laws; monthly settlements with the comp-
troller; the deposit of money on hand in the banks; the in-
spection of the Fund for Internal Improvements and the
Literary Fund by the comptroller; and the registration and
endorsement of the state's bank stock by the secretary of
state.
By far the most difficult financial problem prior to 1836
centered around the redemption of the currency issued during
the Revolution and the years immediately after and the rela-
tion of the state to banking enterprises.
How perplexing was the situation in regard to the cur-
rency is shown by the following statement of the finances for
the year 1788.
Money
of 1783-'85
Receipts
Balance £ 6,745. 5.3
Arrears 54,131.18.8
Taxes £35,862.14.3
Total £96,739.18.2
Expenditures
for arrears... £60,877.3.11
Current exp.
incl'ng sinking
fund burned.. 27,555.10.9
£88,432.14.8
T8»
Certificate
£ 65,227.14.11
45,329.10. 8
56.12. 2
204.10. 8
£ 28,475.16.10
16. 2. 4
84.14. 4
£139,394.11.11
£ 90.12.
110,557. 5.
80.
215.19.
221.16.
8
7
3
9
£111,360.
Balanoe
£ 8.307. 3.6 £ 28,034. 8. 6
Cont'al
Doll's
13,231
32,315
State
Doll's
Remarks
4 8,068 Continental bills were
rated with certifi-
cates at 800 to 1 ;
state dollars like-
wise ; £1 equivalent
169,476 to $2.50, face
value.
160,112 431,919
The certificates, in-
cluding contin'tal and
state dollars re-
duced, charged to
expenditures represent
redemption, for they
were punched or
burned with excep-
tion of £90.12.8.
The relation of the state to the four kinds of circulating
medium in the above table was not uniform. There was no
obligation to support the continental and state dollars, for the
former had been issued by the Continental Congress and had
been in part funded by the paper money issued by the state
during the Revolution; while the latter, which composed the
revolutionary issues, had been repudiated as a tender in the
payment of debts in 1783. But they were still receivable for
taxes and their contraction was desirable ; hence large quanti-
ties were burned each year by order of the finance committee
of the legislature. But the obligation to the state currency of
1783 and 1785 and to the certificates was different; the former
HISTORY OF NORTH. CAROLINA 115
had been issued by the state as its standard money ; the latter
were promises to pay, bearing interest, and the honor and
credit of the state required their redemption.
The confusion in the certificates, their great depreciation,
and the interest accruing from them demanded careful and
thorough consideration. In 1788 a tax of 3s on each 100 acres
of land, 9s on the £100 value of town lots, and 9s on the poll
was levied in state or continental dollars, bounty certificates
at 800 to 1, specie certificates at their nominal value, or cur-
rency certificates at the legal rate of depreciation, as a means
of redemption. Thus the state and continental dollars were
to be contracted along with the certificates. The next vear a
more specific measure for ' ' redeeming the certificates and pay-
ing the domestic debt" was enacted. This provided for call-
ing in all the certificates by January 1, 1791, and replacing
the genuine ones with new certificates, to be redeemed by a
tax of Is on the 100 acres, 3s on the £100 value of town lots,
and 3s on the poll; and the money in the treasury not re-
served for some other purpose was also to be used for re-
demption. The report on the reissue, made in 1792, showed
that £49,301, 9s. 4d. of new certificates had been put into circu-
Jation and that there was an outstanding interest debt of
£38,372, 16s. 9d. The next law concerning certificates was
that of 1794 which made them receivable for land grants at
the rate of 50s per 100 acres and required a second filing of
certificates, but excepted from the benefits of the law were
the Warrenton certificates of 1786 and those issued by Pat-
rick Travers, of Cumberland County. In 1799 a third regis-
tration of certificates was ordered, to be completed by Decem-
ber 1, 1800, and all certificates not registered by that date
were forever barred from redemption and were not to be
received in any payment made to the state. The amount reg-
istered was £16,598.5.11 and the accrued interest was esti-
mated at £32,000, increasing at the rate of £1,000 per annum.
In 1801 the principal of the certificate debt was estimated at
£15,000 and the treasurer was authorized to purchase that
amount and to issue new certificates for interest due, but the
results were not published. In 1802 another purchase was
authorized at the rate of 15s to each £ of certificate ; again, the
result is unknown.
116 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
In the meantime the sale of land for certificates went
steadily on and seems to have been the principal means of
redemption. Just when the process was completed is hard to
find for the treasurer never made a special report concerning
it; no redemption is mentioned in his annual reports after
1817, though income from land sales continued to be given for
several years. The following outline, culled from the treasur-
ers ' report, shows this process of redemption :
1795
£10,108,
, 18s, 5d.
1807
£2,515, 0s, Id.
1796
£37,043,
, 19s, 3d.
1808
£2,023, lis, 9d.
1797
£8,171,
0s, 6d.
1809
£1,694, 17s, 9d.
1798
£4,852,
96s, 2d.
1810
£2,606, 18s, lid
1799
£7,134,
9s, 6d.
1811
£2,618, Is, 4d.
1800
£2,918,
19s, 5d.
1812
£2,550, 10s, lOd
1801
£4,169,
16s, Od.
1813
1802
£5,987,
Is, Id.
1814
1803
£4,858,
0s, 7d.
1815
1804
£5,518,
2s, 9d.
1816
$5,477.55
1805
£3,331,
8s, 3d.
1817
$6,352.56.
1806
£3,643,
5s, lOd.
•
The state currency, as well as the certificates, required re-
demption for three reasons ; first, its continuous depreciation,
the ratio to specie never being less than two to one ; second,
no new bills of credit could be emitted to replace the depre-
ciated currency after the ratification of the Federal Constitu-
tion ; and third, the new standard of currency adopted by the
Federal Government made the North Carolina pound, shilling
and pence currency an anachronism ; indeed, in 1809 the cur-
rency of the United States was recognized as the lawful cur-
rency of the state, and permission was given to keep the
records of the state in dollars and cents, but the state cur-
rency was too widely circulated to permit immediately car-
rying out the latter provision.
The first step toward redemption was the tax of three pence
on each £ value of property in the currency act of 1783 ; in
that of 1785, 5s 6d on the 100 acres of land, Is 6d on the
£100 value of town lots and Is 6d on the poll were levied for
the same purpose. During 1786, 1787, and 1788 £27,304, 19s
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 117
Id were collected and were burned; worn out currency was
also destroyed, making a total of £40,218, 19s 4d retired. But
in 1789 and each subsequent year the sinking tax was sus-
pended ; doubtless the immediate pretext for this was the tax
imposed on certificates, but a larger and more permanent cause
was the general antipathy to taxation in the state.
The final method adopted for retiring the currency was the
use of dividends from bank stock and the co-operation of bank-
ing institutions. The first banks organized in North Carolina
were the Bank of the Cape Fear and the Bank of New Bern,
which received their charters in 1804. Their combined capital
was $450,000, of which the Bank of the Cape Fear had $250,-
000, and the Bank of New Bern $200,000 ; the amount of notes
and debts of the former was not to exceed $750,000 over the
monies on deposit, of the latter $600,000; also the right of
the state to subscribe 250 shares in each institution was re-
served.
The immediate effects of the banks on finance and com-
merce were good. Their notes, engraved on silk paper, were
exchanged for the ragged state currency. The dividends were
promising. So in 1807 the treasurer was ordered to sub-
scribe the number of shares reserved for the state. Soon,
however, the banks began to return into circulation the state
currency which they had received, offering it in the payment
of debts instead of specie or their own notes. Thus specie
was hoarded and depreciation of the bank notes set in. for
they were redeemed only in the depreciated currency. Two
remedies were applied. The first was to levy a tax of one
per cent on bank stock held by individuals and to limit ex-
cessive note issues by ordering the forfeiture of the charters
of the banks, if notes in excess of the amount authorized were
issued. This was a conservative measure, enacted in 1809.
The next vear a radical, almost revolutionarv measure was
taken. That was the charter of a new bank, to be known as
the State Bank of North Carolina, which, it was hoped, would
absorb the existing banks and equalize the relation between
currency and. specie. The charter provided for a central bank
in Raleigh with branches at Edenton, New Bern, Wilmington,
Fayetteville, Tarboro, and Salisbury, with a capitalization not
118 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
exceeding $1,600,000, of which $250,000 were reserved for the
state, to be paid for in gold and silver or stock of the United
States. In subscriptions preference was to be given to the
banks of New Bern and the Cape Fear, and no new bank was
to be chartered nntil the charter of the State Bank should ex-
pire in 1830. As the charters of the existing banks expired
in 1820 it was intended that their capital would thus be in-
vested in the new institution. Three-fourths of the capital
stock was to be paid in specie, one-fourth in paper. The
indebtedness by bond, bill, note, contract or otherwise was
not to exceed $4,800,000 above the amount on deposit, and all
such liabilities, also debts due the bank, were to be redeemed
in gold and silver upon judgment in the courts. After the
bank went into operation the state currency should not be
received as legal tender in payment of debts to the bank, but
the state 's dividends should be used to redeem the paper cur-
rency when presented to the bank. Thus the redemption of
the outstanding paper money was provided for along with
new banking facilities.
As subscriptions for stock in the new corporation were
not as liberal as was expected, the charter was amended in
1811 by extending its duration until 1835, allowing the bank
to withhold 4 per cent of the interest on unpaid stock sub-
scribed by the state, and by exempting the stock and dividends
from taxation, provided that the bank would, for one year,
from December 18, 1816, to December 18, 1817, take up and
exchange the paper currency of the state for bank notes or
specie at the rate of 10s for $1.00; on compliance with this
provision, the governor was authorized to issue a proclamation
that the paper money was no longer a legal tender except to
the bank, and the bank should return the currency to the
state as dividends on the state's stock.
Thus the redemption of the state currency was provided
for and in 1816 the state's financial transactions began to be
reckoned in the currency of the United States instead of the
state currency. How much of the state currency was retired
by the State Bank in the year 1817 is unknown; the amount
redeemed by dividends from 1813 to 1824 inclusive was £93,915.
CHAPTER VII
BANKING PROBLEMS, 1804-1835
Inflation — Depression — Liquidation
The state currency was disposed of through the co-opera-
tion of the banks. But the old evils of inflation and deprecia-
tion, which had characterized the long experience with paper
money in all its forms, were perpetuated. The chief differ-
ence was that instead of paper money, the bank notes were the
cause of confusion and commercial depression. Two influ-
ences contributed to this condition. First of all, there was a
rapid increase of banking capital. In 1804 the total author-
ized capital was $450,000 with the right to issue $1,350,000 of
notes. In 1810 the authorized capital was increased to $2,050,-
000 and the possible note issues to $6,150,000. However, the
operation of the banks was not so extravagant as these pro-
visions might suggest, for their notes stood the strain of the
second war with Great Britain well. Said a legislative report
of 1817 : "When the banks to the west and the south of New
England suspended specie payment, the notes issued by the
State Bank of North Carolina became in a general degree a
continental currency. In Georgia they were at par, received
and issued by the banks of that state. In South Carolina they
were always at par, except occasionally in the city of Charles-
ton, where they were subject to a small depreciation. Every-
where else they bore a premium, often a considerable one." 1
In 1816 the notes of the North Carolina banks were in demand
in the money markets, being quoted at a premium in Phila-
delphia, and in 1817 specie payments were resumed by the
banks.
1 Report of A. D. Murphey on the Banks (Senate Journal, 1817,
pd. 89-91).
119
:
State Bank Building, Now Rectory Christ Church, Raleigh
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 121
Contemporary with this expansion of the currency there
developed a desire for speculation. The more bank notes is-
sued, the greater was the demand for them. This is well il-
lustrated by the re-charter of the banks of New Bern and
Cape Fear. In 1814 the directors of those institutions peti-
tioned the legislature for an extension of the charters, which
would expire in 1820. The petition was granted on condition
that the banks would increase their capital to $800,000 each.
In favor of the measure it was argued that the existence of
only one bank after 1820, viz. : the State Bank of North Caro-
lina, would create a monopoly and an aristocracy of money
which would be dangerous to the liberty of the people. Com-
petition in the banking business was therefore desirable. So
the Bank of the Cape Fear was allowed to add 5,250 shares to
its capital stock, the bank of New Bern 5,750 ; of this the state
was to subscribe 1,000 shares in each institution, and 180
shares of each subscription should be a bonus, and 410 in
each should be paid for in treasury notes, the rest at the
convenience of the state with no interest on the deferred pay-
ments. The state was to receive dividends on the stock sub-
scribed, but only the margin above six per cent on the stock
unpaid for. The life of both corporations was extended to
1835.
Thus an element of confusion was injected into the mone-
tary condition by the issue of $82,000 in treasury notes, with
which bank stock was purchased. But the taste for treasury
notes, once aroused, could only be satisfied by another issue.
So in 1816, when specie was scarce, $80,000 in denominations
of less than $1 were thrown into circulation through the
State Bank, to be accepted in payments of obligations to the
state and again thrown into circulation by the treasurer, and
when received at the State Bank were to be credited to the
debt of the state to the bank. In the meantime the banks
increased their note issues, the State Bank from $145,000 in
1812 to $1,283,677 in 1818; by 1819 that of the Bank of New
Bern was $553,180, that of the Bank of the Cape Fear, $739,-
935.
The desire for banking investments increased with the in-
flation of the note issues. In 1817 a legislative committee
122 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
recommended an increase in the capital stock of the State
Bank and when the directors disagreed, the unsold stock,
amounting to 4,240 shares, was by legislative action placed on
the market. There was a feeling that the state should assume
the entire amount, but this seemed impossible because the
directors declared that preference was to be given to small in-
vestors and that no proxies would be permitted at the time
of subscription. The legislature thereupon resolved that mem-
bers might purchase shares with money advanced by the
treasurer and quietly turn them over to the state. Only 18
shares were thus secured; evidently the legislators exhausted
their bids in making personal purchases and neglected the
commission for the state. At the next session a bill to increase
the capital stock of the banks of the Cape Fear and New
Bern was introduced but was lost in the Commons.
In 1819 a third influence, the inevitable result of expansion
of the currency and speculation, increased the confusion and
created an incalculable depression. That was a rapid return
of the surplus bank notes upon the banks, and a drain on spe-
cie. Brokers began to buy the notes of the banks and to submit
them for redemption in specie, thus greatly reducing the coin
in the vaults of the banks. The process and its results are well
described in a legislative report of 1819 as follows : "Waggon
after waggon was loaded with specie until the banks found,
or thought they found, that the facility of procuring specie
produced an effect opposite to that which is usual with estab-
lished credit. The notes were not permitted to circulate, but
were collected, and sent in for payment. The specie in the
vaults was rapidly sinking and the difficulty of continuing
specie payments appeared imminent. The only practicable
means were to call on the debtors for payment. To the
banks it was not material whether the notes were paid in their
notes or specie. The first withdrew their notes from the
reach of the brokers. The last enabled the banks to meet them
by whomsoever presented. Unquestionably this was the regu-
lar remedy, if it were not forbidden by peculiar reasons. But
it was represented that the situation of the state did not leave
it in the power of its citizens to pay these debts without the
most ruinous sacrifices of property and universal distress.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 123
This distress the banks were obliged to occasion or hazard
the credit of their institution. Thus situated, they adopted
the alternative which they believed the less mischievous.
* * * They refused specie to brokers but paid them off in
drafts of the North to the South. The distinction between
brokers and others was too minute to be steadily observed;
others have, no doubt, been refused subsequently, or have
found difficulty in procuring specie for notes presented. ' ' 2
The above quotation is notable for two reasons; first,
it was made in 1819 at the beginning of the great financial
crisis which swept over the South and "West and gives a favor-
able construction to the suspension of specie payment by the
North Carolina banks ; secondly, it was an official, legislative
report, the spirit of which was a contrast to the radicalism
which was manifest in the legislature a few years later.
Unfortunately the suspension of specie payment did not
put an end to the pressure on the banks. The brokers had
recourse to the courts and secured judgments forcing pay-
ment in specie. The banks had either to close their doors or
to increase the amount of specie. For the latter purpose sev-
eral questionable methods were resorted to. One, practised by
the State Bank and the Bank of New Bern, was to refuse
accommodation to customers unless payment should be in
specie ; as illustration, a loan of $1,000 in notes would be made
on condition that the principal and interest should be paid
in specie. As the bank notes were discounted at 5 per cent
and the rate of interest on the bond was 6 per cent, it was
charged that 11 per cent interest was being exacted, which was
usury. Another expedient, used by the State Bank and the
Bank of the Cape Fear, was to buy their own notes outside
the state at a figure higher than the market price as a means
of "appreciating the notes and giving them greater currency. '
The same institutions also purchased stock of the Second Bank
of the United States as a means of securing funds equivalent
to specie. Moreover, the president? of the State Bank in 1822
and 1827 bought cotton with the bank's funds, selling for spe-
cie at a profit in 1822 but at a loss in 1827. This was not
Senate Journal, 1819, pp. 121-124.
. S JW4A
mm
ft.hwt
3-1 »«'
i
t*i i btiiTn-aiiu rrrJ
State Treasury Notes
HISTORY OP NORTH CAROLINA 125
an irregularity merely; it was a violation of the bank's
charter.
By such means the banks endeavored to protect their notes
without calling in their loans. The state also offered aid ; the
legislature in 1820 authorized the purchase of bank stock with
the surplus money in the treasury,, and in 1821, 153 shares of
the State Bank were bought, 53 of the Bank of New Bern,
and 108 of the Bank of the Cape Fear. In 1823 further sup-
port of the banks was given by the issue of $100,000 of
treasury notes, which were to be a legal tender for all finan-
cial obligations to the state. These were then thrown into
circulation and bank notes and specie received in exchange
were to be invested in bank stock. Accordingly 24 shares in
the State Bank, 330 in the Bank of New Bern, and 680 in the
Bank of the Cape Fear were purchased in 1826. The Literary
Board also came to the aid of the banks by purchasing 204
shares of the State Bank, 141 of the Bank of New Bern and
50 of the Bank of the Cape Fear. But all these measures
proved ineffective, for in 1825 a powerful influence began to
operate which forced a resumption of specie. This was the
Second Bank of the United States. In 1825 the branch at
Fayetteville began to make payment in its own notes only,
but received the notes of the local banks unreservedly, and in
1827 " branch drafts" were offered in exchange for the notes
of the North Carolina banks. The result was that the Second
Bank secured large amounts of notes of the North Carolina
banks, submitted them in demand for specie, and the banks
were forced to comply with the demand. The banks, outgen-
eralled in the game of finance, were forced to call in their
loans, which amounted to $5,500,000, while their notes in circu-
lation had shrunk to $1,500,000. In December, 1828, the stock-
holders of the State Bank met and a committee recommended
a wind-up of its business, but action on the report was post-
poned until the following June.
Undoubtedly some practices of the banks were clear viola-
tions of the charters ; others if adopted to-day, when general
banking laws have been worked out, would cause the prose-
cution of bank officials. There was ample material for a po-
litical attack on the banks based on their relation to the
126 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
state, and an audience was at hand consisting of the debtors
who were being forced by the banks to meet their obligations.
When the legislature of 1828-29 met a joint committee made
an examination of the affairs of the banks. Its report was
two-fold: that of the majority, after reviewing the question-
able methods introduced into the banking business during the
past few years, recommended that the banks be compelled to
meet their obligations in specie. That of the minority magni-
fied the indiscretion and violations of banking rules into ex-
tortions of the people, in the following manner. First, the
payment of part of the subscriptions for bank stock in per-
sonal notes instead of in specie was characterized as a fraud.
Referring to the additions to the capital stock of the banks of
New Bern and Cape Fear the report said: ''It is in evidence
to the undersigned that the whole of the additional stock was
manufactured by the banks themselves, and that, in many
instances, favored individuals were permitted to acquire stock
by subscribing their names and putting their notes into the
bank, without advancing a single dollar for capital. It follows
that the whole amount of the interest drawn from the people,
on the loans made from this fictitious capital, was a foul and
illegal extortion." 3
Likewise the method by which subscriptions to the stock of
the State Bank were paid was censured. Of the capital with
which the institution began business, amounting to $1,176,000,
only $500,000 was in specie, the rest being bank notes. Also
when the remainder of the stock was placed on the market in
1818, sales were negotiated in bank notes. "But the charter,"
says the committee, "authorized the bank to operate on a real
and intrinsic capital, and directed that that capital should be
paid into the bank by the stockholders. In the transaction re-
ferred to, the bank, by a scribbling process of its own, created
capital, and paid off a portion of its debt, by the very act by
which it also increased its capital." 4
The evils of buying stock at advanced rates and of spec-
ulation in cotton were also condemned by the minority. The
3 Report of the minutes and proceedings of the Joint Committee,
p. 7.
4 Ibid, p. 8.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 12?
damage inflicted on the people was described as follows:
''It appears that the people of North Carolina, having al-
ready paid to the banks since they went into operation a profit
of $4,000,000 on their stock — stock, too, three-fourths of which
was manufactured by the banks themselves in a fictitious
and fraudulent manner — that having paid this immense sum,
exceeding four times the amount of actual capital stock ever
paid into the bank according to law, they still hold the notes
of the people for more than $5,000,000, about four times the
amount of the whole circulating medium of the State. Thus it
is in the power of the banks absolutely to extinguish the
currency of the country, and when they have taken every dollar
out of circulation, still to have a debt against the people to
the amount of about $4,000,000. * * * The communica-
tion from the stockholders of the State Bank now before the
committee, expresses the opinion that it is for the interest of
the stockholders to withdraw their money from the bank, and
take it under their own management ; and contains a resolution
by which they have proclaimed their determination to assem-
ble June the next, in order to wind up their affairs ; and, con-
sequently the affairs of the people of North Carolina. Thus,
having for years contrived by illegal and fraudulent practices
to draw from the people all the profits of their labors, and
having by these practices placed the people in an impoverished
condition, where they can no longer pay them large profits,
they are now preparing by one fell swoop to extort from them
the actual means of subsistence." 5
In conclusion the minority report expressed the conviction
that the banks had violated their charters and recommended
that the attorney-general institute proceedings against them
through the writ of quo warranto, or other legal process.
The question of adopting the majority or minority report
led to one of the memorable debates in the legislature of
North Carolina. Mr. Potter, chairman of the joint committee
and leader of the minority, submitted a bill directing the at-
torney-general to bring quo warranto proceedings against
the banks, the trial to be conducted by the Supreme Court
5 Ibid, p. 10.
128 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
with a jury, and in case of a verdict of guilty, the Court was
to take over the affairs of the banks and the governor was
to pledge the faith of the state for the redemption of the
notes and debts of the institutions. The opposition to the
bill was led in the House of Commons by William Gaston
and David L. Swain, who threw some light on the conduct
of the banks different from that of the minority report. Mr.
Swain showed that the expansion of banking capital was due
to pressure of the legislature, while Gaston took up a number
of specific accusations against the banks. In reply to the
charge of accepting illegally notes for subscription to bank
stock, he showed that the amended charters of the banks of
New Bern and the Cape Fear did not require specie to be paid
for the new stock and that subscriptions made to the State
Bank in paper (promissory notes) were necessary because
at that time the other banks had a monopoly on the
specie in the state. Thus expediency, not a desire to defraud,
caused this violation of sound banking: but a modern reader
of his speech must be surprised at the claim that offering-
notes redeemable in specie was equivalent to paying in specie.
Gaston also maintained that requiring those who applied for
loans to pay the principal and interest in specie was not
usury, for the intention of the banks was not to get unlawful
interest but to preserve specie, and the specie so obtained was
soon paid out in redemption of their notes. Practically, how-
ever, any one must see that the practice imposed a burden on
the debtor equivalent to usury. As to the remedy proposed, a
dissolution of the banks, Gaston made the following criti-
cism, the most cogent part of his speech :
"Do you wish to produce a forfeiture of the charters?
The effect is a dissolution of the corporations — a complete
extinction of their existence. And when this takes place,
what is the conditon of our country? Upon the dissolution
of the corporation — upon its civil death I state the law
to be, and I state it with an entire readiness to pledge on
the correctness of this statement, my professional reputation,
whatever it may be — I state the law to be, that the lands of
the corporation revert to those from whom they came — that
the personal chattels are taken by the State, for the want of
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 129
an owner — and that all debts due to or from the corporation
are completely and forever extinguished. Suppose the Bank
Corporations dissolved, then, and what is the condition of our
country ! The debtors are indeed released — they may be bene-
fitted by the tremendous catastrophe. But what of the value
of the million and half of the bank notes in circulation! They
are converted into rags. What the value of your 7,027 shares
of bank stock! Whence will come your available funds to
carry on the operations of government ! How are you from an
impoverished people to raise the necessary revenue!" 6
In reply to Gaston Mr. Alexander took the position that
the debts due the banks would, on the dissolution of the cor-
poration, become the property of the state which would make
proper disposition of them, citing the seizure of loyalist prop-
erty during the Revolution. Gaston, in rejoinder, showed that
loyalist property was not the property of citizens but of
aliens, while banking property was the property of citizens
and by a decision of the courts the property of citizens "is
placed out of the power of the collective body of the people
and no act of the General Assembly could impair property
rights, nor could the legislature provide a new penalty for the
punishment of past deeds, for that would be a violation of the
charters, retrospective law making, a revolutionary principle
in North Carolina and a violation of the federal constitution."
The argument of Gaston was by far the ablest of all the
defenders of the banks. Indeed the opposition to the program
of the radicals was so strong that Mr. Potter modified his
bill so as to make the State Bank alone the object of prose-
cution and to have the state guarantee its debts. After some
discussion of the amended bill the vote was taken. The result
was a tie which was broken in favor of the opposition by the
ballot of Mr. Settle, the Speaker of the House of Commons.
The charters of the banks were thus saved from judicial
procedure, but the conflict between radical and conservative
finance took a new form the next year. The banks of New
Bern and the Cape Fear petitioned for an extension of their
charters so as to give their debtors easier terms in settling
6 Debates on the bill directing a prosecution of the several banks,
voi. n— 9
130 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
their accounts, the bill being introduced by Mr. Gaston. The
radicals opposed the measure; they declared that the banks
had known for years when their charters would expire, that
they should have taken measures earlier to wind up their
business, and that an extension of the charters would not
help the people but merely accommodate the banks and in the
light of their misdemeanors such a favor should not be
granted. Again the most convincing argument was made by
Gaston. He showed that the sentiment of the stock holders
was to make over the banking property to trustees imme-
diately and wind up the business ; that the proposed extension
of the charters was suggested by a legislative committee which
had been appointed at the last session to examine into the
affairs of the banks ; and that the measure would be in the
interest of the people. Mainly to Mr. Gaston 's argument was
due the success of the movement for extension. As finallv
%j
shaped, the law provided for an extension of the charters
of all the banks until 1838 ; prohibited new loans by the State
Bank after September 1, 1830, by the others after December
31, 1834; forbade any accommodation loans after September
], 1830; limited the installments on the existing debts to not
more than one twentieth each ninety days and also prohibited
the issue of bills under $5 after December 1, 1832, or any
denomination after December 31, 1834, and required the re-
demption of one third of the existing debts by December,
1834; allowed the bank stock to be received in payment of
debts; and dividends of capital stock might be issued after
January 1, 1833. The State Bank was also allowed to reduce
the number of its directors and the tax on the stock of the
other banks was to be abolished after 1834.
The second financial issue of 1829-30 was the establish-
ment of a new bank. This problem was an imperative one
on account of the approaching dissolution of the existing
banks. In the discussion there was a long and bitter conflict
between the influences of sound and radical finance. The
matter was opened by a bill for a Bank of the State presented
by Mr. Martin, of Rockingham County. The capital of the
proposed institution was to consist of all property and
stock of the state not otherwise appropriated, including lands,
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 131
bank stock, funds and notes due to the state, etc. ; its officers
were to be elected annually by the legislature, its loans were
to be made on real estate or discount notes with two indorse-
ments, and the funds available for loans were to be appro-
priated among the counties in proportion to the amount
of taxes paid, with a trustee in each county to negotiate the
loans and to represent the bank; and cash with which the
William Gaston
bank would begin operations should be procured by the issue
of state bonds to the amount of $300,000, which should be sold
for specie, and the state should be reimbursed by the profits
of the bank.
In support of this bill the experience of other states was
cited, notably that of Alabama and Georgia. It was also
argued that the bank would receive on deposits funds realized
from the state's stock in other banks and that the production
of gold in North Carolina would enable the directors to secure
a large amount of the precious metal which would be con-
132 HISTOKY OF NORTH CAROLINA
verted into specie. In the Senate, although the evils in the
plan were ably exposed by Mr. Meares, the bill was carried
by a vote of 33 to 25. In the Commons there was a vigorous
and successful opposition, Swain and Gaston again making
the most effective arguments. Swain advanced the objection
that the notes of a bank founded on assets of the state would
violate the clause of the Federal Constitution which forbade
the states to issue bills of credit, while Gaston emphasized the
inherent danger of the state undertaking the banking business.
Most remarkable, however, was Gaston's arraignment of the
men who fostered the plan for such a bank as that under dis-
cussion. He said: —
"I trust that I shall give no offense, and most certainly in-
tend none, when I state that there are few in this body who
possess the accurate information on this subject which is nec-
essary to protect them from error and imposition. The busi-
ness of banking in a State so . little commercial as ours,
cannot be expected to be well understood in its principles,
much less in its details. Several gentlemen, indeed, avow
themselves to be unacquainted with the subject and they are of
course obliged to rely on the judgment and fidelity of those
who can advance higher pretensions. If, unfortunately, those
should prove blind or treacherous guides, how can their fol-
lowers hope to escape from injury?
"But there is far more danger to be apprehended than
want of knowledge. Honest ignorance is often associated
with prudence, which like those wonderful instincts bestowed
by a bountiful Creator on inferior beings, performs its salu-
tary purpose with a certainty beyond the reach of enlightened
reason. * * Our perils arise chiefly from other quar-
ters. They arise from the time, from selfishness, and above
all from the love of popularity. Among the consequences
which have resulted from excessive banking in this state,
few are more prominent than the breaking down of those who
have freely availed themselves of the accommodations it
offered. Some of these individuals are deserving of our best
sympathies. But such are not all. Unquestionably
there are many who, bankrupt in reputation as in fortune,
turn to patriotism as a trade and strive to win place and make
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 133
money by pandering to the prejudices of the ignorant, the
hopes of the necessitous, and the wishes of the vicious. Is it
strange that these should project schemes by which new mon-
ey-factories are to be erected — offices with fine salaries created
— and the means of tinkering broken characters and supply-
ing squandered estates, made abundant and easy? Is it singu-
lar that they should find a ready hearing with the yet larger
number of those who, embarrassed but not broken, alarmed
but not despairing, seize eagerly upon every suggestion that
promises a change of creditor, or a postponement of the de-
mand, awaiting some lucky chance till a gold mine or a lottery
ticket shall rescue them from threatened ruin? Or is it extra-
ordinary that those, who are themselves free from selfish or
impure motives, should catch by contagion the sentiments
disseminated around them and rashly pledge themselves to
plans which they do not understand but which they are assured
are to produce incalculable benefits to their neighbors and
friends?
"Perhaps even these are not the principal sources of the
unwise views which seem to prevail. There is a fashion in
political whimsies as in the fancies of dress, which if adopted
without examination, runs its course and then passeth away.
Banks of the States have been lately the fashion around us.
All of them have not yet broken, and thus made manifest the
wretched materials of which they were constructed. And
why should we not have banks of the State also? This I am
convinced, sir, operates most powerfully to produce the delu-
sion which I lament, and which it is my anxious wish to dispel.
And as the novelties of dress most strongly attract those
who long to catch woman's smile, and please woman's eye, so
the novelties of legislation are most readily adopted by the
politicians who are eager in the race for popular favor. As no
strength of understanding secures the young gallant from the
absurdities of the mode, so neither sense nor principle pro-
tects from pernicious but fashionable political errors, him
who is over solicitous to please the people." 7
The opposition to the bill was aided by a technicality : the
7 Debates on the bill for establishino; a Bank of the State.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 135
text of the bill as presented had some gaps regarding the
amount of capital of the proposed bank; it was therefore
sent back to the Senate as not "perfect" according to the
rules of the legislature. The Senate, however, declared the
bill perfect; again the House referred the bill to the Senate,
when the gaps were filled in, but by that time the matter was
adjusted. Gaston, Swain and other leaders of the opposition
in the House had secured strength enough to secure indefinite
postponement by a vote of sixty-seven to sixty-three.
The movement for a bank on the funds of the state was
again defeated in the sessions of 1830-31, 1831-1832, but in
1832 the State Bank declared a stock dividend of 50 per cent
and was nearly ready to close its doors. This made some
new provision for banking more urgent than ever. Six
bills for a new bank were introduced in the session of 1832-
33; that of Mr. Barringer was finally adopted with some
amendments. It provided for a Bank of North Carolina with
a capital of $2,000,000, one half of which was to be subscribed
by the state ; the officers were to be elected the first year by the
stockholders, thereafter by the legislature. The institution
thus outlined was not organized, the reason therefor being
that the private stock was not subscribed, capitalists not
caring to be a party to an institution whose officers would
be elected by the legislature. So at the next session the charter
was remodeled. A new name, Bank of the State of North
Carolina, was chosen ; its charter was to extend to 18G0, the
capital was fixed at $1,500,000 to be paid in gold or silver or
their equivalents, of which the state was to subscribe two
fifths; the number of directors was fixed at ten, of whom
four should be appointed by the state, and the treasurer of
the state should be a member ex officio. The bank was to
open its doors when one half of the stock should be paid in, but
no dividends should be declared until the entire stock was sold.
The note issues were limited to twice the amount of capital.
At the same session the charter of the Bank of the Cape
Fear was extended until January 1, 1855, with a capital of
8,000 shares, and its debt limit was fixed at $1,600,000 above
the amount on deposit. Brivate banks at New Bern and
Edenton were chartered at the same session.
136 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
The evils and controversies which arose from the early
experience in banking suggest certain questions pertaining to
the relation of the banks to the state, the currency, and public
opinion. First of these is the value of the state's investment
in bank stock. The table on the opposite page shows the total
income from each bank, the amount of the state's actual in-
vestment, and the resulting profit.
Clearly the investments of the state in bank stock yielded a
large profit. Also the state's stock contributed to the growth
of new economic and social projects through the Fund for
Internal Improvements and the Literary Fund. To the
former were appropriated the state's dividends from the
Banks of New Bern and the Cape Fear in 1821, while in 1825
the additional stock in these banks purchased with the treas-
ury notes of 1823 was made a part of the Literary Fund.
However, the internal improvement policy of the state was
a notorious failure, and no expenditures from the Literary
Fund were made for schools until 1839. Also the policies of
the banks, already reviewed, were not conducive to prosperity
among the people ; and when the people suffer, any prosperity
on the part of the government is very nominal.
The extent to which the currency was inflated can not be
determined; but it is certain that the amount of notes in
circulation was not so great as the charters of the banks
would permit. Also, in 1825 and thereafter, when the in-
fluence of the Second Bank of the United States was felt,
there was a gradual contraction of the notes in circulation,
the issues of the State Bank declining from $1,598,673 to
$655,156, those of the Bank of the Cape Fear from $776,417
to $235,460, and those of the Bank of New Bern from $677,-
597 to $325,444.
An unique feature of the inflation of the currency was
the issue between the years 1825 and 1828 of treasury notes
by the state. Although the constitutionality of issuing them
was questioned, notably by Gaston, no step was taken in the
courts to test their validity. They were gradually redeemed
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
137
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138 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
and the redemption was a strain on the treasury in years
when the state was facing a deficit. The following table shows
the process of redemption :
Total Issue
1811 $ 82,000
1816 80,000
1823 100,000
$262,000
Amount Burxed Yearly
1819
$913.34
1827
$9,303.76
1821
7,710.00
1828
17,781.89
1822
9,784.52
1829
19,971.85 1-2
1823
6,310.51 1-4
1830
21,601.61
1824
5,696.25
1831
29,811.77
1825
12,170.89 3-4
1832
18,681.38 3-4
1826
15,392.46
1833
10,565.41
1827
15,523.98
1834
5,138.22
Finally, the cleavage between the forces of conservatism
and radicalism in adjusting the banking problem was deep
and lasting. Illustrative of this is the fact that Swain and
Gaston, the leaders of the conservative faction, were later
leaders of the anti-Jackson movement in North Carolina and
that the issue which caused the greatest defection from Jack-
son in the state was his financial policy of 1832. Thus sound
financial policies were one of the fundamental bases of the
whig party in North Carolina.
CHAPTER VIII
THE AGITATION FOR CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
AND THE CONVENTION OF 1835
For forty years after the ratification of the Federal Con-
stitution late in 1789, the most important issue in North Caro-
lina was that of revising the State Constitution of 1776. The
demand for reform, frequently voiced and as frequently
stifled, gradually became more insistent until by 1830 it over-
shadowed all other questions, impeded plans for social and
economic improvement, produced the dilemma of reform or
revolution, and culminated in the constitutional convention
of 1835. The causes of the agitation were various; they
may be classified in three groups, — forms of government in-
compatible with the growth of democracy, local sectionalism
and economic reform, and minor social and political issues.
However these causes were not separate and distinct; they
were clearly related to each other, the influence of one rein-
forcing the agitation of the others until finally the entire state
was convulsed over the problem of constitutional revision.
The first cause of discontent, forms of government out of
harmony with the advance of the democratic ideal, is made
clear by certain provisions of the Constitution of 1776. "All
political power is vested in the people and derived from the
people," said the opening clause of the Bill of Rights. In
contrast certain clauses in the Constitution placed restric-
tions on the exercise of political power by the people. The
governor was required to possess in freehold lands above
the value of £1,000, members of the Senate 300 acres or more,
and members of the House of Commons 100 acres. The landed
class was thus given a monopoly on the legislature and the
executive. Regarding suffrage there was a compromise. To
vote for state senator a citizen was required to possess fifty
139
David L. Swain
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 141
acres, but to vote for members of the House of Commons pay-
ment of taxes only was necessary. Of these qualifications
the 50 acres for senatorial suffrage and the 100 for member-
ship in the Commons were survivals of colonial practice ; that
requiring senators to possess 300 acres was an innovation.
Another requirement of the Constitution which also proved
inadequate was the dependence of the executive on the legisla-
ture. The governor was elected annually by the General
Assembly; he also had no veto power, and any independ-
ence of action on his part was checked by a council of state,
appointed by the legislature, whose advice was official, and
whose records were open to review by the legislature. Thus
the office of governor was deprived of prerogatives it had
enjoyed in the colonial period. Other executive officers, the
treasurer, the comptroller, and the secretary of state, were
also elected by the legislature. Nor did the judiciary fare
much better. The judges were elected by the legislature, and
the justices of the peace were appointed on the nomination of
the county members of the legislature. The judges held office
during good behavior, but the permanence of their salaries
was not guaranteed, and there arose a strong feeling that
the independence of the judiciary was not secure.
The test of years soon revealed serious defects. Among
these was the absence of a strong, independent executive, a
weakness caused by the dependence of the executive on the
legislature. William Hooper is reported to have said that
"the governor was given just enough power to receipt for his
salary and even this was left in the hands of the General
Assembly." Annual elections brought forth many candidates ;
the dead lock and the dark horse were the result. Said Mr.
Speight in 1835 : " No member knows until he gets to Ealeigh
who will be the candidate for that office. Sometimes three
or four candidates will be run and so many days spent without
either obtaining a majority; and then probably by some
arrangement among the members one of the lower candidates
in the former ballotings may be elected. " * A greater evil was
the annual term which gave the governor no time to initiate
1 Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of North Carolina,
p. 334.
142 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
ideas or to formulate a constructive policy. The result was
that the office of governor was too often sought as a stepping-
stone to higher honors. Says a pamphlet of 1833: "Is the
office of governor oftener coveted for its own sake or a step-
ping stone to other stations of preferment in the gift of the
legislature? Does it comport with the dignity of the office
that the incumbent shall be forced to win it by personal elec-
tioneering among the members of the Assembly?" 2
There were also evils in the legislative system. The Consti-
tution did not fix the time of sessions; custom made them
annual. The result was all the evils of over-legislation. The
law became diffuse, obscure, and uncertain. Statutes whose
value was questionable were often enacted with the intent
of repealing them the next year if they proved unsatisfactory.
There were thus frequent changes in the law, and, as roads
and mail service were poor, the knowledge of a statute often
barely reached the people before it was repealed or super-
seded by another. The scope of legislative action was also very
wide. Many of the present-day duties of local government
and the courts were performed by the General Assembly.
Among these were the opening of roads, the construction of
bridges, the granting of divorces, and the legitimization of
children. Here was an opportunity for the local Solons. De-
siring fame or re-election, they introduced many bills of a
purely local nature which were often modified or repealed
to meet the demand of popular opinion. There was a strong
tendency for local legislation to occupy most of the time of the
General Assembly. The session of 1833 may be taken as an
example. It lasted nearly three months, enacted thirty-two
public laws, one hundred and fifty-five private acts, and fifty
resolutions. Such a record caused criticism in all parts of the
state.
Besides producing inefficiency in the law, annual sessions
were the cause of increasing expense. As new counties were
formed, the number of members increased. Thus in 1776
there were only thirty-six counties which, together with the
boroughs, elected 114 senators and representatives; in 1833
Address to the Freemen of North Carolina, etc., p. 8.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 143
the counties had increased to sixty-four and the number of
legislators to 199. Moreover as membership expanded, there
was a tendency for the sessions to become longer. The ex-
pense of legislation therefore increased. In the early years
of statehood the annual expense of the legislature was $15,000 ;
by 1830 it had increased to $40,000. Under the existing con-
dition of the finances this was a burden. In 1833 the treasurer
estimated the total expense of the state government at $160,-
000, the available resources at $140,000, and the largest single
item, the cost of the legislature, at $42,000.
In addition to these larger constitutional issues, there was
also a demand for minor reforms — such as equalization of
the poll tax among whites and blacks, prohibiting members of
the legislature from holding office under both state and federal
governments, and shortening the term of office of the attor-
ney general from life to a number of years. Equally impor-
tant in the agitation for reform were certain political and
social issues, — borough representation, religious disabilities
for office-holding, and free-negro suffrage.
Of these institutions and customs, borough representa-
tion was by far the oldest. It illustrates the transfer of British
institutions to Carolina. The Charter of 1663 authorized the
Lords Proprietors to give "letters patent of incorporation
with all liberties, franchises, and privileges requisite and use-
ful within this our kingdom of England, granted or belong-
ing." As there was neither vigorous commercial life nor dis-
tinct economic interest to be specially guarded during the
colonial period, the only reason for establishing boroughs was
to encourage town life and to perpetuate British institutions.
Nine boroughs were incorporated, viz. : Newbern, Bath, Eden-
ton, Wilmington, Brunswick, Halifax, Salisbury, Hillsboro,
and Campbelton. In these suffrage was limited to freeholders
or householders, and representation to freeholders. By 1776
there was a widespread discontent with the borough franchise,
and in the Constitution the franchises of Bath, Brunswick and
Campbelton were not perpetuated ; but, as a concession to com-
merce, the privileges of Newbern, Wilmington, Halifax and
Edenton were continued. However, these were eastern
boroughs; to conciliate the west the franchises of Hillsboro
144 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
and Salisbury were also preserved; and in 1789 the conven-
tion which ratified the Federal Constitution revived the fran-
chise of Campbelton, changing the name of the borough to
Fayetteville.
By 1835 there was a strong feeling that borough franchise
must go. For this there were several reasons. One was the
general decline among the eastern boroughs. Their commerce
did not flourish and their population did not increase. In the
convention of 1835 this criticism was well stated by Mr. Wilson
of Perquimans, an easterner: "If it be true that this right of
representation is essential to the protection of their interests,
why has not the fostering care of the legislature for more than
fifty years been able to prevent them from sinking into ruin?
Halifax, sir, is gone ; Edenton is gone, and Newbern is not far
behind * * but, sir, it is said that there are mysteries
about this trade and commerce that only mercantile gentle-
men can understand. Why, then, sir, do they not send here
merchants instead of lawyers or doctors!" 3 Of more weight
than this were the violence and abuses in the borough elections.
Said Mr. Smith, of Hillsboro : "Has the moral condition of the
borough towns been improved by the privilege which they
possess of sending members to the legislature? On the con-
trary, the annual elections, it is notorious, in most of the towns
are productive of feuds, quarrels, and bloodshed. Mechanics
and others are excited by the parties interested in such elec-
tions, business is neglected, and the morals of the people are
corrupted." 4 Similar criticisms were made by delegates
from Halifax and Wilmington.
The provisions of the Constitution regarding religion were
no more satisfactory than borough representation. While
they had no large place in the agitation for reform, they illus-
trate some of the prejudices of the past and the inadequacy
of the Constitution for actual conditions. Three principles
were fixed in 1776; that there should be no established reli-
gion, that no minister of the gospel while in the active dis-
charge of his pastoral duties should be a member of the legis-
lature or the council of state, and that no one who denied the
3 Proceedings and Debates, pp. 34-35.
4 Ibid., 36.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 145
"being of God or the truth of the Protestant religion, or the
divine authority of either the Old or the New Testament, or
who shall hold Religious principles incompatible with the
freedom and safety of the State," should hold office or position
of trust. The sources and meaning of these clauses are not
uniformly clear. The prohibition of an established church is
natural in the light of the ecclesiastical controversies of the
colonial period ; but the disability of clergymen while in the
active discharge of their duties is peculiar, as Dr. David Cald-
well was a member of the Congress which framed the Consti-
tution and other clergymen did much for the Revolutionary
cause. A similar provision in the constitution of Delaware
suggests that the restriction was the result of general ideas
rather than a particular grievance. The denial of the Protest-
ant religion, or the divine authority of the Old and New
Testament as a disability is at least vague. Did it contemplate
the establishment of a test oath! What was meant by the
term Protestant religion?
The prohibition of an established church never raised any
question, but the application of the other two clauses was
sometimes a source of irritation. As the Constitution did not
state when a minister should be considered in the discharge of
his pastoral duties, the way was left open for a conflict be-
tween a political and an ecclesiastical interpretation thereof.
In 1801 John Culpepper and William Taylor were expelled
from the State Senate because of their ministerial activities ;
Culpepper then entered federal politics and was elected to
Congress. In 1820 Rev. Josiah Crudup, Baptist, was found to
be a "regular ordained minister," preaching the gospel, ad-
ministering baptism, and performing the marriage ceremony,
and it was therefore recommended that his seat in the Senate
be vacated. Mr. Crudup 's defense was that no Baptist min-
ister was a pastor until he became the head of a congregation,
and such he had never been, that he had never received money
for his services, and that he had not performed any religious
sacraments since his election. But the view prevailed that any
ordained minister was in a pastoral function, and his seat was
vacate^.. Like Culpepper, Mr. Crudup turned to federal poli-
tics, was elected to Congress in 1821 from the Eighth Dis-
"tal. 11—10
146 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
trict, and served one term. He was succeeded by Willie P.
Manguru, but in 1825 he opposed Manguni's re-election. Man-
gum won by a vote of fifty-six, and is reported to have con-
sidered Crudup the most formidable opponent he had ever
known.
The denial of religious ideas as a disability was never put
into practice. Catholics, free thinkers, and Jews held offices
of honor as well as Protestants. But there was prejudice
against all non-Protestants, especially against non-Christians,
and there were some attempts to use this prejudice for politi-
cal purposes. A notable case was that of Joseph Henry, a
Jew, who was elected to the House of Commons from Carteret
County in 1808. The following year a resolution was pre-
sented that he was not entitled to a seat because he denied the
divine authority of the New Testament. After a long debate,
in which Mr. Henry made a speech that was widely circulated,
the resolution was rejected. Thus toleration triumphed when
it was pitted against persecution. But by 1835 disabilities
based on religious conviction had become entirely ineffective,
for in 1834 William Gaston, a Catholic, was elected to the
Supreme Court. The contrast between the theory of the
Constitution and political custom was apparent to all. It did
much to spread a conviction that the Constitution was not per-
fect, and the revision of the thirty-second article was therefore
undertaken.
The question of free negro suffrage was peculiar. Its
origin is obscure, evidently due to that clause in the Constitu-
tion which gave all free men the right to vote for members
of the House of Commons. Individual free negroes attained
eminence in religious and industrial life. But by 1830 there
was a movement to restrict the liberties of free men of color,
and the question of denying them the suffrage was naturally
injected into the movement for constitutional reform, although
there was no distinct agitation of the matter.
By all odds the greatest issue in the movement for con-
stitutional revision was that of local sectionalism and eco-
nomic reform. The cleavage between the eastern and western
counties, so apparent in the days of the Regulation, still
existed. An irregular line, including the present eastern
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 147
boundary of Granville, and extending thence along the western
boundaries of Wake, Harnett, Cumberland, and Scotland
counties, divided the state into two factions. The counties to
the east were more numerous, and as the Constitution appor-
tioned representation equally, two representatives and one
senator to each county, they had a majority in the legislature.
This supremacy became unjust in the light of economic condi-
tions. The average size of the western counties was greater
than that of the eastern, their resources were larger, their
development more rapid. Population, outlined in the follow-
ing table, illustrates the inequality.
West Increase Per Ct. East Increase Per Ct.
1790 159,752 234,297
1800 219,904 60,152 37 5 /i 258,179 23,882 10 2 /io
1810 263,219 43,315 19 7 /i 292,280 34,101 13 2 /io
1820 308,139 44,920 17Vio 330,690 38,410 13Ko
1830 374,092 65,953 21 4 / 10 363,896 33,206 10
These figures show that at each decade there was a larger
increase in population in the west than in the east until in
1830 the west surpassed the east. Moreover, between 1820
and 1830 there was a decline of population in three eastern
counties. In defence the east pointed to its larger wealth,
for its taxes were greater than those paid by the west.
However, if representation be viewed from the interests
of the state at large, it was clearly unjust. According to the
assessment of 1815 eight counties, eastern and western,
(Gates, Columbus, Lenoir, Ashe, Haywood, Perquimons, Pas-
quotank, and Tyrrell) had a total land value less than Eowan,
a large western county, or Halifax, a large eastern county;
yet these eight counties chose sixteen representatives, Rowan
and Halifax four each (boroughs included). By the assess-
ment of 1833 thirty-three of the sixty-four counties con-
tributed less than one-third of the state's revenue; forty did
not pjay taxes enough to cover their cost to the state, yet
they had a majority in the legislature. Indeed there were
twenty-four counties whose aggregate expenses more than
doubled their public taxes. There were twenty that did not
148 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
pay into the treasury enough to meet the expenses of their
representatives in the legislature; twelve paid an aggregate
state tax of $5,400, while the expenses of their representatives
averaged $8,000 per annum. Population from this state-wide
view showed similar results. In 1820 twelve small counties
sent thirty-six members to the assembly; Rowan and Orange,
two western counties, sent six, but the population of the two
groups was approximately equal. In 1833 thirty-three coun-
ties, with little more than one-third of the total population,
sent ninety-nine members, but on the basis of white popula-
tion they had larger representation than thirty-one counties
with more than two-thirds of the white population.
One remedy for this inequality was to increase the number
of western representatives by dividing the large counties. But
the east was opposed to any reduction of its political power,
and the organization of new western counties was usually fol-
lowed by an increase in the east. From 1776 to 1833 eighteen
counties were organized in the west, while fifteen were formed
in the east. This small gain of three counties was by no means
strong enough to overthrow the sectional majority. As time
passed the organization of new western counties became more
and more difficult, because the territory available for corre-
sponding counties in the east was gradually exhausted. As-
tuteness on the part of western leaders was always necessary
to secure the organization of a new county. A favorite method
to secure eastern votes was to name the new counties for
eastern leaders; thus Burke, Caswell, Iredell, Ashe, Moore,
and Macon were named for active eastern men, and Buncombe,
Stanly, and Davie for deceased leaders of the east. How acute
was the sectional hostility to new counties is illustrated by
events in 1822 and 1823. A bill was introduced and passed
to create the new County of Davidson during the session of
1822 ; the next year every eastern man who voted for it failed
to be re-elected. Among these was Ex-Governor Miller, of
Warren, who was defeated by Gen. M. T. Hawkins, on the
ground that a new western county endangered the interests
of the east and placed the Constitution of the state in jeop-
ardy.
As the creation of new western counties was checked, the
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 149
only hope for a more equitable representation of the west lay
in the revision of the Constitution by a convention. The agi-
tation for reform is almost as old as statehood itself. Much
of the literature relating to it has been lost ; but the perspec-
tive of years outlines distinctly certain landmarks.
First of these was in 1787. Eleven years had passed since
equal representation had been embodied in the State Constitu-
tion. The great question of ratifying the Federal Constitu-
tion was now before the people. On the legislature devolved
the duty of summoning a convention to consider federal rela-
tions. In the Senate a group of members hoped to refer to the
Convention the question of local constitutional reform. Indeed
they were able to carry a resolution for a joint committee to
investigate the changes that were needed and to report to the
convention, but the measure was lost in the Commons. The
reforms specified were a change in the system of representa-
tion and less frequent sessions of the legislature. Later
authorities state that members of the legislature, who had been
members of the Convention of 1776 which framed the Con-
stitution, with one exception favored the resolutions looking to
reform and that their rejection was due to the representa-
tives from the seven trans-montane counties that soon became
a part of Tennessee. Was this a log-roll by which the far
western counties were promised the aid of the east in the move-
ment for separation in return for votes against reform! In
spite of failure in the legislature, the reform proposition was
brought up in the convention of 1788 ; again it was defeated,
according to tradition, by the votes of the trans-montane
counties.
No sooner was the issue of ratification of the Federal Con-
stitution settled in 1789 than the question of reform again
appeared. In 1790 a committee of investigation was appointed
in the Commons, but there was so much lack of agreement
among its members that no plan of action was recommended.
At almost every session for a number of years there were
resolutions and debates on reform. The sectional issue even
influenced the location of the capital. The convention of 1788
authorized the General Assembly to select a permanent seat of
government within ten miles of the Hunter plantation in Wake
150 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
County. But the instruction was not carried out because the
Cape Fear and western members favored Fayetteville. In
1790 a bill to carry out the instruction was carried in the Com-
mons by the deciding vote of the Speaker, Stephen Cabarrus,
an eastern man, but was rejected in the Senate by the casting
vote of its Speaker, Win. L. Lenoir, a western leader. The
next session of the legislature was then ordered to meet at
Newbern; there the eastern influences were strong enough to
pass a bill locating the capital in Wake. Tradition says that
the success of the east was due to the votes of the trans-mon-
tane counties; was this also a log-roll?
The controversy over the capital lends interest to an effort
for reform in 1808, when Jesse A. Pearson of Rowan intro-
duced the following resolution in the Senate :
"Whereas representation should bear an equal ratio with
taxation and population, whereas frequent sessions are un-
necessary and expensive, whereas public interest and com-
merce would be promoted by removal of the Seat of Govern-
ment from Raleigh to Fayetteville, resolved that a law be made
for calling a convention," etc.
This resolution in so far as it coupled removal of the capi-
tal with constitutional reform was no more than a threat, for
it was not introduced until the last day of the session. It was
laid on the table, but it forecasts the effort to unite the issues
■of a new capital and that of reform, which marked the agita-
tion of 1832.
The next aggressive action was in 1811. John Reid, sena-
tor from Lincoln County, introduced comprehensive resolu-
tions which provided for biennial sessions and elections, and
the apportionment of representation in the Senate according
to districts and in the House of Commons according to coun-
ties. The Senate sent a message to the House advising that
the resolutions be printed, which was agreed to. Yet in spite
of this auspicious opening and Mr. Reid's able argument, the
Senate, on December 6th, rejected the resolutions by a large
majority.
Five years later, in 1816, the cause of reform received its
first able literary expression. The militia officers of Ruther-
ford County petitioned the Senate on the constitutional ques-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 151
tion. Their memorial was referred to a committee of which
Archibald DeBow Murphey was chairman. Its report, written
in the unmistakable style of Murphey, was a dignified state-
ment of principles as well as needs.
Another effort toward reform was made in the Senate of
1819 by Duncan Cameron. For three days his resolutions,
which called for the popular election of the governor and
sheriffs, biennial sessions, revision of representation and the
submission of the convention question to the people, were de-
bated ; by a vote of thirty-six nays to thirty-two yeas they were
defeated. Similar resolutions introduced into the Commons
by Mr. Mangum were also rejected. The following year John
A. Cameron of Fayetteville submitted a resolution in the Com-
mons for a convention, which was postponed indefinitely.
Then in 1821 Charles Fisher of Salisbury introduced resolu-
tions in the Commons that representation should be appor-
tioned according to free white population and taxes ; these
were rejected by the large vote of eighty-one to forty-seven.
The agitation from 1819 to 1821 was very intense. A later
authority says the whole state was convulsed from mountains
to sea. Finding their efforts for reform of no avail, the
leaders of the movement decided to appeal directly to the
people. A caucus of western senators and representatives
was held during the last days of the legislative session of 1822.
A popular convention, to meet at Raleigh in the following
November, was deemed the best way of crystallizing public
sentiment. An election of delegates was recommended, and to
conduct the campaign a general committee of correspondence
was appointed, and the members of the legislature were au-
thorized to appoint local committees in their respective coun-
ties. An address to the people was drawn up, of which 10,000
copies were ordered to be printed.
Twenty-four out of twenty-six counties appealed to re-
sponded by sending forty-seven delegates to Raleigh on No-
vember 10, 1823, just ten days before the meeting of the
General Assembly. General Montford Stokes was elected
president. The work of the convention was done by three
committees; one which examined the condition of population
and taxes, one which drafted amendments to the Constitution,
152 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
and one which formed a plan submitting the proposed reforms
to the people. The reports of these committees reveal a
cleavage among the leaders of the reform movement. In the
committee on amendments the delegates from the extreme
west, where there were few slaves, favored free white popula-
tion as the basis of representation, while those from the
central west, where slaves were more numerous, desired that
federal numbers, whites and three-fifths of the blacks, be made
the basis. The plan of the central counties prevailed, the com-
mittee recommending that 4,000 federal population be made
the unit of representation in the Commons and 10,000 in the
Senate. Adopting federal numbers not only alienated the
extreme west ; it also robbed the convention of all claim to be
a popular movement, for the committee on population and
taxes showed that on the basis of federal numbers the body
represented 272,431 people, 11,833 less than the unrepresented
population; while on the basis of white population 233,333
were represented, a majority of 33,954. The same committee
also found that the taxes of the represented counties were
nearly $10,000 less than those of the unrepresented countie's.
Clearly, unless white population were adopted as the basis of
representation, the convention itself was not a representative
body. Moreover, its proposed adoption of federal numbers
would be of little benefit to the extreme west ; it would merely
unite the central slave-holding counties and the east, and thus
block all future efforts at reform. Yet the proposed amend-
ments were adopted by the convention. According to the
report of the committee on submitting reforms to the people,
the -issues were to be voted on at the next general election,
when delegates should also be chosen for a second convention,
on the basis of federal numbers.
After a week's session the convention adjourned. Its
cause was undoubtedly a just one, but the cleavage between the
extreme western and the central counties was fatal; also the
resort to a second convention smacked too much of revolution.
Consequently there were no effective results. The General
Assembly, which met two days after the convention adjourned,
did nothing. The campaign for ratification and a second con-
vention was a failure. Not enough delegates were elected to
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 153
organize a convention — even the approval of Thomas Jeffer-
son, published in the papers of the time, had no effect.
During the next six years the convention agitation sub-
sided. For this there were several reasons. One was un-
doubtedly the failure of the movement in 1822 and 1823. An-
other was the intense interest in national politics, notably the
presidential campaigns of 1824 and 1828, and the nullification
issue, also the excitement over certain state questions, notably
the conduct of the banks and the policy adopted toward them.
By 1830, however, forces were at work which revived the in-
terest in constitutional reform. Western influence was strong-
enough in the legislature of 1830 to secure the election of
Montford Stokes, prominent in the agitation of 1822-23, as
governor over Richard Dobbs Spaight, an eastern leader. Two
years later David L. Swain, of Buncombe, was made governor
and held office until 1836. Also a new set of leaders was rising
to prominence. In the legislature of 1831 there were 101 new
members, 27 in the Senate and 74 in the Commons. The burn-
ing of the capitol in the summer of 1831 also opened the way
for obstruction to its rebuilding at Raleigh unless the con-
vention question were referred to the people. The economic
situation also caused protest. The census showed that the
rank of North Carolina in population had declined from third
among the states in 1790 to fourth in 1800, 1810 and 1820, and
to fifth in 1830; also the western counties had by 1830 out-
stripped the east in population. A profound sense of depres-
sion, of laggardness in economic development, was widespread.
The remedy seemed to be a more liberal policy of internal
improvements on the part of the state, one that should bind
together all sections by transportation facilities and so de-
velop the latent economic resources. Yet in spite of popular
demands for internal improvements and the recommendations
of the Board of Internal Improvements nothing was clone.
The chief cause of inactivity was the intense sectional par-
tisanship which prevented any united action in behalf of the
state at large. Clearly some reform in representation, which
would allay sectional strife, was necessary before North Caro-
lina could take any forward step in industrial development.
These general influences lend intelligibility and interest to
154 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
the last years of the agitation for reform. In 1830 resolutions
in the Commons for a convention were, as usually, postponed.
The Board of Internal Improvements also advised larger
appropriations for its work but received no assistance. The
next session the west attacked the reform problem in a new
way. The capitol building at Raleigh burned in the summer
of 1831. A movement was immediately started to block any
appropriation for rebuilding unless concession on the conven-
tion question was made, and, in order to win the support of
the Cape Fear counties, the west agreed to the removal of
the capital from Raleigh to Fayetteville. The alignment of
tactions on this issue is well told in a letter of the time :
"There are five parties here. The largest (but it does not
constitute a majority) is for rebuilding the capitol and is
opposed to a convention in every form. This may be named
the Eastern party. The next in point of magnitude is the
Western party; they want a reconstruction of our constitu-
tion with respect to political power, and want no more, but
will either keep the government at Raleigh or remove it to
Fayetteville, as one or the other will favor their great end.
The third in point of size is the Fayetteville party; their main
object is removal, but they are willing also to go for a general
convention. The two others are of about the same magnitude,
the Northwestern and Southwestern parties. The former
want a modification of the constitution, but are utterly op-
posed to a removal; the latter want removal but resist the
alteration of the constitution. ' ' 5
The first step of the coalition of the west and the Cape Fear
faction was to defeat the appropriation for rebuilding at
Raleigh. The debate, which lasted through December, 1831,
into January, 1832, was mainly a series of arguments on the
propriety of removal and a constitutional convention. Those
opposed to the bill, who also favored removal and a conven-
tion, found their principal argument in the economic value of
Fayetteville. Raleigh was but a country town without trade
or industry; the legislators there in session received no influ-
ence that would remove provincialism and prejudice ; as Fay-
5 Ashe, James Paton (N. C. Hist. Commission),
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 155
etteville was a commercial centre with a large trade, a re-
moval of the capital to it would bring the members of the
legislature into contact with commerce and give them an ac-
quaintance with its advantages, would stimulate the cause of
internal improvements and open a new and larger era in the
development of the state's resources. However, the friends
of rebuilding at Raleigh had much the stronger arguments;
they pointed to the doubtful constitutionality of removal, the
violation of public faith with the people of Raleigh who had
paid to the state $62,000 for land lots, the uncertainty of navi-
gation on the Cape Fear, the central location of Raleigh, and
the expense of a convention. Although these facts enlisted the
best talent of the legislature, the appropriation bill was de-
feated, losing in the Commons by three votes. Having pre-
vented rebuilding at Raleigh, the western faction introduced
a bill for a convention to revise the Constitution and consider
the removal of the capital, but it was indefinitely postponed
in the Commons, where introduced, by sixty-nine to fifty-six.
The following session, 1832-33, the coalition of reform and
removal failed. A joint committee on reform was appointed.
An attempt was made in the Senate to have it consider re-
moval, but it was defeated. The sight of the ruins of the old
capitol and the doubt of the legality of sessions not within the
city limits of Raleigh were powerful arguments for rebuild-
ing ; so the appropriation bill was carried. Seeing no hope for
the success of the convention bill, the friends of reform de-
cided to appeal to the people. A meeting was held on January
4, 1833. Its chairman was General Polk of Rowan. Among
those present were some large-minded eastern men, viz. : Wil-
liam Gaston of Craven, David Outlaw of Beaufort, William H.
Haywood of Wake. Resolutions were adopted that the
sheriffs at the next election take the poll for and against a
convention and report the vote to the legislature. A committee
to frame an address to the people and committees of corre-
spondence for the various counties were then appointed. Ac-
cordingly the vote on the convention issue was taken in thirty-
one counties, the result being 30,000 for a convention and
1,000 against it. The returns were sent to the legislature by
Governor Swain in a strong and effective message. A joint
156 HISTORY" OF NORTH CAROLINA
committee on reform was appointed. A majority of its mem-
bers were from the east, and they were able to force a com-
promise. The west sacrificed its superiority in numbers by
granting that no county should be denied representation in the
lower house on account of small population and that no large
county should have more than two in the same house. The
eastern members, on the other hand, conceded reform not by
convention but by legislative initiative. This would throw the
movement into the hands of the east, which controlled the
legislature. Consequently the report of the committee was
not acceptable to a majority of the western members, and it
was rejected.
In the meantime the issue of internal improvements had
become imperative. The need of better transportation facili-
ties was apparent in all parts of the state. During 1832 and
1833 a number of railroad conventions were held and just
before the session of 1833-34, a convention representing forty-
eight counties met in Raleigh. Resolutions were adopted
which recommended for the east the connection of Edenton
with the Dismal Swamp and of Beaufort Harbor with the
Neuse River, and railroads from the Roanoke to South Caro-
lina and from the mountains to the sea. A memorial embody-
ing these plans was presented to the legislature by the con-
vention, which appeared before the legislature in a body.
Here was a measure that would benefit all sections of the
state. It was referred to a joint committee of both houses.
The Board of Internal Improvements also recommended some
action. Nothing was done because of the clash of sectional
interests. The session of the legislature, an unusually long
one, ended with neither the mandate of the people concerning
constitutional reform nor that on internal improvements being
heeded.
A wave of indignation now swept over the state. The
western members of the legislature held a meeting and ap-
pointed a committee to frame an address to the people. A
large number of newspapers in the east criticised the lack of
action on the part of the legislature. In the west revolution
was threatened. Said the Carolina Watchman:
"If the General Assembly does not submit the inequalities
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 157
of our constitution to the people in some formal mode, we of
the west are determined to go to work without the behest of
that body. We admit the experiment is dangerous — if the
people were less virtuous, it would be immensely so — but we
think the spirit of your fathers which bore them through the
trials of the Revolution is still sufficiently with us to secure us
against the perils of faction. Mark it, my dear Sir, cost what
it will the experiment will be made immediately after the rise
of the next Assembly if some measure of reform does not
pass." 6
This threat of revolution, the change in the attitude of
certain eastern leaders and newspapers, and the demand for a
charter of a railroad from Raleigh to Wilmington, to which
the west would consent only on condition that the convention
question be referred to the people, were effective in the legis-
lature of 1834-35. A bill providing for a convention to con-
sider specific reforms was submitted to the people for
approval. As any change in representation was to be made
on the basis of federal numbers, the measure was really a
compromise in favor of the slaveholding counties of the east.
Yet in the popular vote which was taken in April, 1835, all the
eastern counties gave majorities against the convention bill,
while all the western counties save Person showed majorities
for it.
The vote cast was the largest in the history of the state up
to that time, 48,377, and the majority for the convention was
5,165. At a second election delegates were chosen and the
convention met on June 4, 1835.
The political and constitutional issues before the conven-
tion were undoubtedly the most important between the ratifi-
cation of the Federal Constitution in 1789 and secession in
1861. The personnel of the convention was worthy of the task.
Among the members, two from each county, were most of
those then living who had achieved political distinction, and
many of the rising generation who were to attain eminence
before 1861. The venerable Nathaniel Macon, who had retired
from public life in 1828, appeared as delegate from Warren
6 Raleigh Register, July 29, 1834.
158 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
County, and was made presiding officer. From Warren also
came "Weldon N. Edwards, later secretary of the Secession
Convention. From Craven were sent Judge Gaston, in per-
sonality and influence second to none, and Richard Dobbs
Spaight. Halifax sent another member of the Supreme Court,
Joseph J. Daniel, and an ex-governor, John Branch. Dele-
gates from the east representing the rising generation were
Asa Biggs, of Martin, Kenneth Rayner, of Hertford, and Wil-
liam B. Meares, of Sampson. Among the members from the
west were Governor Swain, of Buncombe, Calvin Graves, of
Caswell, David Barringer, of Cabarrus, John M. Morehead, of
Guilford, Alfred Dockery, of Richmond, Charles Fisher, of
Rowan — all just rising to influence — and the veteran poli-
ticians, Josiah Crudup, of Granville, and Meshack Franklin,
of Surry.
On one reform only was the convention explicitly directed
to take action, that of representation; it was authorized to
consider at its will other questions, viz. : the abolition of free
negro suffrage, disqualifying those holding federal office to
accept office under the state government, equalizing the capi-
tation tax on slaves and whites, new methods of appointing
and removing militia officers and justices of the peace, com-
pulsory viva voce voting in the election of officers of the
legislature, the abolition of religious restrictions on office hold-
ing, provision for vacancies in the legislature caused by
death or resignation of members, biennial legislative sessions,
biennial term for governor, triennial election of secretary of
state and attorney general, election of the governor by the
people, and of the attorney general for a term of two years,
providing a tribunal for impeachment, vacating the commis-
sions of justices of the peace found guilty of crime, removal
of judges for mental incapacity by a resolution of the legisla-
ture, preventing reduction of salaries of judges during their
continuance in office, restriction of private legislation, dis-
qualifying judges while in office from eligibility to other
office except the Supreme Court, and providing a method for
future amendments. The convention referred these matters
to a committee of twenty-six for preliminary consideration
and then debated in committee of the whole the clauses favor-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 159
ably reported. The discussions were illuminating; they made
clear the ideals of an old order then passing* away and those
of a new one just rising to ascendancy.
The first reform considered was that of borough represen-
tation, an excellent example of conflicting conceptions of po-
litical values. The defence of the institution was that simple
justice required every distinct interest to have representation
in the law-making body; as agriculture was represented
through county representation, commerce and large property
interests should receive recognition by borough representa-
tion. Moreover, there were special public problems, such as
quarantine, inspection, and pilotage, which were said to de-
mand representation. Governor Swain, a leader of the liberal
forces, stated that the convention bill itself was carried by
the vote of the boroughs and it was also conceded that many
of the ablest legislators in the past had been representatives
of boroughs. Although the apologists made the longer and
the abler argument, the silent, powerful sense of collective
democracy was stronger, and after efforts at compromise by
retaining representation for the eastern coast towns, the
borough franchise was abolished. Thus the conception of
class representation, a heritage of the British constitution,
was discarded, and the American conception of direct popular
representation gained strength in the fundamental law of
North Carolina.
On the kindred question of abolishing county representa-
tion the debate was long and tedious. The mandate of the law
authorizing the convention was that the Senate be reorganized
to consist of not less than thirty-four nor more than fifty
members elected by districts which should be laid off in pro-
portion to taxation, and that the House of Commons should
also be reorganized to consist of not less than 90 nor more
than 120 members to be elected either by counties or districts,
or both, according to federal numbers. The report of the com-
mittee favored 50 for the Senate and 120 for the House. It
met bitter opposition from certain of the eastern leaders
who feared the ultimate result would be western domination
and extravagance in the matter of internal improvements.
It was realized that the larger the number of representatives
160 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
the relatively greater would be the strength of the large
western counties, doubtless giving the west a majority; al-
though the apportionment of the senators according to prop-
erty would give the east an immediate majority in the upper
house, that majority might be lost at a later apportionment,
and the west would thereby dominate in both houses. This
might result in a tax system weighing heavily on the east and
extravagant appropriations for railroads in the west. In
fact it was admitted by western leaders that they favored rail-
road development with state aid. In reply Mr. Wilson of
Perquimans exclaimed : "It turns out now that the west wants
the power in their hands, not because Lincoln, Orange, etc.,
were unequally represented in the legislature, but because
they want to construct railroads, canals, etc., to give them an
outlet to the ocean. But what benefit would accrue to the
West if they had an outlet? Very little, sir; for nine-tenths
of their land is exhausted, and not worth cultivation, con-
trasted with the hundreds and thousands of acres annually
brought into market in the southwestern states." 7 Likewise,
Spaight, another eastern leader, regarded western plans for
internal improvements as chimerical. "Such a scheme," he
declared, "is not only idle and visionary, but perfectly im-
possible. In the first place, we have not active capital enough
at our command to make it; but if we had, and it were made,
and we were to concentrate all the produce of the State, it
would not yield a profit sufficient to cover the expenses. Gen-
tlemen will tell us about the great profits arising from Rail-
roads. It is not transportation which yields this profit, but
the money received from passengers. ' ' 8 Undoubtedly the
chief influence in settling the problem of representation was
that of Judge Gaston. Coining from an eastern county, whose
values were depreciating, he had participated in the agita-
tion for internal improvements and was also magnanimous
enough to realize the justice of giving the west a larger repre-
sentation. By careful calculation he estimated that the pro-
posed reform would give the east a majority in the Senate and
the west a majority in the House of Commons. His influence
7 Proceedings and Debates, p. 99.
8 Ibid., 123.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 161
was sufficient to swing enough eastern members to vote with
the west to carry the reform. It was also Gaston who sug-
gested the provision that the first new apportionment of sena-
tors and representatives be made in 1842, the second in 1852,
and others at intervals of twenty years.
The proposals for biennial sessions of the legislature and
popular election of the governor did not receive so extended
debate. The opposition to change, however, was strong. Ma-
con declared that annual sessions were essential to the pres
ervation of democracy. ' ' If you can put off the meeting of the
Legislature for two years, you may extend the time to four,
six, or ten years." Governor Branch also pointed out that
annual sessions "were well calculated to keep in check Federal
usurpations. The powers of the General Government are con-
stantly increasing; and American liberty depends on the
preservation of State Rights and State Powers. ' ' 9 The edu-
cational value of annual elections, as a means for the inter-
change of ideas among the people and their information, was
also pointed out. "In the Northern States," said Carson of
Rutherford, "the people have the advantage of free schools
and education is more universal. Here, we are not so gen-
erally educated, and therefore need all the benefits of knowl-
edge derived from these and other sources. Collision of senti-
ments elicits the truth * * and when the people know
the truth, they have no other interest than to do right in public
affairs." 10 Above all was the English tradition of annual
Parliaments as a check against oppression by other organs
of the government.
As for popular election of the governor, such a measure
was held up as demoralizing in its political results. Said
Gaston: "Establish the scheme of an election of Governor by
General Ticket, and we shall soon have our Grand Central
Committees, District Committees, County Committees, and
Captain's Company Committees, and all that vile machinery
by which the freemen of the State are drilled into the slaves
of factious Chieftains — by which they are deluded into the
belief, that they are fighting for themselves, when in truth,
9 Ibid., p. 165.
10 Ibid., p. 185.
Vol. II— 11
162 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
they are only quarrelling for the selfish interests of design-
ing and unprincipled men. Establish this scheme, and you
will greatly increase the violence and bitterness of faction.
All the freemen of the State will be brought out, every two
years, into a general array against each other. The larger
the multitude in which any excitement prevails, the more vio-
lent the passions become, by contagious sympathy. In our
peaceable State heretofore, we have fortunately had nothing
to bring out one half the State against the other except in
the election of President." 21
In spite of these objections, biennial sessions and popular
election of the governor were adopted, and likewise viva voce
voting by the legislature.
Among other reforms proposed none aroused more discus-
sion than the abolition of free negro suffrage. Judge Daniel
moved an amendment that those having landed property of 250
acres be allowed to vote for members of the House of Com-
mons. "He was willing to leave the door open for all colored
men of good character and industrious habits, as such would
find no difficulty in obtaining the necessary qualifications."
Arguments in favor of such compromise were the hardship of
withdrawing a privilege long enjoyed, the injustice of taxation
without representation, and the good results of such a policy
in the "West Indies during the French Revolution and the evils
following its abandonment. In fact, defense of suffrage for
the free negro with property qualifications enlisted some of
the best talent of the convention — Judge Gaston, Judge
Daniel, Governor Holmes, Charles Fisher, Judge Toomer, and
Governor Branch. On the other hand the rising tide of pro-
slavery sentiment opposed any concession to the free negroes.
The views of the restrictionists were clearly based on race
prejudice. They argued that the free negro could not be a
citizen of North Carolina since the state constitution was the
work of white men and that negro suffrage was a custom
usurped after the Revolution. To allow the privilege to con-
tinue was held dangerous because the negro was by nature
unfit for citizenship and elections were corrupted because the
11 Ibid., p. 338.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 163
negro vote could be bought. If the privilege continued, North
Carolina might become a refuge for free negroes all over the
South, since in no Southern state was suffrage permitted
them. Moreover since ' ' the moment the free mulatto obtains
a little property and is a little favored by being admitted
to vote," he will desire a white wife, Mr. Wilson, of Perqui-
mans, moved that suffrage be denied to free negroes and mu-
lattoes within four degrees. However, both compromises,
property and blood qualification, were rejected and the right
of suffrage was denied by the close vote of sixty-six to sixty-
one. Attempt to reopen the question by Judge Gaston later
in the session was defeated by nine votes.
By far the most lengthy debate was that on the thirty-
second article of the Constitution, which excluded from office
or place of trust in civil affairs those who denied the being of
God, the truth of the Protestant religion, the divine authority
of the Old or New Testament, and those who held religious
principles incompatible with the freedom or safety of the state.
The committee of twenty-six recommended the substitution of
the word Christian for Protestant. At once great diversity of
opinion was in evidence and the discussion lasted five days.
At the extreme of conservatism, opposing any modification,
was the anti-Catholic prejudice. Mr. Carson, of Burke, ad-
mitted that there were some honest Romanists who deserved
protection, ''but," he added, "in the protection of this one T
we must take care we don't let in a thousand dishonest ones.
The Roman Catholic is the very offspring of a despot. Our
fathers knew what a Roman Catholic was, and were afraid,
if they didn't put something of this sort in, they might here-
after have a harder struggle than they had just got out of." 12
Mr. Smith, of Orange, likewise was opposed to any change,
holding that the thirty-second article should be kept in reserve
"as sleeping thunder to be called out only when necessary to
defeat some deep laid scheme of ambition." The most im-
pressive address was that of Judge Gaston. A Catholic, he
had recently been elected a member of the Supreme Court
in spite of the apparent discrimination against his faith.
12 Ibid., 242.
164 HIS10RY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Now came the defence of his acceptance of the honor. He
pointed out the ineffectiveness of the thirty-second article in
that it debarred those who denied the truth of Protestantism,
which he had never done, and that Protestantism was divided
into so many sects that it was impossible to find a universally
accepted statement of its truth. All other phases of the issue
he discussed in a manner that held the rapt attention of the
convention for two days. Especially impressive were his con-
cluding words : "If we rest the fabric of the Constitution upon
prejudices, increasing and mutable prejudices, we build upon
sand ; but let us lay it on the broad and firm basis of natural
right, equal justice and universal freedom — freedom of opin-
ion — freedom, civil and religious — freedom as approved by the
wise and sanctioned by the good — and then may we hope that
it shall stand against the storms of faction, violence and in-
justice, for then we shall have founded it upon a rock." 13
At the opposite extreme from the radicals stood Macon,
who declared that no human power had a right to prescribe
any particular opinion as a test of fitness for office. "If a
Hindoo were to come among us, and was fully qualified to
discharge the duties of any office to which he might aspire, his
religious belief would not constitute any objection, in his
opinion, why he should be debarred." 14 The votes on the
proposed amendment illustrate the divergency of opinion. Mr.
Edwards proposed that all religious tests as qualifications for
office are incompatible with free government ; it was defeated
by a vote of eighty-seven to thirty-six. Another member then
moved that no person who should deny the being of God should
be capable of holding office ; it was also defeated by eighty-two
to forty-two. Propositions of a similar nature submitted by
Holmes and Daniel were also rejected. Evidently the domi-
nant sentiment of the convention favored some constitutional
recognition of Christianity, and in the end the amendment
introduced by the committee of twenty-six was adopted, which
substituted the word Christian for Protestant, the vote stand-
ing seventy-four to fifty-two.
Other amendments adopted by the convention were the re-
13 Ibid., p. 305.
14 Ibid., p. 246.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 165
duction of the term of the attorney general from life or good
behavior to four years, biennial election of treasurer and
secretary of state, the election of militia officers by general
law instead of by the legislature, voting viva voce in elections
of officers by the legislature ; equalization of the poll tax, the
same to be levied on free males between twenty-one and forty-
five years and all slaves from twelve to fifty; exclusion from
office of those holding federal offices and also the exclusion of
all office holders from the legislature ; restrictions on private
legislation by placing divorce, alimony, and legitimization of
children under general law, likewise the restoration of citizen-
ship to those convicted of crime ; and forbidding the enactment
of any private law unless thirty days' notice of application
for the same shall have been given. Impeachment by the
House of Commons and trial by the Senate were also pro-
vided for. Amendment of the Constitution was likewise pro-
vided for, either by a convention, called by a two-thirds vote
of the legislature, or by legislative enactment, the proposed
amendment to be approved by three-fifths of the legislature
which initiated it, two-thirds of the succeeding legislature, and
final ratification by the, majority of people. The form of the
Constitution was also altered ; it was now divided into articles
and sections, instead of the continuous forty-six sections of the
original.
The convention adjourned on July 11th. Its work was
submitted to the people and was ratified by a majority of
5,165. The convention marks an epoch in the development of
governmental institutions in North Carolina. It not only
made government more democratic, but it also did much to
remove the heritage of English conceptions of the basis of
government. It lessened but did not abolish sectional preju-
dice. Undoubtedly a more liberal epoch opened before the
state. Questions of economic and social importance now had
a better chance. At the same time there was a new align-
ment of political parties taking place and public questions
tended to have a party rather than a sectional interest.
CHAPTER IX
FEDERAL POLITICS, 1824-1836
Jacksonian Democracy and the Origin of the Whig Party
The profound discontent and spirit of revolt illustrated
by legislation on trade and education and the movement for
constitutional reform were not limited to local affairs. There
was likewise dissatisfaction with the role of North Carolina
in federal politics. In the electoral college the state's vote
from 1800 to 1830 was surpassed only by Massachusetts, New
York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia; and in 1820, 1824, and
1828, it was equal to that of Massachusetts (15 votes). With
the exception of 1808 the North Carolina vote was undivided,
vet the state had a small share in the distribution of federal
patronage, only one office of high distinction being given to a
North Carolinian under the Jeffersonian regime, the Speaker-
ship of the House, which was held by Macon for six years.
This was a record comparable only to that of Tennessee and
Delaware, whose votes in the electoral college were far less
than that of North Carolina.
The explanation of this humble place of the state in the
party councils was mainly its loyalty. No use of the patron-
age was necessary to conserve its allegiance. Another cause
was subservience to Virginia leadership. Dependence on the
Old Dominion for markets produced subordination to Virginia
in political affairs. " Already has Virginia as a matter of
course on the subject of the coining election," wrote the editor
of the Fayetteville Observer in 1823, ''tacked us to her skirts
to follow whither she leads ; and without condescending to ask
our opinion, placed us on her side of the question. This
state of things must be changed. North Carolina must make
herself heard and must assert her dignity. She must take an
166
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 167
elevated stand and show to the nation and to her revilers that
she has a will. She possesses also the ability to maintain it.
It is the same with the states as individuals. Those
only who cease to respect themselves, will lose the respect
of others." *
The leader who contributed most to perpetuate the humble
place of North Carolina in national affairs was Thomas Jef-
ferson. To establish his party, he needed the co-operation of
New York. This was secured by assigning to that state the
vice-presidency, a custom continued from 1800 to 1824 with
the exception of 1812. The training school for the presidency
was the Department of State, headed in succession by Madi-
son, Smith, Monroe, and Adams. The loyalty of other states
to such manipulation was secured by appeal to sectional feel-
ing and by appointments to less prominent offices, the Treas-
ury going to Pennsylvania in 1814, and Georgia and South
Carolina being represented in the cabinet from that year. In
time the Virginia hegemony produced unrest. "Who could
ever dream of being President at this day," wrote Balch,
"without an alliance with Jefferson, Gallatin, Macon, and
Smith of Maryland, and a host of others who are accounted
the patriarchs of the Democratic party ? He might as well at-
tempt to train the Mississippi back upon its sources." 2
Moreover the type of political leadership in North Caro-
lina, especially after the second war with England, showed no
vision regarding the interests of the nation or the state. On
the whole the North Carolina delegation in Congress was
reactionary toward the prevalent nationalizing tendencies.
While a majority voted for the recharter of the second bank
and the internal improvement bills of 1816, there was no sup-
port of the tariffs of 1816 and 1824, and only one member,
Vance, of the mountain district, supported the bill for surveys
for internal improvement in 1824. Macon, the dominant
figure of the North Carolina delegation, was notably out of
sympathy with the process of nationalization and his ideal
of individualism through states rights, with a strict interpre-
1 Quoted from the Western Carolinian, July 8, 1823.
2 Balch to Wm. Polk, Jan. 9, 1824 (Polk MSS. Library of Con-
gress.)
168 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
tation of the powers of the Federal Government, dominated
his North Carolina colleagues.
Eestlessness with the New York- Virginia coalition reached
a climax in the presidential campaign of 1824. The liberal
element in local affairs had secured appropriations for in-
ternal improvements, and the western counties were by 1823
at the point of revolt over the question of more equitable rep-
resentation in the legislature. The time was therefore ripe
for protest against the conduct of national politics. Leader-
ship was taken by the western counties in 1823. The Western
Carolinian, of Salisbury, a newspaper recently established,
vigorously advocated the candidacy of Calhoun for the presi-
dential nomination, while Crawford, acknowledged candidate
of the Virginia-New T Y r ork alliance, was strong in the eastern
counties. The latter had the support of the Raleigh Register,
the oldest party organ, and also of Mr. Macon. The principal
issue was the political machinery of the day. Since 1796
presidential nominations had been made by a congressional
caucus, and in North Carolina presidential electors were nomi-
nated by a caucus of the state legislature. Controversy over
the matter reached a climax in the legislature of 1823. Charles
Fisher of Rowan introduced resolutions instructing the
state 's senators and requesting its representatives to use their
influence to prevent the nomination of candidates for Presi-
dent and Vice-president by the congressional caucus. There
followed a long and exhaustive debate, in which the theory
of the caucus and also the relative merits of Calhoun
and Crawford were ably presented. The principal defense of
the caucus was by eastern leaders, Blacklege of Beaufort,
Bynum of Halifax (Borough) and Strange of Fayetteville
(Borough). The ablest criticism. was by Fisher, representing
the west, and two eastern federalists, Iredell of Edenton, and
Stanly of Newbern. However the resolutions did not have
the support of all the anti-Crawford forces, probably because
they were based on the right of instruction, a custom which
had aroused as much criticism as the caucus. Moreover the
resolutions were supported by tw T o federalists and so tended
to revive the fires of ancient partisanship. Hence the reso-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 169
lutions were indefinitely postponed by a vote of eighty-two to
forty-six, after prolonged debate.
The local political machine was also attacked by Beall of
Iredell, in a resolution calling for the nomination of electors
by districts instead of the general ticket system. This would
rob the legislative caucus of its prerogative and throw the
nomination of electors in the hands of the people instead of
the state politicians. The resolution was defeated, and before
the end of the session a legislative caucus composed of 80 of
196 members nominated a Crawford electoral ticket. The
issue of caucus versus the people was thus stated by the
Western Carolinian. "Freemen of North Carolina! Are you
willing to sanction so flagrant a usurpation of your rights and
privileges as this aristocratic minority attempted to palm
upon you? Shall we tamely yield our election and franchise,
and become the willing slaves, the miserable panders of a
minority of only eighty members of our Assembly, out of one
hundred and ninety-six — who have taken upon themselves to
meet in conclave and attempt to forestall the sentiments of
near 500,000 republican freemen of the State f No : the slum-
bering spirits of our Revolutionary forefathers, from the
blessed realms of eternity, will rebuke us if we do."
The opponents of Crawford, defeated in the legislature,
appealed directly to the people. During the spring of 1824
meetings were held in the various counties which selected
presidential electors. Calhoun was at first the favored candi-
date ; but in March, 1824, an aggressive movement for Jackson
set in, led by Colonel William Polk and supported by Archibald
Debow Murphey and others, and after March 16, by the West-
ern Carolinian. The campaign was the most vigorous and
exciting since the decline of the federalist party. Ten of the
fifteen congressmen attended the caucus that nominated
Crawford, while the Raleigh Register, organ of the dominant
party, and also Mr. Macon, supported him. On the other hand
the Star, the Western Carolinian, and papers of minor im-
portance endorsed the Peoples ' Ticket, headed by Jackson and
Calhoun. An important factor in the campaign was the feder-
alist element, which endorsed Adams and had an able organ,
the Fayetteville Observer. As there was small hope of carry-
170 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
ing the state for Adams, a compromise was made by which
the federalists agreed to support the Peoples' Ticket with
the understanding that the electors should cast their vote for
Adams, Calhoun, or Jackson, whichever had the best chance
for election. The victory of the Peoples' Ticket was com-
plete, winning 20,177 votes to 15,396 for Crawford. An inter-
esting feature of the returns was the sectional alignment of
the vote ; the Peoples ' Ticket carried twenty western counties,
four along the coast, and eight in the middle east; Crawford
swung the vote of nine western, three coastal, and seven mid-
eastern counties, — an alignment very similar to that of the
whig and democratic parties a few years later. The North
Carolina electors met and cast their vote for Jackson. No
candidate having a majority in the electoral college, the elec-
tion was thrown into the House of Representatives, resulting
in the choice of Adams. For him the representative from the
Quaker counties of Guilford, Randolph, and Chatham voted.
Although Jackson was defeated, the election had a moral
significance in North Carolina. The state had revolted from
Virginia leadership. "Henceforth the cant of early times,"
wrote William Eaton, "which used exceedingly to annoy me,
shall be heard no more; it will not in the future be said,
that North Carolina floats up or down stream as Virginia may
or not. I need not tell you, that this has often been declared
and that heretofore in estimating the political course of our
state, it has been determined on what Virginia had agreed
on; you well know the fact has been so. Now however she
has taken a course after her own, and I rejoice at it." 3 The
revolutionary tendency begun in the presidential election was
reflected in the congressional elections of 1825. Of the four-
teen congressmen elected, eight were new members, four of
the retiring members having voted for Crawford.
Four years later Jackson again carried the state. Al-
though his majority was overwhelming, the campaign was not
without political significance. His opponent, John Quincy
Adams, had considerable strength. In response to a demand
for more democratic methods of nomination, his supporters
' 3 Eaton to William Polk, Dee. 11, 1824 (Polk MSS.),
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 171
called a state convention, — the first party convention in North
Carolina. It met in Raleigh in December, 1827. Delegates
were present from thirteen of the fifteen electoral districts.
William Davidson presided. Gaston made the keynote speech,
a committee was chosen to form an address to the people and
also to select an Adams electoral ticket. The character of
the movement was interesting. Prominent was the old fed-
eralist element, led by Gaston. Some of the former Crawford
faction also joined in; their views were well represented by
the Raleigh Register. There were also experienced poli-
ticians, Lewis Williams, John Long, W. S. Blacklege, and
Dr. David Caldwell. Prominent also was the Quaker element,
ably represented by Jonathan Worth, Moses Swaim, and
Aaron Coffin. An attempt by the Adams members of the
legislature to establish the district system of choosing electors,
which might have divided the state's vote, failed. On the
other hand the Jackson forces showed a distinct gain in the
campaign over that of 1824. Some of the Crawford men of
that year now supported him, notably Mr. Macon. The Jack-
son electoral ticket was made up by district conventions
whose nominations were guided by a legislative junto at
Raleigh. The appeal made for the respective candidates was
not different from that in the nation at large. Jackson carried
the state by a majority of 23,939; Adams carried only nine
counties, six eastern (Beaufort, Brunswick, Carteret, Jones,
Pitt, and Pasquotank) and Guilford, Randolph, and Iredell
in the west.
Although the victory of the Jacksonian democracy was
overwhelming, unanimity within its ranks was in a few years
broken, and a rival political organization, the whig party,
came into existence. For the cleavage there were a number
of causes. One was the conflict of state and sectional interests.
The political and social structure in the United States in the
early 'thirties resembled that of an empire rather than a
united nation. Three great sections, each with distinct eco-
nomic interests, contended for mastery in national legisla-
tion. These were New England, which desired a protective
tariff to support its manufactures, the pioneer West, which
demanded cheap land, and the South, which opposed protec-
172 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
tion. New England also opposed cheap land, which would
induce migration of its laboring population, and offered as
an alternative the distribution of the proceeds of land sales
among the states for internal improvements and education.
Such a policy and its immediate results might have received
the support of the South, which needed more funds for do-
mestic purposes ; but to diminish federal revenue by distribu-
tion would undoubtedly create a greater dependence on the
tariff and so aid the cause of protection. A similar result
might follow if the Federal Government itself should engage
in works of internal improvement. Consequently national
politics was characterized by sectional bargaining, and the
choice before each North Carolina leader was that of sup-
porting the alliance of the South with some other section or
of working in the interest of his state, irrespective of sectional
alliances.
An early indication of this trend was shown in the federal
debates on internal improvement. Since the bill of 1817
providing federal funds for internal improvements, over
which the North Carolina congressmen were about equally di-
vided, was vetoed by Madison, the attitude of the state's dele-
gation had become more conservative. Only one member
favored the bill of 1824 giving the government the right to
make surveys, and the North Carolina vote was uniformly
against the internal improvement bills of the Adams admin-
istration. Pertinent were the views of Macon. "If Con-
gress can make canals, it can with more propriety emanci-
pate, ' ' he wrote in 1818. ' ' Be not led astray by grand notions
or magnificent opinions ; remember you belong to a meek state
and just people, who want nothing but to enjoy the fruits of
their labor honestly and to lay out profits in their own way. ' ' 4
When Congress made an appropriation for the Delaware and
Chesapeake Canal in 1825, he rose in the Senate and said, "I
rise with a full heart to take a last farewell to an old friend
which I have always loved and admired — the Constitution of
the United States.'' 5
However by 1830 better means of transportation was a live
4 Dodd, Life of Macon, p. 310.
5 Ibid., 345.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 173
issue in North Carolina. At the same time there was a move-
ment for the encouragement of manufacturing. Here was a
basis for a new sentiment in regard to internal improvement
by federal aid. When the rivers and harbors of North Caro-
lina were included in appropriations, expediency outweighed
constitutional scruples ; a majority of the congressmen voted
for such an appropriation in 1831. Indeed William B. Shep-
ard favored the passage of the Maysville Turnpike Bill over
Jackson's veto. However the principle of federal aid was put
to the test in the legislature of 1830. Resolutions were
adopted in the Commons denying the right of Congress to
carry on works of internal improvement within the states,
but they were lost in the Senate. A similar fate met the reso-
lution approving the veto of the Maysville Turnpike Bill.
A larger division of opinion prevailed on the kindred
matter of the public domain. The desire of the pioneer West
for cheap lands and of the South for a lower tariff resulted
in a coalition in 1829, led by Calhoun, Edwards of Illinois,
and Duff Green of the United States Telegraph. By this the
South should support a more liberal land policy, and the
West in return would aid in the fight on the "Tariff of Abomi-
nations." Realizing the existence of this agreement, New
England took the initiative. A resolution by Hunt of Ver-
mont in 182b directed the Committee on Public Lands to
inquire into i-be expediency of distributing the net proceeds
of the sales of public lands among the states for internal
improvements. This was an offer of financial aid to the
South to check its alliance with the West. The attitude of
the southern and western coalition toward it was well ex-
pressed by Speight, of North Carolina: —
"Take tin; public lands away from the sinking fund — have
a tariff sufficient to prohibit exportation, and, I say, what, sir,
is to be the result? Why, sir, direct taxation. And, next to
that, follows ruin to the Southern States ; our slaves, our land,
etc., will be taken and sold to pay the tax. Importation being-
stopped, it necessarily prohibits exportation, and our staple
being cotton, just as much as is wanted for consumption, by
the manufacturing states, will be bought at their own price,
174 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
and the balance will sink with us * I have always
had my doubts as to the sincerity of the policy. ' ' 6
In the vote on the resolution, eight of the North Carolina
members were among the ayes and four among the nays.
Evidently a majority of the North Carolina congressmen
were not in sympathy with the southern and western alliance.
In the meantime Benton introduced into the Senate a bill for
more liberal terms in the sale of land. It received the support
of the North Carolina senators, in fact of all the southern
senators except two. When it reached the House the North
Carolina delegation was divided ; five favored tabling the reso-
lution and six opposed such action. Of the former, four were
from the western counties, Deberry, Rencher, Shepperd, and
Williams ; of the latter, four were from the east, Allston, Dud-
ley, Speight, and Hall. There was thus a large minority
among the North Carolina congressmen who were opposed to
the western and southern alliance. Leadership in opposing
the reduction of land prices was taken by Clay, who advocated
the distribution of proceeds among the states. In July, 1832,
a bill embodying his views passed the Senate, Brown and Man-
gum of North Carolina opposing it. It was postponed in the
Plouse, four of the North Carolina members voting against
postponement. The views of the North Carolina minority
were well stated bv Williams.
If this public property of the Union should be surrendered, then,
(admitting the proceeds of the sales to amount to three millions of
dollars) his own state of North Carolina would have to pay from one
hundred and fifty thousand to two hundred thousand more than if
the Government retained it, in the shape of bounty to soldiers, augmen-
tation of the navy, and paying the current charges of the Government.
If these lands should not be equally divided among the states, then
North Carolina would lose that amount of revenue entirely ; but if,
on the contrary, the proceeds were to be equally divided, she would
gain that amount. He asked, therefore, whether it was reasonable in
the new states to call for the setting apart of the whole of this public
property exclusively? Were not the old states asked to do for them
what they would be far from doing for the old states? Suppose he
should put in a similar claim in behalf of the old states of this Union ;
would the gentleman from Alabama yield the motion for support.
The gentleman, he perceived, shook his head. He knew it must be so.
c Cong. Debates VI, 539.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 175
Then by what rule of equity could the gentleman ask him to do what
that gentleman publicly, in his place, declared himself unwilling to do
for them ? 7
Another question of importance was the recharter of the
United States Bank. Jackson's hostility to the institution,
whose charter would expire in 1836, was well known. His
opponents decided to make the bank an issue in the presi-
dential election of 1832. Hence the national republican con-
vention, which met in December 1831, endorsed the bank, and
on the advice of Clay, Webster, and McDuffie, the officials of
the bank applied for a renewal of the charter. • If Jackson
approved the measure, he would thereby surrender one of
his favorite "isms." If he vetoed it, the strongest financial
interests in the country would work against him. A bill
rechartering the bank was passed in 1832, but was vetoed by
the president. Toward the recharter and the veto sentiment
in North Carolina was divided. For support of the President
there seemed to be ample ground, because the bank, by requir-
ing the state banks to redeem their notes in specie, had
undoubtedly forced into liquidation the State Bank of North
Carolina, the Bank of the Cape Fear, and the Bank of New-
bern, thereby causing great commercial depression. On the
other hand, the veto contributed to the existing depression,
for the bank and its branches became more conservative in
regard to their loans. Moreover one of the needs of the state
was a stable paper currency, which the bank alone offered.
Hence the sound money element favored the recharter.
"Whether right or wrong," wrote James Iredell to Mangum,
"that bank is at this time very popular in our state. I believe,
indeed I know, it has done us vast good, and as yet we have
felt no evils from it. Where is the check upon the state banks
if it is not to be found here ? " s However only four of the
North Carolina congressmen voted for the recharter, Bar-
ringer, W. B. Sheppard, A. H. Shepperd, and Williams ; both
senators, Brown and Mangum, opposed it. However William
R. Hinton, elector on the Jackson-Barbour ticket of 1832,
refused to support Jackson after the veto, and withdrew
7 Cong. Debates, IX, p. 879.
8 Mangum MSS. : Iredell to Mangum, Feb. 4, 1832.
176 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
from the ticket, regarding the bank as ''inseparably connected
with the prosperity of the Union and indispensable to the
preservation of a sound currency." In the congressional
election of 1833 Deberry defeated Bethune, who had voted
against the recharter.
In the meantime a rift had developed in the cabinet. The
reward of North Carolina's loyalty to Jackson was the ap-
pointment of John Branch, former governor and then senator,
as Secretary of the Navy. Social matters created ill feeling.
Mrs. Branch was one of those ladies of the cabinet who neither
John Branch
called on nor entertained Mrs. Eaton, wife of the Secretary of
War. After President Jackson appealed repeatedly in behalf
of the slighted lady, he decided to reconstruct the cabinet.
Secretary Branch's role in the affair showed him to be inde-
pendent and headstrong as Jackson himself. He had
advised the President against the nomination of Eaton on
account of probable unpleasant social relations and had even
suggested to Eaton the same possible results if he should enter
the cabinet. But the advice was in vain, and when Eaton's
wife was ignored socially, Eaton became less friendly with
Branch. When Jackson found his appeals in behalf of Mrs.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 177
Eaton fruitless, Colonel Johnson brought an ultimatum to
Branch, Berrien, and Ingham, that they must retire from the
cabinet unless Mrs. Eaton was recognized.
When he closed (wrote Branch) I well recollect rising from
my seat, and with an earnestness of manner which the extraordinary
character of the communication was so well calculated to produce, ob-
served, among other things, that no man had a right to dictate to me
and my family, in their domestic relations, and that I would submit
to no control of the kind. The Colonel undertook to reason the mat-
ter with us by observing that, although it might be impracticable to
establish intimate and social relations between our families and Mrs.
Eaton, he could see no reason why she should not be invited to our
large parties to which everybody was usually invited, Tom, Dick,
Harry, etc. With the concession he said the President would be satis-
fied. We protested against the interference of the President in any
manner whatever, as it was a matter which did not belong to our
official connection with him. Soon after which Colonel Johnson ex-
pressed his deep regrets at the failure of his mission, and we sepa-
rated. 9
Two days later Branch called on the President and de-
clared that before he would accept dictation in family matters,
he would resign. Jackson repudiated Johnson's ultimatum,
and disavowed any intention of dictating social affairs, stating
that his only desire was to protect Mrs. Eaton. Soon followed
an interview with Eaton himself, which proved equally fruit-
less. The President became less communicative towards the
offending members, and finally, after the resignation of
Van Buren and Eaton, and acting on Jackson's intimation of
a desire to reconstruct the cabinet, Branch also resigned. He
was offered the governorship of the Territory of Florida as
recompense, but declined, telling Jackson that he had not
supported him for the sake of office. Returning to North Caro-
lina, Branch was enthusiastically endorsed by his constitu-
ents. Jesse A. Bynum and other aspirants for congressional
honors retired in his favor, and he was elected without oppo-
sition a member of the twenty-second congress in August,
1831.
In the meantime another issue arose, which overshadowed
the land question, the bank, the disaffection of Branch, and
9 Raleigh, Register, Sept. 1, 1831: Nile* Register, Sept. 3, 1831.
Vol. II— 12
178 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
undoubtedly did much to divide the friends of Jackson. That
was the question of tariff and nullification.
The dominant political sentiment of North Carolina was
hostile to the protective policy. It was the only southern
state whose representatives in Congress voted unanimously
against the tariff of 1816. Similar action was also taken
towards the acts of 1824 and 1828. That the vote in the latter
vear registered the sentiment of the state is attested bv a
resolution of the legislature of 1827, which declared that
" whenever a system is adopted by the general government
which does not equally serve the interests of all, then the
right rests with any state to question whether the benefits of
the Union are not more than counterbalanced by its evils."
Nullification, advanced by South Carolina as a possible
remedy in the "Exposition," received some approval, especi-
ally by that element in the western counties which in 1824 had
endorsed Calhoun for the presidency. Cooperation with
South Carolina on the ground of commercial ties was advo-
cated by the Western Carolinian.
There is not a day on which we do not see passing through this
place (Salisbury) either from this or some other counties of this state,
Avagons going to South Carolina, with full loads of something to sell.
The fact is, that our trade to South Carolina is nearly, if not alto-
gether as valuable to our people, as is our foreign trade; in truth
it is a great deal more so to all the western counties. As a proof of
this we may adduce the fact that scarcely have we a dollar in circula-
tion other than South Carolina bills. How do these get here? They
are not blown here by the wind. For every dollar of South Carolina
money some of our citizens exchange a dollar's worth of something or
other they had to dispose of; this is the way they come among us.
Now, how much more valuable would this trade be to us, if South
Carolina was not crippled by the tariff? If trade was free as it ought
to be, the people of South Carolina would employ themselves more
exclusively in raising the staples for the foreign market and buy from
us their provisions; where we now sell one dollar's worth of our
products we would then at least sell five for they would be able to
buy from us, 10
Elsewhere in the western counties nullification was con-
demned, notably in public meetings on Independence Day,
10 Western Carolinian, Dec. 31, 1832.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 179
1830, at Ashboro, Hillsboro, and Fayetteville. The legislature
of 1830 gave an opportunity to test the conflict of opinion.
In the House of Commons Jonathan Worth introduced reso-
lutions which, slightly amended, declared that ''although the
tariff laws as they do now exist are unwise, unequal in their
operations, and oppressive to the southern states, yet this
legislature does not recognize the right of the individual
states of this Union to nullify a law of the United States."
After a spirited debate the resolutions were adopted, the
opposition being led by Sawyer, Bynum, and Mebane of
Bertie. In the Senate no action was taken on the resolution.
During the next two years tariff and nullification were widely
discussed in the press and public meetings. In the dominant
sentiment both were condemned, but fear of disunion over-
shadowed hatred of the tariff. Typical were the words of
Gaston: — "The people may disapprove the tariff but they
love the Union more. ' '
Jackson was not held responsible for the failure to revise
the tariff of 1828. By November 1832, Congress had made
no reduction, and South Carolina adopted an ordinance of
nullification. North Carolina was now forced to take a defi-
nite stand. In the legislature an avalanche of resolutions
appeared, in which were represented every shade of opinion
from the extreme of nationalism to the most radical particu-
larism. Of the latter, the resolutions of Sawyer were typical ;
they declared the Union was a compact between the states,
the violation of which each state must decide for itself, that
nullification was the proper remedy against which the Fed-
eral Government could not use force, and that a national con-
vention should be called to settle the controversy between
South Carolina and the Federal Government. On the other
hand the resolutions of a joint committee, to which was re-
ferred a communication from South Carolina, condemned the
tariff as unconstitutional and nullification as revolutionary
and subversive of the Constitution.
The debate revealed a variety of opinion. A minority led
by J. A. Hill defended the protective principle. Opposition
to nullification included, as well as professed nationalists,
many who believed that sovereignty was in the states and
180 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
that secession was a constitutional right. Among the people
the drift of sentiment was overwhelmingly against the policy
of South Carolina. Mr. Macon, then in retirement, voiced
the conservatism of the east when he declared that a state
could not nullify and remain in the Union, but could secede
on paying its part of the national debt. Love, a western
leader who had been a member of the convention which ratified
the Constitution, said: — "If I understand anything about the
meaning of it (nullification) it is intended as a severance
from the Union, and is a species of treason, and if not nipped
in the bud it may amount to treason of the deepest dye." lx
Interesting was the sentiment of the anti-slavery element in
the west. "The Constitution of the United States was not
formed by the states but the people," declared the Greensboro
Patriot. "The states have no hand in it * * * The
people of the United States called the general government
into existence and no power short of that which called it into
being could again alter it or extinguish it." 12 In Salisbury
the Western Carolinian continued its defense of nullification,
but its rival, the Carolina Watchman, declared the doctrine
sprang from "pampered nabobs or declining lordlings
* It is the rank spirit of aristocracy originating in
the corrupt conditions of slavery, that has given the lead to
nullification. Gorged and fattened indolence in all ages and
countries has associated itself with ignorance enlisted under
ambition, and finally vented itself in efforts to destroy a
virtuous government. ' '
With the tariff issue unadjusted and nullification impend-
ing, came the campaign of 1832 in which Jackson's reelection
was the preeminent issue. The opposition to his candidacy
was even less than in 1828. Only three delegates attended
the national republican convention which nominated Clay, and
no state convention in his behalf was held. The main interest
in national politics was the vice-presidency. For that honor
Van Buren was the choice of Jackson, but there was a strong
feeling in North Carolina that Van Buren favored protection
and that he was federalistic. In the Baltimore convention
11 Carolina Watchman. Oct. 20, 1832.
12 Patriot, Dec. 8, 1832.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 181
which nominated Jackson, six of the fifteen North Carolina
delegates gave their votes for the vice-presidency to Barbour
of Virginia. After the national convention adjourned a state
convention met at Raleigh, and framed a Jackson-Barbour
ticket. It is interesting to note that the Barbour element was
almost exclusively eastern, only three western counties send-
ing delegates to the convention, while the west was apparently
satisfied with Van Buren. The result of the election was an
overwhelming victory for Jackson. The vote for Clay was
insignificant ; he did not carry a single county. In six counties
the Jackson-Barbour ticket had a majority over the regular
ticket; strange to say, four of these were western, Cabarrus,
Davidson, Montgomery, and Rowan.
It is evident that there were elements of discord in North
Carolina during Jackson's first administration. In his second
term these elements were strengthened and cemented, result-
ing in the rise of an opposition party. The process of realign-
ment is revealed by sentiment on two measures.
First of these was the policy of the administration toward
nullification. Although the prevailing sentiment in the state
repudiated the South Carolina doctrine, the measures taken
against it were not unanimously approved. The Force Bill
was too drastic for party leaders. In the Senate both Brown
and Mangnm were out of sympathy with it and refrained
from voting. In the House three of the congressmen opposed
it, and one of them, Carson, went so far as to repudiate openly
Jackson's administration.
He now rose to perform a solemn duty ; such a one as he had
once hoped would never have been his lot, and one which filled him
with the deepest regret ; it was to part with a number of gentlemen
with whom it had been his pride and pleasure heretofore to act.
But the hour was come in which he 'was called to separate himself
from them. He regretted this the more, as he knew it would oper-
ate as a banishment of himself from the regard of a man whom he
had delighted to honor ; a man whom he had served, if not with as
much ability, at least with as much honest zeal as ever son felt
toward the person and reputation of his own father. Never had his
heart known such a feeling of devotion toward any human being,
unconnected with himself by blood, as toward Andrew Jackson.
Rut he had arrived at the spot where they must part, etc. 13
13 Congressional Debates, IX, 1826.
182
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
With the exception of Carson, there was no formal break
with Jackson over nullification. Incipient revolt was checked
by the compromise tariff of 1833 and a repeal of the ordinance
of nullification. However Jackson's financial policy precipi-
tated a breach in the party lines. Not satisfied with the failure
of the bank to secure a new charter, he brought about a with-
drawal of the federal funds from the bank and its branches.
This produced profound financial stringency. Moreover it
Willie P. Mangum
raised the constitutional question of executive control over the
national finances. In North Carolina there was already a
financial depression due to the liquidation of the state banks.
This was now increased by Jackson's action, because discount
rates were raised. The depression seems to have been especi-
ally strong in the western counties, where money was always
difficult to obtain.
In Congress there was a definite revolt against Jackson's
leadership. In the Senate it came with the resolutions of
censure adopted in December, 1833. It was here that Senator
Mangum broke with the party, for he voted in favor of the
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 183
resolutions. Later, in February, 1834, he made the adminis-
tration the subject of a caustic philippic, in which he said : —
The principle of this administration ! As far as I know, and I
make the declaration under a full sense of responsibility, this ad-
ministration has put forward no principle as a test principle, as a
party principle, except the principle of election and office. The ad-
ministration came into power as a reforming administration to put
down abuses, lop off excrescences, restore economy, and bring back
the Government to a sound, simple, and healthful action. The great
questions before the country were the tariff, internal improvement,
and economy. I am bold to say that not a single pledge, either ex-
pressed or implied, by the opponents of the late and the friends of
the present administration has been redeemed.
The only great principle, until this of the deposits, which the
friends of the administration were required to support, was the prin-
ciple of office. Is the fact not so? 14
In the House of Representatives the test of party allegiance
was applied in a series of resolutions on April 4, 1834. The
vote on these disclosed practically an equal division in the
North Carolina delegation. On the first resolution, that the
United States Bank ought not to be rechartered, the division
was seven to six; Bynum, Conner, Hall, Hawkins, McKay,
Bencher, and Speight voting aye, and Barringer, Deberry,
Graham, William B. Shepard, A. H. Shepperd, and Lewis
Williams voting nay. On the second resolution, that the pub-
lic deposits ought not to be restored to the Bank of the United
States, the vote was six to seven, RenCher now voting in the
negative. On the third resolution, that state banks should be
continued as places of deposit, the division was likewise six
to seven, while on the fourth resolution, to appoint a committee
to investigate the conduct of the Bank of the United States,
only Shepard and Williams were among the nays. Later, on
April 19, Barringer, Bynum, Deberry,, Shepard, Shepperd,
and Williams favored, and Hall, Hawkins, McKay, and
Speight opposed, a resolution that the custody of the unap-
propriated money of the United States constitutionally be-
longed to Congress.
These votes indicate a permanent cleavage in the Jack-
14 Congressional Debates, X, 687.
184 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
sonian democracy. In the spring of 1834 all opponents of
Jackson drifted together and assumed a new party name,
whig. In North Carolina Jackson was immensely popular
with the rank and file. It was therefore necessary for the
leaders of the new party to find some issues besides opposi-
tion to the executive. These were at hand in local politics.
The burning questions in the state were aid to internal im-
provements and revision of the state constitution. These
causes were now championed by the whigs. And as these
measures were especially popular in the western counties, the
whigs found in that region their greatest support and strength.
It is notable that most of the congressmen who revolted
against Jackson were from the west, — Barringer, Deberry,
Graham, Rencher, Shepperd, and Williams, and likewise Sena-
tor Mangum. Undoubtedly these leaders realized the neces-
sity of economic improvement in their section and felt that
Jackson's financial policy, which raised discount rates, would
tend to delay that development; and so they took the leader-
ship in the revolt against his administration.
The first test o€ party strength within the state came in
the fall of 1834. The legislature was democratic and adopted
a resolution instructing the senators to vote for a resolution
expunging from the records of the Senate the resolutions
condemning Jackson's removal of the deposits. This was
directed at Senator Mangum, his colleague, Bedford Brown,
being loyal to Jackson. Mangum, however, declared that the
legislature, like himself, was a servant of the people and had
no right to control his actions. He therefore refused to obey
the resolution of instruction, but when the democrats carried
the succeeding state election, he resigned and was succeeded
by Robert Strange, a democrat. Such was the alignment of
parties as the year 1836 approached.
CHAPTER X
RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT AFTER THE REVOLU-
TION
The Revival of 1800 — Religious Dissensions
The collapse of an old order and the rise of a new regime
were phenomena not confined to things political and economic.
Religion also felt the impulse of new life after 1800, resulting
in a different outlook and organization from that of the
eighteenth century. The course of this change must now be
traced.
The Revolution shattered the religious forces of North
Carolina. Readjustment to a new regime was as much a
problem for the churches as for industry, trade, and political
thought. For this statistics bear witness. In 1790 the popu-
lation of the state was 393,751, of whom 50,000 were heads of
families. The exact proportion of church members cannot
be ascertained, but 30,000 is a liberal estimate, leaving an
uncultivated spiritual field of 363,751 souls. Yet the condition
within the churches was not very favorable for the task before
them. The Presbyterians had probably the largest member-
ship. They were strongly intrenched in the piedmont and
along the upper Cape Fear ; but most of the loyalists in North
Carolina were of Presbyterian stock and after the Revolution
many of the Scotch on the Cape Fear emigrated. In the pied-
mont section a number of the Presbyterian pastors had been
active in the Revolutionary cause, notably Humphrey Hunter
and Thomas McCaule, who served in the army; but for this
very reason some of the congregations had declined. More-
over strict Calvinistic thought and discipline often leads to
spiritual revolt; witness Rousseau in France, the English
deists, and Benjamin Franklin in America. It is not strange,
185
186 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
therefore, to find that in North Carolina the traditions of
Calvinism were seriously questioned at the close of the war.
' ' The pastors shed tears over departed worth, ' ' lost in battle,
we are told, but they grieved- most over the living "who had
renounced the religion of their fathers, and embraced a cold
skepticism that promised only a life of licentiousness and the
vain hope of annihilation." The Baptists had the largest op-
portunity in North Carolina. They covered a greater territory
than any other denomination, being grouped in two associa-
tions, the Kehukee in the east and the Sandy Creek in the
piedmont, the latter being the third oldest association of Bap-
tists in the United States. Their rapid growth in the South
toward the middle of the eighteenth century was little less
than a profound social movement. Their extremely demo-
cratic organization fitted in well with the ideals of the plain
people while their style of preaching and type of thought made
a popular appeal. The Baptist membership in 1790 was 7,712,
surpassed only by the Presbyterians who, with the Independ-
ents, had been estimated at 9,000 in 1762. But there were
certain inherent weaknesses in the denomination. Individual-
ism was too strongly intrenched in its polity for an organized
diffusion of the faith, and there was a strong tendency toward
dissensions over certain ordinances of the church.
So much for the two largest denominations. There were
also the Quakers, well organized in some of the eastern and
at least one of the piedmont counties ; but they were a distinct
social class rather than an aggressive denomination. The
Moravians had a worthy and heroic history, but not until
recent years have they sought an increase of membership.
The progress of the Lutherans and German Reformed had
been seriously checked by the interruption of intercourse with
Europe during the war. Most significant was the condition
of the Anglicans. Throughout the South the Church of Eng-
land was prostrate. Among its communicants in North Caro-
lina were a number of Revolutionary leaders and its clergy
were as a rule true to the patriot cause. But its tradition of
close alliance with the British colonial system was a serious
hindrance, there was no local episcopate, and early efforts to
organize the diocese of North Carolina failed.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 187
Evidently there was an opportunity for a church that had
an organization suitable for a distinct propaganda, that was
free from doctrinal disputes, and that was thoroughly conse-
crated to some elemental Christian truth which would appeal
to the people. In Methodism the hour and the opportunity
met. Its pioneer preachers made their appearance in North
Carolina in 1772. The prevalent opinion is that the growth of
the Methodist societies was checked by the Revolution, that
many of the British preachers returned to England, and that
the native circuit riders were popularly regarded as loyal to
the Crown to the injury of their cause. Such a conclusion is
not in accord with the facts, so far as North Carolina is con-
cerned. In 1776 the membership of the societies in the state
was 683 ; by 1783, the year of the Treaty of Peace, it had risen
to 2,229, and the number of circuits was then increased from
four to ten. A step toward independence from the Church of
England was taken in 1779, when the preachers of North
Carolina and Virginia appointed a presbytery of three with
power to ordain themselves, then others. Through the in-
fluence of Francis Asbury this action was disavowed until
Mr. Wesley could be consulted. In 1784 consent was given
and the Methodist societies took on the clothes of a church at
Baltimore. The next year the first Annual Conference was
held near Louisburg at the home of Green Hill.
The mechanism of the new denomination was well suited
to the task before it. The bishops were the generals, the
presiding elders the captains, the circuit riders the soldiers
of the line. All were engaged in a spiritual warfare ; in con-
trast to the call of the congregation in the Presbyterian and
Baptist polities, they were sent to the people. Not since the
days of the Jesuit fathers in the French northwest had this
country seen such an aggressive projection of the Christian
faith; hardly since the days of St. Francis had Christianity
known a religious type similar to the circuit rider. Like the
friars, he knew no place of abode, parsonages not being au-
thorized until 1800. The meagre salary of sixty-four dollars
made poverty truly evangelical and, with the views of Bishop
Asbury, made marriage practically impossible for the ma-
jority. The circuit riders preached at every opportunity,
188
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
wherever a few could be gathered together, slave or free.
Intensely evangelical, they were never satisfied without some
manifestation of grace, the conviction of sinners or the re-
joicing of the redeemed. They also wielded an intellectual
influence. Some time between 1780 and 1790 Cokesbury
School was established on the Yadkin, the first preparatory
school in America under Methodist control. A few vears
Green Hill House
Meeting Place of Annual Conference, 1785
after the Revolution Sunday schools were introduced for the
purpose of instruction in the elementary branches, and the
Conference of 1790 declared: "Let us labor, as the heart and
soul of one man, to establish Sunday schools in or near the
place of public worship. Let persons be appointed by the
bishops, elders, deacons or preachers to teach (gratis) all that
will attend and have a capacity to learn; from six o'clock in
the morning till ten, and from two o'clock in the afternoon till
six; where it does not interfere with public worship. The
Council shall compile a proper school book, to teach them
learning and piety." Just when the Methodist Sunday School
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 189
appeared in North Carolina and how extensively the institu-
tion was used, is unknown. In Virginia the first Sunday
school was organized in 1786, in South Carolina in 1787. The
circuit riders had still another intellectual influence. When
the Methodist publishing house was organized they scattered
its books and tracts throughout North Carolina. It is a matter
of record that the Discipline of 1786 and also the first number
of the Arminian Magazine were prepared for the press in
North Carolina, the former by John Dickins on the Bertie
Circuit, the latter by Coke and Asbury in 1789. In 1783 there
were in North Carolina eighteen circuit riders ; by 1800 there
were twenty-seven, and cooperating with them were a large
number of local preachers.
Nor were the Presbyterians and Baptists inactive. In
1788 the Synod of the Carolinas was organized, and the Pres-
byterian divines busied themselves in combating skepticism,
restoring* Sabbath observance, and holding short seasons of
fasting and prayer in their churches twice a year. Long be-
fore the camp meeting came into vogue, tents or stands for
use of the minister in out-of-door preaching were common
among the Presbyterian congregations. By the Baptists five
new associations were organized; three in the west, the Yad-
kin (1790), Mayo (1798), and Mountain (1799), and two in the
east, the Neuse (1794) and Flat River (1794). Thus the
period from 1783 to 1800 was one of preparation, characterized
by a gradual extension of the churches into fields hitherto
unoccupied, and by denominational reorganization. The result
was a rich harvest, ushered in by a great revival which began
in 1801 and lasted for a decade. Baptist traditions regard it
as a reflex of the great revival contemporary in the west,
while good Presbyterian authority claims that it began in
Orange County as the result of prayer meetings conducted by
the wife of Dr. David Caldwell. With the Methodists the
genesis of the revival undoubtedly was the Conference of 1800,
which met in Baltimore. It closed with a distinct manifesta-
tion of grace and the preachers carried the flame of evangelism
to the most distant circuits. In North Carolina the revival
started in the western counties, thence spread to the Cape
Fear, then to the coast and the Albemarle section, and culmi-
190 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
nated in a meeting at Raleigh in 1811. Here was a movement
of epochal importance in religious history. Let ns notice
some of its characteristics.
First of all there was co-operation on the part of the Meth-
odists, the Presbyterians and the Baptists. The method of
reaching the people was the camp meeting. Its origin dates
from 1789 or 1790, when it was used in the western counties
by John McGee and Daniel Asbury, and later was introduced
by McGee into Tennessee and Kentucky. With the revival it
became the most prominent means of carrying the gospel to
the masses. The numbers attending were estimated by the
thousands. From all accounts the results were greater in the
piedmont than in the Cape Fear section. To a large degree
this may be attributed to racial influences. In the western
counties the population was largely Scotch-Irish. These
people were exiles in a double sense. In the migration from
Scotland to Ireland much of the discipline of the kirk was
lost. The English Church was established in Ireland and the
government opposed any other form of Protestantism. Hence
under great difficulties did the Presbyterian church in Ireland
maintain its existence. Moreover, the earlv vears of the
Scotch in Ireland were years of conflict with rugged nature.
Cabins were built, fields were cleared in face of opposition by
the native Irish and the beasts of the forest. Thus for a time
physical wants stood first. These facts, the frontier life and
the policy of the English government, were the background for
a new land of religious experience which came about 1625, a
wave of revivals conducted by missionaries, not in churches,
but in the cabins of the settlers, the first form of the prayer
meeting. A century later the Scotch-Irish emigrated to
America. Again the task of the first years was a conflict with
nature, clearing the f©rest and establishing homes. The out-
look for fruitful life was better than in Ireland ; the hearts of
the people were softened by the greater degree of liberty and
old prejudices relaxed. The result was the revival of 1755 in
the piedmont section, led by Shubal Stearns, the Baptist mis-
sionary from New England, and the still greater revival in
1801. •
On the other hand, the experience of the Scotch Highland-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 191
ers had been different. In Scotland the kirk was established
and the chief religious interest was to defend it from criticism
bv the Anglicans. Hence the Scotch divines excelled in the
philosophy of religion, the defense of traditional thought and
forms of worship. Consequently neither in Scotland nor
among the Scotch in America were revivals very popular.
Two Presbyterian clergymen in North Carolina may be taken
in illustration. Dr. David Caldwell, Scotch-Irish minister,
educator, and politician, welcomed the revival of 1801 as a
special manifestation of God's power; likewise one of his
congregations, the church at Alamance. Not so another of
his congregations, the church at Buffalo. Alamance went so
far as to adopt the evangelical hymns of Isaac Watts, but Buf-
falo continued the old custom of singing the psalms. In strong
contrast to Dr. Caldwell was Samuel MacCorkle, a Scotch
minister. At first he was extremely doubtful of the value of
the great wave of evangelism. At Caldwell's special invitation
he attended a camp meeting in Randolph county. He was
shocked by the scenes. "Is it possible,, said I, that this scene
of seeming confusion can come from the spirit of God? Can
He who called light from darkness, and order from confusion,
educe light and order from such a dark mental and moral
chaos 1 ' ' Toward the close of the meeting, while still in doubt
as to the efficacy of the revival, he was called to his own son,
who was under conviction of sin. While praying over him
the good dominie's interest widened to the whole world of
sinners, his doubts of the value of revivals were dispelled, and
he himself became active in camp meetings.
Here was one of the strategical points in the religious his-
tory of the state. The Calvinistic forces, both Presbyterian
and Baptist, were divided as to the value and advisability of
the revival ; but the Methodists were not divided, their Armini-
an doctrine made them unanimous, and hence in the end they
reaped a greater harvest. By 1810 they had outstripped
other denominations in point of numbers.
The phase of the revival that attracted most attention was
the physical expression of emotion. Such religious exercises
as falling or the jerks, dancing, barking, laughing, and singing
were common. These phenomena had characterized the pre-
192 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
vious revivals in Ireland and the piedmont section. They
were most common among the Scotch-Irish. Most of our ac-
counts are from Presbyterian sources. Typical were the scenes
at a camp meeting held in the western counties in 1802 by
Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists ; —
"There was a powerful work among the rjeople, such as
had never been witnessed before in this part of the country.
Many were astonished beyond measure, and appeared to be
frightened almost to death. They would fall sometimes, un-
der preaching, their whole length on the ground, and with
such suddenness and violence as seemed almost enough to kill
them. Some of my neighbors fell at my feet like men shot in
battle. This the people called being 'struck down,' and when
they professed religion, they called that 'coming through.'
"One of the most mysterious exercises among the people
was what was called the jerks. I saw numbers exercised in this
way at a camp meeting held in Lincoln County. Sometimes
their heads would be jerked backward and forward with such
violence that it would cause them to utter involuntarily a
sharp, quick sound similar to the yelp of a dog ; and the hair
of the women to crack like a whip. Sometimes their arms, with
clenched fists, would be jerked in alternate directions with
such force as seemed sufficient almost to separate them from
the body. Sometimes all their limbs would be affected, and
they would be thrown into almost every imaginable position,
and it was as impossible to hold them still almost as to hold
a wild horse. When a woman was exercised in this way, other
women would join hands around her and keep her within the
circle they formed; but the men were left without constraint
to jerk at large through the congregation, over benches, over
logs, and even over fences. I have seen persons exercised in
such a way that they would go all over the floor with a quick,
dancing motion, and with such rapidity that their feet would
rattle upon the floor like drum-sticks.
"Some of the Presbyterians got into some extremes and
brought a reproach upon the good work. They got into what
they called the dancing exercise, the marrying exercise, etc.
Sometimes a whole set of them would get together and begin
dancing about at a most extravagant rate. Sometimes they
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 193
would be exercised about getting married, and one would tell
another he or she had a particular revelation that they must
be married, and if the one thus addressed did not consent, he
or she must expect to be damned. Thus many got married, and
it was said some old maids, who had nearly gotten antiquated,
managed in this way to get husbands. But this was con-
demned by the more sober part among Presbyterians and
Methodists, and it has now nearly subsided. ' ' x
In the light of such scenes it is not strange to hear that
Methodist ministers were sometimes arrested or assaulted and
that one husband applied a mustard plaster to his wife to
cure her of Methodism. Experience with human souls in the
camp meeting often brought with it an unusual knowledge of
the mind and its operations. Sometimes the circuit riders
utilized this knowledge for the cure of mental ailments. An
example occurred in Wilmington in 1815. Joseph Travis
was pastor of the Methodist Church. Among the residents of
the town was an ex-governor of the state. One day he asked
Travis to call on his wife who for some time had been treated
by physicians for some mental disturbance. Hear Travis ' ac-
count of the interview and its results :
Calling on the lady he found that "her head had been
shaved and blistered, and I know not what besides had been
tried, to restore her mind to a proper balance. Yet withal, she
apparently grew worse. I told her that at the request of her
husband, I had called to see her. She immediately commenced
relating to me her deplorable insanity, and the cause leading
thereunto ; namely, a confusion of mind which suddenly seized
her one day; and withal that her greatest grief was that
she was not prepared for death. I endeavored to convince her
that she was not deranged, assuring her that a deranged per-
son was not conscious of any abberation of mind. I pretty
well convinced her of the fact and then proceeded to point
her desponding and sin-smitten soul to the great atonement
made for sinners by the death and resurrection of Christ. I
conversed with her for a half hour or so, prayed with her,
and left her. In a day or two afterwards, a carriage drove
1 David Gray, quoted from Shipp, Methodism in South Carolina,
p. 273.
Vol. n— is
194 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
up to the parsonage. I stepped out, and who should it be
but Mrs. Smith. I helped her out of the carriage and with
weeping eyes as she entered the parsonage, she exclaimed,
'0, Sir! you have done me more good than all the doctors put
together. You directed me to Jesus. I went to him by faith,
and humble confidence and prayer. He has healed me, soul
and body ; I feel quite happy. ' " 2
In the eastern counties the outlook for converts was dif-
ferent than in the western. There was a large negro popula-
tion, and the whites were mainly of English rather than
Scotch-Irish extraction. In those counties that had a large
colored element in their population, Methodism seems to have
made a stronger appeal to the negroes than the whites. The
first white convert in Fayetteville was baptized in 1802, al-
though for some time there had been a large negro congrega-
tion, organized by Henry Evans, a free negro preacher. In
Wilmington in 1802 the white membership was 48, the negro
231 ; in 1812 the figures were 94 white and 704 colored. In the
Albemarle section the Methodist movement received the co-
operation of the Anglicans. For this Reverend Charles Petti-
grew was largely responsible. In vain he had labored to
organize the surviving elements of the Church of England into
a diocese. In fact he was elected Bishop of North Carolina in
1794 but was never consecrated. Realizing the futilitv of his
efforts, he turned to Methodism as the best hope for religion.
At his home he entertained the circuit riders, at the chapel on
his plantation near Edenton they preached, and until 1839 Pet-
tigrew's Chapel was a regular appointment on the Columbia
Circuit.
The culmination of the evangelistic wave was reached in a
meeting at Raleigh. There the Virginia Conference met in
1811. Its sessions were held in the State House because the
small Methodist congregation had no building. Asbury was
present, so were McKendree, Jesse Lee and other pioneers of
Methodism. Guided by their preaching about fifty professed
Christ, among whom was William Hill, Secretary of State
from 1811 to 1859. The immediate result was the construction
2 Autobiography of Joseph Travis, p. 80.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 195
of a church, the direct antecedent of Edenton Street. Among
the witnesses of the revival was William Glendenning, one of
the original Methodist preachers in America. In 1785 he left
the new denomination, dissatisfied with its form of govern-
ment, and joined 'Kelly's Republican Methodist Church.
He welcomed his old associates and took a keen interest in
the revival but frequently exclaimed, ' ' I do not like the gov-
ernment, I do not like the government. ' '
The influence of the great revival on the life of the people
was of lasting importance. The reality of religion was
brought home to all. Now the latter half of the eighteenth
century had been preeminently an age of free thinking.
Skepticism was then aggressive, scoffing, irreligious and irrev-
erent, and such it remained until the scientific movement of
the nineteenth century gave it new thought, sound facts, a
method and a task. Now the skepticism of the older type
existed among the intellectual class in North Carolina, and the
uncultivated copied their betters and swaggered about un-
belief. Churches had not been too numerous either in country
or towns, and the cause of religion had not been very exten-
sively or very thoroughly presented prior to the Revolution.
The great revival, therefore, marks healthy reaction, an awak-
ening of the people to the reality of the religious element in
life. The conversion of the infidel was a common event.
Typical is the following account by James Jenkins. Writing
in 1802 of a meeting in the Waxhaws he says : ' ' One among
many remarkable cases I will relate of a professed atheist who
fell to the earth and sent for brother Gassaway to pray for
him. After laboring in the pangs of the new birth for some
time, the Lord gave him deliverance. He then confessed be-
fore hundreds that for some years he had not believed there
was a God but now found him gracious to his soul." The reac-
tion from infidelity probably explains in some measure the re-
ligous exercises and visions, phenomena which sudden changes
of conviction might easily produce.
Out of the religious movement came a demand for moral
reform. Illustrative was a new attitude toward alcohol. 'Ev-
ery gentleman had his private distillery, the leading politician
of North Carolina is said to have kept a bucket of corn whiskey
196 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
at his front door, and the manufacture and peddling of liquors
was an industry as common as raising cotton or tobacco. Yet
in the Methodist Conference minutes of 1783 we find the fol-
lowing question and answer :
Q. — "Should our friends be permitted to make spirituous
liquors, sell, and drink them in drains?"
A. — "By no means; in that it is wrong in its nature and
consequences, and desire all our preachers to teach the people
by precept and example to put away the evil. ' '
Here was the first step toward a prohibition movement in
the South. Later, local preachers were prohibited under pen-
alty to distill or retail spirituous liquors. However, the issue
was injected into politics by the Baptists when, in 1817. the
following resolutions were adopted by the Sandy Creek Asso-
ciation :
"Whereas, this association views with concern and regret
the custom existing among candidates for public posts of honor
and profit, of distributing spirituous liquors among the peo-
ple, in order to enhance their own popularity, and influence
the suffrages of their fellow citizens at elections ; and whereas
such a custom is both runinous to the morals and happiness of
the people, and dangerous to their civil rights and liberties.
"1. Resolved unanimously, That a person be appointed to
prepare a memorial to be presented to the next meeting of the
General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, praying
them to enact a law against this degrading evil.
"2. Resolved, That it be recommended to the churches of
this association to refuse their support to any candidate who
shall, either himself or by another person distribute spirituous
liquors with a view to conciliate the affections of the people.
"3. Resolved, That this association concur with their
brethren of the Flat River Association, in inviting all profess-
ing Christians, and lovers of good order and morality, to lend
their decided cooperation to avert the evils which this custom
entails upon us.
"4. Agreed that Brother George Dismukes wait upon the
legislature with the memorial of this body. ' '
The revival also had considerable educational influence.
In 1813 the North Carolina Bible Society was organized for
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 197
the purpose of distributing the scripture among the people.
Sunday schools became more numerous and had for their pur-
poses elementary instruction. The various denominations
were also strengthened. Increase of membership made possi-
ble more compact church organization. In 1803 the Lutheran
Synod of North Carolina was formed. In 1813 the Presby-
terian churches withdrew from the Synod of the Carolinas
and organized the Synod of North Carolina. In 1817 the
Episcopalians organized the Diocese of North Carolina, with
three clergymen and less than 200 laity. John Stark Ravens-
croft was elected Bishop and at the end of his episcopate in
1830 there were eleven clergymen and 650 lay members.
However the Baptists were more profoundly affected by
the revival than any other denomination. Two issues con-
vulsed the associations.
First of these was the question of missions. In 1803 Mar-
tin Ross, a leading member of the Kehukee Association, sub-
mitted to that body the following query : "Is not the Kehukee
Association, with all her numerous and respectable friends,
called on in Providence, in some way, to step forward in sup-
port of that missionary spirit which the great God is so won-
derfully reviving amongst the different denominations of
good men in various parts of the world?" There was no
immediate response, but the next year a committee was ap-
pointed to meet delegates from the Portsmouth and Neuse
Associations to consider the cause of foreign missions. As
a result, in 1805 the Philanthropic Baptist Missionary Society
was founded. This was seven years before Judson became a
missionary and eleven years before the Baptist General Con-
vention was organized ; in fact the Philanthropic Society was
the first missionary organization among American Baptists.
Its purpose was to stimulate the formation of local missionary
societies and to keep the cause of missions before the various
associations. In 1814 a number of individual Baptists launched
the North Carolina Baptist Society for Foreign Missions, its
scope being widened in 1817 to include domestic missions.
The strength of the organization lay in the piedmont section,
that of the Philanthropic Society in the east. In 1817 the con-
tribution of the North Carolina Baptists to missions was
198 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
greater than that of the Baptists of any other state except
Massachusetts.
The second movement among the Baptists was for co-
operation on the part of the various associations. The only
relation between them was purely formal, consisting in the
exchange of letters or of visits of traveling delegates. From
1800 to 1816 the increase of membership was great ; eight new
associations were formed. In the interest of uniformity as
well as the further extension of the Gospel some closer rela-
tionship among the associations seemed desirable. Again
the leadership was taken by Martin Ross, now a member of the
newly formed Chowan Association. In 1809 he secured the
appointment of a committee to plan a general meeting, to con-
sist of the Kehukee and the associations which sprang from it.
In 1810 the scope of the proposed organization was widened to
include all the Baptist associations in the state. Response was
received from six associations and in 1811 at the Falls of Tar
River preliminary steps were taken for the organization at
Raleigh in 1812 of the Baptist General Meeting of Corres-
pondence. Its purpose was to extend religious acquaintance,
to encourage the preaching of the Gospel, and to diffuse use-
ful knowledge. However, even the semblance of a central au-
thority was so contrary to Baptist traditions that only six
associations sent delegates.
Of the two movements outlined, that for missions was the
stronger. In 1821 the Philanthropic Society and the General
Meeting of Correspondence were merged into the North Caro-
lina Baptist Missionary Society. Heretofore support of mis-
sions had been entirely individualistic and voluntary. There
had been no business-like organization of the work. The dis-
tinctive feature of the new organization was the appointment
of an agent, R. T. Daniel, at a salary of forty dollars per
month and an assistant at thirty dollars. Their duties were
to organize local missionary societies and to apply system and
business-like methods to the cause.
The movement for closer inter- associational relations and
missions met opposition, the centre of which was the Kehukee
Association. The faith of this organization was strongly
Calvinistic, the doctrine of predestination having been incor-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 199
porated into its declaration of principles in 1777. After 1815
the Association sent no delegates to the General Meeting of
Correspondence and its contributions to missions declined.
The climax of the opposing views was reached after the organi-
zation of the Baptist Missionary Society in 1821. Much crit-
icism was expressed of salaried officers, the departure from
the individualistic method of missionary work being denounced
as "man made. " The leader of the opposition was Joshua Law-
rence. In 1826 he laid before the Kehukee Association a
Declaration of Reformed Baptists, a protest against the new
tendencies* It was referred to the churches of the Association
for action. The minutes of 1827 declare that ''it was agreed
that we discard all Missionary Societies,, Bible Societies, and
Theological Seminaries, and the practices heretofore resorted
to for their support, in begging money from the public, and if
any persons should be among us, as agents of such societies,
we hereafter discountenance them in those practices, and if
under a character of minister of the gospel we will not invite
them into our pulpits ; believing that these societies and insti-
tutions to be inventions of men, and not warranted from the
word of God." When these minutes were published some
members claimed that this pronouncement had never been sub-
mitted to a vote; others that it was unanimously adopted.
Among the former were Philemon Bennett, the Moderator in
1827. However, the proposition was sustained at the two suc-
ceeding sessions of the Association. Nine churches thereupon
withdrew and in 1831 organized the Tar River Association
which committed itself to the new order of things.
The spirit of schism spread to the other associations.
From the Neuse a number of churches withdrew and organ-
ized the Contentnea Association, which clung to the old ideas
and methods. When the Country Line and the Pee Dee asso-
ciations decided for the old order, certain churches withdrew
and founded the Beulah and Liberty associations. Yet the
movement for the adoption of the new ideas and methods was
approved by a majority of the churches throughout the state.
The cause of reform was led by a group of new leaders :
Thomas Meredith, a graduate of the University of Pennsyl-
vania who came to North Carolina and settled at Edenton in
200 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1817, John Armstrong, a graduate of Columbian College of
Washington, D. C. and pastor at Newbern, Samuel Wait and
P. W. Dowd, also graduates of Columbian College. Cooperat-
ing with them was Martin Ross, who had introduced the ques-
tion of missions and cooperative organization in the Kehukee
Association. Acting on his motion the Chowan Association
in 1826 appointed a committee to arrange for the organization
of the Baptist State Convention. In 1830, when the Benevo-
lent Society met in Greenville, the fourteen members present
adopted a resolution transforming the society into the "Bap-
tist State Convention." A constitution, prepared for the oc-
casion by Thomas Meredith, was adopted, which made the ob-
jects of the convention ministerial education, state missions,
and cooperation with the National General Convention in
domestic and foreign missions. The organization proved per-
manent and successful. The next step in the movement of
progress was the foundation of a college for the denomina-
tion, which was achieved with the charter of Wake Forest in
1833.
The problem of organization was not confined to the Bap-
tists. Considerable dissatisfaction pervaded the Methodists.
In the early days of the church there was discontent with the
episcopacy. Joseph Pilmoor, the first Methodist preacher in
North Carolina, never left the Church of England. William
Meredith, who introduced Methodism into Wilmington, lived
and died a Primitive Methodist. Glendenning, as we have
seen, forsook the church. Parson Miller, of Rowan County,
remained in the Church of England; indeed, he helped to es-
tablish the Diocese of North Carolina.
The leader of the earlier discontent was James O'Kelley, a
native of Ireland, who spent his later years in Chatham Coun-
ty, North Carolina. When the motion to allow the itinerant to
appeal from the Bishop to the Conference in the matter of his
appointment was rejected in 1792, O'Kelley withdrew and soon
organized the Republican Methodist Church, now the Christian
Church. Another period of discontent opened after the great
revival. On account of the small salary of the itinerant, there
was a host of local preachers who retired from the ranks in
order to support their families. They participated in the camp
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 201
meetings and the revivals, and demanded recognition in the
councils of the church. In 1820 the General Conference al-
lowed them to organize district conferences, the chairmen of
which were the presiding elders. This concession was not
enough; in 1821 the Roanoke District Conference of Local
Preachers sent to similar bodies and also to the Virginia
Conference a protest against rules for their government made
by a General Conference in which they were not represented,
and a petition for representation was sent up to the General
Conference of 1824. From other states were also sent peti-
tions for lay representation. When these were rejected, "union
societies" were organized to agitate for reform, the second
society in the movement being the Roanoke Union Society,
organized in Halifax County, November 3, 1824. A little later
the Granville Union was formed on the Tar River Circuit.
The policy of the itinerants and presiding elders toward the
movement for reform was drastic. Accusing members of the
unions of inveighing against the discipline and sowing dis-
sensions, they frequently expelled them from the churches.
When a second appeal for reform to the General Conference
of 1828 was rejected, a new denomination was launched, the
Associated Methodist Churches, later the Methodist Prot-
estant Church; the first annual conference of the new move-
ment was organized in North Carolina in December, 1828.
Thus between 1800 and 1830 religion underwent an exten-
sive propaganda and took on the clothes of earthly organiza-
tion. Thereafter its development was more conventional. The
age of expansion was followed by a period of doctrinal con-
troversies and denominational rivalry. Hence the years from
1830 to 1860 are of interest mainly to those who have a techni-
cal interest in denominational history.
CHAPTER XI
SLAVERY AND THE FREE NEGRO— LEGAL,
ECONOMIC, AND SOCIAL
During the decade of 1830-1840, which marked an epoch
in political, religious, educational, and economic development,
the institution of slavery was modified. A permanent change,
took place in the relations between the dominant and
the servile races, which had a profound influence on political
history. This must now be traced.
The slave system in North Carolina had certain well de-
fined characteristics. The first of these was its patriarchal
character, the personal relation between master and slave,
due to the prevalence of the small plantation and the low
average of slaves to each slave-holding family. Contemporary
evidence of this is given by Frederick Law Olmsted, who
thought : —
"The aspect in North Carolina with regard to slavery" to be "less
lamentable than that of Virginia. There is not only less bigotry upon
the subject and more freedom of conversation, but I saw here, in the
institution, more of the patriarchal than in any other State. The slave
more frequently appears as a family servant — a member of his mas-
ter's family, interested with him in his fortune, good or bad. This is
the result of less concentration of wealth in families or individuals.
* * * Slavery thus loses much of its inhumanity. It is still ques-
tionable, however, if, as the subject race approaches civilization, the
dominant race is not proportionately detained in its progress. ' ' x
While in South Carolina Mr. Olmsted met a free negro
peddler from North Carolina and in conversation with him
received the following comparison of the negro's lot in the
two states : —
' ' ' Fac ' is, master, 'pears like wite folks doan ginerally like niggars
in dis country ; dey doan ginerally talk so to niggars like as do in my
country ; de niggars ain 't so happy heah ; 'pears like the wite folks is
kind o' different, somehow.' "
1 Journey to the Seaboard Slave States, p. 367.
202
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
203
"Well, I've been thinking myself the niggers did not look so well
nere as they did in North Carolina and Virginia ; they are not so well
clothed, and they don't appear so bright as they do there."
"Well, massa, " was the answer, "Sundays dey is mighty well
clothed, dis country ; 'pears like dere ain 't nobody looks better Sunday
dan dey do. But, Lord ! working days, seems like dey had no close dey
could keep on 'em at all, master. Dey is almost naked wen dey's at
work, some un 'em. Why, master, up in our country de wite folks,
why some un 'em has ten or twelve ; dey doan hev no real big planta-
tions like dey has heah, but some un 'em has ten or twelve niggars,
maybe, and dey juss lives and talks along wid 'em. If dey gits a
niggar and he doan behave himself, dey won't keep him; dey just
tell him, sar, he must look up anudder master, and if he doan find him-
self one, I tell 'ou, wen the trader cum along, dey sell him and he
totes him away. Dey always sell off all de bad niggars out of our
country; dat's de way all de bad niggar and all dem no-account niggar
keep a comin' down hear; dat's de way on't, master." 2
The number and distribution of the negroes, slave and free,
and their ratio to the white population were just as notable as
the relation between master and slave. The following table
may be taken as a basis for comparison: 3
Tear
Per Ct,
Per a.
Per Ct.
In-
PerCt.
Total
Slave
White
of In-
of Pop-
Free
In-
of Pop-
Slaves
crease
of Pop-
Popu-
Owning
orea.se
ulation
Colored
crease
ulation
ulation
lation
Families
Per Ct.
of Fam-
ilies
17901289,1431
1800
1810
1820
1830
1840
1850
1860
337,764
376,470
419,200
472,823
484,870
553,028
629,942
17.19
11.44
11.36
12.79
2.54
14.05
14.42
73.2
70.6
67.7
65.6
64.1
64.3
63.6
63.4
5,135
7,043
10,266
14,612
19,534
22,732
27,463
30,463
41.56
45.76
42.33
33.74
16.31
20.81
10.92
1.3
1.04
1.83
2.3
2.6
3.01
3.2
3.1
102,726
133,296
168,824
205,017
245,601
245,817
288,548
331,059
32.53
26.65
21.43
19.79
.08
17.38
14.73
25.5
27.8
30.3
32.1
33.1
32.6
33.2
33.3
395,005
478,103
555,500
638,829
737,987
753,419
869,039
992,622
16,3101 31.0
28,303
26.8
It is evident that the negroes increased faster than the
whites, and formed a larger percentage of the population in
1860 than in 1790. Within this increase there was a tendency
toward a concentration of ownership ; the percentage of slave-
holding families in 1850 (26%) was less than in 1790 (31%).
The average number of slaves held by each slave-holding fam-
ily increased in the same period from 6.7 to 10.2. Likewise
the percentage of those holding more than five increased.
Evidently there was a slow but persistent influence driving to
the wall the non-slave-holders and small owners, and also con-
2 Ibid., pp. 389-393.
3 Century of Population Growth (U. S. Census)
204 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
centrating property in the hands of the few. In the light of
these facts the value of slaves is significant. No exact infor-
mation can he had ; but investigation has placed the valuation
in 1790 at $150 to $200 per head. Therefore the value of
slaves in North Carolina at that time was between $15,000,000
and $20,000,000. In 1863 the first state report on slave values
gave $162,866,763 for 299,325 slaves, or $544 per head. Thus
there was an increase in value along with concentration of
ownership.
By far the most interesting decade in this development
was that from 1830 to 1840, when the total population
showed its minimum increase. This was probably due to the
migration to the southwest then under way. The same decade
also was the period when discontent with the existing social,
economic, and political conditions reached its climax. After
the establishment of a school system, the construction of the
first railroads, and the revision of the constitution, there was
a distinctly more hopeful tone in the press and among pub-
lic men, and no succeeding decade gave to the census such
depressing figures.
The sectional aspect of slavery was also significant. The
eastern counties always had a larger slave population than
the western. In 1790 the ratio of the sections was more than
two to one, 70,504 in the east to 30,068 in the west; by 1860
it was one and one-third to one, 184,596 in the east to 146,653 in
the west. In no western county in 1790 did the slaves out-
number the whites ; in 1860 they had a majority in four west-
ern, as well as in fifteen eastern, counties. Thus the slave
svstem found its wav into the region of the small farmer.
These statistics reveal the working out of an economic
transformation. With that process also came a change in
public opinion regarding the institution of slavery and the
rights of the slaves. For this the decade 1830-1840 may be
taken as the dividing line ; prior thereto a strong anti-slavery
feeling existed, and also a liberalizing trend in the laws re-
garding slavery ; but within the decade the pro-slavery senti-
ment increased until it dominated public opinion, and legisla-
tion on slavery became more strict.
The earlier sentiment had three origins. One was the lib-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 205
eral political philosophy of the Revolution which emphasized
the rights of man. It was responsible for a movement to check
the slave trade. The first Provincial Congress which met in
August, 1774, adopted a resolution that "we will not import
any slave or slaves, or purchase any slave or slaves imported
or brought into this province by others, from any part of
the world after the first day of November next. " 4 In the
Hillsboro Convention which considered the Federal Constitu-
tion the compromise preventing interference with the traffic
was explained as a concession to South Carolina and Georgia,
and James Iredell declared "when entire abolition of slavery
takes place, it will be an event which must be pleasing to every
generous mind and every friend of human nature ; but we often
wish for things which are unobtainable. ' ' Legislation on the
slave trade was also notable. In 1786 duties intended to be
prohibitive were levied on imported slaves at the following
rates : 40s on those under 7 and over 40 years of age, £5 on
those from 7 to 12 and from 30 to 40, and £10 on those between
12 and 30, and a tax of £5 on all brought in from Africa, while
slaves imported from states in which the policy of emancipa-
tion had been adopted were to be returned. There was, how-
ever, a pro-slavery interest, and in 1790 it procured a repeal
of the above statute. But the Haytien Revolt of 1791 aroused
the slaveholders to the danger of admitting negroes from
abroad, and in 1794 the importation of slaves or indentured
persons of color was absolutely prohibited, unless the owners
settled in the state or were passing through. The next year
this exception was denied to those coming from the West
Indies, the Bahamas, or South America. To a petition from
Wilmington in 1803 regarding the arrival of free negroes
from Guadaloupe was due the inception of the federal statute
confiscating any ship bringing negroes or persons of color to
states which prohibited their importation. Apparently the
liberal sentiment was again dominant in 1804, for, South Car-
olina having withdrawn her restrictions in 1803, the legislature
of North Carolina adopted a resolution proposing that Con-
gress be given authority to prohibit the slave trade. The
4 Colonial Records, IX, 1046.
206 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
real test of opinion, however, was the policy toward the ille-
gally imported slave; should he remain a slave, be returned
to Africa or elsewhere, or gain his freedom? In settling this
matter Nathaniel Macon's influence was decisive. He re-
garded the slave traffic as a commercial question, the sub-
ject for sectional bargains, and as Speaker of the House of
Representatives, his deciding vote in December, 1806, pre-
vented the federal law of 1807 from including the prohibition
of the sale of negroes illegally imported. The question being
left to the states, North Carolina in 1816 provided for sale,
one-fifth of the proceeds to go to the informer and the balance
to the state.
Another test of political thought regarding slavery was
the question of its extension in the territories. In 1789 when
the land west of the mountains was ceded to the Union, one of
the conditions was that "no regulations made or to be made
by Congress, shall tend to emancipate slaves." However, by
1819 a more liberal sentiment was in the ascendancy. The
discussion concerning slavery expansion in Congress, which
resulted in the Missouri Compromise, produced no excitement
in North Carolina. The legislature made no pronouncement
on the subject, and opinion on the principles involved can be
gleaned only from the press and the actions of senators and
congressmen. The Raleigh Register, the organ of the dom-
inant party, opposed any restriction upon the admission of
Missouri; but the Minerva, representing the old federalist ele-
ment, took the opposite view. Its editor defended the consti-
tutional right of Congress to restrict slavery and added,
"It is equally certain that true policy forbids the extension, as
its submits to the toleration, of slavery." Some form of
gradual emancipation was also advocated by the Minerva.
The views of the editor were supported by a number of letters
and addresses which appeared in the paper from time to time.
The same divergence of opinion also existed among the politi-
cal leaders. Senator Macon and six of the congressmen voted
against the Compromise, while Senator Stokes and six con-
gressmen cast their ballots for it. Stokes presented the rea-
sons for his vote in a letter to Governor Branch; these were
the need of territory in the southwest for the slave population
then too numerous in the older regions of the South, and a
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 207
" charitable and respectful regard for the feelings, and even
the prejudices, of that great portion of the Northern people
that was adverse to slavery in any form, and that would join
heartily with us in any constitutional measure to get rid of
the evil. ' ' 5
Evidently anti-slavery opinion, so far as it was based on
political thought and action, acknowledged the evils of slavery
and was willing to ameliorate the condition of the slave. Al-
though it was in abeyance after 1830, it undoubtedly influenced
some of the more conservative leaders during the three
decades prior to 1860. Its most notable expression is found in
an address of Judge Gaston before the graduating class of the
University in 1832 : —
On you too, will devolve the duty which has been too long neg-
lected, yet which cannot with impunity be neglected much longer, of
providing for the mitigation, and (is it too much to hope for in North
Carolina?) for the ultimate extirpation of the worst evil that affects
the southern part of our Confederacy. Full well do you know to what
I refer, for on this subject there is, with all of us, a morbid sensitive-
ness which gives warning even of an approach to it. Disguise the
truth as we may, and throw the blame where we will, it is slavery
which, more than any other cause, keeps us back in the career of
improvement. It stifles industry and represses enterprise — it is fatal
to economy and providence — it discourages skill — impairs our strength
as a community, and poisons morals at the fountain head. How this
evil is to be conquered, how subdued, is indeed a difficult and deli-
cate inquiry, which this is not the time to examine, nor the occasion
to discuss. I felt, however, that I could not discharge my duty, with-
out referring to this subject, as one which ought to engage the pru-
dence, moderation and firmness of those who, sooner or later, must
act decisively upon it.
A second source of anti-slavery sentiment was economic, a
feeling that the presence of slaves was injurious to the whites.
It was prevalent in the western counties, the region of the
Scotch-Irish and Germans, where the slave system was intro-
duced very slowly. Its earliest and certainly its most definite
expression was that by a Rowan County committee in 1774:
"The African slave trade is injurious to this colony, obstructs
the population of it by freemen, prevents manufacturers and
other useful immigrants from Europe from settling among
us, and occasions an annual increase of the Balance of Trade
5 L'aleigh Register, March 17, 1820.
208 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
•
against the Colonies." 6 However, the most important aspect
of the economic opposition to slavery was the silent thought of
the plain people. When to that were added observation and
knowledge based on travel and residence in the free states,
outspoken criticism frequently resulted. Examples were Hin-
ton Rowan Helper, Daniel Reaves Goodloe, and Benjamin S.
Hedrick. 7
The third source of the sentiment against slavery was
religion. In all denominations, there was prejudice against the
institution. Its earliest active manifestation was by the
Quakers. In 1758 the North Carolina Yearly Meeting recom-
mended kind treatment and religious instruction of slaves on
the part of their masters. Ten years later traffic in slaves for
profit was condemned, and in 1772 Friends were forbidden to
purchase negroes except from Friends, unless to prevent the
separation of husband and wife or for other cause approved
at monthly meetings. In the latter year, also, the legislature
was petitioned to join with Virginia in requesting the Crown
to abolish the importation of negroes from Africa. By 1776
the policy of emancipation was clearly under way. Since the
law placed obligations on the master desiring to emancipate,
which he could not always fulfill, the Yearly Meeting in 1808
appointed agents "to receive assignments of slaves from mas-
ters who wished to be rid of them," the duty of the agents
being to send the slaves to free states and territories or
abroad. Several thousand slaves were thus collected, most
of whom found their way to freedom. Thus 111 slaves and
eight free negroes sailed from Beaufort for Hayti in 1826, the
following year fifty sailed for Africa, and sixty-seven others
later in the same year. But by far the greater number were
sent to Pennsylvania or the West, Friends in New York, New
England, the West, and England contributing to the expense. 8
The Baptists likewise realized the evils of slavery. The
buying and selling of slaves for profit was condemned by the
Sandy Creek Association in 1808 and 1835, and by the Chowan
6 Colonial Records, IX, 1026.
7 Helper was a native of Davie County, Hedrick of Davidson,
Goodie of Franklin.
8 "Weeks, Southern Quakers and Slavery, ch. IX.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 209
Association in 1818. 9 Among the Methodist circuit riders
there was also a strong anti-slavery sentiment, quite in har-
mony with the action of the early conferences. James 'Kelly
in 1789 published in Baltimore an essay on negro slavery,
recommending gradual emancipation. James Meacham, who
served circuits in Virginia and North Carolina, frequently
urged masters to emancipate their slaves. "If ever I get rich
through slavery," he wrote in his diary, "I shall esteem my-
self a traitor and claim a part in Hell with Judas, and the
rich glutton * * America, America : blood and op-
pression will be thy overthrow. ' ' 10 Apparently the Presby-
terian ministers did not openly oppose slavery, but one, at
least,, Reverend Eli Caruthers, had no sympathy for the
"dread institution." One Sunday in July, 1861, he prayed that
the young men of his church "might be blessed of the Lord
and returned in safety, though engaged in a bad cause." The
next day the church officials dismissed him. He then elabor-
ated his views in a book, "The Evils of Slavery," which was
never published. In it he contrasted the "unjust, unchristian,
inhuman laws of the South with the teachings of the Bible and
the original instincts of Nature" and demanded emancipa-
tion. 11
The distinctive feature of religious anti-slavery sentiment
was race relations within the churches. A large proportion
of the Baptist and Methodist members were negroes. Com-
plete statistics do not exist, but in the Chowan Association,
one of the large Baptist organizations, over one-fourth of the
members were negroes in 1843 and over one-third in I860,
which was doubtless greater than the general average in the
state. Of the Methodists, approximately one-eleventh were
negroes in 1787; by 1800 the proportion had arisen to one-
fourth; by 1830 it was approximately one-third, and so it re-
mained until 1860. Indeed Methodism in certain eastern coun-
ties had its origin in missions to the negroes, notably in Wil-
mington and Fayetteville. All denominations took an interest
9 Purefoy, Sandy Creek Association, p. 76; Minutes of Chowan
Association, p. 7.
10 Papers of the Trinity College Hist. Society, IX, pp. 82, 94.
11 Bassett, Anti-Slavery Leaders of North Carolina, p. 56.
Vol. II— 14
210 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
in the religious life of the slaves, who often occupied gal-
leries reserved for thern in the churches. The Methodists and
in some instances the Episcopalians assigned special ministers
to work among them.
For purposes of propaganda societies were established.
The Quakers of the piedmont section in 1816 organized the
North Carolina Manumission Society, a union of four soci-
eties which had been founded as the result of visits by Charles
Osborn, the first American Abolitionist, in 1814. 12 For over a
decade the society prospered, more than forty branches being
organized in Guilford, Randolph, Chatham, Forsythe, David-
son, and Orange counties. Annual conventions were held
and were well attended, the members present in 1819 being
281, and in 1825, 141. Among prominent visitors were Elihu
Embree and James Jones, leaders of similar organizations
in Tennessee, and Benjamin Lundy. The purposes of the so-
ciety were gradual emancipation, amelioration of the slave
laws, and development of public sentiment. In 1825 that senti-
ment was estimated as follows : for immediate emancipation,
two-sixtieths; for gradual emancipation, three-sixtieths; for
emigration, four-sixtieths; ready to support schemes for
emancipation, thirty-sixtieths ; indifferent, three-sixtieths ;
regarding emancipation as impractical, nine-sixtieths ; bit-
terly opposed to emancipation, three-sixtieths. Petitions
were sent to the legislature in 1824 and 1825. In 1819 Con-
gress was memorialized through Congressman Settle, and in
1822 Congressman Long submitted a memorial from citizens
of Randolph County asking for measures to abolish the Afri-
can slave trade. 13 In 1824 a petition favoring emigration of
negroes to Hayti and in 1827 another praying for the prohibi-
tion of the inter-state slave trade were submitted through Con-
gressman Saunders. In 1830 Congressman Shepperd sub-
mitted' in behalf of the society a memorial favoring the
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia and also the
slave trade among the states. Later, when the pro-slavery
opinion was active, Shepperd 's handling the petition was used
12 Sherrill, the North Carolina Manumission Society (Papers of the
Trinity College Historical Society, X).
13 Annals of Congress, 17th Cong., 1 sess., p. 1113.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 211
against him and contributed to his defeat in the congressional
election of 1839. Saunders' action was also cited during his
campaign for governor in 1840.
It was difficult for the society to reach the public at large
because of the hostility of the press ; the Raleigh Register
openly refused to publish its communications, but an excep-
tion was the Greensboro Patriot, whose editor from 1827 to
1835 was William Swaim, a member of the society. In 1830
an Address to the People of North Carolina on the Evils of
Slavery was issued in pamphlet form. After demonstrating
that slavery is founded on injustice, is a source of pride, idle-
ness and tyranny, is radically evil, increases depravity, and is
contrary to the Christian religion, it advocates the same
justice for the negro as for the white man, and also gradual
emancipation and colonization. From time to time money
was advanced to aid in emancipation, and relations were also
maintained with the American Convention for the Abolition
of Slavery and the American Colonization Society. A school
for slaves was established at New Garden in Guilford County,
and in 1819 Levi Coffin, a member of the society, organized
the Underground Railroad in Guilford.
The zenith of the Manumission Societv was reached in
1826 ; thereafter it waned. For this decline several conditions
were responsible. One was the division of opinion between
radicals and conservatives. The former favored emancipa-
tion exclusively, the latter also endorsed colonization. In
1817 dissension between the two factions began. Says Levi
Coffin: "A motion was made to amend our constitution, so
that the name of our organization would be 'Manumission and
Colonization Society.' This produced a sharp debate. *
We had no objection to free negroes going to Africa of their
own will, but to compel them to go as a condition of freedom
was a movement to which we were conscientiously opposed and
against which we strongly contended. When the vote was
taken, the motion was carried by a small majority. *
The convention broke up in confusion and our New Garden
branch withdrew to itself, no longer co-operating with the
others." 14
14 Coffin, Reminiscences, pp. 75, 76.
212 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
In 1824 the two factions were reconciled through the efforts
of Benjamin Lundy, who in that year visited the state, and
apparently the word Colonization was dropped from the title
of the society. Another difficulty was the matter of funds, the
treasurer never reporting as much as $100 in the treasury,
and without money little propaganda could be carried on.
Finally, about 1830 a strong pro-slavery tide swept the state,
and membership in the Manumission Society declined. By
1834 there were only four branches, and the organization
collapsed. However, there were survivals of the anti-slavery
sentiment in the Quaker counties. In 1838 James Morehead,
representative of Guilford in the legislature, submitted a peti-
tion from his constituents regarding slavery, but on objection
it was withdrawn and never recorded. In 1859 a propaganda
against slavery was disclosed which was led by Reverend
Daniel Worth, a native of Randolph County.
Besides the Manumission Society other anti-slavery organ-
izations existed. The American Colonization Society had
three branches in 1819, five in 1821, six in 1825, eight in 1826,
ten in 1828, and eleven from 1829 to 1832. The Genius of
Universal Emancipation reported the meeting of an anti-
slavery society in 1826 on the Yadkin River, at which 300 were
present, not one of whom was a Quaker. There was also a
North Carolina Abolition Society at Newberry, with which
the Manumission Society was in correspondence. However,
little is known of these societies and their activities, because
their records have not been preserved, while those of the Man-
umission Society are still in existence. 13
The trend of conflicting sentiment toward slavery may
be traced in legislation and court decisions. Liberal ideas
were responsible for better guarantee of justice to the slave
and for better protection of his life. In 1793 the trial of of-
fences involving life, limb, or member was placed in the
county court and a jury of twelve slave-holders, instead of the
special court of two justices and four freeholders, which had
been the method since 1741. In 1794 it was also provided that
the jury should render verdict on evidence submitted and that
15 The MSS. of the Society are preserved at Guilford College,
North Carolina.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 213
the court should then pronounce judgment "agreeable to the
verdict and the laws of the country. ' ' Apparently, both whites
and blacks were now subject to the same penalties in capital
offences. In 1816 still further protection was given by provid-
ing that slaves accused of capital crimes should be tried in the
superior court according to the same procedure as in the trial
of freemen, except in cases of conspiracy; then a special ses-
sion of the superior court, acting under a commission of the
governor, should act. In 1818, also, when the penalty involved
was execution, the slave was allowed to challenge jurors.
Payment of owners by the state for slaves executed was abol-
ished in 1786, since "many persons by cruel treatment of their
slaves cause them to commit crimes for which many of the said
slaves are executed." This was unsatisfactory, since it be-
came the policy of the master to prevent prosecution of his
slaves. Hence in 1796 the policy was adopted of allowing
counties through special statutes to pay their masters two-
thirds of the entire value of the slaves executed, the value to be
fixed by the jury, the reimbursement to be derived from a spe-
cial tax on black polls. However there should be no reimburse-
ment unless the jury also concluded that the master had prop-
erly fed and clothed the slaves. So much for major offences.
Those of a less degree were also treated more liberally. In
1783 jurisdiction over minor cases was given to the justices
of the peace, but many such cases were placed under the
county courts to be tried "under the same rules, regulations,
and restrictions as the trials of freemen." However, in all
cases in which the justices of the peace acted, appeal was in
1842 allowed to the county or superior courts.
The slave's life was also given better protection. By a
statute of 1791 he who maliciously killed a slave was declared
guilty of murder and should "suffer the same punishment as
if he had killed a freeman," except in cases where the slave
resisted the owner or master or died under a moderate correc-
tion or was an outlaw. However, since there were three de-
grees of homicide — murder, punishable by death, man-
slaughter, by imprisonment, and accidental, or self-defence
homicide, which incurred no penalty — the accused was given
the benefit of the doubt and the courts found it impossible to
214 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
convict. Consequently in 1817 it was enacted that "the kill-
ing of a slave shall partake of the same degree of guilt, when
accompanied with like circumstances, that homicide now
does."
This statute became the basic protection of the slave's life.
In working out interpretations of it, the courts faced a number
of questions. First was that of provocation ; it was held that
a wider range of extenuating circumstances existed to differ-
entiate manslaughter from homicide in cases when whites
killed slaves than in those in which whites alone were in-
volved. 16 A second question was the extension of the common
law ; was procedure for offences against slaves limited to that
of the statutes, or did the common law also" apply? The su-
preme court in 1823 made a liberal decision, upholding indict-
ment at the common law for murder of a slave and declaring
that the statute could only modify that law. 17 Greatest of all
was the relation of the master's property right to his respon-
sibility for the slave 's life. This was faced from three angles.
First was the immunity of the master from punishment for
assault and battery on his slave; in 1829 it was held that
neither the master nor the hirer of a slave could be indicted
for such cause, since "the power of the master must be abso-
lute to render the submission of the slave perfect. *
The slave, to remain a slave, must be made sensible that there
is no appeal from his master; that his power is in no sense
usurped; but is conferred by the law of men, at least, if not
by the laws of God." 18 Now with such authority in the
master could the slave, when his life was threatened, resist?
This question was settled in the famous case of the State vs.
Will, a case memorable in the traditions of the North Carolina
bar, certainly the most important one in which the rights of a
slave were concerned. 19 Briefly, Will, a slave, under fear
of punishment by an overseer, ran, was fired upon and
wounded, and when overtaken defended himself with a
knife, fatally wounding the overseer. In the superior
16 State vs. Tackett, 8 N. C. 210.
17 State vs. Reed, 9 N. C. 454.
ls State vs. Mann, 13 N. C. 263.
" 18 N. C. 121.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 215
court he was convicted of murder, but appeal was taken to
the Supreme Court. Bart F. Moore, one of the attor-
neys for the slave, made an unusually impressive argument,
and the decision of the court, written by Gaston, was a victory
for humanity. Exceptions to the unconditional submission of
the slave and the unconditional power of the master were held
to exist. "It is certain that the master has not the right to
Bartholomew F. Moore
slay his slave, and I hold it to be equally certain that the slave
has the right to defend himself against the unlawful attempt of
his master to deprive him of life." Therefore "if a slave in
defence of life kills an overseer, the homicide becomes murder.
It seems that the law would be the same with respect to killing
a master or temporary owner under similar circumstances.' :
Undoubtedly this decision of the court, rendered at a time
216 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
when the pro-slavery spirit was dominating public opinion, did
much to conserve the humanitarian tradition. Soon the pro-
tection of a slave's life was still more clearly denned. Sup-
posing the slave should die under chastisement or punishment,
was the master liable for homicide f In 1839 it was held that
if death of a slave followed punishment by the master, the
courts might review the circumstances, and if they showed in-
tent to kill on the part of the master, indictment should follow ;
indeed, if the punishment were immoderate or unreasonable, it
lost the character of correction and indicated contemplation
of death. 20
While the courts were working out the above principle,
the legislature in 1816 conferred on the slave a notable privi-
lege, that of benefit of clergy. Accordingly, the slave might
escape the death penalty for larceny and similar crimes which
at the common law were capitally punished. Cases are on
record where this privilege was requested and granted. Ben-
efit of clergy for both races existed until 1855, when it was
abolished by the Code Commission.
While the slave's right before the courts and the protection
of his life were established, the law and also the Supreme
Court were not so liberal in other matters. The colonial pa-
trol law of 1753 was made more stringent in 1779, 1794, and
1830. Unauthorized meetings of slaves and also the custom of
hiring their time were prohibited in 1794, and the articles
which they might dispose of without their master's consent
were restricted between 1826 and 1833. More important were
the limitations on manumission. The colonial statute prohib-
iting manumission except for meritorious conduct adjudged
by the county court was reenacted in 1777 and further ex-
plained in 1796. In its interpretation the Supreme Court was
strictly faithful to the evident intent of the law, the restriction
of the free negro class. Illustrative was the case of Huckabi/
vs. Jones in 1822. 21 The testator bequeathed four slaves to
trustees to keep them as they (the trustees) should "judge
most for the glory of God and the good of said slaves." It
was held that, as the testator did not intend any personal ben-
20 State vs. Hoover, 18 N. C. 121.
21 9 N. C. 120.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 217
efit to the legatees, his purpose was undoubtedly manumission,
which being contrary to law, the trustees were ordered to hold
the slaves in trust for the legatees. More explicit was the
case of Contentnea Society vs. Dickinson. 22 The defendant
conveyed a slave to the Quaker Society at Contentnea, under
the condition that he receive the profits of his labor until such
time as he could receive freedom by the laws of the state.
Practically, however, the policy of the Quakers was to send
such slaves outside the state, to the Northwest where manu-
mission could be effected. Therefore the Court held in 1827
that a religious society could hold property for its use only,
that the custom of the Quakers was manumission except in
name, and therefore contrary to law, and that the conveyance
of a slave to the Society was not valid. Yet when the rights
of individual negroes were concerned, the Court was lenient.
Those held as slaves were allowed to bring suit for their free-
dom; and whoever claimed the relation of master might be
required to give bond to permit the collection of evidence by
the plaintiff and to produce him before the court at the
appointed session. 23 The rule of prescription was also applied
in favor of the negro who had lived thirty or forty years out-
side of bondage ; liberation at the tender age of two years was
upheld, since it could not be shown that the child could not per-
form meritorious services ; technicalities in procedure, such
as verbal petition to the court and signature by the master's
attorney rather than the master himself, were not allowed to
invalidate manumission. But any silent agreement or intent
to use slaves for their "own emolument" rather than that of
the purchaser was held to invalidate a sale. Yet, direct pro-
vision in a deed for ultimate emigration to Liberia at the
choice of the slave was upheld for, although slaves have "no
capacity to make contracts, or acquire property, yet they have
both a mental and moral capacity" to choose between remain-
ing in slavery and becoming free. 24
Evidently there were two tendencies in the law, one of
22 12 N. C. 190.
23 Evans vs. Kennedy, 2 N. C. 247.
24 Sampson vs. Bnrgwin ; Lemmond vs. People, 41 N. C. 99 ; Red-
ding vs. Long, 57 N. C. 216.
218 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
liberalism, the other of restriction. Each reflected elements
of public opinion. By 1830 the restrictive attitude was dom-
inant. The causes of its triumph over liberalism were various.
One was restlessness in the negro population. In 1802 a plot
for a rising of slaves was discovered in the northeastern coun-
ties, and two negroes were executed. In 1805 an attempt
at poisoning the whites was made in Wayne County for which
one slave was burned at the stake and three others were sen-
tenced to be hanged. In 1821 alarm in Jones County caused
a muster of the militia. Finally in 1831 there was evidence
that the Nat Turner conspiracy, which convulsed tidewater
Virginia, had ramifications in North Carolina. In the tier of
counties along the South Carolina line as far west as Eich-
mond, and also in Wayne and Lenoir, a plan to rebel and
march on Wilmington was disclosed. Twelve negro leaders
were shot, three were hanged in Duplin County, and one in
Richmond. In other eastern counties there was considerable
excitement, but no evidence of intended revolt. Undoubtedlv
plans or even rumors of insurrection strengthened the re-
actionary sentiment toward slavery. A similar influence was
the dissemination of abolition literature ; an instance in point
arose in 1830, when the governor referred to the legislature a
copy of David Walker's Appeal in Four Articles, whose au-
thor, a negro of North Carolina birth, sought to arouse the
slaves to efforts at progress and even insurrection. 26 The im-
mediate effect was restriction on the education of the slaves.
Finally, the increasing value of slaves as property, due to the
extension of cotton culture, undoubtedly strengthened the po-
sition of the pro-slavery forces; it was natural that neither
manumission nor a grant of additional rights could be pro-
cured as easily when the market price was rising.
The fight for greater restriction and its triumph may be
traced in the proceedings of the legislature. In 1818 and 1819
bills to prohibit teaching slaves to read and write were re-
jected. In 1825 the Governor in his annual message referred
to abolition resolutions of the Ohio legislature and sarcastical-
ly advised those opposed to slavery to heed the eleventh com-
26 Bassett, Slavery in the State of N. C, ch. V.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 219
mandment, "Let every one attend to his own concerns."
Another bill to prevent the education of slaves was lost, like-
wise bills to restrain conversation between free negroes and
slaves regarding freedom, to prevent the immigration of free
negroes, and to forbid emancipation societies. The next year
feeling w T as more intense. A petition from Vermont praying
for abolition was referred to the legislature, but the governor
recommended a revision of the patrol laws and restriction on
the immigration of free negroes. As a result the sojourn of
free negroes coming from other states was limited to twenty
days under penalty of fine of $500 or servitude at labor for not
more than ten years, the county courts were authorized to
hire out vagabond free negroes and to apprentice their chil-
dren, and trading between free negroes and slaves in pro-
hibited articles was made punishable with thirty-nine lashes.
In 1828 another bill to prohibit the education of slaves was
introduced but was rejected.
The year 1830 marked the turning point. Walker's Appeal
in Four Articles strengthened the agitation for restriction and
a series of laws was enacted which prohibited the slaves to
be taught to read and w T rite, ciphering excepted, against
which protest was made by R. P. Dick of Guilford
County, forbade games of chance between free negroes
and slaves or their intermarriage, and subjected free
negroes absent from the state for ninety days to the penalty
imposed on alien free negroes. The circulation of literature
tending to insurrection was made punishable with imprison-
ment for the first offence and with death for the second, and
also imprisonment and thirty-nine lashes were imposed for the
first effort to cause insurrection and the death penalty for the
second. Manumission by the courts was allowed only after
petition sixty days in advance and after bond of $1000 was
given that the manumitted negro would leave the state within
ninety days, and if he returned, he should be sold into bond-
age ; however, negroes above fifty years of age might be manu-
mitted for meritorious service and remain in the state, pro-
vided a bond of $500 was given as a guarantee for keeping the
peace and that the negro would not become a public charge.
The following year, 1831, the climax in anti-negro legislation
220 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
was reached with a law prohibiting free negroes to preach
before slaves. Thus the sentiment for restricting the privi-
leges of the slave and the free negro triumphed. It made fur-
ther progress in 1835 when the constitutional convention took
from the free negro the right of suffrage. However, much of
the liberal sentiment was preserved by the Supreme Court.
Many of its decisions previously cited were made after 1830,
and in the case of the State vs. Manuel it was held that the
free negro is a citizen and that the right to vote was merely
a political right. 27
The legislation of 1830-31 is also a landmark in relations
between the two races. Previously there seems to have been
little prejudice against the blacks, but afterwards an ever-
increasing hostility on the part of the whites characterized
race relations. This change is well illustrated by the free
negro. In no southern state except Virginia was this class of
blacks so numerous ; it increased with each decade, rising from
4,975 in 1790 to 30,463 in 1860. Its origins were various; one
was manumission ; another was military service in the Revolu-
tion ; a third was immigration ; still another, according to
Judge Gaston, was the cohabitation of white women and negro
men, the children taking the status of the mother.
The distinctive characteristic of the free negro before 1830
was prominence in religious and educational life. One of
the early Methodist ministers was Henry Evans, a shoemaker,
local preacher, and free negro. Passing through Fayette-
ville late in the eighteenth century, he saw that the negroes of
that place "were wholly given to profanity and lewdness,
never hearing preaching of any denomination." He stopped
to preach the Gospel to them, making a living at his trade.
The whites were alarmed and the town authorities ordered
him to stop preaching. He then held meeting outside the
corporate limits. Reviewing his work the Sunday before his
death, he said: "Three times I have had my life in jeopardy
for preaching the Gospel to you. Three times I have broken
the ice on the edge of the water and swam across the Cape
Fear to preach the Gospel to you, and if in my last hour I
27 Rassett. eh. V; Coon, Doc. Hist, of Public Schools in N. C, II,
passim: Laws, 1830, chs. 6, 9, 14, 15; 1831, ch. 4.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 221
could trust to that, or anything but Christ crucified, for my
salvation, all should be lost and my soul perish forever." At
length opinion changed, especially when no insurrection re-
sulted from Evans ' labors. Some whites visited his meetings
and were converted ; a rude frame church building was erected
in Fayetteville with reserved seats for the whites ; finally the
white membership increased until the negroes were crowded
to the rear. Fayetteville became a regular charge of the
Conference with a white preacher, but Evans was given a
room adjoining the church, where he lived until his death
in 1810. Even more remarkable was the career of John
Chavis. Born free, probably in Granville County about 1763,
he won the interest of certain white people and was sent to
Princeton, where he was privately tutored by Dr. Wither-
spoon. In 1801 he was a missionary in the Hanover, Virginia,
Presbytery, but in 1805 he returned to North Carolina and
became a licentiate of the Orange Presbytery in 1809, preach-
ing to regular congregations at Shiloh, Nutbush, and Island
Creek. His notable work, however, was that of teacher. He
conducted schools in Granville, Wake, and Chatham counties.
Among his pupils were the sons of prominent white families ;
one of his students, Willie P. Mangum, became a United States
senator; another, Charles Manly, became governor; among
others were the sons of Chief Justice Henderson. "My fa-
ther," wrote Reverend James Horner, "not only went to
school to him (Chavis) but boarded in his family. *
The school was the best at that time to be found in the
State." 28
Among the Baptists, likewise, a free negro attained dis-
tinction, Ralph Freeman by name, of Anson County. "He
was considered an able preacher," says Purefoy, "and was
frequently called upon to preach on funeral occasions and was
appointed to preach on the Sabbath at association and fre-
quently administered the ordinance of baptism and the Lord's
Supper." 29 A white minister, Joseph Magee, was his inti-
mate friend, and they agreed that the survivor should preach
the funeral of the one dying first. The duty fell to Ralph, and
»
28 Bassett, Slavery in the State of North Carolina, ch. III.
29 History of the Sandy Creek Association, p. 328.
222 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
he journeyed to Tennessee to fulfill it. The next year free
negroes were forbidden to preach, but a petition was sub-
mitted to the legislature for an exception to be made in the
case of Freeman. It was favorably reported by the Commit-
tee on Propositions and Grievances but was indefinitely post-
poned in the House of Commons.
Now the legislation of 1830-31 made impossible a continu-
ation of such activities on the part of the free negro. Chavis
left the state, and Freeman is no longer heard of. Moreover
the spirit of toleration and recognition of merit was replaced
by one of prejudice and open hostility. An excellent example
was the career of Lunsford Lane, an intelligent and industri-
ous slave whose master was Mr. Sherwood Haywood, of Ral-
eigh. Ambitious to secure his freedom, he hired his time for a
fixed sum, and engaged in the manufacture of smoking tobacco.
"When he had saved $1,000, he found his master's widow will-
ing to make a bargain, but as he could not legally purchase his
freedom, he was first sold to his wife's master, Benjamin B.
Smith, in 1836. Mr. Smith, however, could not free Lane be-
cause he could not prove meritorious service. Consequently,
when he next visited New York, he took the negro with him
and there procured manumission papers. Returning to Ral-
eigh, Lane prospered, opening a store and a woodyard in
addition to his tobacco enterprise, and also becoming janitor
and messenger in the governor's office. Desiring undisputed
possession of his wife and six children, he contracted for
them at $2,500. But his prosperity won the enmity
of the poor whites and the suspicion of the political
negrophiles. In November, 1840, Lane was notified by
two justices of the peace that he must leave the state within
twenty days or else suffer the penalty imposed on immi-
grating free negroes. A stay of the prosecution was
secured until January, 1841. In the meantime, the leg-
islature convened, and his friends introduced a private bill
excepting him from the operation of the law. It was rejected
and Lane was compelled to leave his business, his home, and
the community in which he had prospered. He went North.
Desiring to fulfill the contract for the purchase of his fam-
ily and to have his wife and children with him, he told his
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 223
story wherever he could get a hearing. At length he returned
to Raleigh, after receiving assurance that he could return in
safety, to remove his family. He was again arrested and
charged before the mayor's court with preaching abolition
doctrine. He successfully defended himself, but a mob col-
lected and threatened his life. As a concession he attempted
Lunsford Lane
to leave the cit}^ at once and was escorted to the train by a
guard, but the mob would not let the cars leave, and Lane went
to prison while his baggage was searched for incendiary lit-
erature. Leaving the prison at night, he was attacked by
ruffians, tarred, and feathered; the next day he succeeded in
leaving Raleigh with his family. 30 Thus the spirit of intol-
30 Bassett, Anti-Slavery Leaders of North Carolina, pp. 60-74 ;
Hawkins, Lunsford Lane.
224 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
erance and persecution replaced the liberal attitude toward
the free negro which had prevailed before 1830. Gradually
that spirit worked its way into politics, increasing the spirit
of sectionalism, and ultimately resulting in a demand for the
dissolution of the Union.
CHAPTER XII
THE WHIG REGIME —DOMESTIC POLICY
Railroads and Finance
The cleavage in national politics, resulting in the rise of the
whig party, and the issues of constitutional reform and eco-
nomic development were not only contemporary, but were
closely related. For the revolt against Jacksonian democracy
to be successful, it was necessary for its leaders to adopt some
local issues which would make a popular appeal. These were
found in constitutional reform, internal improvements, and
the establishment of a public school system. It was not
strange, therefore, that the cause of reform was endorsed by
many of the anti-Jackson leaders, notably Mangum and Gas-
ton, and that the whig party became the advocate of constitu-
tional revision and social progress. An important result was
the sectional alignment of parties. As the west gained by con-
stitutional reform and was also in greater need of internal im-
provements, that region logically became the stronghold of the
whig party, while the east naturally remained the bulwark of
the democracy. However, the extreme eastern counties along
the coast, which were not so well developed on account of their
swamp lands, were attracted by the whig issue of internal im-
provements and gave their allegiance to that party. On the
other hand the Jacksonian tradition was powerful in the west ;
this, together with the spread of the slave system into that re-
gion, brought about an alliance between certain counties of the
west and the large slave holding counties of the east within the
democratic party. Just as the whigs favored, the democrats
opposed, state aid to internal improvements. One cause of
the opposition was the fear on the part of the slavocracy that
vol. n-15 225
226
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
it might have to meet an unproportionate share of the increase
in taxes, which was essential to the whig policy.
The gubernatorial campaign of 1836 may be taken as the
point of departure for the new epoch. State problems were
scarcely mentioned, the contest being waged over national
issues. But the whig nominee, Edward B. Dudley of New
Hanover, was directly interested in internal improvements as
Governor Edward B. Dudley
the president of the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad and
in August he defeated his opponent, Governor Spaight; yet
the prestige of Jackson was still strong enough to insure the
choice of democratic electors in the presidential contest in
November. The sectional alignment was characteristic of
party history down to 1860. Dudley carried the following
eastern counties : Beaufort, Brunswick, Carteret, Camden,
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 227
Columbus, Halifax, Hertford, Hyde, Jones, Northhampton,
Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell and Washington. Spaight
carried the following western counties : Ashe, Caswell, Hay-
wood, Lincoln, Macon, Mecklenburg, Person, Granville, Rock-
ingham, Richmond, Surrey, and Yancey. With these excep-
tions the west and the east were respectively whig and demo-
cratic.
A liberal policy toward economic and social reform was the
basic principle in the local policy of the whigs. Dudley's
administration afforded its first test. However the con-
dition of the treasury was not auspicious. For several years
expenditures had exceeded income and so diminished the
balance accumulated before 1830. In addition a subscription
of $375,000 to the Bank of the State of North Carolina had
been made in 1835, which fell due in 1836. As the state's
income was not sufficient to meet the obligation, the demo-
cratic legislature of 1835 had authorized the issue of "certifi-
cates binding the state for the payment of the money purport-
ing to be due thereon, to the amount of $400,000," bearing
interest at five percent, redeemable in 1860, and secured
by the state's share of stock in the bank. The certificates were
accordingly issued and were disposed of in two subscriptions ;
one of $100,000, made by the trustees of the University, the
other of $300,000, by theTreasurer of the United States.
Thus a certificate debt secured by the bank stock was
created by the democrats, while nothing was done to adjust the
increasing difference between regular income and expendi-
tures. Such a situation apparently was not favorable to state
aid to public improvements. A rare fortune, like a bolt from
the blue, gave immediate relief. That was the distribution of
the federal surplus revenue among the states. The first three
installments of North Carolina's share, amounting to $1,433,-
757.39, were apportioned in 1836. Thus was provided the
means to adjust the state's finances and initiate a new policy
of public improvement. A joint committee of the legislature,
whose chairman was William A. Graham, a whig, recommended
that $900,000 be placed to the credit of Literary Fund and the
remainder be used for internal improvements. This was an
example of the whig program of progress; the state's debt
228 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
should be allowed to run its course, and the entire federal
fund be devoted to economic and social needs. On the other
hand the democrats, led by William H. Haywood, proposed
that all special funds held by the state, excepting the bonds
from the sale of Cherokee lands, should be lumped together
for four purposes, — the redemption of the state debt, the in-
crease of the Literary Fund and the Fund for Internal Im-
provements, the drainage of swamp land in the east, and the
construction of railways. Thus the whig program of prog-
ress was linked with the democratic policy of economy by
providing for the extinction of the public debt. The principle
rather than details of Mr. Haywood's plan was adopted. Ac-
cordingly $300,000 of the surplus revenue was applied to
the redemption of the certificates held by the Treasury of
the United States and $100,000 of stock in the Bank of the
State of North Carolina was exchanged for the $100,000 of cer-
tificates held by the University. To the Literary Fund $500,-
000 were appropriated on condition that $300,000 be invested
in stock of the Bank of the Cape Fear and $200,000 be used in
the drainage of swamp land ; $100,000 were appropriated for
current expenses and the remaining $533,457.33 were appro-
priated to the Fund for Internal Improvements. A practical
example of state aid was a mandate to the Board of Internal
Improvement to subscribe on behalf of the state for two-fifths
of the stock of the Wilmington and Raleigh Railway, amount-
ing to $600,000. This line was chartered in 1834 to connect
Raleigh and Wilmington, but when construction was begun
it was diverted so as to connect Wilmington and Weldon near
the Virginia line, the corporate name being changed to the
Wilmington and Weldon in 1854. Moreover this stock and
all future subscriptions to railway stock by the state were
placed to the credit of the Literary Fund. Thus the policy
of state aid to railway construction was initiated and also
practically the entire assets of the Fund for Internal Improve-
ments were assigned to the Literary Fund. The relative posi-
tion of the two parties toward the policy was shown by the
vote on the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad Bill. In the
Senate seventeen of the twenty-six ayes were whigs and eight
of the thirteen nays were democrats ; in the House of Commons
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
229
forty-one whigs favored and nine opposed the bill, while
twenty democrats favored and twenty-three opposed it.
The above legislation truly marks an epoch. Just as the
convention of 1835 made the government more responsible
to the demands of the people, these financial measures of
1836 made possible a new period of economic and social
development. Nor were the people unresponsive to the fact,
for in 1838 Dudley was re-elected and the whigs secured a
majority in both houses of the legislature, a supremacy main-
First Railway Office in Halifax County
("Wilmington and Weldon Railroad)
tained in the legislative department with one exception until
1848 and in the executive department until 1850. The policy
of state aid was therefore continued. In fact it became im-
perative, for the nation-wide business depression known as
the panic of 1837 made it exceedingly difficult to secure private
capital for railway construction. So in 1838 assistance was
given to a second line, the Raleigh and Gaston, chartered
in 1835 to connect the capital with a railroad to Petersburg
at Gaston. Its bonds to the amount of $500,000, redeemable
in 1860, were endorsed and returned for a mortgage of all its
230 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
property. Even more clearly than the Wilmington and Ral-
eigh legislation, this was a whig measure; of the thirty ayes
in the Senate twenty-two were whig, and of the fifty-four in the
House of Commons forty were whig. In 1841 a further en-
dorsement of $300,000 of the company's bonds was made, re-
deemable in ten installments from 1845 to 1854, for which a
second mortgage was taken. At the same time additional pro-
tection of the first mortgage was made by the personal notes
of the stockholders, amounting to $500,000. This again was a
whig measure; in the Senate twenty-one of the twenty-three
ayes, and in the Commons twenty-six of the fifty-three, were
whig. Aid was also given to the "Wilmington and Weldon;
first by a loan from the Board of Internal Improvements,
$150,000 in 1837 and $150,000 in 1838; then in 1840 by a
bond endorsement for $300,000, the bonds to be redeemed in
annual installments of $50,000 from 1842 to 1847, a mortgage
on the road being taken as a security. This was also a whig
measure; of the twenty-three ayes in the Senate twenty-one
were whig and likewise of the fifty-five in the House of Com-
mons fifty-two were whig.
By these measures the roads were completed, both in 1840,
the Wilmington and Raleigh also opening a steamboat line
from Wilmington to Charleston.
But the railways did not immediately prosper. The city of
Raleigh was not a trade center and little freight was sent over
the Raleigh and Gaston. The steamboat line to Charleston did
not secure the freight expected, since South Carolina cap-
italists and merchants were primarily interested in the devel-
opment of railways within that state. Moreover both roads
used wooden rails covered with iron strip, which proved in-
efficient and made necessary their replacement with metal rail ;
rates were so high that they were prohibitive ; rolling stock
was far from plentiful, and the territory served had not recov-
ered from the panic of 1837. The inevitable result was
financial embarrassment of the roads and the liability of
the state as endorser. Thus in 1843 the Raleigh and Gaston
could not meet the interest on its bonds, and the Wilmington
and Raleigh failed to redeem $50,000 of bonds then maturing,
thus making the state liable for $92,884. To meet the crisis
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 231
the Literary Fund was used, its directors being ordered by
the legislature to purchase $50,000 of Wilmington and Ral-
eigh bonds, and the state treasurer was ordered to draw on the
Literary Fund and the Fund for Internal Improvements to
meet the interest from the Raleigh and Gaston bonds. Again,
in 1844 the state's liability for interest and principal on $50,-
000 of Wilmington and Raleigh bonds was met by use of the
Literary Fund. In 1847 an extension of time was granted
on the debts due the state for its endorsement of bonds and
also the amount due the Literary Fund.
In the meantime, in 1845 suit for foreclosure under the
mortgage was instituted against the Raleigh and Gaston. The
road in vain resisted. The state, being the only bidder, pur-
chased the property for $363,000, being the principal and
interest due on the second mortgage. Then early in 1848 pro-
ceedings were ordered against the stockholders for the road's
debt and their security under the first mortgage.
These experiments in state aid naturally became a political
issue. The policy was never injected into the party platform
but the democrats berated the whigs, spoke of repudiation of
the state 's liabilities, and the Committee on Internal Improve-
ment in the democratic legislature of 1842 condemned the
entire policy.
However the necessity for state aid still existed for, al-
though many roads were chartered, none were constructed bv
private enterprise. Especially strong were the needs of the
western counties. There the condition of trade had not im-
proved. In 1845 a crop failure in the piedmont and mountain
counties drove the price of corn from 50 cents to $1.50 per
bushel; in the eastern counties the harvest was plentiful,
surplus corn rotting in the field, but there was no adequate
means of transporting food supplies from the east to the
west. Consequently railroad agitation in the west revived.
Two plans were prominent. One was to connect Charlotte and
Danville, Va., at which points contact would be made with
roads under construction from Columbia and Richmond, re-
spectively. The other plan was to build a road from some
point on the Wilmington and Weldon to the west with the
financial assistance of the state. The decision between the
232 , HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
two plans lay with the legislature of 1848. The democrats,
having raised the issue of manhood suffrage in the election of
state senators during the preceding campaign, had greatly
reduced the whig gubernatorial majority and had tied with
the whigs in the legislative vote. Calvin Graves, democrat,
was chosen Speaker of the Senate and Robert Gilliam, whig,
of the House. Such an equal division of parties was appar-
ently not favorable to state aid, especially since the promoters
of the Charlotte and Danville line asked no public appropri-
ation, only a charter. On the other hand there was a strong
feeling that a road from Charlotte to Danville would strength-
en the dependence of the people on the markets of Virginia
and South Carolina and do nothing to abate the sectional
feeling still existing. Moreover, the existing roads were in
need of larger resources, which might be secured by increase
of traffic from a line connecting them with the west. Thus
a lively contest was furnished. Governor Graham in his an-
nual message recommended the extension of the Raleigh and
Gaston to Charlotte, with branches to Fayetteville and Golds-
boro. In the legislature the friends of the Danville connection
were the first in the field, Mr. Ellis of Rowan introducing a
bill for its charter the day after the House of Commons per-
fected its organization. Bitter opposition was offered by
eastern leaders, notablv Edward Stanly, who denounced the
measure as "the Danville steal," and after Ellis, its author,
was elected superior court judge the measure made little head-
way. In the meantime Governor Graham's recommendation
was worked into a bill by Senator Shepard, chartering the
North Carolina Railroad, which should absorb the Raleigh and
Gaston, also connect Raleigh and the west, build branches to
Fayetteville and to some point on the Wilmington and Raleigh,
to which the state should subscribe $500,000.
This bill did not have the support of the east, for contact
with the Wilmington and Weldon was not one of its essential
features, and it was therefore rejected. In the meantime
the eastern leaders also prepared a railroad bill, which pro-
vided for a line, also known as the North Carolina Railroad,
to extend from Goldsboro, on the Wilmington and Raleigh,
to Charlotte via Fayetteville, with state aid to the amount of
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 233
$2,000,000. Finally realizing that no bill for state aid could
pass which did not also have the support of the Raleigh and
Gaston interests and the politicians from that section of the
west which would profit by the Danville route, the details of
the bill were changed so that the road should run via Ral-
eigh, Hillsboro, Greensboro, Salisbury, and Charlotte. It
is notable that not only were the Raleigh and Gaston interests
catered to, but that Hillsboro was the home of Governor Gra-
ham, that Greensboro was the home of Ex-governor Morehead,
and that Salisbury was the home of John W. Ellis. The final
draft of the bill, made by Senator William S. Ashe of New
Hanover, was introduced in the House of Commons bv Mr.
Mebane of Orange. The crisis in the debate was reached in
January 1849. Rufus Barringer of Cabarrus made a final
plea for the Danville connection. Mr. Stanly interrupted
with a charge of "selling out" to Virginia and South Caro-
lina. "This I resented," says Barringer, "and defied him to
make us an offer of any bill providing for a general North
Carolina system, likely to pass, and with sufficient state aid
to secure its completion, and I for one, would vote for it. " 1
Stanly's reply was to hold up the Ashe bill with the pledge
of the support of himself and his eastern friends. Thereupon
the Danville bill was tabled and a few days later, January 18,
the Ashe bill, with amendments for the relief of the Raleigh
and Gaston, was adopted by the House with a majority of
eight. Then it was sent to the Senate. There the outlook for
its passage was doubtful. The democrats, conservative to-
ward state aid, had a majority and the Speaker, Calvin Graves,
came from Caswell County, which would benefit directly by the
Charlotte and Danville route. The first and second readings
were formal, the test being on the third, which took place
on January 25. The galleries were packed with visitors.
Walker of Mecklenburg, committed to the Danville connection,
spoke against the bill, pointing out the state debt involved
and the superiority of the Danville connection, to be built by
private enterprise entirely. Gilmer of Guilford spoke for the
bill. The vote showed a tie. Thereupon "the slender form
History of the North Carolina Railroad.
234 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
of Speaker Graves stood up, and leaning slightly forward,
with gavel in hand, he said, 'The vote on the Bill being equal,
twenty-two ayes and twenty-two nays, the Chair votes yea.'
The Bill had passed its third and last reading." Wrote one
of the spectators: "I have seen and read of many memorable
and famous contests, and have witnessed many outbreaks of
popular applause; but never anything like that then follow-
ing. Even the granite capitol seemed to shake for joy, but
this was not all. There was then no electric telegraph in North
Carolina ; no express lines ; no mail delivery ; but immediately
every man and woman, every boy and girl, became a sort of
message bearer. News was hastened in every possible way
to every nook of the Old Commonwealth, and the one phrase
was 'Speaker Graves has saved the State — the Railroad Bill
has passed.' " 2
The charter as finally adopted created the North Carolina
Railroad Company with a capital stock of $3,000,000, two-
thirds of which was to be subscribed by the State of North
Carolina, to be met by the issue of six percent bonds. There
was some difficulty in completing the private subscription of
$1,000,000 and opponents of the road openly talked of repeal-
ing the charter. But certain friends of the cause assumed re-
sponsibility for the unsold stock and the organization of the
corporation was perfected at a public meeting in Salisbury on
July 11, 1850, where the sale of the stock for which liability
had been assumed was begun. There was little response to
the request for stock subscriptions until William Boylan of
Raleigh arose and said: "This morning I happened to re-
call that when I was a boy spelling books and geographies all
said that the main staples of North Carolina were tar, pitch
and turpentine, and I asked to see one of the new books to find
out if there is any change. They brought it to me and there
was the same old picture! My friends, I want to see this
changed, and that too before this feeble frame goes to its
grave. Do you say so? Shall it be done?" This appeal
aroused the audience and the stock in question was soon sold.
"As instance of noble response, Dr. John Fink of Concord,
- Ibid.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
235
worth probably $4,000, took stock for $8,000 and made it good :
two maiden ladies of Cabarrus, Betsie and Kattie Burns,
worth probably $2,000, took $1,000 each." July 11, 1851, the
work of construction was begun. Additional state aid to the
amount of $1,000,000 was granted in 1854, the state at the
same time assuming the right to appoint eight of the twelve
directors. The road was completed, from Goldsboro to Char-
lotte, in 1856.
Stock subscription to the North Carolina Railroad was not
• • *fM*
Locomotive, R. & G. R. R. with W. W. Vass, President of the Road
the only state aid extended by the legislature of 1848. The
charter of the North Carolina Railroad also provided for
the organization of a new Raleigh and Gaston Railroad Com-
pany, to which the state would make over one-half of the
road's property and also release the original stockholders
from suits pending against them, upon condition that the in-
corporators subscribe and expend $500,000 on the physical
improvement of the road. Moreover the state also subscribed
one-half the amount necessary to connect the Raleigh and
Gaston and the Wilmington and Weldon between Littleton
236 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
and Weldon, the state's share amounting to $87,500. In 1850
a further reorganization was made by which the capital stock
was fixed at $800,000, one-half to be taken by the state which
should appoint three directors to the company's four. In
1848 assistance was also given the Wilmington and Raleigh
by endorsing its bonds to the amount of $250,000, for which a
mortgage was taken. Less important were the appropriation
of $40,000 to the improvement of the .Neuse River between
Smithfield and New Bern, $40,000 for connection of the upper
Cape Fear and Deep river, $25,000 for improvement of the
Tar River from Washington to its fall, the subscription of
three-fifths of the stock of the Fayetteville and Western Plank
Road, and the diversion of the proceeds of land sales in
Cherokee, Macon and Haywood counties for a turnpike from
Salisbury to the Georgia line.
The railway policy above outlined marked an epoch in the
economic history of the state. The land-locked farmers, on
whom long distance from market had for generations imposed
a burden through the high cost of transportation, found re-
lief in the railroad. Illuminating is the following extract from
the minority report of the Committee on Internal Improve-
ments made to the legislature of 1842 :
The first striking advantage resulting from Rail Roads is seen in
the certainty and dispatch with which persons and produce are con-
veyed on them. Persons travel on them at the rate of one hundred
and fifty to two hundred miles in twelve hours, with as much safety
as by any other mode of conveyance, and at a great saving of time
and expense. The transportation of produce on them, although not
quite so expeditious as the conveyance of persons, is yet five times
more so than by wagons. This speedy transportation, always ad-
vantageous, is frequently of the utmost importance. A rise in the
price of produce often takes place, which continues but for a short
time, and it is very material that farmers and merchants should be
in a situation to avail themselves of such rise. A single example will
sufficiently illustrate this advantage. During the last fall, the price
of wheat in Petersburg opened at $1.12% per bushel. In these times
of low rates for all articles, this price was considered very good, and
every one felt anxious of profiting by it, for it was forseen that it
would continue but a few weeks. A farmer and merchant in Gran-
ville promptly availed himself of the Rail Road in his neighborhood,
hastened his wheat to market and obtained for it the price before men-
tioned ; whereas, those who had to depend on the more tardy trans-
portation of wagons, generally sold at but seventy-five cents per bushel.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 237
But a still more striking and conclusive advantage, results from the
great reduction effected in the expense of carrying produce to market.
Previous to the construction of Rail Roads in the neighborhood of the
falls of Roanoke River, the price of waggoning cotton and other articles
to Petersburg was from seventy-five cents to one dollar per hundred,
so that the saving to the grower of produce is, at the lowest estimate,
twice as much as the freight per hundred on the Rail Road. Again,
a merchant of much intelligence in Raleigh, has furnished the minority
with a statement, showing the rates formerly paid on the transporta-
tion of produce, by wagons, to Petersburg, and the rates now paid by
the Rail Road. From this statement it appears, that the price by
wagons was from one to two dollars per hundred, the average being
one dollar and fifty cents. The price now paid by the Rail Road for
the same articles is seventy cents, being a saving of more than one-
half of the former rate. By wagons the price paid on salt was two
dollars per sack; the price now paid by the Rail Road on the same
article, is sixty-five cents, being a saving of double the amount now
paid by the Rail Road. The saving to the growers of produce, who
send to market by the Wilmington and Raleigh Rail Road, has also
been very great.
No less important were the effects of the railroads on
social life. Intercourse between the people of the east, pre-
dominantly of English extraction, and the sturdy yeomanry
of the western counties, mainly of Scotch-Irish and German
descent, was facilitated by the North Carolina Railroad. The
stress of local sectionalism was thus reduced. The spirit of
individualism was tempered by a wider acquaintance and a
new sense of public duty. The democrats, who bitterly de-
nounced state aid in its early years, themselves adopted the
policy after they came into power in 1850.
The early history of the railroads is replete with matters
of antiquarian and other interest. Of these the character of
the rails was notable. As stated, the first type used was the
" strap iron," consisting of a long wooden sleeper with strips
of iron nailed on the top side. Often these iron strips became
loose, and as a train passed over them they would fly up and
cause a wreck. Said the president of the Wilmington and
Raleigh in 1848: "We are aware that the public generally
have a dread of traveling upon strap iron roads, and although
by the most unremitting exertions our road has been kept in
such condition that no serious accidents have occurred, yet, it
can not be disguised that the common dread of traveling on
such roads is not without just cause." The re-railing of the
238 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Wilmington and Raleigh and the Raleigh and Gaston with T
iron became a necessity. The low state of railway finances
brought about an appeal for state endorsement of new bond
issues. To the Wilmington and Raleigh's appeal the legisla-
ture of 1848 did not respond ; instead it permitted a bond issue
of $520,000 supported by a first mortgage. But the bonds
would not sell at home or abroad. Finally 9,000 tons of rails
were secured in England, payment being made in bonds. But
when the rails reached the United States the duty and freight
amounted to $125,000, and there was not sufficient money in.
the company's treasury to pay the bill, to say nothing of the
expense of laying the new track. To meet the crisis the
company adopted the policy of calling in its stock by offering
reduced passenger fares in return for each $100 share sur-
rendered. It was hoped that the value of the stock would thus
appreciate and passenger traffic would also increase. Con-
gress and the legislature were also appealed to; the former
allowed the rails to be delivered, provided that the duty be
deducted from the amount paid by the post office depart-
ment for carrying the mails over the road. The legislature au-
thorized an increase of the capital stock to $2,500,000. By
these means were the rails paid for and money secured to
place them. Provision for rehabilitation of the Raleigh and
Gaston was made in the reorganization of the corporation in
1848.
Rates and passenger fares' also constituted a problem. As
the prevailing belief in the days of early railroad agitation
was that passenger travel would afford the chief income, the
early fares were high. On the Wilmington and Raleigh a
through ticket from Wilmington to Weldon, a distance of 161
miles, cost $20; it was later reduced to $12, resulting in an
increase of travel. Over discrimination in freight rates there
was complaint; likewise of free passes. Meetings of stock
holders were usually gala occasions, attended by stockholders,
directors, officers and their families, all traveling on special
trains. Connections with roads outside the state and compe-
tition with other lines were a problem. It was hoped that the
Wilmington and Raleigh through its steamboat lines would
secure through freights from Charleston. But the Charles-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 239
tonians were interested in transportation schemes of their
own; hence in 1847 the Wilmington and Manchester was char-
tered to directly penetrate the plantation region of South
Carolina. Somewhat later difficulty arose with the Virginia
railroads, which sought to divert traffic from the far South
over the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, a line extending to
Chattanooga, away from the South Carolina and North Caro-
lina lines. The least prosperous of the roads was the Raleigh
and Gaston, but its business took on a new life with the con-
struction of the North Carolina Railroad, which proved from
the very beginning a profitable investment. There were also
legal problems before the builders of railways, notably the
question of eminent domain, which was affirmed by the Su-
preme Court in 1837. 3 In 1855 the Wilmington and Raleigh
established a hospital for the treatment of its employees, a
policy which proved permanent.
The whig program of state aid to railroads and other
means of transportation made a reform of the public finances
necessary. Spite of the $100,000 assigned to the unappropri-
ated revenue from the federal surplus in 1836, another period
of deficits arose within a few years. For this one cause
was the construction of the new capitol. Its total cost, $572,-
070.53, was made in installments beginning in 1836. When the
last, amounting to $31,581.00, fell due in 1841, the revenue was
insufficient to meet it and the crisis was tided over by use
of the Literary Fund. Then followed responsibility for rail-
way obligations. In 1843, when the Raleigh and Gaston and
the Wilmington and Weldon failed to meet their bonded in-
debtedness endorsed by the state, there was another deficit,
also met by the use of the Literary Fund. The following year
the Literary Fund was again used to meet an obligation
arising from the default of the Wilmington and Weldon in
redeeming its bonds. In 1845 a deficit of $27,000 in general
expenses was met in the same way, raising the full indebted-
ness to the Literary Fund to $97,997.00. In 1846 practically
the entire Fund for Internal Improvements was wiped out by
appropriating its principal, $75,839, to meet another deficit
in general expenses.
3 R. & G. R, R, Co. vs. Davis.
240 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
In the meantime a revision of the tax system was under-
taken. The first step was to utilize more thoroughly the ex-
isting schedule and rates by the reassessment of landed prop-
erty and a new enumeration of the polls. This was ordered
in 1836; it disclosed an increase of over 3,000,000 acres; yet
the resulting increase from the land tax was less than $7,000.
Another valuation in 1846 added 1,500,000 acres and 1,809
polls, bringing an increase in the land tax of nearly $6,000 and
in capitation tax of over $1,500. However re-valuation and re-
enumeration were not sufficient to meet the constant increase
in expenditures. As there was much conservatism toward in-
creasing the rates on land and polls, an effort was made to
find new tax schedules. In 1846 and 1848 rates were placed
upon inheritances, incomes, licenses, and luxuries, which rates
were revised and expanded in 1854 and 1858. The agrarian
standard of living and also rural prejudice were reflected in
the income tax which levied three dollars on each $500 of
salary and fees, and in the tax of three cents on each one dollar
of interest, increased to four cents in 1854. The principle of
the license tax was not new; its schedule was widened to
include bowling alleys, playing cards, mortgages, marriage
licenses, insurance companies and bank agencies. The old dis-
crimination between local and state business also continued;
thus drovers bringing cattle from other states were assessed
$5 for each county, agents for vehicles not manufactured in
North Carolina $100 for each county, while agents for North
Carolina vehicles were assessed only $50, and liquor dealers
buying from distilleries located in other states were assessed
10%, but only 5% when purchasing from North Carolina
distilleries. The luxury tax included gold and silver plate,
carriages, bowie knives, canes, pianos, harps, and pistols. In-
vestment taxes of one-fourth, later of one-third of one per cent
on the capital invested, were levied on merchants and five
per cent on the value of drugs, provided the owner was not a
native of North Carolina. Not until the policy in the above
schedule was well established was there any change in the
rates upon land and poll. In 1854 these, which since 1817
had been 6 cents on $100 value of land and 20 cents on the poll,
were increased to 12 cents and 40 cents respectively; in 1856
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 241
the rate on land was fixed at 15 cents and that on the poll at
50 ; in 1858 they were increased to 20 and 80 cents respectively,
but in 1860 the land tax was reduced to 18 cents. The general
effectiveness of these measures is shown by the increase in
taxes ; in 1835 the amount raised was $71,740, in 1850 $141,610,
in 1860, $667,708. There were, however, inequalities in the
revenue system, especially the light tax on slave property
when compared with similar values on land or income, for
which it paid only the rate on the poll.
Undoubtedly the principal cause of the expansion of the
revenue in 1848 and thereafter was to meet the interest on the
bond issues. The policy of issuing bonds was begun in 1848
as a means of meeting obligations for stock subscription to
the North Carolina Railroad, the Fayetteville and Western
Plank Eoad and other public works, and also of paying off
temporary loans and meeting obligations for the Raleigh and
Gaston subscription. These early issues were successful and
the policy continued under the democratic regime from 1850
to 1860. At the latter year the total bonded debt amounted
to $9,125,505.
Vol. II— 16
CHAPTEE XIII
THE WHIG REGIME ; DOMESTIC POLICY
Public Schools, Asylums, Legal Reform
Contemporary with the whig policy of aid to the railways
and revision of the revenue were other movements of equally
vital importance, — the establishment of a system of common
schools, the foundation of asylums, and legal reform.
The educational movement began with the legislature of
1836, which added to the Literary Fund $500,000, to be in-
vested in swamp lands and bank stock, and also the state stock
in the Wilmington and Raleigh and all future railroad stocks
held by the state. At the same session there was a demand
for the immediate enactment of a school law, but the problem
of framing an adequate measure was so great that the matter
was referred to the trustees of the Literary Fund for a report
at the next session. The result, after somewhat divergent
bills had been introduced in both houses of the session of 1838,
was a compromise measure, adopted January 7, 1839, by a
non-partisan and almost unanimous vote. The law provided
for an election in each county for the establishment of schools ;
in those counties in which the issue was carried the county
courts were directed to appoint a board of county superin-
tendents who should lay off school districts and appoint school
commissioners for each district. It was also the duty of the
court in each county voting for schools to levy a tax of $20
for each district, to be supplemented by an appropriation of
$40 from the Literary Fund.
Now followed a state-wide campaign on the question of
schools. The arguments advanced by the opposition well
illustrated the contrast of the ideals of progress and reaction.
The local tax was held to be a burden to the poor, unjust
212
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 243
to the childless, and also to those who educated their children
at their own expense. The school law was also criticised
as impractical in that the school districts would be too large,
the salaries of the teachers too small, and the expected school
term of three months too short. The case of the self-made,
prosperous citizen was held up as an example of the useless-
ness of education. Illustrative was an incident in Eowan
County. "There are some self-sufficient ones in this county,"
wrote the editor of the Carolina Watchman, "who say they
never had any education and they have got on very well,
and their children can do as they did. We were told a joke
on one of these gentlemen which we think will answer as
well as any argument we could advance. This natural genius
had been holding forth at a gathering against the School
Bill and holding up his own success as a proof that natral
sense Avas better than edecation. In the midst of the
harangue a neighbor took him out to pay him the balance on
a note which he held. Neither creditor or debtor understand-
ing figures, they called to a schoolmaster in the crowd to come
and calculate the interest for them. 'Let Mr. M. do it by his
natral sense,' said he of the birchen sceptre; and the crowd
shouted at the expense of the genius." 1
However the cause of schools was supported by the more
virile newspapers, many members of the legislature, and some
of the county officials. As result, nearly all the counties voted
to take advantage of the school law, the exceptions being
Columbus, Edgecombe and Wayne in the east, and David-
son, Lincoln, Rowan and Yancev in the west. At the succeed-
7 7 v
ing legislature the school law was amended by apportioning
the Literary Fund among the counties according to federal
population and authorizing, instead of requiring, the county
courts to levy a local tax not greater than half the appropria-
tion from the Fund.
The legislation providing for common schools indeed marks
an epoch. For a decade, however, there was neither univer-
sal response to the opportunity offered nor any organization
or administration resembling a modern school system. The
1 Coon, Documentary Hist, of Public Education in N. C. to 1840,
II, p. 896.
244 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
natural conservatism of the people, the lack of successful ex-
perience in public education in neighboring states, the apathy
toward local taxation, and the old feeling that public aid
smacked of charity, — all these provoked a sense of indiffer-
ence. Establishing schools was left to the option of the coun-
ties, and not until 1846 did all respond to the opportunities of
the law. As the county courts were authorized, not required,
to levy the local tax, some of them levied a moderate tax,
others a verv small one, and some none at all. Hence "in all
those counties dependent solely on the Literary Fund, the sum
they received, when subdivided among a large number of dis-
tricts is so small per each that many districts have no schools
at all, and derive no benefit from this provision. ' ' 2 Indeed
in some counties all the income from the Fund was not spent
on schools but found its way into the pocket of local officials;
Governor Manly in 1850 estimated that certainly $90,000 and
probably $180,000 had been so lost. There was practically no
executive or administrative control, the trustees of the Liter-
ary Fund confining their activities mainly to financial matters,
and few counties made reports to them on the condition of
schools as required by law in 1846. Thus "diverse habits
sprung up in different counties, and the best county system,
made so by the exertions of discreet and zealous local friends,
naturally felt least interest in state action and the system as
a whole. ' ' 3 The result was that in many sections school houses
were deserted, the doors broken from their hinges, and the
grass grew in the school yards.
There was also a dearth of capable teachers, and consider-
able opposition to the new type of institution was often man-
ifested by the academies and the old field schools. Distribution
of the proceeds of the Literary Fund according to federal
rather than white population caused criticism in those coun-
ties which had few slaves. Yet the forces of progress were
at work. The educational law was the most liberal and
modern in the South at that time, for it made no distinction
between the children of the pauper and those of the wealthy,
2 Message of Governor Manly, 1850.
3 Wiley, Hist, of Common Schools of N. C. (N. C. Journal of Edu-
cation, Sept. 15, 1881).
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 245
and by 1850 approximately 104,000 were enrolled in the com-
mon schools, which numbered 2,657, a record excelled in the
South only by Tennessee. In 1851 definite action toward the
better preparation of teachers was taken. Braxton Craven,
principal of Union Institute, in Randolph County, presented
in pamphlet form a plan for teacher training. By act of
January 28, 1851, Union Institute was changed to Normal
College and its graduates were authorized to teach in the
common schools without re-examination by school authorities.
In 1852 an amended charter provided a loan of $10,000 from
the Literary Fund, made the Governor and the Superintend-
ent of Common Schools respectively, ex-officio president and
secretary of the board of trustees, a relationship which the
state maintained until 1859.
By far the greatest improvement in the nascent educa-
tional system came during the democratic regime, by the in-
stitution of the office of Superintendent of Common Schools
in 1852. Its first incumbent was Calvin H. Wiley, of Guilford
County, a young lawyer of prominence and author of two
works of fiction, "Alamance" (1842) and "Roanoke" (1849),
and editor, with W. D. Cooke, of The Southern Weekly Post
(Raleigh), designed to cultivate among native North Caro-
linians a knowledge of the history and resources of the
state and an improvement of literary taste. From his as-
sumption of the state superintendence on January 1, 1853, to
the close of the Civil War, the common schools are as much a
part of Mr. Wiley's biography as a chapter in the state's
history. His constant appeals to the public, his patience, self-
denial, and sense of moral responsibility made him a veritable
missionary. Indeed "he assumed his delicate trust on his
knees, solemnly committing his way to God, and resolving
ever to seek his guidance, and to act as before him. ' ' 4 His
first work was to arouse public opinion to the cause. For
this purpose he visited all parts of the state by private con-
veyance. "Incessant efforts by pen and tongue were re-
quired to correct misconception, to make known the true
spirit of the mission of the schools, to provoke system and
4 Ibid., July 15, 1882.
246
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
uniformity of effort, to overcome doubts and combat covert
and open opposition, and create and foster a healthy public
spirit on behalf of the system. Special pains were needed
and taken to show academies, high schools and colleges their
interest in the common school, to enlist sympathy and co-
operation of ministers of the gospel of all denominations
Calvin H. Wiley
as a duty to humanity, and to make friends of the cause
everywhere feel that it was one, and that the teacher and
officer of the coast were joined to officer and teacher on the
Smoky Mountains. At that day all these points, some of which
now seem elementary, had to be fixed, and some of them after
a hard struggle, and the whole system had to be purged
of the fatal taint of charity once adhering to it and especially,
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 247
after protracted effort, lifted from the beneficence of a
class, to that of a fundamental interest of all the state." 5
No less important was the necessity of supplying more
and better equipped teachers. Those immediately available
were mainly self-taught, individualistic and ignorant of the
higher branches. "The teacher in most cases," said Dr.
Wiley, "was a law to himself, knew little of the methods of
his brothers at other places, and never regarded himself
as an element of a general system, and his progress was
in the mechanical art of writing, and from years of practice
many became masters of penmanship and naturally looked
with contempt on their brethren of the new generation whose
qualifications were mental and who had not spent a life time
in learning to make graceful curvatures and flourishes with
the quill." 6
Several methods were used to solve the problem of the
teacher. One was to establish examining boards in each
county and to require the teacher to secure from them certifi-
cates annually. Another was to get recruits from a class
which had as a rule overlooked the teaching profession, ambi-
tious young men and women who had to rely on their own
efforts for a livelihood. An important result was to increase
the number of women in the teaching force, yet in 1860 the
number of men and women teachers licensed were respectively
1,849 and 315. The question of teacher training was met by
county institutes rather than normal schools. Professional
organization was perfected through the Educational Asso-
ciation of North Carolina, the direct outgrowth of a teachers '
convention held in Goldsboro in May, 1856. In the same year
appeared the first issue of the North Carolina School Journal;
its publication, suspended after the first year, was resumed
in 1858 under the new title, The North Carolina Journal of
Education, Wiley being chief editor. The matter of, text-
books also received attention. It was Wiley's hope to see
founded a uniform series especially adapted to North Caro-
lina conditions. To that end he planned a series of readers
and other textbooks before his election to the superintenden-
•> Ibid.
6 Ibid., March 15, 1882.
248 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
cy; but after entering on the duties of the office he sold all
copyrights and plates to A. S. Barnes & Co., for cost. This
disposed of his North Carolina Reader, published by Lip-
pincott in 1851 ; later editions were published by Barnes and
also two other North Carolina Readers, edited by Professor
F. M. Hubbard, of the University.
Dr. Wiley's efforts on behalf of the common schools were
successful. In 1860 the number of schools was 2,854, the
number of teachers licensed 2,164, the average salary $26
per month, the enrollment 105,054 out of 200,855 of school
age, and the average school term was 3 2/3 months. The
school expenditure was $255,641, of which approximately
$100,000 was from local taxation, the remainder coming from
the Literary Fund. Although the percentage of white adult
illiterates had not been materially reduced from that of 1840,
the idea of a common school had been well integrated in the
life of the people, and Wiley, a whig, held office continuously
under the democratic administration.
School administration was not the only educational prob-
lem. The management of the Literary Fund was equally as
vital. In 1836 the Board of Trustees was reorganized, the
governor remaining president and appointing the other mem-
bers. Its principal duty was the oversight of the Fund's se-
curities anpl the investment of that part of its income not ap-
propriated to the schools. As public education was only one of
the movements for social and economic improvement, there
was a strong feeling that the Literary Fund should aid kindred
causes. Thus by 1840 the trustees had invested $140,000 in
state endorsed bonds of the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad
and $85,000 in privately endorsed bonds of the Wilmington
and Welclon, and in 1842 they also invested $1,800 in Wil-
mington and Weldon bonds and $22,764 in bonds of the
Raleigh and Gaston. Where the trustees led, the legisla-
ture followed, that body in 1843 ordering the trustees to
invest $50,000 in the maturing bonds of the Wilmington
and Weldon endorsed by the state, which neither the road
nor the treasurer could redeem. Another legislative policy
was to meet deficits with the fund ; by 1850 $122,150 had been
so used and $40,380 of bonds and notes had also been trans-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 249
ferred to the general fund. No interest was paid on the
money thus used until 1853, none on the bonds and notes
transferred until 1857. Moreover the treasurer used the Lit-
erary Fund to meet temporary deficits, restoring- the money
when the tax returns came in.
Among other investments by the trustees were state bonds
($97,000), state endorsed bonds of the Fayetteville and West-
ern Plank Road ($12,500), and bonds of the Cape Fear and
Deep River Navigation Company ($93,000). Appropriations
ordered by the legislature were made to turn-pikes in the
mountainous section, amounting to $8,799. Bank stock was
another favorite investment. In 1839 and 1840 $115,000 were
invested in the Bank of the Cape Fear, and $2,700 in the Bank
of the State in 1843. When the charter of the latter cor-
poration expired in 1858, the fund invested in the stock
was transferred to its successor, the Bank of North Caro-
lina. The cause of private education was also aided by
loans as follows: to Wake Forest College $10,000, to Nor-
mal (later Trinity College) $10,000, Greensboro Female Col-
lege $7,000, Chowan Female Institute $3,000, Clinton Female
Institute $3,000, Floral College $2,000, and Mt. Pleasant
Academy $2,000. Education of the deaf, dumb and blind was
also aided by an appropriation of $5,000 a year beginning in
1845, increased to $8,000 in 1852. Loans to individuals
amounting to $282,677 were made in 1838 but by 1860 these
had been reduced to $5,821.
The final investment by the trustees of the Literary Fund
was in swamp lands. According to the act of 1836, $200,000
of the $500,000 of the surplus revenue apportioned to the Lit-
erary Fund was to be used in the improvement of the swamp
lands. Such an undertaking had been suggested as early as
1819 by Archibald DeBow Murphey in his "Memoir on In-
ternal Improvements," and in 1822 the Board of Internal Im-
provement ordered surveys of the lands in question, reports
being made in 1823 and 1827. The Board suggested in the
latter year and also in 1833 that Mattamuskeet Lake be se-
lected for experimentation in drainage, but no action was
taken. In the meantime the swamp lands were vested in the
250 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Literary Fund in 1825, and the distribution of the surplus
revenue in 1836 made possible drainage work.
Three distinct operations were begun. First was the drain-
age of Mattamuskeet Lake in Hyde County. By a special act
$8,000 was appropriated to this enterprise, and approximately
8,000 acres were reclaimed by 1842. The second and also the
largest project of this kind was the drainage of Pungo and
Alligator lakes by connecting them with Pungo River. By
1842 this work was completed at an expenditure of $175,-
553.34, and approximately 60,000 acres had been reclaimed.
The third area drained consisted of "open prairie" lands in
Cartaret County, on which $5,000 were expended. In addition
to the expenditures for drainage were those for the construc-
tion of roads These cost over $10,000. Other expenses
brought the total expenditure for the swamp territory by 1860
to $200,608.48.
The returns on this large expenditure were meagre, amount-
ing to $22,294.69. For this there were several reasons. One
was that the drainage made was not extensive enough to be
profitable; main ditches only were constructed and the pur-
chaser of lands had to dig new trenches to connect with them.
Also the nature of the lands in many places was not realized ;
thus in the Mattamuskeet region after drainage was effected
only sand beaches were disclosed. To these causes must be
added the matter of titles. In earlier days much of the swamp
lands had been entered; although no settlements had been
made, the state found that counter claims made impossible the
sale of the lands.
From the management of the Literary Fund as outlined
above certain conclusions are evident. First of these is that
the trustees as well as the legislature believed that the princi-
pal and the unexpended balances should be used to support
such enterprises of general economic and social interest as
railways, roads, banks, swamp lands, drainage and private
schools. Even the needs of the state treasury were tempora-
rily supplied by the Fund. It is also evident that some of the
investments were not successful, notably those in the swamp
lands. The war opened before the plank roads, chartered in
the 'fifties, whose endorsed bonds were held by the Fund, could
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 251
be completed, and no dividends were reported from the roads
in the mountain section. However no great calamity overtook
the Literary Fund, and no complaint was ever made that the
cause of the common schools was actually retarded by the
investments of the legislature and the trustees.
Contemporary with the agitation for common schools was
the movement for the proper care of physical and mental de-
fectives. Murphey, in his plan of a comprehensive school sys-
tem submitted in 1817, had included an asylum for the deaf
and dumb. Ten years later the North Carolina Institution for
the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb was chartered. Estimat-
ing that the number of deaf and dumb in the state was ap-
proximately 400, the incorporators in January, 1828, peti-
tioned the Federal Government through Senator Nathaniel
Macon and Congressman John H. Bryan for a donation of
public lands as an endowment for "the accomplishment of the
object in view. ' ' The petition was fruitless, and with it appar-
ently ended the activity of the institution. A new and more
successful agitation began in 1842. Governor Morehead in
his first message to the legislature recommended the estab-
lishment of asylums for the deaf, dumb, and blind, and for the
protection of unfortunate lunatics. The recommendation was
fruitless. The following year William D. Cooke, principal of
the Deaf and Dumb Institution at Staunton, Virginia, wrote
Governor Morehead concerning the feasibility of founding a
private school for the deaf and dumb in North Carolina. Many
applicants for entrance to the Virginia asylum were turned
away for lack of accommodations ; these, with the 280 mutes
reported to be in North Carolina by the census of 1840, would
form a clientele for the proposed institution, which in turn
might expand into a state institution. Governor Morehead,
anxious for moral support of the cause, conveyed his corres-
pondence with Cooke to Reverend James Phillips, presiding
officer of the Presbyterian Synod of North Carolina, which
convened at Raleigh in March, 1844. The Synod adopted reso-
lutions commending Governor Morehead 's interest in the deaf
and dumb, approved the idea of an institution under the
superintendency of Cooke, and requested members of the Sy-
nod to furnish the governor any facts that might be of service.
252 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
The following November Governor Morehead again recom-
mended to the legislature that some provision be made by the
state for the deaf and dumb, the blind, and the insane. In
December two exhibitions by deaf, dumb, and blind students
brought from Staunton, Virginia, were conducted by Mr.
Cooke in the presence of the legislature. In the House of
William D. Cooke
Commons Mr. Scales introduced a resolution that the Com-
mittee on Education and the Literary Fund be instructed to
inquire into the expediency of applying a portion of the Lit-
erary Fund to the education of the deaf and dumb, and the
blind. Governor Morehead in a special message of December
31, 1844, estimated the number of deaf and dumb in the state
to be 283, the blind 223, and the insane 582, and suggested
that $75,000 would cover the cost of buildings and equipment
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 253
and recommended that the state 's share in the fourth install-
ment of the federal surplus ($478,000) be applied to con-
struction and endowment. The legislature, however, was more
conservative than the governor. It passed over the insane,
and appropriated $5,000 from the Literary Fund for the in-
struction of the deaf mutes and the blind, to be supplemented
by local county taxes of $75 for each student. In pursuance
of the law, the trustees of the Literary Fund contracted with
Mr. Cooke for the instruction of the deaf and dumb at Ral-
eigh, the work to begin in May, 1845. The age limits of stu-
dents were fixed at eight and thirty years, and the rate for
each student, including tuition, board, and clothing, was $150
per annum. Instruction of the blind was temporarily omitted
on account of the lack of teachers and the few applicants.
By 1846 the number of students was thirty-three and the
curriculum included domestic and industrial arts. At first the
institution was conducted in rented buildings. In 1847 an ap-
propriation of $10,000 was made for permanent quarters, one-
half of which came from the current income of the Literary
Fund, the other from the unexpended balance of previous ap-
propriations. Two buildings, one dormitory and administra-
tive, the other a school, were erected on government property
in Caswell Square at Raleigh. The cost, however, was $15,000,
which was $5,000 more than the appropriation. This was also
defrayed by using the unexpended annual appropriation.
At the opening of the seventh session in 1851 the instruc-
tion of the blind was provided for, and in 1852 the institution
was incorporated as the North Carolina Institution for the
Education of the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind. The annual appro-
priation was increased from $5,000 to $8,000, and to $10,000
in 1857. The institution also received a bequest of $6,000
in 1854 from the will of John Kelly.
Hardly was the institution for the deaf and dumb firmly
established when scientific care for the insane was also pro-
vided. For this much credit is due to Miss Dorothea Dix,
America 's apostle of humanitarianism. After spending three
months visiting North Carolina jails and poor houses,
which afforded the only public care of the insane, she prepared
a memorial to the legislature of 1848, convincing in argu-
254 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
ment and deeply touching in its appeal to sympathy. ' ' I come
not to urge personal claims, nor to seek individual benefits,"
she wrote. "I appear as the advocate of those who cannot
plead their own cause ; I come as the friend of those who are
deserted, oppressed, and desolate. In the Providence of God,
I am the voice of the maniac whose piercing cries from the
dreary dungeons of your jails penetrate not your halls of legis-
lature. I am the hope of the poor crazed beings who pine in
the cells, and stalls, and cages of your poorhouses. I am the
revelation of hundreds of wailing, suffering creatures, hidden
in your private dwellings, and in pens and cabins — shut out,
cut off from all healing influences, from all mind-restoring
cures. ' ' 7
The unsanitary conditions, the depressing influences on the
insane of association with criminals, and the total lack of
medical attention, were pointed out, with many concrete illus-
trations. In contrast she emphasized the large percentage
of recoveries together with the economy in those states that
had established asylums, and pointed out that of the original
thirteen states all except Delaware and North Carolina had
established such institutions. Above all, moral duty to the
demented was pressed home. "Talk not of expense — of the
cost of supporting and ministering remedies for these afflicted
ones. Who shall dare compute in dollars and cents the worth
of one mind? Who will weigh gold against the priceless pos-
session of a sound understanding? You turn not away from
the beggar at your door, ready to perish. You open your hand,
and he is warmed, fed, and clothed; will you refuse to the
maniac the solace of a decent shelter, the protection of a fit
asylum, the care that shall raise him from the condition of the
brute, and the healing remedies that shall reillumine the tem-
ple of reason? Who amongst you is so strong that he may not
become weak? Whose reason is so sound that madness may
not overwhelm in an hour the noblest intellect?"
The outlook for a favorable action was not promising. The
democrats, long out of power, had made great gains in the
recent elections, securing a majority in the Commons, and the
Memorial soliciting a state hospital for the insane.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 255
party was hostile to increasing any public expenditures. More-
over, the question of a railroad for the western counties over-
shadowed all other issues. But the soul of the reformer was
undaunted. "They say," she wrote, "nothing can be done
here. I reply, ' I know no such word in the vocabulary I adopt. '
It is declared that no word will be uttered in opposition to
my claims, but that the democrats, having banded as a party
to vote for nothing that involves expenses, will unite and
silently vote down the bill. A motion was made to order the
lighting of the lamps in the portico of the capitol, and voted
down by the democrats. 'Ye have darkness because your
deeds are evil, ' said a whig in great ire : and a voice from the
gallery responded piously, 'For ye are of your father, the
devil.'" 8
Her method of procedure was bold and direct. "This
morning after breakfast several gentlemen called, all whigs,
talked of the hospital, and said the most discouraging things
possible. I sent for the leading democrats, went to my room
and brought my memorial, written under the exhaustion of
ten weeks most fatiguing journeys and labors. 'Gentlemen,'
I said, 'here is a document I have prepared for your assembly.
I desire you, sir, to present it,' handing it to a democrat popu-
lar with his party. 'And you, gentlemen,' I said, turning
to the astonished delegation, 'you, I expect, vftll sustain the
motion this gentleman will make to print the same.' "
The democrat to whom the memorial was handed was John
W. Ellis of Rowan, the champion of the Charlotte and Danville
Railroad bill. The document was duly presented in both
houses and referred to a joint committee, which reported a
bill appropriating $100,000 for a state hospital for the insane.
Such a sum seemed indeed fabulous, when the annual revenue
exclusive of the Literary Fund was less than $200,000. Con-
sequently, the section of the bill making the appropriation was
struck out on December 19. Two days later Mr. Rayner, a
whig, offered an amendment to levy a special tax of 2\' 2 cents
on the $100 value of land and 7y 2 cents on the poll, which was
also defeated after an earnest and eloquent appeal by its
8 Connor, James C. Dobbin (Biog. Hist, of N. C, Vol. VI.).
256 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
author. Apparently the cause was lost, but on December 22
a new advocate appeared, James C. Dobbin, democrat, who
had been defeated for the speakership by two votes. He intro-
duced an amendment calling for a tax of 1% cents on the $100
value of land and 51/4 cents on the poll for four years, and
made an even more impressive plea than Mr. Rayner. His in-
terest in the bill was due largely to a personal appeal. His
wife, afflicted with an incurable malady, was visited and
cheered by Miss Dix. When she expressed to the philanthro-
James C. Dobbin
pist her desire to show her appreciation, Miss Dix replied,
''You can do something; ask your husband to speak in favor
of the hospital bill." Mrs. Dobbin made the request and soon
afterward died. Four days after her death Mr. Dobbin intro-
duced his amendment and made an eloquent address that
brought tears to many and swept away all opposition. Thus
was the foundation of the asylum assured. Miss Dix wrote :
"Rejoice, rejoice with me. Through toil, anxiety and trib-
ulation my bill has passed. * I am not well, though
perfectly happy. I leave North Carolina compensated a
thousand-fold for all labors by this great success. ' '
In memory of her services, the site on which the institu-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 257
tion was located near Raleigh was named Dix Hill. Toward
its support the legislature proved liberal. In 1852 the tax of
1848 was continued for three years. Direct appropriation
begun in 1856 amounted to $20,000 per annum, and this was in-
creased to $25,000 in 1858. These appropriations were sup-
plemented by local county taxes for the care of the indigent
insane. The first director of the institution, Dr. E. C. Fisher,
was from Staunton, Virginia.
The spirit of reform was not confined to the foundation of
a school system, internal improvements, and the care of the
defective classes. It also pervaded the domain of law, both
statutes and court decisions. Many rules of the English com-
mon law, inherited from colonial days, were modified or abol-
ished, and new principles of justice were formulated. Illus-
trative was the matter of imprisonment for debt. According
to the common law every debtor was subject to imprisonment
at the will of the creditor until the debt was paid. However
a colonial statute, whose principle was continued after state-
hood was attained, allowed the honest debtor without property
to be released after twenty days imprisonment if he swore
before court "that he hath not the worth of ten dollars in any
worldly substance, either in debts owing to him, or otherwise
howsoever, over and above his wearing apparel, one bed and
its necessary furniture, one wheel and cards, also one loom,
working tools and arms for muster, one bible and testament,
one hymn book, and all necessary school books," and that he
had not since imprisonment disposed of any of his estate.
Moreover the honest debtor with property must follow a sim-
ilar procedure of imprisonment before making a settlement
with his creditors. After twenty days imprisonment he filed
petition with the court, setting forth the cause of imprisonment
and the amount of property held; then, after formal court
proceedings, the prisoner was released, his property was sold
under execution, and his body was relieved from liability to im-
prisonment for the debt so adjusted. Thus imprisonment was
a part of the legal procedure for settling debts whether the
debtor was guilty of fraud or was simply insolvent. A notable
instance of the operation of the law was the case of Archibald
DeBow Murphey. Unable to meet his obligations he sub-
voi. n— 17
258 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
mitted to the law, enduring imprisonment and settling with his
creditors in formal court proceedings. A vivid account of his
life in prison has been left by one who knew the facts.
I heard good old sheriff Doak say that no occurrence of his life,
official or otherwise, was so painful to him as the execution of the ca sa
upon the venerable judge, the meekness and dignity of whose bearing
was so impressive, and his resignation to the inevitable so touching.
When he was conducted to the prison and surveyed his surroundings,
' ' in such cases made and provided by law ' ' for the inexorable twenty
days previous to the humiliating process of "swearing out," he re-
marked that the room was not, and he supposed, considering the pur-
pose, could not be, sufficiently lighted and ventilated. He, therefore,
requested the sheriff to leave the door open ! And the sheriff went
off and left the door open ! There are few instances, I suppose, where
men have been shut up in jail with an open door; but no suspicion
entered the sheriff's head that any advantage would be taken of the
fact in this case.
Within a day or two a visit was made by Judge Cameron to the
prisoner in his new quarters — a visit of friendship and also on busi-
ness connected with his case. Coming away from the interview he met
the sheriff, and remarked that it had occurred to him that he, the
sheriff, might be running a risk by leaving the jail door unlocked.
"A risk!" exclaimed the officer; "I would risk life and sacred honor
with Judge Murphey. You don't think he would go away?" "I do
not mean that." replied Judge Cameron; "I mean that it might be
considered in law an escape, and you might yourself become involved
to your hurt. But," said he further, "Murphey knows the law; let
us go back and consult him."
They went back to the jail and held a consultation, at the close of
which Judge Murphey said, with a sad smile, "Mr. Sheriff, my friend,
it will be safest for you to lock the door upon me."
The visitor and the sheriff retired ; the key was turned in the
door; and if there were two bis: tears seen to roll down the cheeks of
the latter they did honor to the heart of old Jimmy Doak.
At the end of twenty days the prisoner took the oath that he
was "not worth forty shillings in any earthly substance," and was
turned loose upon a country to which he had rendered his best serv-
ices, whose high places his occupancy had adorned, and whose inter-
ests were cherished as his own.
Against the severity of the debtor law there was a well
defined reaction. In 1820 imprisonment for debt was abolished
but the statute was repealed the following year ; then in 1823
it was enacted that imprisonment for debts contracted prior
9 Lyndon Swaim, quoted from Hoyt, Murphey Papers, II, 431.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 259
to that date might be avoided until the meeting of court by the
debtor giving bond for appearance, as a pledge to surrender
his property or to make oath as to his insolvency. In 1844
further protection was given by prohibiting imprisonment ex-
cept when the creditors made oath that the debtor had prop-
erty which could not be reached by a facias faciendum. In
1848 debtors were still further protected by exempting from
execution personal property to the value of fifty dollars.
The tendency to ameliorate the law was also reflected in
the legislation regarding the position of woman. The right of
the husband over the person of his wife to the extent of im-
prisonment or other correction was not restricted at the com-
mon law. Indeed the penalty of death at the stake for slaying
her husband who was exercising his right of correction was
imposed on a woman of Iredell County in 1787. Six years
later, in 1793, the penalty was abolished by statute. In 1823
women were also exempted from imprisonment for debt and
the Code Commission of 1855 relieved them from the penalty
of branding or corporal punishment, substituting therefor im-
prisonment. Their property rights were also enlarged. In
1844 woman's right to act as executor without bond given by
her husband was recognized, and in 1848 the husband was de-
nied the right to dispose of the wife's real estate without her
consent. The right of the divorced wife to property and
money acquired after divorce was also granted in 1819 and
women were likewise admitted to benefit of clergy until that
custom was abolished by the Code Commission of 1855.
The spirit of humanity and reform also pervaded the de-
cisions of the Supreme Court. Illustrative were the opinions
concerning the negro written by Associate Justice Gaston.
In the case of State vs. Will, decided in 1835, the right of the
slave to resist inhumanity on the part of the master, his agent,
or temporary owner was distinctly recognized.
In the absence then of all precedents directly in point, or strik-
ingly analogous, the question recurs, if the passion of the slave be
excited unto unlawful violence by the inhumanity of the master, or
temporary owner, or one clothed with the master's authority, is it a
conclusion of law that such passion must spring from diabolical
malice? Unless I see my way clear as a sunbeam, I cannot believe
that this is the law of a civilized people and of a Christian land.
260 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
* * * If the Legislature should ever prescribe such a law, a sup-
position which can scarcely be made without disrespect, it will be for
those who then sit in judgment to administer it. But the appeal here
is to the common law, which declares passion, not transcending all
reasonable limits, to be distinct from malice. The prisoner is a human
being, degraded indeed by slavery, but yet having "organs, dimen-
sions, senses, affections, passions, like our own." * * * Express
malice is not found by the jury. From the facts, I am satisfied as a
man that in truth malice did not in fact exist, and I can see no law
which compels me, as a judge, to infer malice contrary to the truth.
Thus a tenderness and a more humane attitude were intro-
duced into the judicial decisions relating to the slave. A more
liberal attitude was also manifested toward the free negro in
the case of State vs. Manuel, the opinion, rendered in 1838, also
being handed down by Gaston. The legislature of 1831 had
declared that a free negro, convicted and fined, if he were un-
able to pay the fine, should be hired out to "any person who
will pay the fine for his services for the shortest time pos-
sible." On the other hand the state constitution prohibited
imprisonment of the debtor after ascertained insolvency and
the legislature of 1836 allowed any person duly convicted and
imprisoned for costs and fine to take advantage of the insol-
vent debtor law. In defense of the statute of 1831 the attorney
general contended that free negroes were not citizens and
therefore did not enjoy the guarantees of the constitution or
the benefits of the remedial statute. Gaston's decision set
aside this contention and allowed the free negro the benefit
of the insolvent debtor law by showing that he was a citizen.
Upon the Revolution no other change took place in the law of
North Carolina than was consequent upon the transition from a colony
dependent on a European King to a free and sovereign state.. Slaves
remained slaves. British subjects in North Carolina became North
Carolina freemen. Foreigners, until made members of the state, con-
tinued aliens. Slaves manumitted became freemen, and therefore, if
born within North Carolina, are citizens of North Carolina, and all
free persons born within the state are born citizens of the state.
Undoubtedly it was in the domain of civil law that the
North Carolina court achieved its greatest distinction. Pre-
eminent were the decisions of Justice Ruffm, associate justice
from 1829 to 1833, chief justice from the latter date to 1852,
and again associate justice in 1858 and 1859. Three notable
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
261
departures from English common law doctrine were made un-
der his leadership. First, in the construction of the Statute of
Frauds the court rejected the English doctrine of part per-
formance and held that specific performance of an oral con-
tract to convey land would not be decreed. The second de-
parture was discarding the doctrine that a vendor who had
Justice Thomas RuffinX
security for payment, so rejecting "the vendor's lien." Third,
sold land and parted with the title had a lien on the land for
was the repudiation of the English doctrine of a married
woman's equitable right to settlement for maintenance before
the husband invoked the power of the courts to reduce her
estate to possession. Other decisions no less notable were in
defense of the right of eminent domain, the denial of the right
of the legislature to divest one of property, including even a
262 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
public office, that recovery for fraud extended to games of
chance, and that corporate franchises cannot be sold under
execution. By these and other decisions not only did the
Supreme Court refine the law and make justice more equi-
table ; it also won distinction and leadership in American juris-
prudence.
CHAPTER XIV
THE WHIG REGIME; POLITICS, STATE AND
FEDERAL, 1836-1847
Having traced the origins of the whig and democratic
parties and the domestic progress under whig leadership, it
now remains to review the course of party politics, federal
and state, during the same period.
Although the Convention of 1835, by relieving the stress
of local sectionalism, made possible the development of state
issues, national policies continued to be the center of interest
for over a decade. Wrote an anonymous correspondent :
"There is no subject connected with the operation of the
General Government which does not enlist the zeal of our
public and command the attention of those who have leisure
to discuss it; whilst the more immediate concerns of the
people of North Carolina are widely disregarded, or else
noticed in a manner that is even stronger proof of indiffer-
ence than absolute silence." 1 Yet this unbalanced political
interest was not without some benefit. The national issues
of the 'thirties and 'forties were vital, involving the dispo-
sition of the public domain, the establishment of a fiscal sys-
tem, the acquisition of new territory, and the extension of
slavery. On such questions as these attention was riveted,
party division being very close. A new type of leadership ap-
peared, in ability and vision of the country's needs compar-
able only to that of federalism before 1800. Popular under-
standing of national issues, if judged by local meetings and
addresses to the people, was not only more extensive but more
intelligent than has been known before or since.
In the presidential election of 1836 Van Buren carried the
state by a majority of over 9,000. Apparently the tide had
1 "Mentor," North Carolina Standard, Dec. 6, 1837.
263
264 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
turned against the whigs. But conditions during his admin-
istration were such as to give that party a renewal of strength.
In 1837 a financial panic struck the country, forcing the banks
of North Carolina to suspend specie payment, and a second
wave of depression began in 1839. Van Buren's remedy for
the demoralization was the sub-treasury instead of deposits in
state banks, the policy of Jackson, or the establishment of a
central federal bank, advocated by the whigs. To secure the
support of the western states he was willing 'to grant more
liberal terms in the purchase and preemption of public lands.
However, bills providing for a sub-treasury and also new
terms of land sales were defeated in the spring of 1837.
The policy of the administration came before the people of
North Carolina in the congressional election of 1837. The
whigs emphasized the land issue, holding that any disposal
of the public domain except the distribution of the proceeds
of the sales among the states to be unjust, Typical was the
opinion of James Graham, candidate in the twelfth district:
During the last year (1836) the sales amounted to the enormous
sum of upward twenty million dollars, more than one-half of all the
revenue of the United States. * * * Is there a man who has a
North Carolina head on his shoulders, or a native North Carolinian's
heart in his bosom, who can betray his mother earth, and see her
people robbed and plundered annually of her just and equitable share
of twenty-four millions of dollars? Shall our venerable parents be
stripped of their own property to soothe and to satisfy the mur-
muring and avaricious wants of their spoiled children? Shall the
people of the old states be continually taxed to provide comfortable
and sumptuous living for the settler and speculator of the new states?
Why did you tax yourselves last fall with the labor of plowing and
sowing your grain ? Because you expected then and hoped now, in
due season, to reap a rich harvest. I verily believe you are as much
entitled to your share of the money arising from the sale of the public
lands, as you are entitled to the crop now growing which you sowed
last autumn. 2
On the other hand the democrats, realizing the interest
of the state in distribution, laid much stress on the financial
issue, advocating control of the nation's money by the people
through the sub-treasury rather than the banks, the creatures
2 Raleigh Register, May 2, 1837, Cf. Address of A. Rencher, April
11. and of Lewis Williams, March 28.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 265
of the money power. Sound reasoning was frequently dis-
placed by an appeal to class prejudice. "No sooner does one
of our neighbors turn a bank whig, " says an address to the
people of Wake County, "than his whole nature becomes
transformed — the courtesies and charities of life are fre-
quently sacrificed in blind idolatry to the bank and he deals
out curses and insults to the friends of the administration
as if he supposed the time had already arrived when none but
the followers of the banks had liberty left. ' ' 3
The election resulted in a whig victory, the party carrying
eight of the thirteen congressional districts. The following
year the popularity of the legislative policy of 1836 toward
internal improvements brought a decisive supremacy in the
state elections. Dudley being re-elected governor by more than
fourteen thousand majority and both houses of the assembly
having safe whig majorities. Thus entrenched, party retal-
iation was taken for the instruction of Senator Mangum in
1834. Legislative resolutions were adopted, addressed to
the democratic senators, Brown and Strange, which con-
demned the expunging resolutions and urged that they be
rescinded, denounced the proposed sub-treasury, and declared
the distribution of the proceeds of land sales among the states
to be the proper use of the public domain. However, the
whigs were careful not to use the terms instruct or instruc-
tion, these being a democratic weapon which they had resented
and criticized in 1834. The pertinent resolution simply read :
"Resolved, That our senators in Congress will represent the
wishes of a large majority of the people of this state by voting
to carry the foregoing resolutions. ' ' 4
The attitude of Senators Brown and Strange was inter-
esting. They pointed out the absence of the term instruct
and held that instruction was the traditional method of bend-
ing the will of senators to that of the legislature ; that there
was no evidence that the will of the people, formerly expressed
in favor of expunging in 1832, had changed, or else an instruc-
tion would have been offered; finally, they asked the legis-
lature whether an instruction was intended, but received an
3 North Carolina Standard, Aug. 9, 1837.
4 Laws of N. C., 1838, p. 81.
266 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
impertinent and indefinite reply. Thereupon they refused
to resign until public opinion could be tested at the next
meeting of the legislature. 5 Apparently popular sentiment
favored the senators, for in 1839 the democrats carried seven
of the thirteen congressional districts and in one of these,
the fourth, Charles Shepard was re-elected although he had
left the whig party.
This threat at the local whig supremacy, as well as its
national significance, gave the election of 1840 unusual inter-
est. In fact the campaign of that year marks a distinct epoch
in party methods and tactics. The nominating convention
for the selection of state candidates and the formulation of
issues was introduced. The whigs were the first in the field.
In August 1839, a call was issued by a committee appointed by
a caucus of the preceding legislature for a convention which
met on November 12th at Raleigh, ten months before the
state, and twelve before the federal, elections. It was attended
by delegates from twenty western and fourteen eastern coun-
ties. John M. Morehead was nominated for governor, pref-
erence was expressed for Clay and Tallmadge as candidates
for president and vice-president, and two delegates at large
were chosen for the national convention of the party. The
statement of principles was left to a central committee and
its report, written and issued after the convention adjourned,
endorsed a federal bank, distribution of the proceeds of land
sales among the states, public education, and a strict inter-
pretation of the Constitution ; it also strongly condemned the
spoils system, the sub-treasury, the protective tariff and fed-
eral interference with slavery. 6 The democrats likewise re-
sorted to a convention, which met on January 8, 1840 and had a
larger representation from the eastern than from the western
counties. Romulus M. Saunders was nominated for governor,
Van Buren was approved for the presidency, and resolutions
were adopted denouncing the bank and endorsing the sub-
treasury. A few days after the convention adjourned the
North Carolina Standard came out for Polk for the vice-
presidency.
5 Cong. Globe, 25th Cong., 3rd Sess., VII, 116.
6 Hamilton, Party Polities in North Carolina, p. 56.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 267
The ensuing campaign was undoubtedly the most exciting
of any since that of 1824. Saunders was an experienced pol-
itician, having served three terms in Congress, five years as
attorney-general of the state, and the same number on the
Superior Court Bench. Morehead was just entering the prime
of life, an heir of Murphey's ideals for economic and social
progress, identified also with the nascent interest in manu-
factures. The candidates toured the state from March to
August, engaging in many joint discussions. Public meetings,
parades, and festivities abounded, in which the whigs had a
shade the advantage. Not only did their local leaders show
better skill in organization, but the emblems of their national
campaign, the log cabin and hard cider, made a distinct appeal
to the masses. Illustrative were resolutions of the Tippe-
canoe Club of Raleigh :
" Resolved, That the late attempts of some of the Van
Buren delegates to throw contempt upon the humble walks
of life, by sneering at William Henry Harrison as the log
cabin and hard cider candidate, deserve the condemnation
of the people;
"Resolved, That we view with contempt and indignation
the efforts which some of the demagogues of the administra-
tion are making to induce the people of this and adjoining
counties to believe, that the cabin in which we are now assem-
bled was erected in disrespect of the poor, and we do now
pronounce such a charge to be wholly false;
"Resolved, That as poor men assisted to build this cabin —
as they are not ashamed to claim it as typical of the prin-
ciples of the poor men who go for the good of the whole peo-
ple — as it is intended to be an expression of contempt for the
sneers of the office holders thrown upon the homes of the
poor, we will defend it to the utmost of our ability, and we
call upon our fellow citizens everywhere to come to the rescue
of the rights of the poor men whose wages and property are
to be brought down under the administration to the stand of
European despotism. ' ' 7
When the national democratic convention failed to nom-
7 Raleigh Register, July 28, 1840.
268 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
inate a candidate for the vice-presidency, a second state con-
vention met in Raleigh on July 9th and nominated Richard
M. Johnston. The whigs, not to be outdone, held a second
convention in October, characterized by the martial organ-
ization of delegates, a powerful speech in defense of Harrison
by George E. Badger, and the publication .of Gaston's "Caro-
lina," which soon became the song of state patriotism.
Throughout the campaign the personal records of the candi-
dates, as well as extraneous issues which appealed to the prej-
udices of the people, were unduly emphasized. The question
of abolition was introduced. Morehead was taken to task
for favoring a limited negro suffrage in the convention of
1835 and was charged with submitting an anti-slavery memo-
rial in the legislature of 1838, which had been actually intro-
duced by his brother, James Morehead. Harrison, the whig
presidential nominee, was also charged with signing a law,
when governor of Indiana Territory, which made possible the
sale of white men to negro masters. In retaliation the whigs
dug up anti-slavery memorials submitted to Congress by
Saunders in 1824 on behalf of his Quaker constituents, and
pointed out that the Indiana law explicitly prohibited an In-
dian, negro or mulatto from purchasing a servant except one
of his own color, and that Van Buren had refused to reopen
the case of a naval officer convicted by negro testimony.
Notable also was the habit of the gubernatorial candidates to
pitch their language to the standard of the country-side.
Tradition relates that Saunders once challenged Morehead
thus: "Whar, sir, does the gentleman git his authority for
that thar statement? I ask him whar?" Morehead replied
by lifting up two books and saying : "In them thar dokiments,
sir. That's whar." The appeal to prejudice reached its
climax when Charles Manly, in debate with Saunders, made
three vital charges against Van Buren, — riding in a splendid
carriage, sending to the post office for his mail instead of
walking for it, and wearing silk stockings. 8 Local conditions
favored the whigs, for in the spring of 1840 the Wilmington
and Weldon Railroad was completed and in June the Raleigh
8 Hamilton, Party Politics in North Carolina, 1835-1860 (James
Sprunt Hist. Publication), pp. 61-63.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 269
and Gaston ; both of these, constructed with state aid, seemed
to vindicate whig policies, and meetings in celebration of their
construction were held in Raleigh and Wilmington, in which
whig influences predominated. Perhaps realizing that the
tide was turning in favor of the whigs, Brown and Strange
on June 30th sent their resignations to Governor Dudley, so
injecting the issue of instruction into the campaign. The
state elections, which came in August, gave a large whig vic-
JOHN M. MOKEHEAD
tory, Morehead carrying forty-one of the sixty-six counties
with a majority of more than 8,000, and in November Har-
rison and Tyler carried the state by a majority of 13,141.
The whigs proceeded to consolidate their power. Parti-
san use of the state patronage, begun in 1836, was continued.
Two democratic solicitors were replaced by whigs, a whig
attorney general, Hugh McQuean, was elected, and also two
circuit judges; — thus the entire judicial machinery of the
state was whig. The unexpired terms of Strange and Brown
were filled by Mangum and William A. Graham, the former
being also elected to serve a full term. Nor were the national
270 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
councillors of the party unmindful of the redemption of the
state from Jackson- Van Buren influence. George E. Badger
was appointed Secretary of the Navy and when Mr. Southard
of New Jersey resigned from the Senate in 1842, Manguni was
chosen president pro tern of that body in his stead. Graham
also was elected chairman of the Senate Committee on Claims,
a distinct honor for a first term and for a man of thirty-eight
years. When Mangum became presiding officer of the Senate,
Graham also took his place on the finance committee. In
1841 the whigs carried eight of the thirteen congressional dis-
tricts.
However there were clouds in the political sky. The east-
ern whigs were disgruntled because the two senators should be
from the west, in fact from the same county, Orange. Far
and wide there was discontent over the election of Graham,
one of the younger party leaders, as yet comparatively un-
known. Mangum also had been on both sides of nearly every
national issue. The fact is, there were two well defined wings
of the party; the federal whigs, allies of Henry Clay, led by
Gaston, Badger, Lewis Williams and Graham — and republi-
can whigs, led by Mangum, William B. Shepard, John Owen
and Governor Dudley, who were openly opportunists regard-
ing Clay's American System. In the senatorial election the
issue of the national bank was a cause of division. The leg-
islature, however, adopted a resolution declaring that a na-
tional bank was constitutional and favoring the organization
of such an institution. But whig security was short lived.
In Congress Clay's program met the determined opposition
of Tyler. Two bills chartering the Fiscal Bank of the United
States, which received the undivided support of the whig
delegation from North Carolina, were vetoed in the summer of
1841. Thereupon Badger, like all the cabinet officers except
Webster, resigned on the ground that the President had placed
him in a false position by approving the second bill and so
leading him to solicit influence for it. 9 Tyler's action was
taken up in a whig caucus in which resolutions censuring his
course, introduced by Mangum, were adopted.
'■> Raleigh Star, Sept. 29, 1841.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 271
In the matter of national revenue there was also a party
division. The compromise tariff of 1833, which provided for
an automatic reduction of duties, had by 1841 reduced revenue
below expenditures. Hence a loan was authorized, the be-
ginning of the modern bonded debt of the United States, and
also a distribution law, providing that the proceeds of land
sales should not be distributed whenever the needs of the
treasury required an increase of the tariff above twenty per-
cent. The tariff met with the approval of Mangum and
Graham and of five of the whig congressmen. However, when
a permanent tariff was enacted in 1842 the vote of the North
Carolina senators and congressmen was reversed, not so much
from a change in principle but because Tyler forced the ex-
clusion of distribution from the tariff act. In fact Graham
certainly would, and Mangum might have, voted for the
measure if their votes had been necessary for its passage.
Behind the policy of the whigs was a new sentiment favorable
to protection, due to a nascent industrialism in the state and
also a feeling that foreign cotton might invade the American
market. Governor Morehead in his address to the legislature
of 1842 voiced the protectionist sentiment as follows :
All agree that duties may be imposed to raise Revenue, but some
contend that they can be imposed for no other object. If this latter
doctrine be true, then are we shorn of some of the most important
prerogatives of a sovereign people — then may we be subjected to the
most abject commercial slavery. If it be admitted that Europe can
pour into our country the excessi'/e productions of her pauper labor,
whenever she chooses, and can exclude our productions from her
markets, or tax them so high as to be ruinous to us, and that we
have no power to protect ourselves against the influx of the one, or, to
counteract the oppressive exclusions, or, heavy exactions of the other
— then, indeed, we are in a helpless condition.
That the General Government has power to impose duties for the
protection of American industry, against European industry, and to
counteract foreign legislation hostile to our interests, I think cannot
admit of a doubt. When the states became independent, they had
the power unquestionably. All their powers to impose duties they
transferred to the General Government by the adoption of the Con-
stitution. Then they ceased to have the power and if the General
Government has it not, then the power is extinct. Is there an Ameri-
can willing to admit this?
272 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
While these matters engaged Congress, the state elections
of 1842 occurred. Local as well as national issues were in-
volved. The trustees of the Literary Fund had gone to the aid
of the Raleigh and Gaston Railway when the road was unable
to pay interest on its bonds, and this action it was believed
was really in the interest of the banks, which held the bonds.
The proscriptive policy of Morehead 's administration was
held up in contrast to the liberal attitude toward democrats
by Dudley. The democratic state convention, which held one
session in Raleigh in January, 1842, and another in Salisbury
on May 20, condemned the recent measures of Congress,
charged gross extravagance, notably the funeral expenses for
President Harrison, denounced the state banks for not re-
suming specie payments and for declaring dividends when
suspension was in force,, and nominated Louis D. Henry of
Cumberland County for governor. The whig convention,
which met in April, renominated Morehead for governor, re-
pudiated Tyler, and declared Henry Clay the choice of the
party for the presidential nomination in 1844. The campaign
was somewhat similar to that of 1840, lacking, however, the
stress of the presidential issue and the intensive organization
of the whigs so evident in that campaign. Henry and More-
head began a series of joint debates which made a great im-
pression, for both were skilled in the kind of oratory and the
type of argument which appealed to the masses. Notable was
their opening debate in Cumberland County. The policy of
the state banks being one of the subjects under discussion,
Mr. Henry charged Governor Morehead with being largely
interested in the banks and being heavily indebted to them.
These points he drove home with bitter invective, denuncia-
tion, and eloquence. When Morehead rose to reply, his friends
thought that all was lost, for the Governor "reviewed the
history of the banks ; spoke, at length, of the independence of
one who was so fortunate as to be largely interested in them ;
depicted the horrible and woeful condition of one so vastly
indebted to them as he was represented to be by his competi-
tors ; as he advanced and culminated in drawing this dreadful
picture, his friends, believing that his condition, were more
deeply depressed and looked like they desired to slink away to
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 273
hiding- places — but when he reached the climax of his friends '
despair and his enemies' joy, seeming to rise higher than was
his wont, pausing — it was an awful pause — and casting his
eyes around upon his whole audience, he proudly — as none
but he could — and defiantly explained: 'I have not a single
dollar's interest in the Banks — I owe them not one copper
cent!' What a change in the crowd! His friends looked as
joyously as a mother to whom a babe has been restored un-
harmed. * * He then carried everything before him.
Henry and his friends never rallied, nor did he over that dis-
cussion during the campaign." 10
On account of poor health Henry dropped out of the cam-
paign in May but the North Carolina Standard filled its col-
umns with pertinent arguments in a style more virile than had
been known. Morehead was re-elected, but the democrats car-
ried the legislature.
Factionalism at once appeared among the ranks of the dem-
ocrats. The cause was the choice of a senator to succeed the
unexpired term which Graham had filled since 1841. Bedford
Brown, desiring vindication on account of his resignation in
1840, was the stronger candidate, but Saunders desired re-
ward for his race against Morehead. The personal rivalry
was complicated by the question of national leadership. Brown
favored Van Buren for the presidential nomination in 1844
and letters in his interest were sent to the state by Jackson,
Silas Wright, and Thomas H. Benton, while Saunders
leaned toward Calhoun. A legislative caucus was held in
which Brown led on four ballots, but Saunders would not
admit defeat. The rivalry was then carried into the formal
election. The whigs, by voting for Graham, caused a dead-
lock, but finally on the ninth ballot the names of Brown and
Saunders were withdrawn and William H. Haywood, a dem-
ocrat whose course was always marked by a degree of inde-
pendence, was elected. To humble Mangum a series of resolu-
tions were adopted which asserted the right of instructing sen-
ators and the duty of senators to be guided thereby, denounced
the tariff of 1842 as "unwise in policy, dangerous to public
10 W. L. Scott, In Memoriam, Hon. John M. Morehead, p. 54.
Vol. 11—18
274 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
liberty, and a perversion of that constitutional government
which was framed and adopted for the protection and security
of all," demanded the repeal of the new federal bankruptcy
law, and also the refunding of a fine imposed on Andrew
Jackson by Judge Hall during the war of 1812. J1 The census
of 1840 having made a new apportionment necessary, new con-
gressional and electoral districts were erected. Concerning
these the whigs charged a gerrymander. In the congressional
election of 1843 the democrats carried five of the nine districts.
For economic and social progress, the legislature did noth-
ing, although Governor Morehead made a number of recom-
mendations. Instead it indulged very freely in criticism of
whig policies. The committee on internal improvements con-
demned state aid as it existed, but the trustees of the Literary
Fund were allowed to invest $50,000 in redeeming the bonds of
the Wilmington and Ealeigh Eailroad. An investigation of
the loans made by the Literary Fund disclosed the fact that of
$108,955 loaned, $97,469 were in the hands of forty-seven whig
borrowers, the total number of borrowers being fifty-five.
The banks came in for vigorous criticism. In May, 1837, they
had been forced to a suspension of specie payments by similar
action of institutions in other states. They resumed pay-
ment in August, 1838, but again suspended specie payment
in October, 1839, and finally resumed payment in 1842. Dur-
ing this period of suspension loans were contracted and
exchange was at a premium. In the legislature of 1840 Hoke,
a democrat, started an investigation and a bill prohibiting
banks to collect debts when specie was refused was barely de-
feated. However, after resumption the banks contracted their
note issues, so continuing the resentment of the debtor class.
Moreover, among the twenty-one directors of the Bank of the
State and the Bank of the Cape Fear, in which the state held
stock, only one was a democrat. What an excellent chance for a
partisan attack ! Hence one of the democratic slogans on the
hustings in the summer of 1842 was, "Down with the banks,
up with the people." Naturally the democratic legislature was
flooded with a series of bank bills. The trend of these was to
11 Laws of North Carolina, 1842-3, p. 113.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 275
threaten any future suspension with a forfeiture of charter,
fine, or tax on bank notes, to limit exchange rates, and to
prohibit any bank from accepting in payment of debts any notes
except its own. Most important was a relief bill authorizing
the issue of $1,000,000 in treasury notes, to be loaned to the
people on land mortgages at six percent. These measures were
generally opposed by the whig members, who pointed out the
unconstitutionality of treasury notes and the possible violation
of the bank charters. Most decisive was the threat of the Bank
of the State to go into liquidation in case the relief bill was
adopted. 12 In the end wiser counsels prevailed and no action
was taken. The discussion however showed definitely that the
whig party was lined up with the established financial system
and that the democrats pandered to the proletariat.
On the whole the legislature accomplished nothing for the
improvement of the state save the incorporation of ten acad-
emies and two manufacturing companies. However the demo-
crats carried the congressional elections of 1843, electing five
of the nine congressmen. A celebrated incident of the cam-
paign was the visit of Stanly, whig, to Nash County, a demo-
cratic stronghold. He had been informed that he would not be
allowed to speak. When he arose to address his audience he
said, "I realize that I am facing the unterrified democracy of
Nash County, but I want you to know and to bear witness that
I face you unterrified." Here is the origin of the political
phrase, " unterrified democracy." A great democratic gain
occurred in 1843 when William W. Holden assumed the editor-
ship of the North Carolina Standard. Born in poverty, he
became a printer's devil in the office of Dennis Heartt at Hills-
boro. Later he removed to Raleigh and was employed in the
office of the Star, a whig paper. Through the influence of
James B. Shepard he now took charge of the Standard and
as editor manifested a power of satire and ridicule, and made
such an appeal to the masses that he won the bitter hatred of
his former party associates. His defection was denounced as
the action of a " little renegade deserter, who is so late from
the ranks of Whiggery, that the very Turpentine of their Log
12 Address of Whig Members, Raleigh Register, May 16, 19, 1843.
276
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Cabins which he got on him when creeping like an Old Coon
through the logs of which they were built, is still sticking to
his fur." 13
The campaign of 1844, a year for presidential as well as
state elections, now became the center of interest. In their
state convention, which met in December 1843, the whigs again
William W. Holden
committed themselves to Clay for the presidential nomination,
declared that a national bank should be established, endorsed
distribution, and favored a tariff which in addition to raising
revenue would counteract the restrictions imposed on the
trade of the United States by foreign nations and "incident-
ally afford just protection to American industry. ' ' William A.
13 Raleigh Register, July 4, 1843.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 277
Graham was nominated for governor. The democratic con-
vention met a week later. Again the western counties were
slightly represented, only nine sending delegates. The plat-
form condemned a national bank, approved state banks on
specie capital regulated by the legislature, endorsed a tariff
for revenue only and also the veto power of the president, and
favored the return of Jackson's fine. Michael Hoke, like
Graham a native of Lincoln County, was nominated for gov-
ernor.
The most notable event of the campaign was Henry Clay's
visit to the state in April, 1844. Arriving at Wilmington on
April 11, his tour partook of a nonpartisan gala occasion,
Clay himself asserting, "I come not as a political gladiator,
but as an American citizen. I take the hand of one party as
cordially as I do another, for we all are American citizens.
I place country far above all parties. ' ' The feature of his visit
was his entertainment at Raleigh, which lasted a week. The
city was thronged with visitors as never before, among: the
prominent guests being William G. Brownlow of Tennessee
and B. W. Leigh of Virginia. Though the occasion was avow-
edly nonpartisan, Clay's address at Raleigh was an exposition
of whig principles, a plea for tariff for revenue with incidental
protection, sound money through a bank of the United States,
and distribution. Toward the end of his visit he penned his
famous letter of April 17 against the immediate annexation
of Texas, declaring such action without the consent of Mexico
would be a measure "compromising the character of the
nation, involving us certainly in a war with Mexico and prob-
ably with foreign powers, dangerous to the integrity of the
Union, inexpedient in the present financial condition of the
country and not called for by any general expression of public
opinion." The effect of the letter on Clay's political fortunes
is well known. Evidently his policy was influenced by senti-
ment in North Carolina ; neither political party had made any
official pronouncement on the Texas question but Badger,
Stanly and Morehead concurred in the view taken in the
letter. 14 However the North Carolina Standard under Hol-
14 Clay to Crittenden, April 17, 1844 (Crittenden MSS.).
278 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
den's editorship, a week before Clay's visit, had come out for
annexation, so foreshadowing the action of the national demo-
cratic convention. 15
In the whig national convention the North Carolina dele-
gates naturally supported Clay, who was nominated. But the
democrats were at sea. A majority of the North Carolina del-
egation was opposed to Van Buren, and Eomulus M. Saun-
ders moved the adoption of the two-thirds rule which assured
the rejection of Van Buren. The preference of Holden and
"William A. Graham
Saunders was for Calhoun, but they were in a hopeless minor-
ity. The official ballots showed the delegation divided, prin-
cipally between Cass and Johnston, until the eleventh ballot,
when the entire delegation went for Polk.
The contest for state officers centered around the debates
between Graham and Hoke; the former was "more learned,
more experienced, calmer, more dignified and more impres-
sive," the latter "more nimble, quicker, brighter, and more
entertaining." 16 Hoke defended and Graham opposed, the
annexation of Texas. The democrats sought to arouse the
15 April 3, 1844.
16 Nash, Wm. A Graham, p. 541 (Bulletin 7, N. C. Hist. Comm.).
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 279
interest of the common man in the question by pointing out the
opportunity for the renter to buy property upon the removal
of the slave holders to the southwest. On the other hand the
whig central committee issued a confidential circular urging
a full vote since a "powerful and united effort is being made
to carry this state for Texas and Disunion." 17 Journalistic
activity was also a feature of the campaign. In June Loring,
editor of the Star, deserted the democrats and established a
campaign sheet, The Independent, in the interest of Clay. The
editorials of the Standard displayed a sting of sarcasm and
ridicule. An example was the following :
" 'Gaps in chickens may be easily cured by giving them
small crumbs of bread impregnated with a little soft soap;
once or twice is sufficient.' — Raleigh Star.
"And gaps in coons may be easily cured by giving them
small doses of Polk juice in little soft pieces of Clay. This
physic will cure them by killing them out-right; once will do."
But the climax was reached when the following burlesque
on the leading whigs appeared, the most piquant attack of the
campaign :
"For Salt River. The substantial packet schooner 'Scav-
enger' will sail by order of the people of the United States
for the head waters of Salt River during the month of Novem-
ber. She carries out as a passenger the Honorable Henry
Clay who, after having sought office at the hands of the said
people for more than twenty years, has at length received the
appointment of Collector of Customs at the head waters of said
river, at which point it is expected he will prove in his official
capacity, that high tariffs make cheap goods. He will carry
out a strong corps of surveyors, tide waiters, bum bailiffs, etc. ;
and as the country is new and unsettled, it is thought that
these officers will find constant employment. The following
appointments have already been made : Surveyors, Millard
Fillmore, of New York, and General Markle, of Pennsylvania ;
Berrien, of Georgia, and Morehead, of North Carolina. Tide
waiters, Stanly, Cherry, and Palmer of North Carolina, and
Pleasants, of Virginia. Bumb Boat Women, Messrs. Mangum
17 Standard, July 15, 1846.
280 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
and Badger, of North Carolina.. These last appointments
are considered peculiarly appropriate. Mr. Mangum, it is
thought, will sing three times a day a song of thankfulness
for having been delivered from Mr. Edwards, of Virginia,
while Mr. B. will serve as a beacon by standing at the mouth of
Old Salt every night with a mammoth cigar in his mouth. The
collector, it is presumed, will permit him to while away the
long hours by untiring threats of 'Revolution' to intimidate
the bats and owls. " 18
Stung by such reflections, the Fayetteville Observer issued
a number of denunciations of the Standard' s policies. The re-
sults of the election were a whig victory, Graham defeating
Hoke by 3,151 and Clay winning over Polk by 3,390, the latter
vote being remarkable as Kentucky and Tennessee were the
only other Southern states giving Clay a majority. The dem-
ocrats however were elated over the victory of Polk, seeing
in it a triumph of policies temporarily rejected by the state.
But the new administration did not have smooth sailing. Not
only were the whigs bitter in their opposition but disaffection
appeared among the democratic leaders.
First of all the foreign policy provoked criticism. The
election being taken as the nation 's approval of the annexation
of Texas, the matter was taken up in the Senate in the last
months of Tyler's administration. Involved with it was the
perplexing problem of slavery extension. For this Senator
Haywood offered a solution in a bill annexing Texas, with the
consent of the Republic of Texas, as a territory, and setting
aside its land north of latitude 34° as a part of the Territory
of Nebraska, in which slavery would be prohibited. 19 The bill
making no progress, the author threw his support to the
Benton bills, one of which embodied the joint resolution by
which Texas finally became a part of the Union. To- the last
the North Carolina whigs were opposed to annexation. In the
legislature of 1844 they introduced in the House of Commons
a resolution approving annexation if it could be accomplished
without compromising the rights, interests, and honor of the
Union, but it was defeated. Senator Mangum and the entire
™ Standard, Oct. 30, 1844.
19 Cong. Globe, 28 Cong., 2d Sess., Appendix, p. 154.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 281
whig delegation in Congress from the state voted against the
resolution of annexation.
More delicate was the Oregon question. The democratic
platform having demanded reoccupation, Polk asked Congress
to terminate joint occupation with England, after an offer of
the line of 49 c as a boundary between the two nations had
been rejected. At once the expansionists replied with the
slogan, "54° 40' or fight," The President, however, with his
eye on Mexico was not unwilling to compromise, and let
the facts be known. The first inkling to the public that such
a policy would satisfy the administration was a speech by
Senator Haywood on March 4 and 5, 1846. In it he declared
that the honor of the nation was committed to compromise
before Polk's election, that reoccupation could only mean the
territory south of 49°, for north of it there were no American
settlers, and that his own state was opposed to radical ex-
pansion and he must follow its wishes rather than the demo-
cratic convention of 1844, which had no right to bind the party.
At these views the Northern democrats were incensed. Han-
negan of Indiana remarked that if Senator Haywood correctly
represented Polk, then "James K. Polk has spoken words of
falsehood and with the tongue of a serpent." Senator Allen
charged that Haywood, having attained the confidence of the
administration, was attempting to drive him from the chair-
manship of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Polk, on
being questioned, evaded all responsibility by denying that
Haywood was authorized to speak for him. But the speech
was evidently inspired, since the line 49° was finally adopted
as a compromise.
The democratic financial policy included the sub-treasury
and the reduction of the tariff. The former was provided for
in August, 1846, without disagreement among the North Caro-
lina democrats. The readjustment of the tariff however
proved more difficult. In 1843 a bill to reduce rates had been
submitted by Mr. McKay, chairman of the Ways and Means
Committee and congressman from the Fifth North Carolina
District, but it was rejected. Then in 1846 came the Walker
Tariff. With difficulty it passed the House, among the op-
ponents being the three whig congressmen from the state,
282 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Barringer, Dockery, and James Graham. In the Senate the
outlook was less promising on account of the opposition of
two democrats, Jarnegan of Tennessee, and Haywood. "When
Polk appealed to the latter for support of the bill his reply
was, "I would rather die than to vote for it." 20 Finally
Senator Haywood, realizing that his convictions and those of
Senator William H. Haywood
his party were in conflict, resigned on July 25, and the Senate
passed the bill by a majority of one a few days later. In
"An Address to the People of North Carolina" he gave five
reasons for his opposition, viz. : that the bill was different from
the bill of 1843 which had helped win the democratic victory
of 1844, that it would result in a deficit on account of the Mex-
ican War, that it did not give industries time to readjust from
20 Polk, Diary, July 23, 1846.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 283
existing to new schedules, that the whole financial program
of the party should go into force gradually, and that the pre-
vailing conception of a tariff in North Carolina was that of
revenue with incidental protection, to which the Walker Bill
did not conform. 21 Therefore for the sake of party harmony
and because he did not endorse the interpretation of tariff
policy in the legislative instructions of 1842, he resigned. His
action was praised by the whigs and condemned by the demo-
crats. The Standard declared Senator Haywood to be "an
apostate deserter who never will be able in the course of the
longest life to expiate one hundred part of the political trans-
gression which he has this day committed." 22
So far the democratic disaffection was limited to Senator
Hayw^ood ; but in the matter of the public lands a real breach
was threatened. The policy of distribution was of distinct
interest to North Carolina, for thereby funds might be secured
for local internal improvements. But to this policy the
national democracy was opposed, standing, in contrast, for
lower prices and more liberal terms to the purchasers of pub-
lic lands. Hence the graduation bill of 1846 was received with
apathy by five North Carolina democrats, H. S. Clark, Reid,
Daniel, Dobbin, and Biggs. Through the personal influence of
the administration the first four voted for the measure on its
last reading, but Biggs was absent; all had been among the
nays on the previous votes. 23
Such was the federal background for state politics in 1846,
a year of state elections. The party conventions met early in
January. The whigs adopted resolutions in favor of a tariff
for revenue with incidental protection and distribution of the
proceeds of public land sales, condemned the sub-treasury, and
recommended Governor Graham for re-election. The demo-
crats endorsed the national administration and nominated.
Green W. Caldwell of Mecklenburg for governor. Their con-
vention also marked a step in party organization, for the first
time voting being by counties rather than individuals, and a
democratic state committee replacing the previous central
21 Raleigli Register, Aug. 25, 1846.
22 July 29, 1846.
23 Raleigli Register, July 21, 1846.
284 HISTORY. OF NORTH CAROLINA
committee. In the campaign the democrats were handicapped
by a division within their ranks. Caldwell declined the nom-
ination. An aspirant for his place was Walter F. Leake of
Richmond County, who was approved by democratic meetings
in Anson, Union, Montgomery, Mecklenburg, Lincoln, and
Catawba counties. But the democratic state committee as-
serted itself by nominating James B. Shepard of Raleigh.
Mr. Leake however remained in the race until May, when
the state committee, after examining the claims submitted
by both candidates, decided in favor of Shepard. A feature
of the campaign was the democratic attack on the whig policy
toward internal improvements, notably the price paid by the
state at the foreclosure of the Raleigh and Gaston mortgage.
During the summer occurred the defection of Haywood and
the threatened breach over distribution. It was not surprising
therefore that the election, which occurred in August, dis-
closed another whig triumph, Graham being re-elected by a
majority of 7,859. Commenting on the result the Standard
said: "Federalism with its lawyers and banks and corpora-
tions and merchants to sustain it,- has won the day and now
we suppose the Whigs will have Railroads, Turn-pikes, and
state indebtedness and high taxes to the heart's content. So
be it." 24 The legislature of 1846 repealed the congressional
district law of 1842 and created new districts, to which action
the democrats applied the term "raynermander," from Ken-
neth Rayner who introduced the bill. The result was a whig
victory in the congressional elections of 1847, the party car-
rying six of the nine districts. In 1846, also, Mangum was re-
elected United States Senator and Badger, another whig, re-
placed Haywood.
It was during the state campaign of 1846 that the Mexican
war opened. At once the question of its origin and also its
conduct became matters of party controversy. The whigs
were loud in their criticism. The legislative candidates of the
party in Johnston County issued a circular denouncing the
war and demanding peace. Governor Graham in his message
of November 17, 1846, criticized the executive policy which
24 Aug. 19, 1846.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 285
resulted in the war and said: ''It still remains a momentous
question, under our institutions, whether Congress can be
superseded in the power to make war and the authority given
to the executive only to effectuate the will of the legislature,
can be used to determine and settle the policy of the country
in matters of boundary or any other." In the legislature
the whigs prefixed to a resolution appropriating money for
volunteers a preamble declaring that the war was caused by
executive action. It was carried in the Senate by a majority
of one but was rejected in the Commons by a majority of
three. Early in 1847 a series of public meetings was held de-
nouncing the war and demanding peace. The Raleigh Register
urged the election of whig congressmen as a means of hasten-
ing an end of the conflict. 25 A similar attitude was taken by
leading whig representatives at Washington. Senator Man-
gum in 1846 was among those who doubted that a state of
war existed by action of the Mexican government and there-
fore objected to the military appropriation bill. In 1848 four
of the North Carolina congressmen, Barringer, Clingman,
Donnell, and Shepperd, voted for the Ashmun amendment
to the Hudson peace resolution, which declared the war unnec-
essarily and unconstitutionally begun by the President.
Senator Badger voted against confirmation of the treaty of
peace because it added territory to the United States and
thereby gave new life to the slavery issue.
With such a political background it is not surprising that
partizanship and discontent characterized the state's rela-
tion to the military conduct of the war. In May, 1846, Presi-
dent Polk called on Governor Graham to raise a regiment of
volunteers, consisting of ten companies and field officers, ap-
proximately 1,000 men. More than three times the number
asked for responded, most of whom were from the region west
of Raleigh. The ten companies chosen were drawn by lot ; the
company officers were chosen by the volunteers and the field
officers were appointed by the governor. This policy was
somewhat at variance with the tradition of the state militia,
in which the field officers were chosen by the commissioned
25 Register, July 30, 1847.
286 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
officers. Democratic criticism was afforded an outlet when
Governor Graham announced as field officers Robert Payne
of Edenton (Colonel), John A. Fagg (Lieutenant Colonel),
both anti-war whigs, and Stokes of Surry, a democrat and a
West Pointer (Major). If the election had been left to the
company commanders their choice for Colonel would undoubt-
edly have been Louis D. Wilson of Edgcombe. But he was a
democrat of political ability and ambition. However he finally
received an appointment in the army of the United States and
died of yellow fever in Mexico. In December the regiment
was formally called into federal service. The terms were
that each soldier and officer should furnish his own clothing,
for which an allowance of $3.50 per month was given with an
advance for six months, and that mileage should be computed
at 50 cents for each twenty miles to Wilmington and Charlotte,
the places of mustering. All the companies except one from
Rowan refused these terms. A new organization was neces-
sary, secured by an appeal of the governor to the militia offi-
cers of the counties. In addition two companies were organ-
ized for the regular army of the United States, which were
attached to the Twelfth Infantry. The legislature rallied to
the cause by appropriating $10,000 for equipment and author-
izing the governor to spend $10,000 additional at his discre-
tion. Yet discontent did not vanish. The mustering officers
being tardy in reaching the state, a number of desertions oc-
curred. At length in March, 1847, the companies left for
their destination in Mexico. There the regiment of volunteers
added nothing to the fair name of the state. Colonel Payne
proved to be vain and incompetent. A crisis was reached
in September, 1847. A wooden horse which he used in met-
ing out discipline was raided and broken to pieces by Virginia
troops. When they made a second raid to destroy the debris,
Colonel Payne fired, killing one and wounding others. There-
upon all the officers in his regiment requested his resigna-
tion. The matter being referred to General Wool, that officer
dismissed Lieutenants Pender and Singletary. A number of
officers again submitted their resignations, but General Wool
pacified them and the two dismissed lieutenants on appeal
to the War Department were reinstated. Although the state
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 287
troops had no part in any of the leading battles of the war, a
number of North Carolinians in the regular army gained dis-
tinction and experience which prepared them for their part in
the larger War of Secession, notably Braxton Bragg, James
G. Martin, and Joseph Lane.
CHAPTER XV
DECLINE OF THE WHIG PARTY, 1848-1852
Manhood Suffrage and Slavery Extension
In 1848 the whig party in North Carolina seemed impreg-
nably entrenched. Its leaders had brought about the construc-
tion of railways with state aid, had inaugurated a public
school system, and had initiated a policy of professional care
for physical defectives — measures which truly mark a new
epoch in the social history of the state. Moreover the whigs
had redeemed North Carolina from the sway of the Jack-
sonian democracy, carrying the presidential elections of 1840
and 1844, and also securing a majority of the congressmen
in 1835, 1837, 1841, 1847, and 1849. But the supremacy of
the party was near its end. Beneficial as was its legislative
program, its spirit and many of its policies were at variance
with the genius of the plain people. It found staunch allies
among the banking interests and the manufacturers. Its use of
the patronage was notorious. Its attitude toward American
expansion and the Mexican War was extremely partisan, bor-
dering on disloyalty. Finally ^ two issues arose concerning
which its leaders were confused and its policy was uncertain,
resulting in inglorious defeat at the hands of the democrats.
The first of these was the question of senatorial suffrage.
The Constitution of 1776 restricted the franchise in senatorial
elections to fifty-acre freeholders. This was at variance with
the Bill of Rights, which declared that all power was vested
in the people. Yet the restriction for many years worked
no hardship and aroused no criticism, because land was cheap
and could be obtained, especially in the more western coun-
ties, by payment of an entry fee. But at length the choice
lands were taken up, and with the advance in the tax rates
288
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 289
on land, property in land became a more obvious sign of
wealth. Moreover capital came to be invested in other forms
of property; especially after 1830 did factories and small
shops multiply, each having its landless workers or owners.
The same fact also held true of the professional class. Thus
there was an increasing number of citizens without property
in land who were deprived of the senatorial suffrage. Here
was the possibility of a new issue. It was broached in 1842
when a mass meeting in Kinston protested against the free-
hold requirements and Green W. Caldwell raised the question
in the succeeding legislature, but without results.
Thus the matter rested until the campaign of 1848. The
democrats nominated for governor David S. Reid, of Rock-
ingham County, a young man thirty-four years old, who had
seen two terms in Congress and several years in the legisla-
ture. The platform was of the perfunctory type, endorsing
the Polk administration and condemning certain state pol-
icies of the whigs and also their attitude toward the Mexican
War. When Mr. Reid, who was not a member of the dem-
ocratic state convention, heard of his nomination, he de-
clined to accept. Holden, editor of the Standard, a member
of the democratic state executive committee, was on the
point of publishing the letter of declination, but was per-
suaded by one Julian Wheedon to delay for a week. Holden
then consulted other democrats in Raleigh and it was decided
to send a special message to Mr. Reid, urging him not to
decline but to come to Raleigh immediately and open the cam-
paign. The proposed consultation was eventually held, those
present being Holden, Reid, James B. Shepard, Perrin
Busbee, and a few other democratic leaders. To them Mr.
Reid presented the question of manhood suffrage in senator-
ial elections.
"Gentlemen," he said, "this nomination was not sought by
me, and it has been my purpose for a long time if I should be a
candidate for a state office before the public, to broach one
issue, which I deem very important. What I mean is that
the state constitution shall be so amended by the mode pre-
scribed by that instrument itself, that all voters of the House
of Commons shall be allowed to vote for senators. I mean, of
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 291
course, no disrespect to the convention that nominated me, but
I wish to discuss the question before the people. I want your
opinion."
According to tradition, those present were divided ; Shep-
ard, for instance, is said to have advised against raising the
issue, and Holden to have favored it. Mr. Reid, after con-
sulting other politicians in Goldsboro and Newbern, found
his conviction strengthened and he presented the issue in a
joint debate with Manly, the whig candidate, at Beaufort,
on May 10. Manly, taken unaware, asked a day to consider,
and at Newbern his reply was against widening the suffrage.
The ground of his opposition was the necessity of protect-
ing property interests, also that the proposed reform would
destroy the symmetry of the constitution, which made prop-
erty the basis of representation in the Senate and population
in the House of Commons. But the issue took like wildfire.
Although Manly was elected, his majority was only 864. In
the legislature of 1848, which was equally divided between
both parties, Mr. Sheek of Surry County, a democrat and a
member of the House of Commons, introduced a resolution
for a constitutional amendment removing property restriction
in senatorial elections. It received the necessary three-fifths
majority, but failed to secure the required number of votes in
the Senate. The immediate result of the issue was its
liberalizing influence on the democrats. Having found a
plausible and winning issue, they changed front on the matter
of internal improvements and other reforms ; their prominent
leaders gave support to the North Carolina railroad bill, the
insane asylum bill, and other progressive measures of the
session. 1
The question of suffrage reform was naturally carried
into the campaign of 1850. The democrats again nominated
Reid on a platform demanding manhood suffrage and also the
election of judges by the people. The whigs likewise renom-
inated Manly, but straddled the question of suffrage reform,
declaring that a vote of the people should be taken on the
proposed change before action by the legislature. During
1 Carr, The Manhood Suffrage Movement (Papers Trinity College
Hist. Soc., XI).
292 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
the campaign Manly, realizing that the tide was turning toward
the democrats, came out in favor of a constitutional conven-
tion, which should have the power not only to change the suf-
frage, but also to alter the basis of representation in the
House of Commons from federal to white population. This
proposition found favor among the whigs of the western
counties, where there were few slaves ; but in the east, where
the slave system was extensively developed, it met bitter
opposition. Thus the whigs were divided among themselves.
The result was the election of Reid by a majority of 2,733, a
victory which marked a revolution in party politics, for
never again were the whigs of North Carolina able to elect a
governor.
The issue now took a singular and unexpected turn. Man-
ly 's suggestion of a change in the basis of representation in
the House of Commons caused the whig leaders in the more
western counties to demand in addition a change in the basis
of representation in the Senate from property to white pop-
ulation. Thus was revived the old sectional issue between
the east and the west which had been compromised in 1835,
because the east, on account of its greater property values,
now held a majority in the Senate. By way of illustration it
was shown that of the fifty senators, seventeen from the west
had a constitutency which was a majority of the white pop-
ulation of the state ; yet the census returns of 1850 indicated
a further reduction of western representation on account of
the increasing property values in the east. To be more
specific, three senatorial districts in the west, including
Buncombe, Henderson, Yancey, Guilford, Surry, Watauga
and Ashe counties, had five times the white population
and paid double the taxes of three senatorial districts in
the east, which consisted of the three counties of Martin,
Hertford, and Onslow. Moreover, the issue of equitable rep-
resentation involved the larger question of the privilege of
slavery. "The Senate," it was pointed out, "represents
property and not persons — money, not men — matter, not
mind. But its odiousness does not stop here.
All white males between the ages of 21 and 45 are sub-
ject to a poll tax ; and all slaves, male and female, between
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 293
the ages of 12 and 50, are subject to the like tax. So that
three-fifths of the negroes are represented in the House of
Commons, and all the negroes between the ages above des-
ignated are represented in the Senate, but your wives and
children have no political rights. Peddlars, billiard tables,
bowling alleys, circus riders, playing cards, retailers of spirit-
uous liquors, brokers, merchants, watches and carriages, are
all taxed. They have their senators in the state legislature.
But your wives and your daughters ; your old men who have
served their country, your young men who are rising up to
be its hope and its strength ; and your poor men upon whom
misfortune has hit its heavy hand ; have no one there to plead
their cause and protect their rights.. Is this Liberty? Is
this Freedom? Is this Republican Equality?" 2
The remedy, according to the western whigs, was a con-
stitutional convention which would make a change in the
unjust representation and also consider such other questions
as the popular election of judges, justices of the peace, and all
executive officers. To such a program the eastern whigs
were bitterly opposed, since it meant a reduction of eastern
representation in the legislature and an assault on the slavoc-
racy. Thus the unity of the whig party was broken ; eastern
whigs and western whigs tended to fall apart. On the other
hand, the democratic leaders held strictly to the original issue
of manhood suffrage and its adoption through a constitutional
amendment submitted to the people by legislative initiative;
yet the proposed amendment was required to have the en-
dorsement of a three-fifths majority in the session which
originated it and a two-thirds majority in the succeeding legis-
lature. Clinging to one simple issue, the democrats avoided
the cleavage between the east and the west ; thereby the party
profited by the issue while the whigs suffered by the sectional
cleavage.
These conflicting tendencies were well reflected in the
policy of the legislature. In the House of Commons of 1850
three resolutions were introduced and referred to a com-
mittee of five on constitutional reform. One, introduced by
2 Address to the People of North Carolina, 1851.
294 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Love, a whig from the mountain county of Haywood, called
for a convention of unlimited power ; the second, by Fleming,
a democrat from Yancey, another mountain county, recom-
mended a vote of the people on the general question of re-
form ; a third called for an amendment to be submitted to the
people by the legislature. The committee, the majority of
whom were democrats, reported a bill for manhood suffrage
by an amendment to be submitted by the legislature, but a
minority report signed by Foster, of Davidson, one of the
two whig committeemen, favored the convention method. Af-
ter extensive debate the report of the majority was carried
by the required three-fifths vote, on January 14, 1851. How-
ever in the Senate, the seat of conservatism, some eastern
democrats were lukewarm, some of the western whigs were
also bitter in their criticism, and there was danger that the
bill would fail. Favorable action was at length forced by
the democratic members of the committee on constitutional
reform, who rushed through the Commons a new bill for a
convention; thus alarmed, the Senate democrats rallied to
the bill before them, and it was passed by the required ma-
jority on January 23, 1851, with an amendment, exacted by
the Commons, that no construction of it should be made per-
mitting free negroes to vote.
In the meanwhile the western whigs had become alarmed
over the matter of internal improvements; resolutions had
been introduced to repeal the charter of the North Carolina
Railroad and to repudiate the state subscription to its stock,
and also a bill had been submitted prohibiting in the future
any appropriation above $100,000 for internal improvements
without a majority vote of two consecutive sessions of the leg-
islature. Evidently there was some sentiment to wreck the
policy on which depended the economic development of the
western counties. This strengthened the agitation for a
change in the basis of representation, which would naturally
give the west a stronger influence in the legislature. Hence
the western whig members and one western democrat, Flem-
ing, of Yancey, before the legislature adjourned held a meet-
ing and issued an "Address to the People of North Carolina,"
which pointed out the injustice of the existing basis of rep-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 295
reservation and urged an unlimited convention to bring about
the desired constitutional reform. A series of popular meet-
ings in the interest of the cause was held in the more western
counties during the spring of 1851, notably in Watauga,
Buncombe, Henderson, Burke, Caldwell, McDowell, Ruther-
ford, and Cleveland. Indeed an effort was made to launch a
new party, the Republican Party of North Carolina, but it
failed because the western democrats would not cooperate and
the eastern whigs repudiated any suggestion of a change in
the basis of representation.
Thus the schism among the whigs increased while the
democrats continued to stand firm and united. In the whig
convention of 1852 an effort at compromise was made by a
resolution endorsing an amendment to the constitution, to be
made by a constitutional convention, elected on the basis of
representation in the House of Commons, provided that such
a convention should first.be approved by the people at an elec-
tion. On the other hand, the democratic platform stood
squarely for manhood suffrage by submitting the amendment
to the people provided it should receive the necessary two-
thirds vote of the next legislature. In the meantime the North
Carolina whigs, like the members of the party in the other
states of the South, had suffered since 1850 by the slavery
agitation. This, and the greater unity among the democrats,
resulted in the re-election of Reid over Kerr, the whig candi-
date, by a majority of 5,500.
In spite of the favorable outlook, the cause of manhood
suffrage was checked in the legislature of 1852. By accident
its opponents had a majority in the House Committee on Con-
stitutional Reform, but a bill favoring the amendment, re-
ported by the minority of the committee, was adopted with
the two-thirds majority required for sanction by the second
legislature. In the Senate, however, the bill failed to secure
the necessary majority. The membership was 50, the re-
quired two-thirds vote was 33 ^ ; but the count showed 33
ayes and 15 nays, the bill failing by one-third of one vote.
A direct cause of this defeat was the defection of Weldon N.
Edwards, an eastern democrat of Warren County. He re-
fused to cast his vote on the ground that he had always
296 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
opposed the measure and had been elected because of that
opposition. Thus the whole legislative process for the amend-
ment had to be repeated. An effort was made to begin at once
by securing a three-fifths vote, but it failed, and the issue
had to be considered again in the two succeeding state elec-
tions and legislatures.
In 1854 the whigs backed and filled. New propositions
for internal improvements in the west had been brought for-
ward in 1852 and the democrats, desiring to keep in power,
dared not oppose state aid. Thus much of the reason for
the west to urge a change in the basis of representation was
removed. Moreover, the whig platform of 1854 favored a
convention with full power to alter the constitution with the
exception of the basis of representation. Some of the wliio-s
of the mountain counties were still discontented, and a whig
meeting held in Asheville in April, 1854. repudiated the plank
of the platform relating to a convention. Again the demo-
crats, united on the single issue of manhood suffrage by legis-
lative initiative, were victorious, Bragg defeating Dockery
by a majority of 2,061. In the succeeding legislature the whig
opposition to manhood suffrage by amendment through leg-
islative action was led by ex-Governor Graham, who pointed
out the injustice of removing the protection given property
interests by the freehold qualification while retaining the
protection to slave property in the guarantee of equality of
the capitation tax on whites and slaves. He thus forecast
the issue of slave taxation, raised in 1858. Haughton. another
whig, injected the Know Nothing issue of Americanism by
proposing the limitation of senatorial suffrage to native or
naturalized citizens of the United States, which was accepi
The bill submitting the amendment to the people then pass
both houses by the necessary three-fifths majority. In the
campaign of 1856 the parties again divided on the issue, the
whigs favoring a convention, the democrats the amendment
through legislative initiative. Again the democrats won. In
the legislature of 1856 the whig opposition was negligible,
and the bill providing for the amendment was passed by an
overwhelming vote. In August. 1857. the amendment was re-
ferred to the people and ratified by a vote of 50.075 to 19.3^2.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 297
much of the opposition coming from the eastern slave-hold-
ing counties. The whole movement marks another step in the
development of democracy, for it extended the senatorial suf-
frage to thousands! The democratic party had found an ag-
gressive and winning issue, while the whigs had been divided
and out-generaled.
Almost contemporary with the contest for suffrage reform
came the agitation of another question which likewise con-
tributed to a division within the whig party, and also to its
decline. That was the question of the extension of slavery
into territories acquired by the Mexican War. The North-
west, disgruntled because Polk compromised with England on
the Oregon boundary, inspired the Wilmot Proviso of 1846,
an amendment to the bill appropriating two million dollars for
peace negotiations, which declared that neither slavery nor
involuntary servitude should exist in any territory acquired
from Mexico. It passed the House, but failed to reach a vote
in the Senate. At the next session, to a bill appropriating
$3,000,000 for negotiations of a more drastic treaty, an amend-
ment was added, prohibiting slavery in any territory that
might be annexed to the United States in any way whatso-
ever. The amendment failed in the Senate and the appropria-
tion, without restriction, was made. But the two measures
were full of significance ; in the discussion of them, party lines
dissolved; congressmen and senators from the slave states,
with the exception of Delaware, being a unit in opposition,
while those from the free states, with the^ exception of a.
score of democrats, favored restriction. A fundamental
constitutional question was also raised, the power of Congress
to restrict slavery in the territories. Finally, the resolutions
were an unmistakable notice that the question of slavery
would be a subject of discussion if the treaty with Mexico
resulted in the acquisition of new territory.
The whigs suffered most by the agitation, for they were
divided over the fundamental issue, the power of Congress to
restrict slaverv in territories. In North Carolina those with
federalistic inclinations, led by Badger, believed that the
power existed; while the states rights element, notably Man-
gum, asserted that the power did not exist. This division
298 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
was clearly revealed in 1848 during the discussion of the treaty
with Mexico. Through the initiative of Senator Clayton, of
Delaware, a compromise was proposed which prohibited the
territorial legislatures of New Mexico and California from
legislating on slavery until the Supreme Court of the United
States had passed on the legality of slavery in territories.
In the Senate, where the measure carried, Mangum favored
it but Badger was among the nays, the only other southern
senators in opposition being John Bell, of Tennessee, and
George E. Badger
Metcalf and Underwood of Kentucky. Badger's argument
was that if Congress could acquire territory, it could also
govern territory, even to the exclusion of slavery, which was
a state, not a federal institution; that the courts would cer-
tainly so decide, and thereby the South had everything to lose
by accepting the Clayton compromise. In its stead he sug-
gested that Congress should explicitly permit slavery in those
parts of the territory acquired which were adapted to the
cultivation of cotton and sugar. In the House the compromise
was supported by four North Carolina whigs, Barringer,
Clingman, Outlaw, and Shepperd, and three democrats,
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 299
Daniel, McKay, and Venable. It was opposed by two whigs,
Boyden and Donnell. Alarmed at the anti-expansion senti-
ment in the North, Calhoun called a meeting of southern
senators and representatives with the purpose of forming a
southern phalanx in Congress and unifying southern opinion
through an address to the southern people. In the caucus
Venable, democratic congressman from the Fifth District,
was secretary, but he and Daniel of the Sixth District were
the only North Carolinians to sign the Southern Address,
With this piece of propaganda Badger would have nothing
to do. Writing to Crittenden, of Kentucky, he said : "I have
sworn to support the constitution and will never concur in any
movement which may, very remotely, endanger its continuance
— certainly not for the privilege of carrying slaves to Cali-
fornia or keeping up private gaols of slaveholders in this
district. Would to heaven there were a little true moderation
in our councils and that Southern gentlemen were less like a
half blind horse, starting at every bush and even shadow of a
bush." 3
In the meantime the issue was injected into state pol-
itics. Although the whig press had loudly denounced the
Wilmot Proviso, the platform of the Whig State Convention
did not mention it, while the democratic platform condemned
the measure in no uncertain terms. In the national contest
of 1848 the North Carolina whigs favored Clayton for the
presidential nomination. But matters of expediency led the
state 's delegation in the national convention to give Taylor six
votes and Clayton five. Sentiment among the democrats
favored Buchanan for the presidential nomination, but after
the third ballot in their national convention, the North Caro-
lina votes went to Cass. The principal feature of the cam-
paign was the criticism of the candidates; the whigs ques-
tioned Cass' soundness on slavery expansion, the democrats
disparaged the ability of Taylor, and doubted Fillmore's atti-
tude towards abolition. A most interesting feature of the
campaign was the free soil ticket in support of Van Buren;
3 Badger to J. J. Crittenden, Jan. 13, 1849. Crittenden MSS.
300 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
it received forty-seven votes in Guilford, sixteen in Orange,
and thirteen in Chatham counties, and also the support of
William H. tiaywood, retired democratic leader. Taylor
carried the state by 8,154, whereas Manly had won the state
elections by 854. Evidently Taylor's southern birth rather
than relative party values decided the election. North Car-
olina's reward for again supporting the whig cause was the
appointment of William A. Graham as Secretary of the Navy,
an honor conferred, however, upon the reorganization of the
cabinet after the death of President Taylor. During his ad-
ministration the department undertook four notable policies :
the reorganization of the coast survey, the reorganization of
the personnel, the exploration of the Amazon, and the Perry
expedition to Japan.
The question of slavery extension was next injected into
the proceedings of the legislature of 1848, the session so not-
able for its railroad legislation, the establishment of the insane
asylum, and the introduction of the issue of manhood suffrage.
William L. Steele, a state's rights whig and a member of the
House of Commons, introduced resolutions to the effect that
the territories were the joint property of the state, that the
federal government as an agent of the states could make
no laws destructive of the equal rights of the states in the
territories, and that to deprive a citizen of the right to migrate
to territories with slaves would be unconstitutional. These
propositions were almost identical with resolutions which
Mr. Calhoun had introduced into the Senate of the United
States in 1847. The debates which followed revealed a cleav-
age of opinion regarding federal powers as marked as that
in the discussion of nullification two decades before. Edward
Stanly, an eastern whig, led the attack on the resolutions,
holding that Congress had the right to restrict, but advocat-
ing an extension of the Missouri Compromise line to the
Pacific. The Raleigh Register, though it disapproved of the
expediency of the Wilmot Proviso, spoke definitely in defense
of its constitutionality, and pointed to Jefferson's interest in
the Northwest Ordinance as a precedent. Among the de-
fenders of the resolutions was another whig, William B.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 301
Shepard. A notable incident in the controversy was the atti-
tude of Thomas L. Clinginan, whig congressman from the
mountain district. Appealed to for an opinion, he replied
that the Wilmot Proviso was a violation of the Constitution
which would justify resistance by all means in the power of
the South — a sentiment prophetic for the rising discontent
among many Southern whigs. In the end, the Steele resolu-
tions were set aside for others less radical, which admitted
the main contention, but recommended an extension of the
Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific and deprecated any
attempt to dissolve the Union. Copies were ordered sent to
the state's representatives in Congress for transmission to
that body. To these resolutions Stanly and a few other ultra-
nationalists filed protests.
Closely related to the slavery debates was the election
of a United States senator, Badger's term having expired.
The whigs had a majority on joint ballot; the democrats
sought to divide them by supporting Clinginan, who now
made known his repudiation of the whig ideal of a national
bank, his approval of the democratic tariff of 1846, and his
views on the Wilmot Proviso. In the balloting there was for
a time a deadlock, but eventually Badger was reelected, — a
triumph for the conservative federal whigs. Clingman util-
ized his defeat for partisan purposes, charging that the whigs
of the Raleigh District, which always went democratic, dic-
tated the party's nominees. The record of the parties and
the candidates on the slavery question was also a factor in
the congressional elections of 1849. The Register and the
Standard in controversial editorials fully discussed the prin-
ciple of slavery restriction, the Register defending the legal
and the constitutional right of restriction, the Standard oppos-
ing it. Attention centered on the contest in two districts ;
the Fifth, where Venable's relationship to the Calhoun ad-
dress was strongly criticised, and the Eighth, the district of
Stanly, who had led the fight against the Steele resolutions.
Both were elected, but on the whole the whigs carried five, and
the democrats three, of the districts. The victory was a marked
contrast to the congressional elections in the other southern
states, where whig leadership suffered severe reverses.
302 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Interest in the slavery controversy now shifted to the
Thirty-first Congress, the first session of which convened in
December, 1849. In the Senate Mangum's attitude was un-
compromisingly in favor of the complete rights of the slave
owner. He presented for publication in the Congressional
Globe resolutions of a meeting in Wilmington urging that del-
egates be sent to the Nashville Convention, in which there was
also a declaration that love of the Union, like individual life,
must always be sacrificed for principle. The senator's re-
marks were in harmony with the spirit of the resolutions :
Sir, I have heard much about compromises of this question. I
have heard much said about equivalents and compensations, but it
seems to me that that conception is based on an unjust, if not an
entirely false idea of our position. What is compensation for? What
imperils? Have we done anything that the North has a right to
complain of ? Are we to make compensation for the slanders, for the
calumny, for the endangering of our firesides, for the exciting of
domestic insurrection? Are we to make compensation for aggression
of this character? No, sir. We stand by the Constitution and our
rights, and we mean to stand by them under Heaven, and under that
protection we believe that we have the power to maintain them, and
we will do it at the hazard of our lives, and at the hazard of every-
thing. Everything or anything will be incurred in preference to
dishonor and an ignominious submission to an imprudent, arrogant
and unconstitutional interference with our rights.
Nor was the outlook for harmony in the House more
favorable. In the prolonged contest for the Speakership the
whigs, realizing that Winthrop, of Massachusetts, could not
be elected, turned on the fifty-ninth ballot to Edward Stanly,
who received seventy-five votes. The plurality rule was then
adopted, and Stanly magnanimously urged that his name be
dropped for the first choice of his party. When Cobb, a
Georgia democrat, received the required number of votes,
Stanly as generously put the motion that he be declared elect-
ed. Among the North Carolina whigs Clingman was notably
radical. On November 13, in a letter to Senator Foote of
Missouri, he held that the exclusion of slavery from territories
would be revolutionary and would justify resistance on the
part of the South. In Congress he advocated the extension
of the northern boundary of Missouri to the Pacific as the
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 303
line of division between slave and free territories in return
for the admission of California as a free state, and to secure
this compromise he urged filibustering on all other important
matters until concession was made. Even more radical was
Venable. Flushed with the success of his re-election over
his whig opponent, he congratulated Clingman on his position
and declared that the time had arrived when ' ' a policy which
under any form of federal legislation or executive intervention
seizes for the non-slaveholding states the public domain, must
be given up. * * * Abolition in the District, the dock
yards, forts, arsenals, must no longer be urged, and state
laws preventing or impeding the capture and recovery of fugi-
tive labor must be repealed. ' ' If these acts of justice were not
done, ' ' separation will be inevitable. Our wrongs are unsup-
portable and can be tolerated no longer. But remember, we
cannot be turned aside from the demand for redress by the
cry of disunion; should it really ensue, on your head be the
guilt, for we strove to avert the calamity." In contrast to
this radicalism were the caustic and satirical remarks of
Stanly, who pointed out the great influence of the South in the
cabinet and in Congress, berated the politicians, ridiculed
Venable as an "F. F. V., a strict Constructionist of the school
of 1798, and to expect anything reasonable in politics from
such a quarter is most unreasonable," engaged in a verbal
altercation with Hilliard, of Alabama, and concluded "in the
name of the people of North Carolina" that the " Union can-
not be, shall not be, destroyed. ' '
Of the various solutions for the slavery problem, Stanly
was willing to accept that of President Taylor, the imme-
diate admission of all territories to statehood, — in reality a
free soil policy. Clingman and Venable were inclined to Cal-
houn's program of a non-partisan alliance of all southern
members to secure everything the South desired. In fact one
correspondent declared that forty-five members of the House
would follow Clingman in filibustering to secure full recogni-
tion of southern rights in territories. The decisive influence
proved to be that of Henry Clay, whose resolutions of January
29 were worked over into the Compromise of 1850. Under his
304 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
leadership Mangum's radicalism waned. Indeed, Mangum
was a member of the committee of thirteen which framed the
Compromise, and he recommended the measure in the follow-
ing words : "I shall never feel any gratification in having
one portion of the country gain or triumph over another por-
tion, or in promoting the welfare of one section at the expense
of another. Let us differ as we please on this or
that question of policy ; but upon those questions which touch
the integrity of the Union, and the perpetuity of the Govern-
ment, and shake the solid continent to its center, I can have
but one heart, one will, one mind; that is to do justice to all."
Throughout the debate on the Compromise in the Senate, Man-
gum and Badger were active in its support. On Webster their
influence was important. Wrote an observer in 1852 : "Henry
Clay had thrown himself into the breach, but he was powerless
without some efficient aid from the North. The leading south-
ern whigs, such as Mangum, Badger, and Dawson, rallied upon
Mr. Webster, seized upon him, stuck to him, and finally
brought him to the mark. His speech on the 7th of March
gave a new impulse to the Compromise movement, and the
whole country felt that the danger was substantially passed.
But it is a notorious fact, that in the proceedings upon the re-
port of the committee of thirteen, Mr. Webster wavered again,
voting this way and that, and was only held to his place by
the unceasing vigilance of Messrs. Mangum and Badger. " 4
In the House the opposition to the Compromise by the
North Carolina democrats was not serious, being confined
to criticism of the Utah bill and the Texas boundary. In May,
after the Washington Union came out in favor of the Com-
promise, Venable and Ashe, together with Mangum and Cling-
man, attended the meeting of southern leaders whose purpose
was to establish a newspaper in Washington devoted to
southern rights.
The vote of the state delegation on the Compromise as a
whole is shown bv the following table :
4 New York Herald. April 13. 1852. Quoted from Cole, Whig
Party in the South, p. 165, u.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
305
Texas
Boundary
Cali-
fornia
New
Mexico
Fugitive
Slaves
Utah
yea
yea
yea
yea
yea
yea
nay
yea
yea
yea
yea
yea
yea
nay
nay
yea
nay
nay
yea
yea
yea
nay
yea
yea
yea
nay
yea
yea
yea
nay
yea
yea
yea
yea
yea
yea
nay
nay
yea
Slave
Trade in
District
Senate.
Badger
Mangum
House
Ashe (Dem.)
Caldwell (Dem.).
Clingman ( Whig )
Daniel (Dem.).. . ,
Deberry (Whig) .
Outlaw (Whig) . .
Shepherd (Whig) ,
Stanly (Whig)...
Venable (Dem.).. .
nay
nav
nay
nay
nay
nay
nav
nav
The Compromise now became the issue in state politics. In
the early months of 1850 there was considerable sentiment
for representation in the Nashville Convention, called by
southern radicals to formulate a plan of cooperative resist-
ance. The Standard approved of the plan, and was also favor-
able to suggestions of secession. The Star also approved the
convention, but the other whig papers were against it. Gov-
ernor Manly was urged to call a special session of the legisla-
ture to send delegates. When it was realized that he would
not act, numerous county and district meetings, especially in
the region bordering on South Carolina, were held to name
delegates, but no representative of the state made the journey
to Nashville. The party conventions met before the compro-
mise was enacted ; that of the whigs approved it, but the demo-
cratic convention favored an extension of the Missouri
Compromise line to the Pacific, and declared that all palpable
violations of the Constitution or attempts by a sectional ma-
jority to wield the government to the injury and degradation
of the South should be resisted. The democratic victory in
the state elections, undoubtedly due to the suffrage issue,
was considered by the more radical democrats as a condemna-
tion of the Compromise. This, together with the strong move-
Vol. 11—20
306 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
ment for its repudiation in the cotton states, led to a long dis-
cussion in the legislature of 1850. A joint committee on
slavery was appointed, to which was referred a number of
resolutions. Of these the most radical were those introduced
by J. B. Shepard ; they declared secession to be a right of self-
defense which had never been surrendered, that whenever a
majority of the people of North Carolina decided that they
could not safely stay in the Union, it was their right and duty
to secede, and that any policy of the Federal Government pre-
venting the emigration of slave property would be an assault
on property rights. The report of the committee, however,
advised acquiescence in the Compromise, but retaliation in the
future if slavery in the District of Columbia or the interstate
slave trade were restricted, the fugitive slave law changed, or
a slave state refused admission to the Union. It also recom-
mended an advalorem tax on merchandise imported from the
non-slaveholding states to offset the agitation against the
fugitive slave law. A minority of the committee recom-
mended additional resolutions defending the right of seces-
sion. The center of debate was the Senate, for there the
margin between whigs and democrats was narrow. In the end
the resolutions of the minority looking toward secession were
rejected, and also those of the majority were first revised and
then rejected. This result was brought about by a cleavage
among the democrats, a faction favoring moderation led by
Weldon N. Edwards cooperating with the federalistic whigs.
When radicalism was checked in the Senate, the controversy
in the House of Commons ended. Thus was the democracy
itself divided; even the Standard, loud in its demand for
Southern rights and even defending the right of secession,
changed its tone and urged acceptance of the Compromise. An
interesting phase of the controversy in the legislature was a
special daily edition of the Raleigh Register, the purpose of
which apparently was to rally sentiment for the Compromise.
The right of secession, however, was carried to the people
by the radicals in the congressional campaign of 1851. In the
third district Green W. Caldwell, democrat, elaborated and
defended the right to withdraw from the Union, while his whig
opponent, Alfred Dockery, went so far as to declare that if
HISTORY. OF NORTH CAROLINA 307
South Carolina or even his native state should attempt seces-
sion, he would vote for an appropriation to be used in forcing
the offender to remain in the Union. Likewise in the eighth
district Edward Stanly took a similar position against Ruffin,
secession democrat, and his campaign was watched with inter-
est by the Northern press. In the mountain district Clingman
faced an independent whig, B. S. Gaither, and was forced to
make conciliatory explanations of his previous utterances.
During the campaign the whig press was emphatically for the
preservation of the Union. The Fayetteville Observer quoted
Madison's opinion that there could be no conditional ratifica-
tion of the constitution. The North State Whig justified the
use of force. "The- President of the United States," it said,
"and every executive officer under him, are sworn to execute
the law, and if they are resisted, it is his solemn duty to quell
such resistance, and if it is necessary in order to do it, to use
the army and navy and militia of the country. War must
follow. War as a result of secession is as fatal as any of the
eternal purposes of God." The result was that the whigs
carried five of the nine districts, among them the third and
eighth, although the democrats had carried the state elections
of the preceding year.
Thus love of the Union was stronger than sectionalism,
and secession was repudiated. But during the contest the
whigs suffered more than the democrats. Among them the
cleavage over nationality and states rights came earlier and
was deeper. Moreover they had to meet the crisis in federal
relations at a time when the democrats were raising the
suffrage issue. Also, in the solution of the national problem
the whigs of the South, especially in the cotton areas, ex-
hausted their strength. With the slavery question temporarily
shelved, they had no new issue with which they could catch the
imagination of the people. The reaction toward the demo-
cratic party was therefore intensified.
CHAPTER XVI
PARTY POLITICS, 1852-1860
Partisan Dissensions — Ad valorem Slave Taxation — The
Campaign of 1860
In the course of party politics after the exciting congres-
sional campaign of 1851, there were three well-defined tend-
encies ; a rapid consolidation of democratic strength, the whig-
organization collapsing after 1854, an inclination to emphasize
other questions than those arising from slavery expansion,
and a test of strength between the forces of sectionalism and
nationalism. No one of these three tendencies was continually
prominent and political interest shifted from one to another
of them from year to year.
The point of departure is the state and national campaign
of 1852. The whigs were at a disadvantage, for they suffered
by the cleavage made in their ranks by the Compromise of
1850. Over a caucus of whig leaders held at Washington
early in the year, Senator Mangnm presided. A resolution
endorsing the Compromise was rejected; thereupon a number
of Southern whigs bolted, among them Outlaw and Clingman.
In the state the preference of the party for the presidential
nomination was Fillmore, with Graham as a running mate, a
choice officially sanctioned by the state convention. But Man-
gum favored General Scott, who was nominated by the national
convention, while Graham was named for vice president after
Crittendon, Dawson, and Mangum refused the honor. On the
other hand, there was unanimity among the democrats : in the
national convention Dobbin led the stampede for Pierce's
nomination. A distinct source of strength for the democrats
was the undivided position of the party on manhood suf-
frage. Reid, an experienced and successful leader, was again
::os
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 309
the candidate for governor, while Kerr, the whig nominee, had
never held an elective office and quibbled over the proposed suf-
frage reform. The principal feature of the national campaign
was defection among the whigs. Unconvinced of Scott 's sound-
ness on the Compromise of 1850, a movement for Webster and
Graham in place of the regular ticket was launched. It had
the support of two newspapers, the Wilmington Commercial
and the Asheville Neivs, and a new party name was proposed,
national republican. Apparently the movement collapsed
when Graham asked that his name be withdrawn from the new
ticket. Of greater importance was the policy of Clingman,
who a few days before the election expressed a preference for
Pierce, on the ground that the election of Scott would destroy
the influence of Webster and Fillmore, the real friends of the
Compromise among the whigs, and that the defeat of Pierce
would be a blow to friends of the South among Northern demo-
crats. The results of the campaign were a democratic triumph
in the state elections, Reid being elected in August, and a
similar victory in the presidential election, Pierce receiving
the electoral vote in November.
However the democratic success was not followed by una-
nimity in the councils of the party. Factionalism at once
appeared in the election of a senator to succeed Badger.
James C. Dobbin was the choice for the democratic caucus,
but Romulus M. Saunders desired the honor, as did also James
B. Shepard. The whigs formally nominated Kenneth Rayner,
but did not uniformly support him, throwing votes instead to
Saunders in the hope of preventing the election of a democrat.
After some forty ballotings Dobbin asked for another caucus
and generously proposed that his name be withdrawn. His
sacrifice was refused, and the deadlock continued to the end
of the session. Not till 1854 was the vacancy filled, when
Mangum having also retired, Asa Biggs and Governor Reid,
both democrats, were elected. In the meantime Badger had
been nominated by President Fillmore to be. Associate Justice
of the Supreme Court of the United States, but the Senate re-
fused to confirm the nomination. Dobbin became Secretary of
the Navy in 1853, a position he filled with distinction. Among
his services were the establishment of the apprenticeship sys-
310 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
tern, promotion for merit, the retired list on pay, and the con-
struction of the first steam frigates of the navy.
Insurgency next threatened the democrats. The opportu-
nity for revolt was the old question of distribution. In 1852
Henry Bennett of New York introduced into Congress a bill
which proposed to distribute the remaining public land among
the states for internal improvements and other local needs.
At that time the North Carolina democrats were rapidly com-
ing round to the whig policy concerning state aid, and distri-
bution, which the party had opposed, now made an appeal to
many members as a means of securing revenue for the pro-
posed public works. Hence in the congressional elections of
1853 three politicians bolted the party lines and endorsed
distribution. One of these, Duncan McRae, who announced
himself as an independent candidate in the Third District, was
eliminated by an appointment as consul to Paris. Immediately
his place in the field was taken by W. F. Leake, another demo-
crat, in opposition to William S. Ashe, regular nominee of the
party. In the Second and Seventh Districts W. C. Loftin and
A. W. Venable, secessionists of 1851, raised the issue against
Thomas Ruffin and A. M. Lewis, the regular nominees of the
party. In all three districts the independents failed of election,
but in the Seventh the division among the democrats enabled
the whigs to elect Sion H. Rogers. However the delegation
stood five democrats and three whigs.
The state campaign of 1854 proved to be the supreme test
for the waning whig party. Its convention endorsed distribu-
tion, favored constitutional reform through a convention
chosen on the existing basis of representation, and nominated
for governor Alfred H. Dockery, unionist of 1851 and a skill-
ful campaigner. The democratic convention was notable for a
new party policy. Its platform favored common schools and
internal improvements ; it also demanded suffrage reform by
legislative initiative, and endorsed the states rights interpre-
tation of the Constitution. Thomas Bragg, a comparatively
new leader, was nominated for governor, mainly through the
influence of Holden. During the early weeks of the contest,
the odds favored Dockery. This was due to the proposed
western extension of the North Carolina Railroad, which Dock-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 311
•
ery ardently favored, a measure which appealed strongly to
the region west of Salisbury, traditionally a center of whig
strength. On the other hand Bragg, an easterner, was
apathetic toward the extension until Holden showed him the
necessity of taking a favorable attitude. The democratic oppo-
sition being righted, the tide then turned against the whigs.
The decisive influence was the attitude of the whig convention
on the issue of constitutional reform. In the more western
counties there was much dissatisfaction because the platform
had not demanded a change in the basis of representation;
moreover, the platform did not explicitly endorse suffrage
reform. A whig meeting at Asheville in April voiced the dis-
content by declaring that a sovereign convention could not be
limited by the legislature and that any constitutional conven-
tion should face the matter of the basis of representation.
The result of the campaign was the election of Bragg and also
a democratic legislature.
Apparently the whigs now lost faith in the future of their
party, for in the congressional campaign of 1855 they dropped
their party name and merged with the new American or Know
Nothing party. Prominent in the ranks of the new movement
was Kenneth Eayner, who framed the third or union degree
of the order. A few democrats joined, notably James B.
Shepard. On the other hand some whigs, notably John Kerr,
refused to follow the trend of the party and became demo-
crats. The secrecy of the new party and its Northern origin
did not lend to its popularity, and in the congressional elec-
tions the Know Nothings carried but two districts, the Eighth
and the Fifth, Puryear and Edward G. Reicl being the suc-
cessful candidates. In the state campaign in the following
year the inequality of the parties was further revealed, Bragg
defeating Gilmer, the American nominee for governor, by a
majority of over 12,000. The democrats also carried the legis-
lature by a large majority.
In the meantime interest in slavery extension was revived.
In 1854 Stephen A. Douglas introduced into Congress his
famous Kansas-Nebraska bill, giving the people of the terri-
tories of Kansas and Nebraska the right to accept or reject
slavery and repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The
312 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
North Carolina democrats unanimously and strongly favored
the measure ; the whig- Americans were lukewarm and critical.
Congressmen Rogers and Puryear were in the opposition on
the ground that an amendment submitted by Clayton, pro-
hibiting foreigners in the country from voting, was defeated.
In the Senate Badger, although he voted for the measure,
first proposed an amendment that the repeal of the Missouri
Compromise should not revive the old Louisiana law that pro-
tected slavery, and he also held that squatter sovereignty, the
right of the people of a territory to determine for themselves
the issue of freedom, was derived exclusively from Congress.
Within the state, the Standard, the democratic organ, unquali-
fiedly endorsed the bill. The whig press was apathetic ; the
Register doubted its expediency, especially the wisdom of
repealing the Missouri Compromise, while the FayetteviUe
Observer feared a free soil reaction. The whig state plat-
form of 1854, however, approved the measure in its entirety.
In the succeeding legislature Mr. Settle, a democrat of Eock-
ingham County, introduced radical resolutions approving the
Kansas-Nebraska act and threatening resistance in case the
Northern states should interfere with slavery in territories.
They aroused scarcely any debate, and were rejected.
However in the presidential campaign of 1856 popular
excitement over slavery reached a high record. There was
genuine alarm in democratic circles over the situation in
Kansas and the prospect that the new republican party of the
Northwest, committed against the further expansion of slav-
ery, would win. The Standard declared that the Union could
not survive the election of Fremont, the republican presiden
tial candidate, and Clingman likewise advised resistance if the
election should so result. That public opinion was deeply
aroused is well attested by the case of Professor Benjamin S.
Hedrick, a North Carolinian, a graduate of the State L T niver-
sity, who pursued advanced studies at Harvard and then
returned to his alma mater as professor of applied chemistry.
Early impressions of the evils of slavery were strengthened
when he saw the prosperity of the North and compared it
with his native state. During the presidential campaign he
stated in reply to a direct question that he would vote for
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 313
Fremont, provided there was a republican electoral ticket in
the state. News of this opinion reached Holden, and on Sep-
tember 17 the Standard hinted at the presence of a Fremont
supporter on the faculty of a certain college. On the twenty-
ninth a letter signed "Alumnus" formally charged that such
was the case at the university, and demanded the resignation
of the offending professor, though his name was not men-
tioned. Then, against advice, Hedrick replied to the charges
against him. In an open letter published in the Standard, he
expressed his admiration for Fremont's character. He also
made plain his opposition to the extension of slavery into ter-
ritories and cited similar views of early southern statesmen.
Opposition to slavery extension is neither a Northern nor a sec-
tional ism. It originated with the great Southern statesmen of the
Revolution. Washington, Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Madison, and
Randolph were all opposed to slavery in the abstract, and were all
opposed to admitting it into new territory. One of the early acts
of the patriots of the Revolution was to pass the Ordinance of '87,
by which slavery was excluded from all the territories we then pos-
sessed. This was going farther than the Republicans of the present
day claim. Many of these great men were slaveholders, but they did
not let self interest blind them to the evils of the system. Jefferson
says that slavery exerts an influence both over the whites and the
blacks but he was opposed to the abolition policy, by which the slaves
would be turned loose among the whites. In his autobiography he
says: "Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate, than
that these people are to be free ; nor is it less certain that the two
races, equally free, can not live in the same government. Nature,
habit, opinion, have drawn indelible lines between them." Among
the evils which he says slavery brings upon the whites, is to make
them tyrannical and idle. "With the morals of a people their
industry is also destroyed. For in a warm climate no man will labor
for himself who can make another labor for him. This is so true,
that of the proprietors of slaves a very small proportion indeed are
ever seen to labor." What was true in Jefferson's time is true now.
* No longer ago than 1850. Henry Clay declared in the
Senate, "I never can, and never will vote, and no earthly power ever
will make me vote to spread slavery over territory where it does not
exist." At the same time that Clay was opposed to slavery, he was,
like Fremont, opposed to the least interference by the general gov-
ernment with slavery in the states where it exists. Should there be
any interference with subjects belonging to state policy, either by
other states or bv the federal government, no one will be more ready
than mvself to defend the "good old North," my native state. But,
with Washington. Jefferson, Franklin, Henry, Randolph, Clay and
Webster for political teachers, I cannot believe that slavery is prefer-
314 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
able to freedom, or that slavery extension is one of the Constitutional
rights of the South.
******
It is not, however, my object to attack the institution of slavery.
But even the most zealous defender of the patriarchal institutions
cannot shut his eyes against a few prominent facts. One is, that in
nearly all the slave states there is a deficiency of labor. Since the
abolition of the African slave trade there is no source for obtaining
a supply, except from the natural increase. For this reason, among
others, a gentleman of South Carolina, in an article published in
DeBows Review for August, 1856, advocates a dissolution of the
Union in order that the African slave trade may be revived. From
North Carolina and Virginia nearly the entire increase of the slave
population, during the last twenty years, has been sent off to the new
states of the Southwest. In my boyhood I lived on one of the great
thoroughfares of travel (near Locke's Bridge on the Yadkin River)
and have seen as many as two thousand in a single day, going south,
mostly in the hands of speculators. Now, the loss of these two
thousand did the state a greater injury than would the shipping off
of a million dollars. I think I may ask any sensible man how we
are to grow rich and prosper, while ' ' driving out ' ' a million of dollars
per day. I am glad, however, to say that the ruinous policy is not
now carried on to such an extent as it has been. But there is still
too much of it. I have very little doubt that if the slaves which are
now scattered thinly over Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri, were
back in Virginia and North Carolina, it would be better for all con-
cerned. These old states could then go on and develop the immense
wealth which must remain locked up for many years to come.
"Whilst the new states, free from a system which degrades white labor,
would become a land of common schools, thrift and industry, equal
if not superior to any in the union. But letting that be as it may,
still no one can deny that here in North Carolina we need more men,
rather than more land. Then why go to war to make more slave
states, when we have too much territory already, for the force we
have to work it ? Our fathers fought for freedom, and one of the
tyrannical acts which they threw in the teeth of Great Britain was
that she forced slavery upon the colonies against their will. Now,
the secessionists are trying to dissolve the union because they are
not permitted to establish slavery in the Territory of Kansas. If the
institution of slavery is a thing good and desirable in itself, it is the
easiest thing in the world for the people to vote for its introduction
at any time after they have formed a constitution and been admitted
as a state. If it is not a good thing, it would be an act of great
oppression to force it upon them.
^ff ^T- •!!■ •Jf •%£ •){•
Born in the "good old North states," I cherish a love for her
and her people that I bear to no other state or people. It will ever
be my sincere wish to advance her interests. I love also the union
of states, secured as it was by the blood of my ancestors and what-
ever influence I possess, though small it may be, shall be exerted
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 315
for its preservation. I do not claim infallibility for my opinion.
Wiser and better men have been mistaken. But holding as I do the
doctrines once advocated by Washington and Jefferson, I think I
should be met by argument and not by denunciation. At any rate,
those who prefer to denounce me should at least support their charges
by their own name.
Frank and manly as was this statement, it received no
sympathy or toleration. The students of the university burned
its author in effigy, the faculty adopted resolutions repudiating
the heretic among them, the newspapers reviled him, and ihe
executive committee of the university declared his power of
service at an end. As Professor Hedrick remained at his post,
a second meeting of the committee was held at which his chair
was declared vacant. A short time afterward the deposed
teacher was in Salisbury to attend an educational convention.
When his presence became known, a mob gathered, burned his
effigy before his eyes, and forced him to leave town. Shortly
afterward he left the state, never to return, but to render it
loving and faithful service in the reconstruction period. Evi-
dently freedom of spoken opinion on the slavery question was
not possible in North Carolina — a violent reaction from con-
ditions as they existed in earlier years.
While excitement over the case of Professor Hedrick was
at its height, another matter attracted comment. This was a
visit of Governor Wise, of Virginia, and Governor Adams, of
South Carolina, to Raleigh on October 13. Governor Jenkins,
of Georgia, was expected, but did not come. The aim of this
gathering of functionaries was formally stated to be a desire
to inspect the State Fair; but they left before that festival
opened. According to tradition, their purpose was to consult
with Governor Bragg about concert of action in case Fremont
was elected, but no plan was adopted on account of Bragg 's
conservatism. In contrast to this concern over the right of
slavery in territories was the opposition of Rayner, the Know
Nothing. In an address at Philadelphia during the campaign
he urged the members of his party to vote for Fremont in the
hope that the election might be thrown into the House of Rep-
resentatives. This action was denounced by the state demo-
cratic executive committee, and made the subject of violent
316 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
editorials by Holden, which led to an exchange of blows be-
tween him and Rayner. The result of the election, so far as
North Carolina was concerned, was never in doubt. There
was no republican electoral ticket in the state, and Buchanan
received an overwhelming vote. The irony of history is that
Fremont had been suggested in 1855 as a possible candidate
for the democrats, and F. P. Blair wrote to Bedford Brown
suggesting that a movement in his interest be launched in
North Carolina.
After the election of Buchanan interest in slavery extension
again waned, and two other issues were again brought to the
front. One of these was the old question of public lands.
Duncan McRae, having retired from the consulship at Paris,
returned to the state and announced himself as an independent
candidate for governor in 1858 on the issue of distribution.
A similar announcement was also made by W. F. Leake, but
he soon withdrew in favor of McRae. As the whig party ma-
chinery had collapsed and the Americans had lost heart after
the congressional elections of 1857, in which they elected only
one member, John A. Gilmer, of the Fifth District, there was
no party opposition to Ellis, the nominee of the democrats;
but the wing- American press advised their clientele to support
McRae. By far the greater danger to the democratic cause
was factionalism. The leader who had undoubtedly done much
toward winning the party's victories was Holden, editor of
the North Carolina Standard. In season and out of season his
editorials had relentlessly and ably criticized the whigs. His
advice had more than once determined party policy, and his
paper in news service and ideas was superior to any other in
the state. Earlv in 1857 a movement was launched to give
him the democratic nomination for governor in the following
year; but his success and that of the party raised rival claim-
ants for the honor, notably John W. Ellis, W. W. Avery, Judge
S. J. Person, and A. W. Venable. Moreover Holden was a
genuine man of the people, born in poverty, without family
connections or ancestral traditions to aid in advancing his
political fortunes. The jealousy of his power was therefore
all the greater, and the opposition to his nomination was
strengthened by the prejudice of the large number of whigs
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 317
who had joined the democracy since 1850. The party conven-
tion was ordered to meet at Charlotte, a strategic victory for
Ellis, a western leader. A veritable preconvention campaign
then followed. Most of the democratic newspapers threw their
influence to Holden and the whig press openly approved his
claims. Said the Fayetteville Observer: "Mr. Holden is a
'tried and valiant soldier' who has 'groaned and sweat' until
he has made the democratic party all powerful in North Caro-
lina. Without him these democratic lawyers would never have
been judges, governors, congressmen, legislators — would have
been scarcely heard of. But the work is done. And when he
or his friends for him ask for participation in the honors of
victory, it is only natural, now as then, that his creatures
should 'take down his load and turn him like the empty ass
to shake his ears and graze in commons. ' How dare an editor
of a newspaper, a man who has worked with his own hands,-
aspire to reward from his own party?"
Undoubtedly Mr. Holden was the favorite of the rank and
file of his party, but the state convention was dominated by
politicians, and Ellis was nominated. The Standard abided
by the decision of the convention, and McRae, in spite of an
aggressive canvass, was defeated by a majority of over
16,000. But a rift had been made which was soon widened.
During the campaign, Senator Biggs resigned to accept the
United States Judgeship for the District of North Carolina.
Governor Bragg appointed Congressman Clinginan to fill the
unexpired term. When the legislature met Bragg was elected
over the opposition of Holden and Reid. Evidently Holden
had fallen out with the party machine. Thereafter he became
more conservative in the matter of states rights and by 1860
he was identified with the union faction of the party.
Democratic supremacy, however, was threatened by a
larger and more vital question than distribution and the rivalry
of leaders. That was the unequal burdens imposed by the
revenue system. As the scope of taxation was widened by
the addition of new schedules, there was no equitable applica-
tion of rates. Investment in land yielded more revenue than
smaller amounts loaned at interest or invested in bank stock,
while investment in trade was taxed less than land or stocks,
318 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Governor Reid in 1852 and 1854 called attention to this con-
dition in the following words: "At present $1,000 loaned at
interest pays $1.80, while $1,000 hoarded against the public
convenience and public policy pays nothing at all; $1,000
invested in land pays $3, while $1,000 invested in trade pays
$1." The remedy he proposed was the adoption of the adval-
orem principle. " It is believed, ' ' he said, ' ' that after except-
ing slaves, each person's estate, real and personal, including
money, whether at interest or not, ought to be taxed alike,
according to value. This would require every person to con-
tribute in proportion to the value of his or her estate, and
would equalize the public burden between the various classes
upon principles of justice." Although the revenue law was
revised in 1854, 1856, and 1858, the advalorem principle was
not adopted. The existing inequality was most marked in
that class of property which Governor Reid excepted from his
proposed reform, viz., slavery. Slaves were taxed only as
polls, all between the ages of twelve and fifty being subject
to a capitation equal to that paid by white polls between the
ages of twenty-one and forty-five. In 1850 the total number
of polls paying the capitation tax was 175,053. Making allow-
ances for the taxation of both sexes of slaves to one of whites,
and also a longer period during which the slaves were subject
to taxation, the slave polls were approximately three-fourths
of the total, or 131,000. Their real value, on an estimate of
$800 each, was $104,800,000; the revenue yielded was $26,200.
In marked contrast was the revenue from land, $36,398 on a
valuation of $60,664,900. Thus slave property, having a
greater value than land, yielded less revenue. Another in-
equality was revealed in the contrast between the income taxes
and the slave polls. According to the revenue law of 1856,
the white' mechanic whose income was $500 or more paid $5 in
addition to his poll tax, while on the able-bodied slave, per-
haps also a mechanic and a competitor of the white, only a
poll tax of 50 cents was imposed. Similar inequalities in the
taxation of slaves and other forms of property were also
apparent.
Evidently here was a dormant issue, inflammable in charac-
ter, which might rouse the non-slaveholding whites against
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 319
the slavocraey. It was championed in 1858 by a group of
legislators, led by Moses A. Bledsoe, democratic senator from
Wake County. When the committee on revenue was appointed,
Mr. Bledsoe submitted resolutions denouncing as unjust and
undemocratic any discrimination for or against any form
of property, and directing the committee to be guided by the
principle of the resolution in its deliberations. The resolu-
tions were promptly rejected. A few days later Mr. Turner
proposed a bill for a constitutional amendment embodying
the advalorem principle to be submitted to the people. Mr.
Gorrell, a whig, offered an amendment for an open unre-
stricted constitutional convention, and Mr. Ramsay also pro-
posed an amendment specifically demanding the advalorem
taxation of slave property. The bill for the convention, and
also the proposed amendment, were rejected. Mr. Bledsoe,
however, was uncompromising; he sought but was denied the
privilege of protesting against the revenue law, which was
drafted along traditional lines. In the meantime the agita-
tion was started in the House of Commons. Messrs. Faribault
and Speer introduced resolutions similar to those of Bledsoe,
and Mr. Dockery presented a bill for a constitutional conven-
tion ; both were tabled.
Defeated in the legislature, Mr. Bledsoe carried the issue
to the people. An organization for propaganda was estab-
lished, the Raleigh Working Men's Association. It empha-
sized the inequalities arising from the slave capitation and
the privileged position of slave property. Slaveholders, it
was claimed, benefited most by railroads and internal im-
provements, yet they contributed less than their share to the
burden of the public debt. A distinct appeal to class feeling
was therefore made. Illustrative is the following extract from
an address by Frank I. Wilson, agitator of the cause, and
also an employee of the North Carolina Standard:
Our preachers all tell us that our lot has been cast in a Christian
land. I will not deny this, but I sometimes have my doubts about it.
Of one thing I am sure ; as working men, we have fallen on evil times.
Dark and troublous clouds are lowering around us. Compelled to
the disgrace of labor, either mental or physical, to maintain our-
selves, our wives and children, the keen scented nostrils of patriot*
smell treason in every movement of our muscles, and in every idea
320 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
of our brains. In every pulse throb of the blood that courses through
oar veins, they feel a jar to the Temple of Liberty, and in every
word we utter they hear the thunder tones of intolerable impudence
and insolence. Ever and anon thus wrath, like arrowy lightnings,
cleaves the gloom above and around us with a light whose lurid gleam
is quite as substantial, if not as fearful, as chaos itself. Should not
this appall us .' Should not we pause, dismayed, horror-stricken,
and trembling in every joint? Should we not crouch at the feet of
these superiors, and humbly beg as inferiors, permission to breathe
the free air of God ? What ! a man with the smell of the workshop
upon him, or with the pale face of mental exhaustion, to dare utter his
sentiments ! to dare expose his views ! to dare have a soul, a mind, a
thought of his own! Surely the acme of impudence is reached and
the walls of insolence scaled.
The leaders of the advalorem cause endured much vituper-
ative abuse at the hands of the conservatives, especially those
of the democratic party. Their reasoning, however, had to
be met, and the argument against reform took three lines.
First was the claim that equality in the matter of poll taxes
was a part of a compromise in the Convention of 1835 by
which slave property was to be protected in return for con-
cession to the West in the matter of representation, where
slaves were less numerous ; hence the proposed reform would
also lead to a change in the basis of representation and the
apportionment of the school fund. In reply Mr. Bledsoe
denied the existence of any evidence that taxation had been
the subject of compromise, or that a new system of taxation
would change the basis. The second argument of the con-
servatives was that advalorem taxation of slaves would aid
the abolitionist policy. "Give the abolitionists power to tax
slaves at pleasure, and we establish a lever for the uprooting
of slavery in this state, of which free soilers will soon take
advantage.' 1 The apt reply was that the recognition of slaves
as persons in the existing revenue system was in full accord
with the abolitionists' views, while taxing them advalorem
fitted in with the southern view of slaves as property ; such in-
deed was the policy of the other Southern states and its adop-
tion had greatly diminished state debts. The final argument
against the advalorem principle was theoretical, that if value
be the standard of revenue, the poorer classes suffer, that
taxes on labor can never be satisfactory, and that levying on
capital will inevitably result in proscription.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
321
So far as slavery was concerned, the friends of advalorem
had the better of the discussion. Two conditions favored a
wide acceptance of the proposed reform. One was that the
slaveholders were in a large minority, and that industrialism,
the antithesis of slavery, made marked progress between 1850
and 1860. The other was the revival of the whig party. Early
Gov. John W. Ellis
in 1859 the American members of the legislature held a
caucus, agreed to abandon Know Nothingism, and to renew
their political life as whigs. The movement was well received
by the people, for in the congressional elections of 1859 four
whig candidates were successful, W. N. H. Smith, from the
First District, J. A. Gilmer in the Fifth, J. M. Leach in the
Sixth, and Zebulon B. Vance in the Eighth. For further suc-
cess there was apparently only lacking a popular issue, and
Vol. II— 21
322 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
that was found in the matter of taxation. Hence the whig
state convention of 1860 wrote into its platform a demand for
the advalorem principle, to be established by a constitutional
convention, and John Pool, of Pasquotank County, was nomi-
nated for governor. The democrats, threatened with a defec-
tion from the party by Bledsoe and men of his type, and also
under the necessity of conserving the loyalty of the slave-
holders, renominated Governor Ellis, deprecated as "prema-
ture, impolitic, dangerous, and unjust" the advalorem issue,
but favored equality of taxation upon various classes of prop-
erty as far as practicable within the limits of the constitution.
The ensuing campaign was hotly contested. In its early
stage the advantage was with Pool and the whigs, for they
clearly demonstrated the inequality in the existing revenue
system. Several factors, however, turned the tide against
them. One was the strategy of Ellis ; pointing out the absence
of exemptions in the proposed reform, he assumed the purpose
was to tax the ovens, pots, chickens, eggs, and furniture of the
small householder at equal ratio with the landlord's slaves.
Thus the whig program was made the subject of considerable
horse play over pots, pans, and tin cups. Another influence
favoring the democrats was the strength derived from the
national campaign, the argument that the rights of the South
would be safer with a democratic than a whig administration.
Finally the people of North Carolina were by nature con-
servative, slow to accept reforms of whatever kind. Conse-
quently Ellis was reelected, but his majority was 10,000 less
than that of 1858, incontrovertible evidence that the whig
party was once again a factor to be reckoned with.
In the meantime excitement over the slavery question,
which subsided after the campaign of 1856, revived. The
principal cause was the John Brown raid at Harper's Ferry
in October, 1859. Even conservatives, to say nothing of the
fire-eaters, foresaw possibility of war, and urged military
preparations. A^olunteer military companies were organized
in many counties, among them Buncombe, Edgecombe, and
Warren. Governor Ellis procured from the Secretary of "War
a new supply of arms for the federal arsenal at Fayetteville.
Even the Raleigh Register declared that the South would
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 323
never submit to the election of Seward or a sectional repub-
lican to the presidency. There was some demand that a special
session of the legislature be convened. Governor Ellis, in
December, consulted the council of state, which approved the
course of Governor Wise, of Virginia, and summarized public
opinion in the following resolution: "If we cannot hold our
slave property and at the same time enjoy repose and tran-
quillity in the Union, we will be constrained in justice to our-
selves and our posterity to establish new forms."
Almost contemporaneous with the John Brown affair came
the revelation of antislavery and abolition activity within the
state.' In 1857 Hinton Rowan Helper, a native of Davie
County, had published his celebrated "Impending Crisis," a
comparison of the slave and the free states to the disparage-
ment of the former, and an appeal to the non-slaveholding
whites to unite against the slave power. The book attracted
little attention until 1859, when a large edition was subscribed
to by prominent republicans and abolitionists for use in the
congressional campaign. The work and its author then be-
came the subject of violent denunciation. Helper was charged
with having fraudulently used his employer's money when a
young man, and "The Impending Crisis" was regarded as
incendiary literature. During the summer of 1859 John A.
Gilmer, whig candidate for Congress, was openly accused of
possessing a copy. The whigs replied by making a similar
charge against Governor Ellis. The North Carolina Standard
thought the matter sufficiently serious to explain that the
governor had received two copies ; one presented in New
York by Mr. Helper, was cast out of the window; the other,
sent through the mails, was used to light the gubernatorial
pipe. Early in 1860 it was discovered that 150 copies were
being shipped to one Jesse Pope, of High Point. Judge Saun-
ders thereupon issued a writ for Pope's arrest when he should
apply for the books. Pope was an invalid, unable to walk,
and a mob at High Point seized the books and burned them.
Pope, it was now revealed, was only a blind for the operations
of Daniel Worth, a native of Guilford County, who after
spending some years in Indiana returned to the state in 1858
as a Wesleyan Methodist minister and established a church
324 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
at Sandy Ridge, near Jamestown. In December, 1859, he was
arrested for circulating Helper's book and was ordered to
give two bonds of $5,000 each, one for his appearance at the
Superior Court, the other to keep the peace. The first bond
he gave, the latter he refused and went to jail. At the trial
four copies of Helper 's book, which he had sold, were exhib-
ited. One purchaser had burned his copy, while another hid his
in a hollow log. The penalty inflicted was one year's imprison-
ment and a public whipping, the latter being remitted by the
judge on account of the advanced age and calling of the pris-
oner. Appeal was taken to the Supreme Court and bond was
fixed at $3,000, but Mr. Worth left the state. The Supreme
Court confirmed the verdict and the bondsmen had to pay.
Five men, apparently converts of Worth, were also imprisoned
in Guilford County and at least one in Mecklenburg. It is
probable that Worth wrote the following letter to the Boston
Tract Journal in June, 1859 :
The portion of the South in which I labor is wonderfully opened
for the reception of antislavery truth. I am a native of the state,
and have faithfully preached an uncompromising gaspel at every
point of my work. Not satisfied, however, with mere verbal effort,
I determined to introduce antislavery books. Many thought this
hazardous in the extreme, in view of the abominable laws on that
subject, and greatly feared my enthrallment. I maintained that he
that will not risk something for Christ is not worthy of him; he that
will save his life shall lose it, etc.; and the success is beyond my
expectations. These books were circulated at first rather covertly;
but greatly disliking this covert operation, I came out ooldly, dis-
daining all concealment, and my book agencies are probably doing
more than I am able to do by preaching. Among these books, I have
circulated fifty copies of "The Impending Crisis," by Helper, which
takes fire in dry stubble. * * * * Is not this wonderful? Is it
not the hand of Him who has said. 'The wrath of man shall praise
him and the remainder of wrath he will restrain' * * * And
now let me say to the American Tract Society that I have no doubt
of our ability to distribute successfully at least six thousand tracts
such as those to which you allude. * * * I have just sent to
New York for another box of Helper's work to supply the increasing
demand. A slaveholder who has read the book is now asking his
neighbors what he must do with his slaves. Are not these blessed
portents, my brother?
Along with the renewal of slavery propaganda came a
crisis in party supremacy, local and national. Within the
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 325
state the whig organization was being revived, four whigs
being elected to Congress in 1859. At the same time in the
South and the West the republicans made great gains, electing
109 members to the Thirty-sixth Congress to 101 by the demo-
crats. This gave the whigs and former Americans, with
twenty-seven votes, a balance of power. When Congress met
in December the democrats made a bid for the support of the
southern whigs by introducing a resolution to the effect that
no member who had endorsed Helper's "Impending Crisis"
was fit to be Speaker — a blow at Sherman, the republican
candidate for the position. But the whigs, realizing fully their
strategical position, were not receptive. Gilmer, of North
Carolina, moved as a substitute that all good citizens should
oppose every attempt to renew the slavery agitation. In the
prolonged contest for the Speakership, there was at first a
deadlock. On the thirty-sixth ballot there was a decided move-
ment to compromise on Gilmer, who received thirty-six votes.
The North Carolina democrats were alarmed, for Gilmer was
an uncompromising partisan whose influence the southern
democrats greatly feared. Under the leadership of Warren
Winslow, they threw their influence to another North Carolina
whig, W. N. H. Smith, who received 112 votes on the thirty-
ninth ballot. The republicans, alarmed at the prospect of the
Speakership going to the South, then dropped Sherman for
Pennington, a moderate republican, who swung sufficient
northern whig votes to secure the election on the forty-fourth
ballot. Throughout the contest there were many threats of
violence. At one time L. O'B. Branch, of North Carolina, chal-
lenged Mr. Grow, a Pennsylvania republican, to a duel, which
Grow declined. Both were later arrested and placed under
bond to keep the peace.
With such a political background — the rise of the advalo-
rem issue, the revival of the whig organization, the excitement
over abolition propaganda, the increase of republican votes in
Congress — the presidential campaign of 1860 opened. In the
democratic state convention radical sentiments dominated.
The platform emphasized the right to take slaves into terri-
tories, and declared that the people would resist any encroach-
ment on their constitutional privileges. Governor Ellis
326 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
declared that the existence of slavery in the states as well as
the territories was at stake. But among the delegates to the
national convention, which met at Charleston, there was a
distinct cleavage between the radicals and the conservatives,
with the latter in the majority. It was the hope of Yancey
and the leaders from the far South to win the support of the
delegation from North Carolina in order to force the accept-
ance of a platform endorsing the Dred Scott decision and also
to prevent the nomination of Stephen A. Douglas for the
presidency. As a step in this direction, William W. Avery,
of Burke County, a radical, was made chairman of the com-
mittee on resolutions. There was much caucusing for the pro-
slavery cause in which the North Carolina conservatives, led
by Bedford Brown and W. W. Holden, refused to participate.
Wrote Mr. Holden :
When I reached Charleston, I was taken aside by a friend in
whom I had full confidence, who said, "Holden, I know you want to
do right; I have been here several days, and I have information of
a purpose on the part of some of our Southern friends to dissolve
the Union." I was greatly surprised and concerned. He said to
me, "I give you tonight to listen and learn, and in the morning tell
me what you think and what your purpose is."
The night of the day on which we all reached Charleston, we held
a meeting in our delegation room and Mr. Senator Bayard of Dela-
ware presided. A motion was made to appoint a committee from our
delegation to visit the Southern delegations, and confer with them,
mainly because some of them were natives of North Carolina. This
motion was opposed by Bedford Brown, R. P. Dick, and myself, and
voted down. We maintained that it would be a sectional act and
under the circumstances would be improper. And there I saw the
cropping out of the purpose of which my friend had just warned me.
Colonel Bedford Brown had just said to me, "Mr. Holden, our dele-
gation has very properly decided not to send officially any one to
visit the Southern delegates, but we can go as individuals to a great
meeting to be held to-night, near this place on Charleston Street. I
propose to go, will you go?" William A. Moore of Edenton was
standing by, and said he would go too. The meeting was held
upstairs in a very large room which was filled. I heard several
speeches and they were all for disunion, save the short speech made
by Colonel Bedford Brown. Mr. William L. Yancey of Alabama
spoke first, for a considerable time. He was followed by Mr. Glenn,
Attorney General of Mississippi. Colonel Brown then took the floor,
being called out by Mr. Glenn, who was his kinsman. He made a con-
servative Union speech, and was interrupted, and scraped, and
laughed down. An Arkansas Militia General whose name I have
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 327
forgotten, and who was unknown in the conflict between the North
and South, replied to Colonel Brown, and ridiculed his views, amid
general and vehement applause. Colonel Brown then turned to me
and said, ' ' Mr. Holden, let us shake off the dust from our feet of this
disunion conventicle and retire."
We returned to the Charleston Hotel, and very soon a large crowd
with a band of music appeared at the front of the hotel. Speaking
was going on at various points, and presently, some bold fellow in
front of the hotel shouted, "Three cheers for the Star Spangled
Banner!" and fled for his life. The reply was from the crowd,
"Damn the Star Spangled Banner, tear it down."
The next morning I told my friend who had warned me of the
danger of disunion, and of bolting the body, that my mind was
made up, and that I would stand by the American Union at all
hazards and to the last extremity. 1
When the debate on the platform was held, the North Caro-
lina delegation as a whole favored neither the majority nor
the minority report, but simply a reaffirmation of the Cincin-
nati platform of 1856. When it was evident that the minority
report, reflecting the opinion of the Northern democracy,
would be adopted, the protest of William S. Ashe and Bedford
Brown caused the rejection of a clause referring the whole
matter of slavery in territories to the Supreme Court. When
the revised report was adopted, the North Carolina delegates
refused to follow those of the cotton states who bolted the con-
vention, and thereby restrained the Virginia delegation. Con-
cerning this crisis Mr. Holden said :
A few days afterwards while the vote was going on, and while
South Carolina and Georgia and Mississippi and Florida and Arkan-
sas and other states south of us were bolting, another friend of mine,
Mr. R. C. Pearson, of Burke, approached me from the rear, and
said to me most earnestly, "You must make a speech and hold our
delegations against going out." He had come for me through the
Virginia delegation who sat in the rear, "for," said he, "from what
I have heard, if our delegates go out, Virginia will go out also, and
the convention will be broken up." I said, "Mr. Pearson, I am not in
the habit of speaking very often — there are 600 delegates here, and a
vast audience besides — it would be a piece of assurance on my part,
to attempt to address this body at this time, especially amid this excite-
ment, with Mr. Gushing, the president of the body, hostile to Mr.
Douglas and his friends I can't get a hearing." "Yes, you can," said
he, "I will go around and speak to the Indiana, the Illinois and the
Ohio delegations, and ask them when you arise to speak, to insist on
1 Memoirs, pp. 9-11.
328 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
North Carolina being heard. ' ' I then told him I would try as soon as
Mr. Seward of Georgia took his seat. I arose and said, "Mr. Presi-
dent, Mr. Holden of North Carolina. ' ' Mr. Cushing sat for twenty sec-
onds and did not recognize me. Then the states mentioned arose and de-
manded in a voice of thunder that North Carolina be heard. Mr. Cush-
ing arose and bowed, and gave me the floor. I spoke for ten minutes.
I told the convention I had been sent there by the state of North Caro-
lina, one of the four state delegates; that I could not be a party to
any steps looking to disunion ; that my party had sent me to maintain
and preserve, and not to destroy the bonds of the Union; that by an
immense majority the people of my state, with George Washington
the Father of the Country, would frown indignantly on the first
dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from
the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which link together the various
points.
After ineffectual balloting for the presidential nomination,
the convention adjourned to meet at Baltimore. There now
occurred a distinct movement in favor of Stephen A. Douglas.
The Standard was outspoken for him, as were also four of the
ten electors. Personal ties also favored him, his wife by his
first marriage having been a lady of Rockingham County.
But the policy of the Baltimore convention in seating Douglas
delegations and rejecting all others caused another with-
drawal of Southern members, among them all of the North
Carolina delegates except three, Holden, R. P. Dick, and J. W.
B. Watson. Douglas was nominated, but Holden and Watson
did not vote. The sixteen bolting members then joined a new
convention in which Avery was again chairman of the com-
mittee on resolutions. The majority report of the Charleston
convention was then adopted and Breckenridge was nominated
for the presidency, but the North Carolina delegates cast their
first ballot for Dickinson and Green. On the next ballot one
of the North Carolina delegation nominated Lane for the vice-
presidency, who was chosen.
But the state democracy was not yet united. There was
still considerable sentiment for Douglas. Of the electors,
Henry W. Miller resigned and refused to support Brecken-
ridge. There was a demand that a party convention be called
to decide the matter, but the state executive committee refused
to take action. Thereupon the Standard proposed that the
electors vote for either Breckenridge or Douglas, according
to the chances for defeating Lincoln. On August 30 the Doug-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 329
las men held a convention at Raleigh which was addressed by
Douglas himself, put out electors, and started a campaign
newspaper, the National Democrat. But the tide of demo-
cratic opinion drifted toward Breckenridge. The Standard
failed to join the Douglas movement, and in the election he
received less than 3,000 votes.
In contrast to the dissention among the democrats was
the unanimity among the whigs. Their state convention, like
the national one, avoided the slavery issue; in the latter,
Governor Graham received the vote of the state delegation
for the presidential nomination. The campaign was notable
for a sense of sobriety and seriousness. The radicals were
less extreme in their demands than in 1856. There was no
threat of secession in case of Lincoln's election until October.
In reply a great mass meeting was held at Salisbury toward
the middle of the month under whig auspices. It lasted two
days and was attended by prominent whig leaders. A notable
incident was a speech by Zebulon B. Vance in behalf of union,
of two hours' duration, delivered in a drizzling rain, which
held the audience spell-bound. "But one sentiment pre-
vailed," wrote a correspondent, "and that was, we will fight
for the Constitution, the Union, and the laws, within the
Union and the laws. We will not be influenced by seceders in
the South or black Republicans in the North, and we will never
give up our institutions until stern necessity compels us to
believe that they, being no longer adequate to our protection,
we must resort to that right of revolution which is inherent
in every people. ' '
"With the assurance of a secession movement in case of a
republican victory, the ultimate influence that determined the
election in North Carolina was the choice between nationality
and disunion. Undoubtedly the vast majority of the voters
held no brief for secession, but between a president repre-
senting the sectional ideals of the Northwest and one repre-
senting those of the South, there could be no choice. More-
over it was argued that the surest check to secession would be
a victory for Breckenridge. Such an interpretation was war-
ranted by the popular vote in November, which was : Breck-
enridge, 48,539; Bell, 44,990; Douglas, 2,401. Breckenridge 's
330 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
majority over both opponents was thus 848. Suggestive also
was the sectional character of the vote. Most of the extreme
eastern counties gave Bell a majority, as did also most of
the western counties. On the other hand, the middle eastern
counties and those of the west where the tobacco and cotton
industries were well established, also a group along the Ten-
nessee line, gave a majority for Breckenridge. Thus the old
alignment between whigs and democrats which characterized
politics before 1850 was revived. In the months to come that
party division, as well as the question of secession, was to
be tested.
CHAPTER XVII
AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES, MINING,
TRANSPORTATION
The thirty years prior to 1860 mark a distinct epoch in
the advance of agriculture, the utilization of natural re-
sources, the expansion of industries, and the growth of trans-
portation. Then appeared the foundations, somewhat rudi-
mentary, for that economic life which received its greatest
impetus after 1865.
In 1860 more than 98 per cent of the population was rural.
The largest city was Wilmington, with 9,555 souls. Agricul-
ture was the principal occupation. In several aspects it
differed from conditions in other states. The average size of
farms was 316 acres, to 352 for the South Atlantic states ; the
percentage of improved land was 27.4, less than in Georgia,
South Carolina, or Virginia; the value per acre was $7.59,
to $11.33 for the South Atlantic region. Yet between 1850
and 1860 the value of farm property increased 101.4 per
cent and the value of implements from $78 per farm to $115.
For this relative backwardness the causes were patent.
One was that North Carolina from its earliest days was a
refuge for men of small property who hoped to improve their
economic condition. Few had the financial resources or the
knowledge to conserve or improve the land. The method
of tillage was wasteful. The early settlers cleared the forests
and tilled the virgin soil repeatedly, year after year, with
little rotation of crops and no application of fertilizers, until
its fertility was exhausted. Then the pioneers pushed on in
search of new virgin lands. By this process the country
was reclaimed from the savages, but for several generation?
there was no improvement in the method of cultivation.
331
332 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Gulleys, galls, and old fields marred a land naturally produc-
tive. To these causes should be added the poor facilities
for transportation. The long distance from market centers
made for isolation ; new ideas, inventions, and better methods
slowly reached the people. Ignorance hung like a pall over
the masses.
Although this picture is depressing, there was notable
progress between 1850 and 1860 when the value of farm
products increased 101 per cent. The reason for this im-
provement was a general awakening in regard to agriculture
throughout the state. Its first manifestation was the estab-
lishment of agricultural journals. In 1839 John Sherwood
began the publication of the Farmers' Advocate at James-
town. In 1852 Dr. J. F. Tompkins of Bath founded the
Farmers' Journal, which he removed to Raleigh in 1853.
In the latter year two more publications were begun at
Raleigh: the Arator, by the venerable and experienced jour-
nalist, Thomas J. Lemay, and the Carolina Cultivator, by
William D. Cooke, director of the Asylum for the Deaf,
Dumb, and Blind. Later, in 1858, A. M. Gorman established
the North Carolina Planter at Raleigh. In all these journals
the prevalent methods of cultivation were attacked, and at-
tention was called to the use of fertilizers, the value of deep
plowing, terracing, and the chemistry of soils. Another phase
of the agricultural revival was the foundation of the State
Agricultural Society in 1852 and its annual fair, the first
of which was held at Raleigh in 1853. Co-operating were
county societies in every section of the state. Still another
evidence of progress was the investigation of the state's
agricultural resources, in which the guiding spirit was Dr.
Ebenezer Emmons, state geologist from 1852 to 1863. Several
of his reports touched on agriculture; the first, issued in
1852, included a study of the agriculture of the eastern coun-
ties ; the third, in 1858, contained a general treatise on agricul-
ture; the fourth and fifth, which appeared in 1860, consisted
respectively of " Sketches of Lower North Carolina," by the
foremost Virginia agriculturist, Edmund Rufim, and a report
on the swamp lands belonging to the Literary Fund. The Uni-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 333
versity was also responsive to the new movement, establishing
a chair of Applied Chemistry in 1854.
There were some notable results from this intelligent
interest in agricultural improvement. Said Chief Justice
Kuffin before the Agricultural Society in 1855 :
Of the counties ranging along our northern border, from Warren
to Stokes, inclusive, I have had for about fifty years, considerable
knowledge. That was the principal region of tobacco culture. Ac-
cording to the course of that culture, wherever it prevailed in our
annals, the country was cut down rapidly, cropped mercilessly with a
view to quantity rather than quality, then put into corn, and exhausted
quickly and almost entirely. When I first knew it, and for a long
time afterwards, there were abounding evidences of former fertility,
and existing and sorrowful sterility. Corn and tobacco and oats
were almost the only crops. But little wheat and no grasses were to
be seen in the country. Warren and Granville bought the little flour
they used from Orange wagons. Large tracts were disfigured by
frightful galls and gulleys, turned out as ' ' old fields, ' ' with pines and
broom straws for their only vesture instead of their stately primeval
forests, or rich crops for the use of man. This is a sad picture. But
it is a true one ; and there was more fact than figure in the saying by
many, whose work of destruction rendered that region so desolate,
and who then abandoned it, that it was "old and worn out." Hap-
pily, some thought its condition not so hopeless, and cherishing this
attachment for the spots of their nativity, within these few years —
since the time of railroads and river navigation began — set about re-
pairing the ravages of former days. Do you suppose they were content
with less crops, and therefore that they cultivated less land than be-
fore, leaving a larger portion for recovery by rest? That was not
their course. They did not give up the cultivation of tobacco, but
gradually increased it, and corn also ; and they added to their rotation
wheat, when so much more easily and cheaply carried to market. But
they gradually increased the collection and application of manures from
the stables and cattle yards, with considerable additions of the concen-
trated manures obtained from abroad, and protected the land from wash-
ing by judicious hill-side trenching and more thorough washing. The
result has been that many old fields have been reclaimed and brought
into cultivation, that lands generally much increased in fertility, and,
of course, in actual and market value in a like proportion, while the
production has probably doubled in quantity and value in all the
range of counties mentioned.
The pioneer and presumably the banner county in agri-
cultural improvement was Edgecombe. There, about 1847,
the use of marl and fertilizers of various kinds was intro-
duced on the plantations of the Battles', Bridges', Danceys',
334 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Norfleets', and others. Within six years production wonder-
fully increased, until Edgecombe was widely known as the
leading agricultural county of the state.
Among the principal crops there were both a notable
increase of production and also tendencies toward concentra-
tion. Tobacco culture is illustrative. It had its origin in the
colonial period and followed the tide of immigration as it
flowed into the piedmont region. Production almost trebled
between 1850 and 1860, increasing from 11,984,786 pounds
to 32,853,250 pounds. Yet in 1850 about eighty per cent of
the crop was produced in Caswell, Granville, Person and
Wayne counties; and in 1860 the same percentage held good
for these counties and four others, Franklin, Orange, Rock-
ingham and Stokes. Rice culture was concentrated in Bruns-
wick County, which produced over 6,700,000 of the 7,593,000
pounds yielded in 1860. Cotton culture did not expand rap-
idly until after 1820; production in 1801 was around 10,000
bales ; it probably increased to 25,000 in 1821 and by 1840 had
reached 129,815. In 1850 there was a sharp decline to
73,845 bales, but in 1860 production shot up to 145,514. The
area of large production (over 1,000 bales per county) in-
cluded the following counties: Anson, Cabarrus, Mecklen-
burg, Montgomery, Rowan, Richmond, Surry, Union and
Wake in the piedmont region ; and Bertie, Duplin, Edgecombe,
Franklin, Greene, Halifax, Hertford, Johnston, Martin, Nash,
Northampton, Pitt, Robeson, Wayne, and Wilson in the east.
It is notable that the production of cereals did not decline with
the increase of tobacco and cotton. The wheat crop of 1860
was 4,743,706 bushels, an increase of over 2,500,000 compared
with that of 1850. The corn crop, of 1860 was over 30,000,000
bushels, likewise an increase of over 2,500,000 compared with
that of 1850. In the production of peas and beans North
Carolina was exceeded only by Mississippi.
In the development of manufactures there were three
distinct periods. The first extended from colonial days
through the first decade of the nineteenth century. Domestic
and household production flourished. The eastern counties
were notable for their naval stores and lumber. In the pied-
mont and western counties the industrial genius of the Scotch-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 335
Irish and Germans was manifest in a number of industries.
There in 1814 Tenche Coxe listed fifteen of the twenty fulling-
mills in the state, twenty-three iron works, three paper mills,
and eight powder mills. In 1813 Michael Schenck established
in Lincolnton a cotton mill, certainly the second, and probably
the first, south of the Potomac River. In 1814 it was esti-
mated that 23,750 fur hats were produced in the western
region. In all sections distilleries and looms were plentiful.
The former in 1814 numbered 5,426, with a product estimated
at 1,386,691 gallons. In the same year the looms numbered
40,798, producing 7,376,154 yards of cloth, far more than the
woolen and cotton output of Massachusetts. Evidently in
the early nineteenth century there was a strong tendency
for North Carolina to become a manufacturing center. But
with the advent of cotton culture after 1800, for almost a gen-
eration agriculture dominated all other economic interests;
leadership in manufacturing was taken by New England
and the middle states, where machinery and the mill sup-
planted domestic and home production.
There were two by-products of this predominance of agri-
culture ; one was the exhaustion of the soil and a steady emi-
gration to other states in search of virgin lands ; the other
was the decline in the price of cotton after 1825, due to the
increased production throughout the South. These facts
contributed to the profound sense of economic depression, so
notable in the criticisms of North Carolina during the period.
In the legislature of 1827-28 resolutions were passed to inquire
into the expediency of encouraging the growth of wool and
of establishing cotton and woolen factories. The report of
the committee to which the resolutions were referred declared
that "a crisis is at hand, when our citizens must turn a portion
of their labour and enterprise into the other channels of in-
dustry; otherwise, poverty and ruin will fall to every class
in our community. * * * The great fall in the prices of
agricultural products has not only reduced the value of every
species of property, but as a consequence, has in effect dou-
bled the debts of individuals. * If the planter in
North Carolina can barely afford to raise cotton at eight
cents per pound, he must soon be driven from its culture
336 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
altogether, by farmers in the west, whose new rich lands
enable them to produce it with less labour and expense."
On the other hand, consumption of imported goods did not
decline in proportion to the decline of agricultural values,
so resulting in a depression of trade balances. The notes of
North Carolina banks were sold at a discount in 1828 and
the banks themselves were facing liquidation. "This creates
a distress that impels thousands of our citizens to abandon
their homes and their hopes in their native state, and seek
relief abroad, where better prospects are opened to them. If,
in transplanting themselves from their native soil, they bet-
ter their condition, it is certain that their friends who remain
behind are left in a worse condition."
The remedy suggested for the situation thus presented
was an economic reform that would "enable us to buy less
and sell more — that will enable us to supply within ourselves,
our own wants and necessities. But how is this important
revolution to be accomplished? We unhesitatingly answer,
by introducing the Manufacturing System and fabricating at
least to the extent of our own wants. We go further. Instead
of sending off at great expense our raw material, convert it
into fabrics at home, and in that state bring it into market.
But the profits arising from the process of convert-
ing the raw material are not the only advantages attending
the system. Another is, that it will take from agriculture
some of the surplus labor, and turn it into other pursuits.
It will convert producers into consumers, and thus create at
home, in the bosom of the community, good markets for the
products of the farmer. ' ' x
Even before the legislative report pioneer factories had
been started. As early as 1802 cotton spinning machines were
reported at Fayetteville. The Schenck mill near Lincolnton
had been in operation since 1813. In 1820 another factory
was built at Rocky Mount, Edgecombe County, with approxi-
mately 2,000 spindles, in which negro labor was used until
1851. A smaller mill was built near Lincolnton in 1822. In
1 Report on the establishment of cotton and woolen manufactures,
etc., January 1, 1828.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
337
18:25 a cotton factory was erected at Fayetteville. In 1830
the Mount Hecla Mill at Greensboro was opened, and in 1837
Holt and Carrigan started another factory at Alamance
Creek. Some years before 1840 Francis Fries and the Salem
Manufacturing Co. were engaged in the manufacture of cot-
ton goods. The census of 1840 listed twenty-five cotton mills
located as follows: eight in Cumberland County, three in
Orange, two in Randolph, and one each in Chatham, Caswell,
Davie, Davidson, Edgecombe, Guilford, Lincoln, Montgomery,
Rockingham, Richmond, Surry, and Stokes.
Old Alamance Mill, Burlington, North Carolina, and Its
Founder, Edwin M. Holt
The first colored cotton fabric in the South was woven in this mill.
It was built in 1837. Today North Carolina leads all the states in
number of cotton mills.
This nascent industrialism was the subject of comment
by the press at home and abroad. Said the editor of the
Raleigh Register in 1840: "The enterprise of the citizens of
this state is rapidly enabling it to become independent of the
North in almost every branch of manufacture. It has now
more factories than were ten years ago in the whole South."
In 1843 the editor of Nlles Register declared that a "complete
revolution in the trade of cotton yarns has been effected in
North Carolina within a few years by the establishment of a
Vol. 11—2 2
338 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
number of factories in that state. Prior to the year 1836,
immense quantities of the article were imported into the state
from the North. In that year a factory was established in
Fiayetteville ; others were soon after established throughout
the state; and now, instead of drawing their supplies from
abroad, large quantities are now exported. In Fayetteville,
there are six factories which cost about $347,000. Three of
these manufacture brown sheetings ; the fourth has just com-
menced to weave heavy Osnaburgs, weighing a half pound to
the yard; the other two make yarns only. Sheetings, shirt-
ings, and bagging manufacture there have acquired a reputa-
tion second to none." The manufacturing revival was not
limited to cotton. Three woolen mills were established, two in
Davie, and one in Stokes. Distilleries supplying the whole-
sale trade were numerous, 2,802 reported in 1840 producing
over 1,000,000 gallons of liquor. Tanneries and lumber mills
were also productive. The following table represents the
general progress of manufacturing from 1840 to 1860 :
Year No. Establishments Capital Products
1840 $3,838,900* $ 3,571,321
1850 2,663 7,456,860 9,111,050
1860 3,689 9,693,703 16,678,698
Leading Industries in 1860
Name of Industry No. Establishments Capital Products
Cotton Goods 39 $1,272,750 $1,046,047
Flour and Meal Mills 639 1,719,823 4,354,309
Distilled Turpentine. 461 1,113,778 4,358,878
Crude Turpentine 1,065 939,448 952,542
Tobacco 97 646,730 1,117,099
Lumber, sawed 330 742,420 1,074,003
*
Incomplete, for liquors not included.
Concerning management, labor, and other important prob-
lems of industry, little is known. Most of the factories were
owned and operated by private manufacturers, while in South
Carolina and in Georgia the corporate type dominated. The
average profits in 1845 were reported to be 14 per cent. Labor
was cheap — about 50 cents a day — and this was one of the in-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 339
ducements to capitalists mentioned in the legislative report
of 1828. It was also held that negro labor proved more effi-
cient and less costly than white labor in New England. Mr.
Donaldson, owning a cotton mill at Fayetteville, was quoted
as holding that negro labor was "not only equal to whites in
aptness to learn and skill to execute, but, all things considered,
he actually prefers them." Mr. Donaldson further stated
that he had had several superintendents from the North, and
all of them, with the exception of one, decidedly preferred
black help, as they called it, to white. "With the black there
is no turning out for wages, and no time lost in visiting
musters and other public exhibitions." In spite of these ad-
vantages negro labor was rarely used. Yet the task of recruit-
ing white laborers was not an easy one. The operators
came mainly from the farms; they were individualists, seek-
ing better economic advantages, and hoping some day to rise
to the planter class. Their residence at the mills was not
always permanent, and they were liable to become restless
under the supervision of the mill bosses. Gradually a class
of permanent workers was built up who were willing to adopt
mill labor as a life occupation. In 1850 the average annual
wage was $163.
Extending through the periods of domestic manufactures
and the nascent factory system was the lumber and naval
stores industry. The exploitation of the long leaf pine region
along the coast began in the eighteenth century. Tar, pitch,
and turpentine, produced by the same methods used by the
ancient Greeks, were shipped to England principally through
Norfolk and Wilmington. "The crude turpentine was
brought down the rivers on rafts and small boats from as
high as Edgecombe county to Washington, from Wayne to
Newbern, and from all northern tributaries of the Cape Fear
river to Wilmington, and was distilled in crude iron stills
partly at the shipping points, partly in Philadelphia and
New York, and much also went to England to be there dis-
tilled. The spirits of turpentine usually found quick sales
and good prices except when over-production took place, and
was preferred in France even to the Bordeaux turpentine,
which was made in the department of the Landes in Gascony,
340 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
being less odorous and more uniform in quality than that.
The rosin manufactured was worth very little, getting down
as low as 25 cents a barrel and then so low it would not pay
to handle it. The tar and pitch manufactured at first gave
general satisfaction and were made in large quantities." 2
Gradually the industry declined in the northeastern coun-
ties and was concentrated in those of the southeast. By 1800
Wilmington was one of the largest shipping points in the
world for turpentine and tar, the amount of crude turpentine
shipped in 1804 being 77,000 barrels.
As the forests of the coastal region were exhausted, the
industry moved inland. By 1844 Fayetteville had a turpen-
tine distillery to which was shipped the crude turpentine pro-
duced in Harnett, Cumberland, Chatham and Moore coun-
ties. In spite of the extension of the industry into states
further south, North Carolina in 1860 was the source of 70
per cent of all the turpentine produced in the United States.
Lumber was another product. Wilmington in the eight-
eenth century made shipments to the West Indies, and from
the Albemarle section staves were exported in quantity. After
1840 the business declined, due to the exhaustion of the forests
of the coastal region; thereafter production was mainly for
home consumption.
With the opening of the nineteenth century began the ex-
ploitation of mineral resources. Gold deposits were dis-
closed in three regions ; in Franklin County, to a greater de-
gree in the central piedmont plateau, and also along the foot
of the Blue Ridge. According to tradition the metal was
first mined in the present boundaries of Gaston County prior
to the Revolution, while the Cherokee Indians are said to
have found gold in the mountain region long before their
removal from the state. The first recorded discovery of gold
was in Mecklenburg County in 1799 by Conrad Reed. From
1804 to 1827 North Carolina mines were the source of all the
gold produced in the United States. Yet the area of pro-
duction before 1825 was not extensive ; Olmsted declared that
2 Ashe, The Forests, Forest Lands and Forest Products of Eastern
North Carolina, p. 74.
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 341
the gold area was approximately 1,000 square miles, includ-
ing the greater part of Montgomery, the northern part of
Anson, the northeastern corner of Mecklenburg, western
Cabarrus, and a corner of Rowan and Randolph counties.
After 1825 a much larger area was mined, for Doctor Emmons
in 1856 also enumerated mines in Davidson, Burke, Union,
Stanly, Catawba, and Guilford counties. Down to 1838 the
amount of North Carolina gold coined in the United States
mint amounted to $2,891,792. A large amount of the metal
was also used in the jeweler's trade and was even shipped
to Europe. Wrote the geologist Rothe in 1826: "It is well
known that but a small portion of the gold found at these
mines goes to the mint. The silversmiths of every portion of
the country, north and south, purchase it up to be wrought
into jewelry and plate of all descriptions. It is preferred
by them on many accounts to gold coin and consequently
they give a better price than the mint. ' ' 3 But the drain of
labor to the Southwest and the discovery of gold in California
caused a decline in the industry in North Carolina. Over-
capitalization, speculation, and wasteful methods of mining
also characterized gold industry; yet the first use of the hy-
draulic process in the South, probably in the nation, was at
the mines of W. II. Vandyke in Burke County, about 1850.
The conversion of bullion into coin was a difficulty on account
of the long distance to Philadelphia. Hence in 1831 Christian
Bechtler, a German jeweller living near Rutherfordton, began
to coin gold into one, two and one-half, and five dollar pieces.
In the nine years from 1831 to 1840 he coined $2,241,840.50.
As this was a violation of federal authority the United States
Government made an investigation, but finding that the
Bechtler coins were heavier than those made by the federal
mint, and realizing the need of specie in the piedmont section,
there was no prosecution and the Bechtler mint remained in
operation until 1857. In 1835 Congress authorized the estab-
lishment of a Government Mint at Charlotte, which began
Operation in 1837.
Iron was also discovered and mined. Deposits were found
3 American Journal of Science, 1828.
Die Used by Bechtler, also $2.50 Gold Piece Coined by Bechtler
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 343
in the bog lands of the east and also in three belts, one in
Chatham County, a second extending through Montgomery
and Guilford to the Virginia line, and the third in Lincoln and
Gaston counties. As early as 1729 small shipments were sent
to England from the bog ore deposits. As immigration moved
into the piedmont region, production increased; forges were
erected along the Cape Fear, the Deep, and the Yadkin rivers.
The Revolution stimulated production and during the conflict
forges were built in Guilford (Franklin Furnace), Cleveland
(near King's Mountain), Lincoln (Union Forge), and Stokes
(Snow Creek). After 1800 the iron industry increased and
in 1859 there were in operation forty-nine bloomeries and six
charcoal furnaces. However, production was for the home
market, and when railway transportation developed com-
petition with larger fields elsewhere caused a decline rather
than an expansion of the industry.
Coal, the handmaid of iron, was also disclosed in two local-
ities; along Deep River, principally in Moore and Chatham
counties, and along the Dan River region in Rockingham and
Stokes counties. Mines were opened as early as the Revolu-
tion but there was practically no attempt at exploitation of
the coal deposits until the decade prior to 1860. Then an
investigation of Doctor Emmons, state geologist, and reports
by Colonel T. T. S. Laidley and Captain Charles Wilkes on be-
half of the United States Government attracted wide atten-
tion. The coal of the Egypt mines in Chatham County was de-
clared equal to the best New Castle coal, excellent for the
manufacture of gas, and less expensively mined than the
coal of Pennsylvania. Considerable capital was invested.
A railroad was projected from Fayetteville to the coal fields
of Chatham, others from the coal region to Raleigh and to
the South Carolina line, and from the Dan River region to
the Raleigh and Gaston and to Greensboro.
Other minerals were also disclosed. About 1830 silver
ore was mined, principally in Davidson County. There the
Washington Mine or King's Mine, later the Silver Hill, Con-
rad Hill, Peters Mine, Cross Mine, and the Emmons Mine,
also Ward's Mine in Davie and McMackin's in Cabarrus,
were all widely known and attracted considerable capital,
344 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
especially in the decade from 1850 to 1860. But the lack of
improved machinery and the presence of other minerals kept
silver mining from becoming profitable. Lead was also found,
especially in the neighborhood of silver ore, notably in David-
son County ; likewise zinc. Soapstone was mined in Chatham,
copper in Guilford and Randolph. Experiments with graph-
ite were made in Wake and Lincoln counties. Corundum
was noted as early as 1846. A few diamonds were discovered
before 1860 but no systematic search for gems was made
until after 1865.
An important phase of the prosperity between 1850 and
1860 was the improvement in transportation facilities. The
first two railroads, the Wilmington and Raleigh and the
Raleigh and Gaston, not only served the public, but paid
dividends after 1850. The construction of the North Carolina
Railroad stimulated the popular imagination and it also en-
joyed a large patronage. In fact a new wave of agitation for
state aid to further improvement of transportation began
about 1852. The people of the mountain counties clamored
for rail communication with the piedmont and the east. Since
the Raleigh and Gaston and the Wilmington and Raleigh rail-
ways fed the Virginia markets and the North Carolina Rail-
road, through its terminus at Charlotte, fed the markets of
South Carolina, the old argument for a great home-market
city was revived. Such a market, it was argued, should be
built up at Beaufort, which was reported to have the best
harbor between Norfolk and Charleston. There imports from
Europe would be received, so cutting off the profits of Nor-
folk and the Northern merchants, and also the products of the
state would be exported to Europe direct. Fayetteville
and Wilmington also demanded consideration; the former a
connection with the coal and iron counties, the latter aid in
meeting the competition of the markets of upper South Car-
olina. Likewise the people of the tobacco belt along the Vir-
ginia line, the planters of the Albemarle region, and the large
cotton producing counties of the middle east demanded better
transportation. Neither political party dared obstruct the
movement, for both whigs and democrats were bidding for
support over the issues of manhood suffrage and a constitu-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 345
tional convention. Moreover a state-wide system of internal
improvements fitted in well with the rising tide of section-
alism. Said Governor Reid in his inaugural address of 1854 :
"There never was a time when there existed a stronger neces-
sity for self reliance. The North during the last twenty-five
years in the way of protection and other unjust taxation, has
extorted from North Carolina more money than would have
been required to improve all our rivers and construct all our
railroads. The farmer and other classes need cheap trans-
portation and convenient markets where they can carry their
property with safety. They need commercial and manufac-
turing towns and cities at home, with shipping to do their own
importing and exporting, without continuing longer to pay
tribute to the North."
The scheme of paramount importance was for eastern
and western extensions of the North Carolina Railroad, the
former to connect Goldsboro with Beaufort, the latter Salis-
bury with the mountain region. If this were carried through
the dream of Joseph Caldwell, a generation before, for an
all-state route from the mountains to the sea would be real-
ized. In the legislature of 1852 bills for state aid to this and
other projects were defeated : but two companies were char-
tered, the Atlantic and North Carolina and the Western; the
former had an authorized capital of $900,000, the latter of
$3,000,000. In the campaign of 1854 both political parties
endorsed state aid to these enterprises. Consequently in
the succeeding legislature not only the extension plans but a
variety of other schemes were introduced as worthy of state
aid. The Fayetteville interests favored connection of the west
with the coast by a line from Beaufort via Warsaw, on the
Wilmington and Raleigh, to Fayetteville, thence through the
Deep River mineral region to Greensboro, on the North Caro-
lina Railroad. The Wilmington influence demanded a road
from Wilmington along the South Carolina line to the moun-
tain region. The tobacco counties of the Dan River section
asked for a road connecting them with the Raleigh and Gaston
at Henderson. The North Carolina Railroad sought increased
state aid, while the eastern interests demanded river improve-
ment and a canal to the Chesapeake Bay. The response of
346 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
the legislature was liberal. The North Carolina road re-
ceived a new subscription of $1,0.00,000 for preferred stock,
the state thus coming into ownership of three-fourths of the
entire stock, and the charter of the corporation was so
amended as to give the state eight of the twelve directors.
The plea of Fayetteville for connection with Beaufort and the
west was of no avail ; on the other hand, the capitalization of
the Atlantic and North Carolina was increased to $1,600,000,
the state subscribing two-thirds, no payment to fall due until
the remaining one-third had been subscribed and at least
$300,000 paid in, both state and private subscriptions to be
advanced simultaneously in four installments. In return the
state was to select eight of the twelve directors. For the
western extension of the North Carolina road a new charter
was given under the name Western North Carolina Eailroad.
The corporation was authorized to issue stock to the amount
of $6,000,000, the state to subscribe for two-thirds; the con-
struction of the road was to proceed by divisions, the eastern
and the western, and the eastern division was to be com-
pleted before work on the western should begin. The
state's subscription was to be met by the issue of bonds, for
which a mortgage on the road was to be taken. The state was
also to be represented by a proxy at the meetings of stock
holders and was to appoint eight of the twelve directors. For
the Wilmington interests, and as a stroke at the South Caro-
lina market towns, the Wilmington, Charlotte, and Ruther-
fordton was chartered, with a capital of $2,000,000, the state
to endorse $200,000 of its bonds for each unit of twenty-five
miles completed. Evidently the North Carolina Railroad and
the Wilmington and Raleigh interests dominated the railroad
appropriations, for state aid was extended only to lines which
would feed the existing roads.
The construction of these new lines raised unexpected
problems. Under the charters towns and counties were al-
lowed to make stock subscriptions. This aroused local oppo-
sition but the provisions were sustained by the Supreme
Court. In the location of the eastern terminus of the At-
lantic and North Carolina, there was division of opinion
between the directors and the citizens of Beaufort; the re-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 347
suit was that Carolina City and Sheppard's Point were
chosen. Individual stockholders paid their subscriptions
slowly and the Atlantic and North Carolina Company was
forced to raise money by loans. In 1857 the state was ap-
pealed to, and further aid was given through a loan of
$400,000 in the form of bonds, for which a mortgage on the
road was taken ; a sinking fund was also provided for from the
road's income. The bonds were sold by the company at a
loss of $114,269. However the road, ninety-five miles in length,
was completed in January, 1858. It proved to be serviceable
and profitable; its business in 1860 amounted to $100,000,
its profit of $35,000 going into the sinking fund.
Greater difficulties and complications arose in the con-
struction of the Western North Carolina. The first divi-
sion, it was provided by the company, should extend from
Salisbury to Burke County. But it was soon discovered that
if the road passed through the town of Newton, as planned,
the funds would be exhausted before Morganton was reached.
Therefore Burke County subscribers refused to make good
their subscriptions and the Newton subscribers protested
against any discrimination against their town. By a com-
promise the legislature directed that the terminus of the east-
ern division be Morganton, that a branch line be constructed
to Newton, and that extra subscription of stock be allowed
by individuals and the state to meet the cost. By 1860 the
road was completed and in operation to Morganton. In the
meantime the question of a terminus for the western division
had to be decided. One plan, also the cheapest, was to locate
this at Paint Rock where connection would be made with the
East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad; the other
was to build via Waynesville to Ducktown, so opening up a
large section of mountain country and connecting at the latter
point with the Georgia and Blue Ridge Railroad. Although
the estimated cost from Asheville to Ducktown was $35,000,-
000, the latter plan was adopted, so providing for a through
line of track from the Tennessee line to Beaufort. The ques-
tion of the Paint Rock connection was left to the Greenville
and French Broad Company, which planned a road from
348 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
South Carolina via Aslieville down the French Broad River.
Plans of construction on both lines were interrupted by war.
Construction of the Wilmington, Charlotte and Ruther-
fordton, to which state aid was given in 1854, was not speedy
or satisfactory. The counties between Wilmington and the
Pee Dee and those between Charlotte and Rutherfordton were
enthusiastic; but the counties of the Pee Dee section feared
that money subscribed by them would be used in the con-
struction of other sections of the track. Hence the company
decided to divide the construction into three sections, the first
extending from Wilmington to the Pee Dee, the second from
the Pee Dee to Charlotte, and the third from Charlotte to
Rutherfordton. Construction was begun in 1857 and by the
close of 1860 the line had been completed seventy miles west
from Wilmington, and from Charlotte west to the Catawba
River. But the Pee Dee counties were laggard; their sub-
scriptions were not sufficient to carry on the work. The
legislature was therefore appealed to and a loan of $966,000
was authorized, $660,000 to be used to finish the track east
of Charlotte and $300,000 west, the security taken being bonds
of the railroad. The plea of the directors of the road in ask-
ing for this aid contained a double appeal. The first was
based on desire for economic independence from the South
Carolina market towns. "Almost the entire line," they said,
"has heretofore been and still is dependent upon the tender
mercies of South Carolina for their transportation and their
market, and this road will release them from burdensome ex-
actions and unwilling vassalage. At Charlotte, at one single
depot our citizens pay annually for transportation over $100,-
000 and this to Columbia alone, and $130,000 more will not
cover the tax they pay to South Carolina roads to reach
Charleston. Other contributions are levied on us at Cheraw,
at Camden, Yorkville, Spartanburg, and Greenville. Why
should our state thus contribute to enrich our southern
neighbors? Why contribute to employ the laborers on their
roads, to purchase their timber, and their fuel — pay their
conductors, engineers, agents and employees — their draymen,
their wharfmen, their commission merchants and add to
her commerce on the ocean? Why should this dependence
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 349
continue, only to be repaid by exactions and derision? Are
we helpless, or are we indifferent to the wants of our house-
hold? Could we not, as a state, and should we not, transfer
the employment now given to others, to those of our own
state? Have we no labor that would be glad of employment,
no fuel or timber to spare, no worthy young men for our
employees, no commerce to foster and encourage?"
The other appeal was to the sectional struggle then brew-
ing. "Now that the Southern cloud, long portending revolu-
tion, is ready to burst with vehemence and tear up sovereign-
ties to their foundation, shall it be said that the call of 200,000
of our citizens is unseasonable, when asking aid to dissever
their past connections and secure to them the full benefits of
their natural allegiance? * The storm now impend-
ing proclaims that they must be looked to, and no longer
be permitted to wander into strange folds. We must all be
one, and be all united in interest, in feeling, and commerce.
Can Georgia coolly vote a million for muskets, and North Car-
olina hesitate to loan as much to reclaim, in the hour of peril,
so large a portion of her people and her territory from do-
minion that in a month may be entirely foreign? — to reclaim
her sons and her daughters, and bind them by indissoluble
bonds into her own family ? — to identify their interests, their
feelings, and their sentiments with their own? — and to add
to her own wealth, her strength and greatness, in case she
must resume her sovereignty and take her stand amidst the
nations of the earth?"
The Wilmington, Charlotte, and Rutherfordton, the Atlan-
tic and North Carolina, and the Western North Carolina
were the large undertakings during the decade from 1850
to 1860. But activity was not confined to these. A host of
minor roads were chartered but not constructed. Some of
these foreshadowed development of the post-bellum period.
To connect Fayetteville and the coalfields of Chatham a pri-
vate road was undertaken ; this was rechartered as the West-
ern Railroad and was loaned $200,000 by the state in 1858, for
which a mortgage was taken. In 1860 it was authorized to
build an extension to Greensboro, and in the same year the
Wilmington and Weldon, formerly the Wilmington and
350 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Raleigh, was authorized to build a branch from Wilmington
to Fayetteville. Thus was initiated the present line from
Greensboro to Wilmington, completed after the Civil War.
Lines were also chartered to connect Greensboro and Leaks-
ville, and High Point with Winston and Danbury, which are
also suggestive of later development. Further west a road
was chartered in 1856 to connect Lenoir with the Western
North Carolina, realized later in the Carolina and North
Western. East of Greensboro the University Railroad, to
connect Chapel Hill with the North Carolina Railroad, was
chartered in 1860. The same year the Chatham Railroad, to
connect the coal fields with Raleigh, was incorporated and
was given a state subscription of $200,000 ; while to reach the
coal fields from South Carolina the Cheraw and Coalfields
had been chartered in 1856. Thus was projectecd the present
stem of the Seaboard Air Line south of Raleigh. Further
east the Albemarle and Suffolk, to connect Suffolk, Virginia,
with Edenton, and the Southern Air Line, to connect Wash-
ington and Wilmington, were chartered in 1856, very sug-
gestive of the present Norfolk Southern. Among other roads
chartered were the Williamston and Tarboro, the Greenville
and Goldsboro, the Washington and Leaksville, the Warsaw
and Fayetteville. Thus a network of railways connecting
all sections and bringing the people into closer contact with
markets and with one another was projected. The revival
of railway activity after 1865 was a logical sequence of ante-
bellum interests.
The railroad was not the only means of transportation
prompted by individuals and aided by the state. The plank
road was popular for a decade after 1848. It was constructed
by laying three or four sleepers or stringers in parallel, close
to the ground, and then covering them with boards three or
four inches thick. Such a road was thought to be cheaper
than "the road of iron," and was therefore introduced in
certain sections where sufficient capital and state aid could
not be secured for railways. Fayetteville was the most prom-
inent terminus for plank roads. In 1848 the Fayetteville and
Western Plank Road Company was incorporated to connect
Fayetteville and Salisbury. It was capitalized at $200,000,
352 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
with authority to increase to $300,000, and the state sub-
scribed three-fifths. Two years later the Fayetteville and
Centre Plank Road was chartered to extend from Fayetteville
to Stanly County and the state in 1854 extended aid by a bond
issue of $50,000; likewise the Fayetteville and Warsaw, to
bring Fayetteville in touch with Warsaw, on the Wilmington
and Weldon Railroad, and the Fayetteville and Northern to
connect Fayetteville and Raleigh were chartered in 1854,
the former receiving state aid to the amount of $10,000. Evi-
dently it was anticipated that plank roads would bring to
Fayetteville a volume of business that railways brought else-
where. In fact the possibilities of the plank road made a wide
appeal. Practically every town with a large population and
ambitious trade hoped to become a terminus for one or more
of these lines. Charlotte, Salisbury, Asheville, Wilmington,
Oxford, and Concord were termini of roads incorporated in
1850, and in 1852 more than a score of new lines were char-
tered. Concerning the construction and service of these
roads, little is known. The Fayetteville and Western was
built from Fayetteville through Carthage, Ashboro, thence
to High Point and Winston, instead of to Salisbury, and the
state stock amounted to $120,000. The state also subscribed
$30,000 to the stock of the Fayetteville and Albemarle. Divi-
dends were paid for a few years by the Fayetteville and
Western and then the profits declined.
Contemporary with the construction of the later railroads
and the plank road movement came a revival of the early
schemes for canal and river navigation. In 1848 a subscrip-
tion of $25,000 was made to the stock of the Tar River Naviga-
tion Company, and an additional subscription of $15,000 was
later made in 1854. In 1848, also, $40,000 were subscribed to
the Neuse River Navigation Company, to which an additional
subscription of $80,000 was added in 1852. In 1854 the Yad-
kin Navigation Company was granted aid to the amount of
$5,000. In 1854 $20,000 were subscribed to the New River
Navigation Company. These appropriations, like those be-
fore 1830, were practically fruitless. The improvement of the
Tar River was undertaken without proper understanding of
the difficulties, and with no fixed determination to finish the
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 353
work. By 1858 the Neuse Navigation Company was insolvent,
but the Gape Fear and Deep River Company to which $300,000
were subscribed, a mortgage being taken, did succeed in mak-
ing navigable the Cape Fear from Fayetteville to the coal
region of Chatham County; west of the coal fields, nothing
was accomplished; in 1858, to protect its interest, the state
purchased the property and the company under a foreclosure
sale.
A new venture was the construction of the Albemarle and
Chesapeake Canal, to connect the extreme northeastern coun-
ties with Suffolk, Virginia. As early as 1807 such a work had
been a part of Gallatin's plans for inland water ways. In
1854 the legislature chartered a corporation to undertake the
canal and authorized the endorsement of its bonds to the
extent of $250,000. In 1856, the bonds not having been sold,
the endorsement was withdrawn, and an immediate subscrip-
tion of $250,000 to the stock was ordered, to be followed by
another subscription of $100,000 when navigation should be
opened the entire length of the canal. This was accomplished
by 1859, and the additional subscription was paid in. The
route of the canal was from North River, a tributary of Albe-
marle Sound, to Currituck Sound, thence up the North Land-
ing River, thence westwardly through an excavated channel
to Elizabeth River in the vicinity of Norfolk.
Evidently by 1860 the state was facing an economic trans-
formation. Agriculture was still the leading occupation but
better methods and increased production were an actuality.
Manufacturing and mining were close competitors for new
thought and effort. Railroads, plankroads and canals were
bringing the people into better communication with markets,
and the various sections of the state into closer contact. In-
dustrially a new sense of statehood was at hand, which coin-
cided with the new sense of social values revealed in the
common school system and the asylums.
Vol. n— 23
CHAPTER XVIII
ACADEMIES AND HIGHER EDUCAT.ION
Between 1783 and 1860 intellectual life in North .Carolina
underwent a transformation as notable as the changes in po-
litical and economic organization. Its manifestations are
found in the rise of private schools and colleges, the expansion
of the press, the foundation of professional societies, the gene-
sis of literature, and the advent of a certain pride in the pos-
sibilities of life in North Carolina.
The real index of educational interest was not the public
school but the academy. The collapse of the restrictions on
the incorporation of schools, maintained by the British Gov-
ernment during the colonial period, was followed by the grant
of charters to academies by the legislature. In 1777 the noted
Queen's Museum was incorporated as Liberty Hall Academy;
in 1779 Science Hall at Hillsboro and Granville Hall in Gran-
ville Countv received charters ; likewise Smith Academv at
Edenton in 1782. With the return of peace in 1783 incorpor-
ation of academies increased, the number chartered from then
until 1860 being 321. Practically every county in the state
had one or more of these institutions. Their location and
dates of incorporation by counties were as follows :
No. of
County Academies Years of Incorporation
Alamance 1 1850
Anson 10 1791, 1800, 1802, 1821, 1822, 1822,
1829, 1833, 1842, 1854
Ashe 1 1860
Beaufort 6 1808. 1822, 1829, 1830, 1831, 1860
Bertie 8 1806, 1807, 1823, 1825, 1832, 1850,
1850, 1850
Bladen 3 .1797, 1810, 1850
Brunswick 1 1798
354
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
355
No. of
County Academies
Buncombe 3
Burke 3
Cabarrus .......... 2
Camden 3
Carteret 4
Caswell 4
Chatham 8
Cherokee 1
Chowan 2
Cleveland 2
Craven . 2
Cumberland 10
Currituck 2
Davidson 5
Davie 1
Duplin 8
Edgecombe 15
Franklin 10
Gaston 1
Gates 3
Granville 9
Greene 5
Guilford 8
Halifax 7
Haywood 2
Hertford 6
Hyde 1
Iredell 7
Johnston 3
Jones 3
Lenoir 6
Lincoln 2
Martin 3
Mecklenburg 4
Montgomery 4
Moore 5
Nash 6
New Hanover 8
Years of Incorporation
1805, 1818, 1834
1783, 1828, 1858
1810, 1812
1810, 1819, 1830
1807, 1810, 1823, 1842
1802, 1805, 1818, 1847
1786, 1797, 1817, 1818, 1831, 1832,
1833, 1854
1858
1800, 1833
1848, 1848
1798, 1812
1799, 1809, 1830, 1831, 1831, 1832,
1832, 1847, 1854, 1854
1789, 1835
1823, 1825, 1833, 1854, 1854
1826
1785, 1801, 1813, 1814, 1825, 1828,
1834, 1842
1793, 1813, 1822, 1823, 1823, 1824,
1824, 1825, 1826, 1827, 1830,
1835, 1842, 1847, 1850
1786, 1802, 1814, 1821, 1842, 1847,
1847, 1847, 1850, 1854
1848
1820, 1832, 1832
1799, 1810, 1811, 1813, 1835, 1842,
1854, 1860, 1860
1805, 1812, 1813, 1825, 1835
1798, 1809, 1816, 1823, 1833, 1833,
1835, 1854
1809, 1810, 1814, 1819, 1820, 1821,
1846
1809, 1860
1797, 1809, 1830, 1847, 1848, 1848
1814
1814, 1821, 1822, 1834, 1844, 1848,
1854
1819, 1821, 1848
1807, 1818, 1854
1785, 1802, 1817, 1828, 1842, 1850
1813, 1821
1816, 1830, 1850
1811, 1821, 1821, 1834
1797,1818,1819,1824
1799, 1805, 1809, 1811, 1833
1817, 1818, 1826, 1827, 1828, 1832
1783, 1804, 1833, 1834, 1847, 1850,
1850, 1854
356
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
No. of
County Academies
Northampton 1
Onslow 7
Orange 10
Pasquotank 4
Perquimans 6
Person 1
Pitt 6
Randolph 7
Richmond 5
Robeson 13
Bockingham 4
R-owan 4
Rutherford 2
Sampson 5
Stokes 5
Surry 2
Tyrrel 2
Wake 12
Warren 5
Washington (Tenn.). 1
Washington 1
Wayne 6
Wilkes 3
Years of Incorporation
1833
1783, 1783, 1791, 1809, 1810, 1824,
1850
1784, 1814, 1818, 1819, 1824, 1829,
1838, 1850, 1852, 1860
1804, 1807, 1809, 1820
1806, 1816, 1817, 1820, 1830, 1831
1833
1786, 1814, 1830, 1830, 1831, 1848
1798, 1824, 1828, 1838, 1842, 1850,
1854
1788, 1789, 1804, 1809, 1829
1793, 1793, 1806, 1808, 1812, 1819,
1823, 1826, 1831, 1833, 1848,
1848, 1850
1801, 1819, 1819, 1825
1784, 1798, 1806, 1838
1806, 1838
1821, 1825, 1827, 1834, 1850
1809, 1824, 1832, 1833, 1834
1818, 1833
1819, 1842
1801, 1818, 1824, 1826, 1827, 1829,
1830, 1832, 1833, 1848, 1854,
1854
1786, 1820, 1822, 1833, 1842
1783
1810
1810, 1813, 1818, 1832, 1846, 1848
1805, 1810, 1819
The academies, while varying one from another in detail,
had certain general characteristics. In their curricula empha-
sis was placed on the classics, mathematics, and formal Eng-
lish. In addition "ornamental subjects" such as music, paint-
ing, and needlework were offered in the female departments,
and sometimes in the male departments bookkeeping, natural
philosophy, and astronomy. Some institutions went no fur-
ther in their curricula than the modern high school; others,
notably Newbern Academy, duplicated two years of college
work and offered courses in logic and moral philosophy.
Nearly every institution also required religious instruction
based on compulsory church attendance, the Catechism, and
textbooks on religion. In government and discipline the au-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 357
tkority of the trustees was strictly applied. They prescribed
the curriculum, enacted rules of conduct for the students, de-
fined the rights of the masters, conducted public examinations,
and even administered discipline. Teachers were recruited
from various sources ; the clergy, especially those of the Pres-
byterian Church, furnished a large proportion; likewise the
University. A common type was the roving master who
rarely taught more than a few seasons at one place. Salaries
varied from $400 to $1,000. Income was derived from tuition
fees and, until prohibited by law in 1825, from lotteries. Lan-
castrian methods were employed in academies at Fayetteville,
Raleigh, Newbern, and in Mecklenburg County, between 1814
and 1825.
Two variations from the academy were the military and
the manual labor schools. The impetus for the former seems
to have been the war spirit that pervaded the nation during
the controversy of the United States with France and Eng-
land between 1803 and 1812. In 1810 Archibald Murphy con-
ducted schools for the training of the militia in Stokes and ad-
joining counties. Similar work was undertaken by Mr. Wren
in Northampton and other eastern counties. Summer schools
of military training were advertised during 1812 at Chapel
Hill, Raleigh, and Louisburg. The first military academy
was that of D. H. Bingham, a graduate of Partridge Military
School, Connecticut, established at Williamsboro, Granville
County, under the name of Southern Military School. It was
later removed to Littleton, then Oxford, and finally to Raleigh,
where it collapsed. Similar schools were also established at
Fayetteville, Wilmington, and Raleigh before 1840. How-
ever the martial spirit in education was not so strong in North
Carolina as in the neighboring states and the early military
schools did not flourish. But in the last decade before 1860
the idea of military training received a new impetus. The
North Carolina Military Academy at Charlotte was chartered
in 1858 and the Hillsborough Military Academy in 1859 ; each
had a curriculum higher than that of the average academy.
The manual labor school reflected the Pestalozzi-Fellen-
burg ideal, popularized in the United States by Theodore D.
Weld. Its underlying theory was that mental training alone
358 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
made the student effeminate, undermined morals, and created
a false sentiment that labor with the hands is degrading. A
practical argument was the opportunity for the student to
become self-supporting. The earliest type of this institution
was established at Fayetteville. It was chartered in 1833
as the Donaldson Academy and Manual Labor School. A
subscription of $14,000 was raised in the community and the
school opened in 1834. The principal was Eev. Simeon Colton,
a Presbyterian minister who had taught in a similar institu-
tion in Amherst, Massachusetts. After a few years the man-
ual labor feature was abandoned. In 1833 the Greensborough
Manual Labor School was chartered under the auspices of
the Presbytery of Orange.
Manual labor was also a feature of the early days of David-
son and AYake Forest colleges. A description of student labor
at the latter institution has been preserved in the following
letter :
Brother Meredith. — Taking it for granted that you would be
pleased to learn some of the particulars of our operations here, I
have taken it upon myself to give you a brief detail of our internal
movements, and I might say, external movements; for never was a
set of fellows kept so constantly on the go. I will begin at the dawn
of day, when the loud peals of the bell arouse us from our sweet
repose. We are allowed about fifteen minutes to dress ourselves and
wash, when the bell summons us to prayers. At this second sound
of the bell, the whole plantation seems alive with moving bodies; a
stream of students is seen pouring in from every direction — some,
while on the way, adjusting the deficiencies of their dress, which
they had not time fully to arrange while in their rooms — some with
vests with wrong side out — some with eyes half open — and all in
haste to reach the chapel in time to answer to their names. Prayers
being over, just as the sun raises his head from behind the distant
forest, the Yirgil class to which I belong, commences recitation.
Other classes are reciting at the same time. At half past seven, the
bell rings for breakfast ; a few minutes after which, study hour com-
mences. Every one is now kept up at the top of his speed ; some in
recitation, and others preparing for recitation, until 12 o'clock, when
the bell announces the dinner hour; and almost immediately after
this we start at the same mental race. This is kept up through all
the classes until three o'clock, when the bell rings long and loud for
the toils of the field. While the bell is ringing the students assemble
in the grove in front of the dwelling house; — some with axes, some
with grubbing hoes, some with weeding hoes, and some empty
handed, all in a thick crowd. You must now imagine that you see
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 359
Mr. Wait in one place, Mr. Armstrong in another, and Mr. Dockery
in another. Mr. Dockery, though a student, frequently takes the
lead of one company. Now the roll is called, when as their names
are called off, the students take their appropriate stations around
their respective leaders, axes with axes, hoes with hoes, and then we
start, each one following his chief. Those with axes make for the
woods, where they fell the sturdy oaks and divide them into rails;
the grubbers take the field, and sweat with heavy blows over the
roots and shrubs that have been encroaching upon their clear land.
Those with weeding hoes find much variety in their employment;
sometimes they cut down cornstalks, sometimes they take up leaves,
and now you may see them in the barn yard piling up manure. We
students engage in everything here, that an honest farmer is not
ashamed to do. If we should draw back from anything that is called
work, we should feel that we had disgraced ourselves.
Those who are empty handed make up the fences, and harden
their shoulders under heavy rails. The fact is we are always busy —
always ready for recitation and always ready for work. We are
cheerful and happy — merry in a joke and hard to beat in a hearty
laugh. We are sometimes tired when we quit work, but never so
bad off that we cannot outstrip a common fellow when the supper
bell rings. I am attached to the mauling corps and know but little
about the other companies. Mr. Wait leads our company — when we
reach the woods our coats are laid off, and we set to with a good will
and hard blows. Our chief sets the example :
''Nee non Aeneas opera inter talia primus
Hortatur socios, paribusque ascingitur armis."
Blistered hands we consider here scars of honor, and we show
them with as much pride as Marius exhibited his scars to the won-
dering multitude. That you may form some idea of our execution,
I will state that two of our corps yesterday mauled one hundred and
twenty-seven rails in two hours and a half, and that the fence corps,
led on by Mr. Armstrong, in two evenings, made a fence and staked
it near a half mile in length, and most of the rails were carried on
the shoulders at least three hundred yards. You now see that we
are not afraid of hard work. A little bell calls us from the field — we
enter the cbapel for prayers, and immediately after take supper.
We now have about half an hour for amusement, when the bell again
calls to study, etc. 1
Neither at Wake Forest nor at Davidson did the manual
labor plan meet expectations. The young" men "felt that they
had come to college rather to learn how to escape the dusty
toil of the fields and not to have the chain of hard labor riveted
on them. Their experience proved that three hours of rough
1 Quoted from Coon ; North Carolina Schools and Academies, p.
208. "Mr. Wait" was president of the institution.
360 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
farm work in the morning begot such fatigue and drowsiness
as disqualified them for afternoon study, and the afternoon
toil was even worse for their studies. Between faithful labor
and hard study life became a burden, the temper soured and
the freshness and elasticity of youth was crushed. ' ' Nor was
the manual labor plan a success financially. At Wake Forest
in 1835 the average earning of each student was $4.04. At
Davidson "some of the students who professed skill in the
use of tools were allowed to labor in mechanical pursuits,
especially carpentry, while the remainder were divided into
three grades, as to proficiency and strength, and two or more
classes, as to time of labor on farm, garden, or clearings. The
first or stronger grade was to receive a reduction of three dol-
lars a month on board bills, and the second grade a reduction
of two dollars and forty cents a month, while the feebler grade
got a reduction of only one dollar and eighty cents per month,
for three hours of labor a day." In 1840 the hours of labor
were reduced from three to two a day, and the remuneration re-
ceived a corresponding reduction. In 1841 still another change
was made according to which each student was to receive an al-
lotment of one half acre of ground, or more if he were am-
bitious in that line, to be cultivated at his own expense and
discretion, but only in hours of recreation. It is not surpris-
ing therefore that the manual labor plan was abandoned at
Wake Forest in 1838 and at Davidson in 1841.
Originality in education was not found in the academies
or the common schools but in the University of North Carolina,
the second state university to be chartered in the South and
the first to open its doors. Its inception may be traced to the
forty-first article of the state constitution of 1776, the last
clause of which provided that "all useful learning shall be
duly encouraged and promoted in one or more universities."
No record exists as to the purpose or concept that inspired
this statement. It may have been simply to guarantee the
right of incorporation, denied by the Crown except to insti-
tutions dominated by the church of England, or it may have
been to establish an institution supported by the state. Not
until 1789 was any action taken. Then, largely through the
efforts of William R. Davie, were incorporated the Trustees
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 361
of the University of North Carolina, with the right to choose
their own successors. Their duty was to collect funds for the
institution, select a president and faculty and to make laws
and regulations for its government, provided such were not
contrary to "the unalienable liberty of the citizens or the law
of the state." The site of the institution was not to be within
five miles of the seat of government or of any of the court
towns, and the state treasurer was to hold all funds collected,
on which six per cent interest was to be paid. As an induce-
ment to benefactors, those contributing £10 were entitled to
have one student educated free, and the public hall of the
library and four of the colleges should be called by the names
of one or another of the six persons who should within four
years contribute the largest sums for the University. To the
institution went the name of the state, but there was no appro-
priation except the schedule of arrears due from sheriffs and
other officers prior to 1783, and also escheats. Among the
original trustees were Samuel Johnston, James Iredell and
Alfred Moore, the latter two soon to become judges of the
Supreme Court of the United States; John Stokes, first
Federal District Judge of North Carolina, and John Sit-
greaves, his successor ; four members of the Federal Conven-
tion, Williamson, Blount, Spaight, and Davie; the first three
state judges, Spencer, Ashe, and John Williams ; one clergy-
man, Eev. Samuel E. McCorkle; Willie Jones, the anti-
federalist, and McClaine, his federalist opponent; Joseph
Winston, the military hero; James Hogg, a wealthy mer-
chant; and John Hay, the eminent lawyer.
Seven days after incorporation the trustees organized and
then, and also at other meetings, proceeded to lay plans for
the institution. Senator Hawkins and Doctor McCorkle were
appointed to secure information regarding the administration
of the colleges and universities in the United States. Lawyers
were appointed in each judicial district to collect arrears,
from which over $7,000 were realized. In 1791 the legislature
was asked for a donation and after a powerful appeal by
Davie, $10,000 were given — the only direct appropriation
from the state treasury in the ante-bellum period. For a loca-
tion various places were considered. Choice was finally fixed
362 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
on New Hope Chapel, the present Chapel Hill, because of its
convenience, it being the meeting point of roads from the
coast to the mountains and from Petersburg, Virginia, to the
heart of the piedmont region. Another consideration in its
favor was the donation of approximately 1,380 acres of land by
twelve citizens of the vicinity. On October 12, 1793, the cor-
nerstone of the first building (Old East) was laid and on Jan-
uary 15, 1795, the University was formally opened with one
building and a president's residence, a faculty of one (Dr.
David Ker) and no students. By the end of the academic year
a tutor in mathematics had been added and there were forty-
one students.
A notable feature of the early years was the curriculum. A
plan of instruction adopted by the trustees in 1795 through
the influence of Davie provided for professorships of moral
and political philosophy (including history), rhetoric and
belles lettres, natural philosophy and chemistry, as well as
languages (Latin, Greek and English), and mathematics.
Thus the natural and social sciences and literature were given
an equality with the classics and mathematics. In fact a
diploma, though not a degree, was offered those students who
took the full course with the exception of the classics. The
object of instruction was avowedly to make ' ' citizens capable
of comprehending, improving, and defending the principles
of government, citizens, who from the highest possible im-
pulse, a just sense of their own and the general happiness,
would be induced to practice the duties of social morality. ,!
Later, after Davie left the state in 1805, there was a reaction
toward the classics and only one diploma was offered, that
which carried a degree, for which Latin and Greek were
prerequisites; but never were these languages required
through the entire four years of college work. Science vindi-
cated its recognition — especially Geology in which Olmsted
and Mitchell attained distinction. The ideal of public service
overshadowed general culture prior to 1860. Among the
alumni were one president of the United States (Polk), and
one vice president (King), seven cabinet officers (Eaton,
Branch, Mason, Graham, Dobbin, Thompson, and Badger),
eight senators (Branch, Brown, Graham, Haywood, Mangnm
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 363
of North Carolina, and Nicholson of Tennessee, Benton of
Missouri, and King of Alabama), forty-one members of the
national House of Representatives, thirteen governors of
North Carolina, three of Florida, two of Tennessee, one of
Mississippi, and one of New Mexico, and numerous state
judges and members of the state legislature.
Another characteristic of the institution was its relation to
politics and religion. The prevalence of skepticism in the
faculty and student body was as notable as the scarcity of
ministers in the board of trustees, yet the teaching force
was recruited largely from the Presbyterian clergy. Also, the
public men most keenly interested in the institution were
mainly federalists. Consequently the republican leaders fre-
quently attacked it as a source of aristocracy and undemo-
cratic ideals. It is not surprising, therefore, that the state
was laggard in its financial support. Endowment which en-
abled the institution to exist was derived from arrears and
escheats, from benefactions, notably that of Benjamin Smith,
who gave warrants for 20,000 acres in Tennessee, and of
Charles Gerard, who also left over 13,000 acres in Tennessee.
The escheats, derived from the unclaimed warrants for mili-
tary service, proved a godsend; through them the institution
fell heir to over 100,000 acres west of the mountains, from
which approximately $200,000 were realized.
Among the early presidents two stand out in pre-eminence,
Joseph Caldwell and David L. Swain. The former during his
administration (1804-1835) really perfected the organization
of the institution, ably defended its right to exist, procured
scientific equipment, secured the services of Olmsted and
Mitchell, and as an advocate of public schools and internal
improvements did much to ally the university with the forces
of progress beyond its walls. Swain retired from politics to
accept the presidency in 1835. He gave the institution greater
popularity, emphasized the idea of service to the public by
organizing the North Carolina Historical Society in 1843,
establishing a department of law in 1845 and a chair of agri-
cultural chemistry in 1854. By 1860 the enrollment of students
reached 430 and the faculty numbered 18.
Around the Universitv centered the first efforts for higher
364
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
education. By 1830 a second movement was under way, which
resulted in the organization of denominational colleges. Its
genesis is found in a number of conditions. On account of
sectionalism and poor transportation the University did not
reach all sections of the state. This was particularly true of
Joseph Caldwell
President of the University
the region just east of the mountains and beyond. Hence in
1820, at a public meeting in Lincolnton, it was decided to estab-
lish a "Western College "somewhere southwest of the Yadkin
River" because "the more western counties of the state are
distant from Chapel Hill, which renders it inconvenient for
their youth to prosecute their education there." A charter
was granted by the legislature in 1820. Subscriptions for
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 365
nearly $60,000 were taken, but when the trustees decided to
build at Lincolnton they found it impossible to collect more
than twenty per cent. Then in 1824 the trustees decided to
locate the college in Mecklenburg County and released all
subscribers from their obligations. With this action the
history of the institution ends, for it was never organized.
There was also a feeling that higher education as it existed
did not reach the masses, and that a new type of institution
was needed which would directly influence economic condi-
tions. Hence Robert Potter in January, 1827, introduced a
bill in the legislature for a political college, to be located in
Wake County, which the state should endow with $220,000.
Its faculty should consist of a president and four professors,
who should teach agriculture, the art of war, political econ-
omy, and morality. Its students, apportioned among the
counties according to taxes, should be educated as apprentices
at public expense for three years, and on completion of their
college course should be assigned to such duties at the ex-
pense of the school as the trustees should require. Thus, it
was hoped, the college and its alumni would improve agricul-
ture, put a new spirit in the militia, and create a better type
of citizenship. The bill failed, but it illustrates a conviction
that not only more education but a new type of school was
needed.
The most effective cause of the new movement for higher
education was religion. Against the University there was
much prejudice on account of alleged skepticism and free
thought among its founders and early faculty. The great
revival which swept the state from 1800 to 1811 was followed
by smaller waves of evangelism. This deepened the religious
consciousness; and it in turn created a demand for institu-
tions sound in religious doctrine, in which candidates for the
ministry and also the sons of religious people could be trained
without danger of compromising their faith. Moreover the
strongest organization through which people were bound to
one another and could be reached was the church. It was
therefore natural that the demand for more educational
facilities should express itself through church organizations.
Leadership was taken by the Baptists. One phase of the
366
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
division in the denomination between 1821 and 1830 was the
advisability of an educated ministry and the need of schools.
At the first session of the Baptist State Convention in 1830
it was reported that an educational fund of $11,406 had been
accumulated, and the convention authorized the instruction of
Samuel Wait
First President, AVake Forest College
young men in private schools. At the second session a plan for
a Baptist Literary Institute was adopted, to be located on the
lands of Dr. Calvin Jones in AVake County, with a manual
labor feature. Its purpose, according to the "Board of Man-
agers," was to "enable young ministers to obtain an educa-
tion at moderate terms, and to train up youth in general to a
knowledge of science and practical Agriculture." To this end
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 367
each student was to labor with his hands three hours a day
and furnish himself with "an axe and a hoe, a pair of sheets
and a pair of towels." Thus were united the practical, the
moral, and the intellectual. In 1833 application was made to
the legislature for a charter. The bill for incorporation was in-
troduced by Hon. William H. Battle. It met bitter opposition
from the Primitive Baptists, led by Joshua Lawrence. There
was also deep prejudice against the bill on the theory that
the incorporation of trustees chosen by a religious body would
violate that principle of the state constitution which forbade
the establishment of one religious society in preference to an-
other. On the same ground there was opposition to the Greens-
boro Manual Labor School, whose trustees in the original
bill were to be elected by the Presbytery of Orange. Finally
the charter was granted with the casting vote of the Speaker
of the Senate, William D. Mosely. Singular features of the
charter were its limitation to twenty years, the self -perpetu-
ating board of trustees, the property restriction to $50,000, and
the absence of any exemption of property held from taxation.
The school was opened in February, 1834, with Dr. Samuel
Wait as president and only teacher, and twenty-five students.
The hall of instruction and dormitories were the carriage
house and cabins of the Jones plantation. The following year
an additional teacher was employed, also two tutors in 1836.
In 1838 the school was reorganized, the faculty was increased,
the manual labor plan was dropped, and a new charter under
the name of Wake Forest College was secured, with power to
confer degrees, to hold property to the value of $200,000, ex-
empt from taxation; but the duration of the new charter was
also limited, fifty years being the period. Most of the faculty
were from the North, graduates of Brown University and
Columbian College. In 1838, also, the first college building was
completed. In 1841 a loan from the State Literary Fund was
obtained. This debt and others were repaid during the pre-
siding of Washington Manly Wingate, whose administration
was begun in 1854 and lasted until 1879.
The Presbyterians were also alive to the need of a college.
Certain ministers of the denomination had been interested
in the attempt to establish a western college. That institu-
368 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
tion failing to materialize, a new effort was made based en-
tirely on religious needs. In 1835 the Presbytery of Concord
adopted the following resolution, submitted by Rev. Robert
Hall Morrison: "Resolved, That this Presbytery, deeply im-
pressed with the importance of securing the means of educa-
Robert Hall Morrison
First President, Davidson College
tion to young men, within our bounds, of hopeful piety and
talents, preparatory to the gospel ministry, undertake (in
humble reliance upon the blessing of God) the establishment
of a Manual Labor School ; and that a committee of the Pres-
bytery be appointed to report at the next meeting of the Pres-
bytery the best measures for its accomplishment and the most
favorable places for its location. ' ' Overtures were made to the
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 369
Presbyteries of Morganton (N. C.) and Bethel (S. C), which
agreed to co-operate. Subscriptions amounting to $30,000
were taken. A farm of 496 acres in Mecklenburg County was
purchased, and the school was named Davidson College in
honor of General William L. Davidson, who lost his life at the
battle of Cowan's Ford during the Revolution. Buildings
were erected and the institution was opened in March 1837,
with a president, Rev. Robert Hall Morrison, one professor,
and a tutor. The manual labor feature, as previously noted,
was not successful and was abandoned in 1841.
The institution had three characteristics of note. One was
its relation to the Presbyterian Church. According to its
charter, granted by the legislature in December 1835, the
trustees were chosen from the presbyteries supporting the
college. By the constitution of the college the trustees must
be " members in full communion of the Presbyterian Church"
and the teachers were required to take the following vow : "I
do sincerely believe the scriptures of the Old and New Testa-
ment to be the word of God, the only infallible rule of faith
and practice. I do sincerely adopt the Confession of Faith of
the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America, as
faithfully exhibiting the doctrines taught in the Holy Scrip-
ture. * * * I do solemnly engage not to teach anything
that is opposed to any doctrine contained in the Confession of
Faith, nor to oppose any of the fundamental principles of the
Presbyterian Church Government, while I continue a teacher
or professor of this Institution."
No less interesting were the finances of the college. In
order to raise funds four hundred scholarships of $100 each
were offered for sale, each entitling the purchaser to tuition
for twenty years. Thus 8,000 years of tuition were offered
for $40,000. While some immediate financial relief was se-
cured, the scholarships in the long run proved a liability ; they
were farmed out by the purchasers, thus depriving the college
of tuition fees. Greater assistance than scholarships was the
legacy of Maxwell Chambers in 1854, amounting to $250,000.
As the charter of the college limited its holdings to $200,000,
the excess was not received but went to the next of kin. This
Vol. II— 21
370 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
was the largest benefaction to any college in the state prior
to 1860 and placed Davidson on a sound financial basis.
Finally, the work of the college was notable for its em-
phasis on the classics and mathematics. Little heed was given
to the current demands for educational reform, the intellectual
outlook was conservative, and for this reason the number of
students did not increase with the increase of resources.
Last of the more important denominational colleges to be
established was Trinity. As Methodism in North Carolina
had its origin in a wave of evangelism which rose in Virginia,
the churches in the state were not grouped into a separate ad-
ministrative unit until 1838, when the North Carolina Con-
ference was organized. Long after that date many churches
within the bounds of the state were under the jurisdiction of
the Virginia, the South Carolina, and the Holston conferences.
Educational ties were with Eandolph-Macon College of
Virginia. But in the academy movement Methodist impulses
were prominent. One institution of lasting importance was
Union Institute in Randolph County. It was organized in
1838 by Reverend Brantley York, a peripatetic teacher and a
local minister of the Methodist Church. In 1842 his place was
taken by Braxton Craven, also a local minister of the same
church, under whose leadership the institution in 1851 was re-
chartered as Normal College, with the purpose of preparing
teachers for the common schools. The college was permitted
to license teachers. In 1852 the privilege of granting degrees
was conferred, the governor of North Carolina became ex
officio president of the Board of Trustees, the superintendent
of common schools ex officio its secretary, and a loan of
$10,000 from the Literary Fund was also authorized. As a
training school for teachers the institution did not prosper;
teaching was not really a profession, many teachers left before
completing the course, and Calvin H. Wiley, the superin-
tendent of common schools, favored institutes in each county
rather than normal schools as the best means of teacher train-
ing. Hence in 1856 the curriculum was refashioned into that
of a college of arts. For moral and financial support Presi-
dent Craven turned to the North Carolina Conference and in
1856 formal relations between that body and Randolph-Macon
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
371
were severed and an agreement was made with Normal College
by which its trustees should be elected by the Conference, sub-
ject to the approval of the Board of Trustees, a visiting com-
mittee should be appointed by the Conference, and the trustees
should raise $20,000 for the college with the approval of the
Braxton Craven
First President, Trinity College
Conference. In 1859 the institution was rechartered as
Trinity College, all relations with the state being severed.
Thus within twenty years an academy expanded first into a
college for teachers, then into an institution of liberal arts
allied with the Methodist Church. In 1860 there were a faculty
of six and an enrollment of 194.
Such were the origins of the larger male colleges. Three
372
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
others were chartered before 1860 ; Floral College at Maxton,
in 1847, under Presbyterian influence; Catawba College at
Newton, in 1851, under the auspices of the Reformed Classis of
North Carolina ; and North Carolina College at Mount Pleas-
ant, projected by the Lutheran Synod in 1859.
Increasing interest in education was also manifested in the
foundation of institutions for women; some were academies,
others took the name of institute, nine assumed the name of
Salem Female Academy
college. The oldest was Salem Female Academy, organized
in 1802 by the Moravians. Greensboro Female College was
the second institution for women chartered as a college in the
South (1836), but instruction was not begTin until 1846. Saint
Mary's School, founded by Rev. Aldert Smedes in 1842, was
widely patronized by the Episcopalians. The Baptists,
through the Chowan and Portsmouth associations, established
Chowan Baptist Female Institute in 1848 and the Baptist
State Convention was sponsor for Oxford Female College,
established in 1851. The Presbytery of Concord established
Statesville Female College in 1857. Private schools for
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 373
young women attracted considerable capital and enterprise;
every section of the state and many of the larger towns had
one or more seminaries or female colleges; Greensboro two
(including Greensboro Female College), Warrenton two,
Murfreesboro two, and Charlotte, Raleigh, Oxford, Asheville
and Goldsboro, each had one. Governor Ellis in 1860 made
the following survey of the increase of denominational and
private institutions :
1840 1860
Number of Male Colleges 3 6
Number of Female Colleges 1 1 13
Students in Male Colleges 158 900
Students in Female Colleges 125 1,500
Thus, principally between 1830 and 1860, the outlook for
higher education underwent distinct improvement, while the
number of academies increased rather than diminished with
the advent of common schools.
1 Apparently he included seminaries, academies, and other institu-
tions for women.
CHAPTER XIX
THE PRESS, LITERATURE, PROFESSIONAL AND
MORAL ORGANIZATIONS
The general awakening in matters social and economic was
accompanied by an expansion of the press. In it there are
two distinct periods for which the year 1820 may be taken for
the dividing line.
At the close of the Revolution there was no newspaper in
the state, all publications having collapsed in 1778. But in
August 1783, Robert Keith, an immigrant from Peunsylva-
nia, issued at Newbern the first number of the North Caro-
lina Gazette or Impartial Intelligencer and Weekly Adver-
tiser. About 1793 he was succeeded by Francis Xavier Mar-
tin, a French refugee, more widely known for his "History
of North Carolina" and his compilations of statute law. The
paper is said to have been printed at irregular intervals,
when news enough to fill it or make it interesting had reached
Newbern. In default of modern methods of distribution, he
filled his saddle bags with the numbers and peddled them
about the country. In (the meantime another immigrant,
Abraham Hodge, of New York, established a press at New-
bern; in 1785 he became state printer, an office which he held
until 1800. In 1786 Hodge, in partnership with one Blanchard,
established at Fayetteville the State Gazette of North Caro-
lina. Henry Wills soon succeeded Blanchard and in 1788 the
paper was removed to Edenton. Hodge proved to be a verit-
able promoter of newspapers. In 1793, with the co-operation
of Wills, he established at Halifax the North Carolina Jour-
nal. In 1796 Hodge and his nephew, William Boylan, founded
another paper, the North Carolina Minerva and Fayetteville
Gazette, which in 1799 was removed to Raleigh and as the
374
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 375
Raleigh Minerva became the leading organ of the federal-
ists. In the meantime another paper had been begun at
Fayetteville in 1789, the North Carolina Chronicle or Fay-
etteville Gazette; it was printed by George Roulstone for
John Sibley and Company, the price of subscription being-
three hard dollars per annum for fifty-two papers.
Wilmington also was a center of journalistic activities.
There three papers were published before 1800: the Wil-
mington Chronicle and North Carolina Weekly Advertiser,
Hall's Wilmington Gazette, and another whose title is not
known. Nor were the western counties unresponsive to the
desire for news. Early in 1786 the North Carolina Gazette
was established at Hillsboro. The printer was Robert Fer-
guson, and the editor, Thomas Davis. ,At Salisbury the
North Carolina Mercury and Salisbury Advertiser was estab-
lished by Francis Cowpee, and near the opening of the nine-
teenth century a weekly paper whose title is unknown was
issued at Lincolnton. With the exception of the Minerva,
little is known of these early publications. Only partial files
exist, and of some no copies are extant.
By far the most important of the early papers was the
Raleigh Register, founded in 1799 as the organ of the repub-
licans by Joseph Gales. As a collector of news and as an
agency of propaganda, it outclassed all competitors for many
years. Leading in the political revolt of 1800, it was conser-
vative toward the later revolt in the 'twenties, and became
the leading spokesman of the whig party. Publication was
practically continuous from 1799 until the year 1885. In 1808
the Raleigh Star was begun by Dr. Calvin Jones and Thomas
Henderson ; the firm was succeeded by that of Bell and Law-
rence, then by Bell and Lemay, and in 1835 Lemay became
sole editor. In December, 1852, the paper was suspended, its
last editor being W. C. Doub. In politics the Star was orig-
inally neutral, but was mildly whig in its later days. In 1810
the following papers were published in North Carolina : Fed-
eralist — the Wilmington Gazette, the Raleigh Minerva, Caro-
lina Federal Republican (Newbern), Edenton Gazette, Fay-
etteville Intelligencer; Republican — Raleigh Register, True
376 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Republican (Newbern), Elizabeth City Gazette; Neutral — the
Raleigh Star and the North Carolina Journal (Halifax).
With the year 1820 a new epoch opens. There was pro-
found and increasing discontent with the existing political
organization, national and state. Discontent of the western
counties with the system of representation was also intense.
Here lay the opportunity for the foundation of new papers.
Editorials and state affairs became more prominent. The
early editors were chary in regard to state news, inclinations
toward violent language were restrained, dignity and decorum
characterized their editorial columns. But with the new
period a new type of editorial appeared. It burned with con-
viction, broke the bounds of sedate constraint, and faced any
situation uncompromisingly. The new note was struck by
the Western Carolinian. It was founded by Samuel Bing-
ham in 1820, and associated with him in the same year was
Philo White of New York, who became sole editor in 1823.
Constitutional reform, condemnation of the caucus, state as
well as federal, the need of public schools, preference of Jack-
son over Crawford — these were the dominating features of
the paper, which was published at Salisbury. When Mr. White
left the state in 1830, the Western Carolinian was taken over
by Burton Craig and H. Jefferson Jones, the former assum-
ing entire control in 1831. Mr. Craig was a radical advocate
of states' rights, an admirer of Calhoun, and approved of the
nullification movement. To counteract this influence, Hamil-
ton C. Jones in 1832 founded the Carolina Watchman, also
published at Salisbury. There was a veritable war of words
between the two papers. In 1833 Mr. Craig sold the Western
Carolinian to John Beard, and thereafter little difference ex-
isted between the policies of the two papers. The Western
Carolinian was suspended in 1844, but the Carolina Watch-
man, under the editorship of John Joseph Bruner, lived until
recent years. Other papers active in the cause of social and
political progress were the Fayetteville Observer and the
Greensboro Patriot. The former was founded in 1817, and
was edited from 1825 to 1865 by Edward J. Hale. It was
widely respected for its sanity and its sense of public spirit.
In politics it was whig. The Patriot was established in 1825
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 377
or 1826 by L. G. Watson and a Mr. Potter. In 1826 it was
purchased by T. Early Strange, who invented the full title,
" Greensborough Patriot." From 1827 to 1835 the editor
was William Swaim, a member of the North Carolina Manu-
mission Society. Under various editors the paper survived
until the recent past.
A majority of the newspapers were in politics whig. As
an organ for the democrats Philo White, soon after his re-
turn to the state in 1834, established the North Carolina Stan-
dard. In 1836 he sold the paper to Thomas Loring, who in
turn was followed in 1843 by William W. Holden, whose
power as editor has never been surpassed in the state.
Another democratic paper of importance was the Free Press,
established by George Howard of Baltimore in 1824 at Hali-
fax, and removed to Tarboro in 1826 where the name was
changed to the Tarborough Press. In the west the Charlotte
Democrat, edited in 1855 and after by William J. Yates, like-
wise supported democratic policies. There was a host of
other journals after 1820, but those mentioned have a larger
place in the political traditions of the state. The increase of
newspapers is shown by statistics ; in 1811 only 10 were listed ;
in 1851 there were 44; in 1858, 74.
In the use of the press religious interests were also active.
In January, 1826, Reverend Robert Morrison, a Presbyterian
minister, began the publication at Fayetteville of the North
Carolina Telegraph, a general religious weekly, which was
merged with the Richmond Family Visitor at the end of the
year. In 1828 another Presbyterian minister, Reverend Colin
Mclver, established at Fayetteville the Evangelical Museum,
a monthly journal of theology, and also the Presbyterian
Preacher. The progressive element among the Baptists felt
the need of a paper, and in 1832 the Intelligencer was estab-
lished at Edenton by Reverend Thomas Meredith; the next
year the name was changed to the Biblical Recorder. In 1835
the paper was removed to Newbern and in 1838 to Raleigh.
Those Baptists opposed to change in the denominational or-
ganization found an ally in the Primitive Baptist, edited at
Tarboro by Mark Bennett. In 1844 the Christian Sun was
established at Hillsboro and became the spokesman for the
378 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Christian Church. In 1855 the North Carolina Christian Ad-
vocate was founded as the organ for the Methodists, and in
1860 the Church Intelligencer was launched at Raleigh to cul-
tivate the interests of the Episcopalians.
The years in which the press revived and expanded also
marked the beginning of literature. The new epoch opened
by the revolt against Great Britain aroused curiosity and pa-
triotic interest concerning the past. Hence the historians
led in the production of books. First in point of time was
Hugh Williamson's "History of North Carolina," published
in 1812. The author was a physician and a native of Penn-
sylvania, who resided at Edenton from the beginning of the
Revolution to 1793, served as a surgeon in the army, and
was also a member of the legislature, the Continental Con-
gress, the Federal Convention, and the first Congress of the
United States. In culture, outlook on life, and in experience
he was far above the average of his contemporaries. In 1787
he contributed to the American Museum a series of papers
entitled "Letters of Sylvius,' ' which dealt with the ills of the
currency, trade conditions, and the need of manufactures.
For all historical development he believed there was a basis
in nature, and therefore wrote a work comparing the climate
of America with that of Europe. However, his two volumes
pertaining to North Carolina from 1584 to 1786 displayed lit-
tle understanding of the forces which moulded the early his-
tory of the state, but the style is clear and vigorous, the moral
sense strong, the typographical work durable and artistic.
Of even less value than Williamson's work was Francis
Xavier Martin's "History of North Carolina," published at
New Orleans in 1829. The author was the French refugee
and printer already mentioned, who lived at Newbern. He
was admitted to the bar in 1789 ; law and the printing press
opened to him an avenue to affluence and fame. In 1791 he
published the first of a number of legal works, "The Office
and Authority of the Justice of the Peace." The next year
this was followed by his ' ' Statutes of the Parliament of Eng-
land Enforced in the Courts of North Carolina," an official
collection authorized by the legislature, notable for its inac-
curacies. To these must be added his "Private Acts of North
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 379
Carolina," likewise an official publication, and "Acts of the
General Assembly of North Carolina, 1791-1794, " indepen-
dently printed. In 1797 he published his "Decisions of the
Superior Courts of North Carolina," and in 1804 he also is-
sued "Martin's Revisal of the Laws of North Carolina," an
official publication. Other legal publications consisted of a
treatise on the powers and duties of the sheriff;, "Martin's Ex-
ecutor, ' ' and a translation of Pothier on ' ' Obligations. ' ' From
his press also came several novels — "Lord Rivers," "The Fe-
male Foundling," "Delaval," "Stephanie de Bourbon," and
a "Rural Philosopher." In 1809 he removed to Louisiana,
where he became successively superior court judge of the Ter-
ritory of Mississippi and also of the Territory of Orleans, At-
torney-General of the State of Louisiana, and a member of the
Louisiana Supreme Court. It was while in Louisiana that he
published his "History of North Carolina." It has the charac-
teristic of his legal works — inaccuracy and a predilection for
compilation. Many errors are inexcusable, unused evidence
being available. Other mistakes were derived from tradition,
and the two volumes as a whole are no more than annals, de-
void of insight. Judge Martin also published a "History of
Louisiana" and a number of legal works which have a valu-
able place in the bibliography of that state.
Nearly a generation passed before another history was
published. Then in 1851 appeared John H. Wheeler's "His-
torical Sketches of North Carolina," the first history of the
state by a native. It is a digest of information by a demo-
cratic politician. The first two parts of the book are a nar-
rative of events and miscellaneous matters from 1584 to 1851 ;
the second is a collection of sketches of the various counties,
including short biographies of prominent men. Inaccuracy,
blind prejudice in the matter of elimination and inclusion of
men and facts, and a lack of unity in plan characterize the
book, but it had an extensive sale and became the most widely
known history of the state.
By far the best of the ante-bellum historians was Francis
Lister Hawks. Trained for the law by Judge Gaston and
at the celebrated school at Litchfield, Connecticut, and full of
promise in the legal profession, he became a clergyman of the
380 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Episcopal Church. In 1829 he removed to New Haven, Con-
necticut, and there began a long career in the priesthood,
education, and literature, most of which was spent in the State
of New York. He was an active member of the New York
Historical Society, and achieved distinction as an antiquarian
and historian of the Episcopal Church. But his opus magnum
was a history of his native state, of which the first two vol-
umes, ending with the proprietary period, were published in
1857 and 1858. His conception of history was broader than
that of Williamson, Martin, and Wheeler, and also broadei
than that of contemporary historians generally, for it in-
cluded economic, religious, and cultural, as well as political,
development. Of the 591 pages in the second volume, 263 are
given to these matters. For information he utilized the col-
lections made by George Bancroft in England, as well as ma-
terials preserved by the State of North Carolina. His style
was that of a literary artist, his first volume containing a
story of Raleigh and Roanoke Island which is unsurpassed.
However his work is marred by his prejudice in matters reli-
gious. Himself a devoted churchman, he failed to do justice
to the religious motives and policies of the early settlers, but
in his conception of history as a revelation of the social as
well as the political life of man, and also in attractive presen-
tation, his two volumes are still unsurpassed. The Civil War,
and also his death in 1866, prevented the completion of the
other two volumes which he planned.
Interest in the past was not confined to formal literary
works. It also inspired the antiquarian and the collector. A
notable service of Archibald Debow Murphey, who planned
but never wrote an elaborate history, was to arouse interest
in the collection and the preservation of historical sources.
In 1827 the legislature requested the governor to apply to
the British government for permission to procure copies of
manuscripts in the office of the Board of Trade and Planta-
tions. The application was made through the proper authori-
ties and permission was granted; indeed, the British au-
thorities forwarded an index of manuscripts. In 1843 the
collection and copying of the governors' letter books and
records of local committees in the period of the Revolution
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
381
was authorized; in 1847 another publication of records per-
taining to the Revolution was likewise authorized, but was
never carried out. In 1849 the governor was also authorized
to procure from London such documents pertaining to the
colonial and revolutionary history of the state, without re-
Francis Lister Hawks
striction as to expense. The execution of this notable work
was entrusted to President Swain of the University; but he
thought it wiser first to collect material in this country, and
to that end he planned a thorough survey of American his-
torical collections. In 1856 he secured the co-operation of
Doctor Hawks, through whom George Bancroft offered free
access to manuscripts transcribed by him in England. In
1858 Swain and Hawks memorialized the legislature for the
382 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
publication of a series of records and annotated statutes.
In reply the legislature authorized its publication by Hawks
and Swain of a "Documentary History of North Carolina, or
of the Statutes at Large," in two volumes; the execution of
the work was prevented by the outbreak of civil war. A gen-
eration later this scheme was revived and carried out under
the title of "Colonial and State Records. "
Historical interest found expression in other types of
literature than formal histories. Joseph Sewell Jones, of
Shocco, chose for his task an investigation of the Revolution-
ary history of the state, with the purpose of showing its
leadership in the revolt against Great Britain. Thomas Jef-
ferson's letter to John Adams, doubting the authenticity of
the Mecklenburg Resolves of May 20, 1775, furnished the cue
for a violent attack on Jefferson. Hence the title, "Defense
of the Revolutionary History of North Carolina from the
Aspersions of Mr. Jefferson. ' ' The introduction contained
an arraignment of the character and influence of Mr. Jeffer-
son, very suggestive of the political revolt against Virginia
influence which started in the 'twenties.
I yield no faith whatever to the contents of the four volumes of
his (Jefferson's) writings. Private and political scandal, truth, re-
ligion, infidelity, federalism, republicanism and Jacobinism, are all
conglomerated there, — as if the Sage of Monticello had devoted the
whole evening 1 of his life to the collection and endorsement of prin-
ciples of every kind, from the purest tenet of religion to the most
disgusting absurdity of the basest and most abandoned profligacy.
And yet. dispute one Avord of the four volumes of this political Koran,
or doubt, for a moment, the immaculate purity of the character of its
author, and you have not only all the rabble of the celestial empire,
but all the great Images of the Prophet, who have gone or are going
into power, on the strength nf his name, roaring out Aristocracy,
Federalism, Nullification, or any other unpopular word, suited to
sustain them in their places. It may be confidently asserted, that the
whole range of history does not exhibit an instance of baser sub-
serviency, not only of many, as individuals, but of the nation at
large — than the over-powering influence of the mere name of Jefferson.
Such is its amazing power, that no party of the present day aspires
to popular favor through any other channel, and National Republican,
as well as Jackson, Bucktail, and Anti-bucktail, all piously claim for
their priesthood the purest legitimacy of descent. The people have
placed him upon the throne of public opinion and the statue of Wash-
ington is burnt, broken, and scattered into fragments. It is time to
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 383
have done with this delusion. The lives of the eminent and patriotic,
whose biographies have not been written, should be studied and ex-
amined with an especial view to correct the errors, conspicuous from
one end to the other of "the writings of Jefferson." If the pen of
their calumniator is to perform this task, and his works go down to
posterity as truth, the patriots of our revolution will be ranked by
posterity, not as American statesmen but as traitors to their country.
The names of Washingon, Hamilton, Richard Henry Lee., Marshall,
Story, Henry Lee, Bayard, and a host of others, comprising the talents
civil and military of the whole Union, are the companions of William
Hooper in the almost universal calumny of his pen.
The "Defense" is interesting and virile, well written but
partial. Yet it is a landmark in the aw r akening of patriotic
interest in the state's history. A similar judgment must be
meted to Jones' "Memorial of North Carolina" (1838), not-
able also for its criticism of John Randolph.
Not polemical, but smacking of the raconteur, were the
works of Rev. William Henry Foote and Rev. Eli W. Car-
uthers. Mr. Foote was a Presbyterian clergyman of Rom-
ney, Virginia, His "Sketches of North Carolina," published
in 1844, interwove with formal history the story of the Scotch-
Irish settlers and the Presbyterian Church in North Carolina.
His w T ork is invaluable, since much of his information was
derived from unwritten sources, such as the recollections of
early settlers. Of like value is Caruthers' "Old North
State" (first series 1854, second series 1856). In these vol-
umes were recounted stories and legends gathered at the fire-
side, which give local color to historical movements during
the latter period of the eighteenth century.
Much of the interest in state history centered around
the controversv over the Mecklenburg Declaration of Inde-
pendence. There was a tradition in the western counties that
at Charlotte on May 20, 1775, a meeting of delegates chosen
in Mecklenburg declared independence from Great Britain.
It did not gain w T ide currency until 1819, when the Raleigh
Register published an account of the reported meeting and
its resolutions. This was really a reply to the claim made
in Wirt's "Life of Patrick Henry" that Henry "gave the
first impulse to the ball of the Revolution" — a statement that
had aroused considerable discussion among North Carolin-
384 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
ians. The matter was given publicity in the newspapers and
in 1825 the people of Charlotte hallowed the reputed event
with the first of a long series of annual celebrations. In 1829
discussion was again aroused by the publication of Jeffer-
son's works, in which was found a letter from Jefferson to
John Adams expressing the opinion that the resolutions were
spurious. Now this was at the very time of the political
revolt in North Carolina against Virginia leadership. It is
not surprising therefore to find that the legislature appointed
a committee "to examine, collate, and arrange" all the
evidence concerning the declaration that could be procured.
Its report was published in 1831 and naturally was defensive.
Shortly after, Peter Force found in the Massachusetts Spy
or American Oracle of Liberty an account of other resolutions
at Charlotte, on May 31, 1775, which he published in the
National Intelligencer of December 18, 1838. As the two
documents were not identical, as the latter was not so radical
as the former, and as the resolves of May 20 were not sup-
ported by contemporary evidence, while those of May 31
were so substantiated, a long controversy was begun. The
problem was the subject of numerous addresses and consider-
able investigation; the upshot was a firm, popular conviction
that the resolves of May 20 were as genuine as those of May
31, and also a feeling of doubt on the part of those who pa-
tiently and rationally weighed all the evidence.
Contemporary with the writing of formal histories and
sketches came an interest in religious origins. Foote's
"Sketches," above mentioned, was largely a product of this
impulse. To preserve the traditions and records of the Bap-
tists, Lemuel Burkitt and Jesse Read published in 1806 a
"History of the Kehukee Baptist Association;" a continua-
tion, bringing the narrative down to 1834, was later issued
by Joseph Biggs (1834). George W. Purefoy performed a
similar service for the Sandy Creek Baptists in his "History
of the Sandy Creek Association" (1859). Rev. John Paris'
"History of the Methodist Protestant Church" (1849) is full
of information regarding controversies in North Carolina
which were directly related to the division in the Methodist
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 385
Church. Robert B. Drane made the first contribution to the
history of the Episcopal Church in the state in his "Histori-
cal Notices of St. James' Parish, Wilmington" (1843), and
Bishop Reichel in 1857 published a "History of the Moravians
in North Carolina." Supplementing these were historical
and memorial addresses, notably Banks' "Centennial Ad-
dress Before the Presbytery of Fayetteville " (1858) and
Buxton's "The Church in America, Particularly in North
Carolina" (n. d.)
History, too, was the dominant interest in the writing of
biography and fiction. In 1840 Edward R. Cotten published a
"Life of Hon. Nathaniel Macon," which was little more than
an eulogy. Of real value was Rev. Eli W. Caruthers' "Life
of David Caldwell," his predecessor as pastor of the Presby-
terian churches at Alamance and Buffaloe. The work is a
contribution to political as well as religious history. The
biography par excellence was Griffith J. McRee's "Life and
Times of James Iredell" (2 vols., 1857, 1858), really a collec-
tion of letters invaluable for an understanding of social and
political affairs in the later eighteenth century, prized by all
investigators of national as well as of state history. Profes-
sor F. M. Hubbard of the University contributed to Sparks'
Library of American Biography a study of William R. Davie
(1848), which meets well the standard of that series. The
relation between the state and the Cherokee Indians was the
theme for a novel by Senator Robert Strange, entitled "Eone-
guski (2 vols., 1839) ; because of severe criticisms of the treat-
ment of the Indians by prominent white men of western North
Carolina, the book was suppressed. Calvin H. Wiley found
in the War of the Regulation the subject matter of his story,
"Alamance."
Poetry as well as prose had a place in nascent literary ac-
tivities. In 1854 Mary Bayard Clarke wrote:
"Come rouse you, ye poets of North Carolina.
My State is my theme and I seek not a finer.
I sing in its praise and I bid ye all follow
Till we wake up the echoes of 'Old Sleepy Hollow!'
Vol. II— 25
386 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
"Come show to his scorners 'Old Rip' is awaking,
His sleep like a cloud of the morning is breaking ;
That the years of his slumber, at last have gone by,
And the rainbow of promise illuminates the sky.
> *
These lines are from the introduction to the writer's
anthology of North Carolina poetry, entitled "Wood Notes"
(2 vols.). It contained 182 poems. by sixty authors. Among
the selections were Mrs. Clarke's "Triumph of Spring," un-
Residence of John Louis Taylor, Where Gaston Wrote
"Carolina"
der the pseudonym ."Tenella," Gaston's "Carolina," and
James B. Shepard's less known poem of the same title, J. M.
Morehead's "Hills of Dan," Ellenwood's "Marriage of the
Sun and Moon," and "Swannanoa," by an unknown author.
Mrs. Clarke likewise published two volumes of her own com-
position, "Mosses From a Rolling Stone" (1866) and "Cly-
tie and Zenobia" (1871), the latter being a story of ancient
Palmvra. In 1846 William Henrv Rhodes, a native of Bertie
County, a young man then in his twenty-fourth year, a grad-
uate of the Harvard Law School and a member of the Texas
bar, published "The Indian Gallows and Other Poems," in
which the legends of the Tuscaroras were treated in epic
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 387
form. Other volumes of poetry of minor importance were
William Hill Brown's "Ira and Isabella" (1807), R. T. Dan-
iel's "Selection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs" (1812), of
which eighty w T ere original, "Attempts at Rhyming" (1839),
by Old Field Teacher, George V. Strong's "Francis Her-
bert," a romance of the Revolution (1847), and Lemuel Saw-
yer's "Wreck of Honor and Tragedy." Of antiquarian inter-
est was a volume, "Hope of Liberty" (1829), by George M.
Horton, a slave of Chatham County. Connecting the antebel-
lum period with the more recent past was Theo H. Hill, whose
"Hesper and Other Poems" appeared in 1861.
The most prevalent form of literature was not the formal
volume but the essay or literary address. Its principal spon-
sor w T as the college, notably the University, Wake Forest and
Davidson, which published in pamphlet form commencement
orations by public men. Among the more notable of these
were three issued by the University; Gaston's "Address to the
Literary Societies" (1832), widely noticed on account of its
condemnation of slavery, George Davis' "Early Men and
Times of the Cape Fear" (1855) and William Hooper r s
"Tis Fifty Years Since" (1859) ; also Romulus M. Saunders'
"Address before the Literary Societies of Wake Forest in
defense of the Mecklenburg Resolves of May 20, 1775,"
and William Hooper's "Sacredness of Human Life," likewise
issued by Wake Forest. Other pamphlets of interest pub-
lished by non-academic authority were Caldwell's "Num-
bers of Carlton" (1828) and "Letters on Popular Educa-
tion" (1832), Henry W. Miller's "The Eighteenth Century,"
and the Memoir of Elisha Mitchell (1858). Religious pam-
phlets treating of theological or doctrinal subjects were also
numerous.
Between 1840 and 1860 efforts were also made to establish
literary periodicals. In 1834 the faculty of the University
began the publication of a weekly paper, the Harbinger. Its
purpose was "to diffuse literary information with correct
taste, to impress the importance of popular and academic
education, and explain the best methods discreetly, but with
independent freedom of stricture; to discuss subjects in
which it is important to enlighten the public mind ; to fur-
388 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
nish events and circumstances occurring among ourselves
that deserve notice; to exhibit science in popular form that
will solicit curiosity and be generally intelligible ; to promote
the cause of internal improvements ; and to give a competent
portion of the political and religious intelligence of the time,
with studious exclusion of all party character." The paper
was short-lived, as was also the Columbian Repository, pub-
lished at Chapel Hill by Hugh McQueen in 1836.
In 1844 the University Magazine, published by the Liter-
ary Societies of the institution, made its appearance ; it sus-
pended after nine issues but was revived in 1852 and contin-
ued without interruption until May, 1861. Its files are espe-
cially valuable for their contribution to the history of the
state, notably for Johnson's "Biographical Sketch of John-
ston Blakeley," Hooper and McCree's "Memoir of John
Ashe" (vol. Ill), General Joseph Graham's "Narrative of
Revolutionary History" (vol. V), Hubbard's "Life and
Times of Caswell" (vol. VII), the "Autobiography of Jo-
seph Caldwell (vol. IX), Swain's "War of the Regulation"
(vols. IX and X), and his "Life and Letters of Cornelius Har-
nett" (vol. X). Less successful magazine adventures were
made by Braxton Craven and Andrew J. Stedman. The for-
mer established in 1850 the Evergreen, a literary journal, in
which the editor published his "Naomi Wise," a story based
on legends of Randolph County. The periodical was short
lived, only a few copies being known to exist. Stedman 's
Salem Magazine made its appearance in January, 1858. De-
signed to be a periodical of "pure literature," an "Emporium
of Southern Literature," only one issue is known to exist.
A sense of unity and also of duty based on citizenship in
the state was manifest in the organizations devoted to pro-
fessional and moral causes. On December 17, 1799, the
"North Carolina Medical Society" was organized at Raleigh,
and six days later was incorporated by the legislature. Lit-
tle is known of its activities. The first president was Dr.
Richard Fenner of Raleigh. Prizes were offered for essays
on selected subjects and for the production of medicines from
plants. Applicants for membership were subjected to an ex-
amination by a Board of Censors. A botanical garden for
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 389
the cultivation of medicinal plants, a museum, and a library
were among the projects of the society. In 1800 the state
was divided into medical districts and district meetings of
physicians were urged; two years later such a policy was ad-
vised for every state in the Union by the American Medical
Association. No information about the Society exists after
1804. Over a generation later, in January, 1849, six physi-
cians, three of whom were members of the legislature, called
a State Medical Convention which met in Raleigh on April
16. A new organization was formed, the "Medical Society
of the State of North Carolina." Aggressive policy was at
once taken toward the elevation of professional standards by
the adoption of the Code of Ethics of the American Medical
Association. In 1850 the legislature was memorialized to re-
quire the registration of marriages, births and deaths; the
response was a law providing for the registration of mar-
riages only. Regarding the question of establishing a medi-
cal college in the state, a committee in 1852 made an unfavor-
able report. Notable was the statement that it should be
"certainly no part of our policy to add to the number of
those colleges which are dependent upon patronage, and who
annually turn loose upon the public swarms of graduates,
many of whom are entirely ignorant of the first principles of
medicine, totally unfit for its practice, and possess no other
qualification than such as is found in the fact that they have
attended two courses of lectures and possess the necessary
amount of money wherewith to purchase a diploma. ' ' There-
fore the committee was "forced to believe that a few good,
well endowed, well supported medical colleges, independent
of favor, will effect far more real and substantial good for
the science of medicine than an illimitable number of such
as your society now have the means of establishing." In
1856 the publication of a medical journal was authorized, and
in August, 1858, appeared the first number of the North Caro-
lina Medical Journal, of which Dr. Edward Warren was
editor. The greatest achievement of the early days of the
Society was its incorporation in 1859, with the power to select
a Board of Medical Examiners consisting of seven "regu-
larly graduated physicians," by which all physicians practic-
390 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
ing in the state after April 15, 1859,. should be licensed. This
was the first board of medical examiners* provided by law in
any state of the Union. These measures of progress were
not attained without opposition on the part of certain ele-
ments in the medical profession and the laity. Yet the so-
ciety prospered ; its membership, which was 25 in 1849, had by
1860 increased to over 200.
Thirteen editors held a convention in Raleigh in Novem-
ber, 1837, but no permanent society resulted. Persistent and
finally successful were the efforts to organize for the cause
of education. . In 1822 the Education Society of North Caro-
lina was founded at Hillsboro. Its purpose was religious,
"to aid indigent and pious young men to acquire an educa-
tion for the gospel ministry." Dr. Joseph Caldwell of the
University was elected president and Dr. James Webb of
Hillsboro was treasurer. Nothing is known of the work of
the society. In the interest of secular education was the
North Carolina Institute of Education, organized at Chapel
Hill the day before the commencement of 1831. Its incep-
tion was due partly to the example of Tennessee and other
states in which educational conventions had been held and
organizations launched; partly also to the desire of bringing
pressure to bear on the legislature to make appropriations
for public schools. A constitution was adopted, stating that
the objects of the Institute were to '•diffuse knowledge on
the subject of education, and by every proper means to im-
prove the condition of common schools and other literary
institutions in the state." The annual dues were one dollar,
the place and time of meeting were Chapel Hill on the day
preceding commencement. S. J. Baker was elected president,
and Dr. Walter Norwood, recording secretary. Meetings were
held, featured by addresses on educational subjects, in 1832,
probably in 1833, and in 1834 ; there are no records of later ex-
istence of the society. In Guilford County, some time during
1849, another futile attempt was made toward an educational
organization. Finally on July 1, 1857, a stable society was
formed, the Educational Association of North Carolina, the
outgrowth of a teachers ' convention held at Goldsboro in May,
1856. Annual meetings were held, local auxiliaries were or-
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 391
ganizecl, reforms were discussed. The great service of the
Educational Society was to bring "into council representa-
tives from all classes of our schools, from the university down,
and including officers and teachers of the common schools;
and its direct and obvious tendency is to create and foster a
more catholic spirit among educators, to unite the efforts of
the friends of popular intelligence, to repress hostility be-
tween schools of different grades and sections, to elevate the
standard of teaching, to enliven and widen the popular inter-
est in education." In 1860 the Association was incorporated
by the legislature and was granted $600 per annum for four
years. In 1858 the North Carolina Journal of Education was
established as an organ of the Association.
In the meantime moral and philanthropic organizations
were being formed. Sunday schools were in operation prob-
ably during the latter part of the eighteenth century. Their
work was not confined to religion ; they also offered instruc-
tion in elementary English. In 1825 the Sunday School So-
ciety of Orange County, which had under its care twenty-two
schools and between 800 and 1,000 students, memorialized the
legislature for an appropriation of twenty-five cents per
annum for each student, to be used in the purchase of text
books. The memorial was rejected as inexpedient. Likewise
at the succeeding session a bill providing for appropriations
to Sunday Schools which offered instruction in reading and
writing was rejected. In 1813 the North Carolina Bible So-
ciety was organized at Raleigh for the gratuitious distribution
of the scriptures to the heathen and to the poor in America.
In 1835 it sought a charter from the legislature, but the bill
of incorporation was tabled on the first reading. Temper-
ance societies, with a state organization, were also active after
1820.
More idealistic but less active was the interest in world
peace. The sentiment for the end of warfare, so prevalent
just after the Napoleonic period in Europe, was reflected in
the Raleigh Peace Society, organized on April 21, 1819. Its
purpose was well expressed in the preamble to the constitu-
tion:
392 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
''We, the subscribers, impressed with the belief that the Gospel is
designed to produce peace on earth ; and that it is the duty of all good
men to cultivate, and, as far as they have power, to diffuse a spirit of
kindness, do agree to form ourselves into a society for the purpose of
disseminating the general principles of peace, and to use all proper
means, within the sphere of our influence, to promote universal har-
mony and good will among men."
The first Monday after Independence Day was fixed for
the time of the annual meeting, always featured by an annual
sermon. The annual dues were one dollar. Pacifism was
repudiated in the following announcement:
It may be proper to notice an error which some few uninformed
persons have fallen into respecting this society. They have supposed
its principles were those of passive obedience, submission and non-
resistance. Far from it. No man, by becoming a member of this
society, surrenders his independence of thinking and acting, and
many of them distinctly avow their determination to take up arms
to defend their country whenever the occasion requires. But they all
unite in the endeavor to do away with the necessity of wars, and
hope to do so by means first suggested and attempted by the great
and good Henry the Fourth, of France, in an age not sufficiently en-
lightened and humanized for plans for such extended beneficence.
Little is known of the activities of the Peace Society.
Pamphlets were purchased and distributed. A memorial was
forwarded to the President and Congress of the United
States asking that treaties be made abolishing privateering
in time of war. The membership was small ; the roll of 1821
had only thirty-eight names, but among these were men of
various religious denominations and various professions :
Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians; mer-
chants, planters, physicians and bankers. The first president
of the society was William Peck, a business man, its vice
president, Dr. Richard Fenner, and its corresponding secre-
tary, Dr. Jeremiah Battle. No record of the organization
exists after 1822.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL AIDS
Supplementing the general guide books for American his-
tory are the following: Weeks, Bibliography of North Caro-
lina Historical Literature (Harvard University Library,
1895) ; Minutes of the State Literary and Historical Associa-
tion of North Carolina, 1899, each number of which contains
a list of books published during the preceding twelve months
pertaining to North Carolina or by North Carolinians; the
Minutes for 1902, 1903, 1904 and 1905 are reprinted in Pub-
lications of the North Carolina Historical Commission, Vol.
I; since 1911 the Minutes have been published in the Bulletins
o'f the Historical Commission (Raleigh, North Carolina).
Laney and Wood, Bibliography of North Carolina Geology,
Mineralogy, and Geography (North Carolina Geological Sur-
vey, 1909) is invaluable for a study of natural resources.
SOURCES
I. Laws and Official Records, printed. These are of
prime importance for all the matters discussed in the present
volume. A guide may be found in Bowker, Index of State
Publications. The laws prior to 1790, also the legislative
journals and miscellaneous documents, are reprinted in Clark,
State Records of North Carolina (Vols. XVI-XXV). In
Farrand, Records of the Federal Convention, may be traced
the role of the North Carolina delegates in the Convention,
while the debates in the Hillsboro Convention are accessible
in Elliott, Debates on the Federal Constitution (1831). The
Journal (Raleigh, 1836) and the Debates in the Convention of
1835 (Ibid.) are of more than technical interest.
II. Newspapers. Of indispensable use are the files of
393
394 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
newspapers, especially the Raleigh Register, the Star and
North Carolina Gazette, and the North Carolina Standard, of
which fairly complete files are preserved in the state library.
Broken files of these and other papers are in the libraries of
Trinity College and the University of North Carolina ; among
the latter are volumes of the Fayetteville Observer, the
Greensboro Patriot, the Tarboro Southerner, the Western
Carolinian and other papers. Complete files of the religious
press are not accessible.
III. Manuscripts. In the possession of the North Caro-
lina Historical Commission are many manuscripts, notably
the letter books and other correspondence of the governors,
the private letters of Willie P. Mangmn, John Steele, E. J.
Hale, David S. Reid and others. None of these have been
thoroughly exploited and none are calendared. In the Li-
brary of Congress much material may be found in the Papers
of William Polk and of Martin Van Buren.
IV. Works of Public Men. Of prime importance
are McRee's Life and Correspondence of James Iredell
(2 vols., 1857), Hoyt's Papers of Archibald DeBow Mur-
phey (North Carolina Historical Commission, 2 vols.,
1914), Hamilton's Correspondence of Jonathan Worth
(Ibid., 1909) and Papers of Thomas Ruffin (Vol. I, Ibid.,
1918). Dodd's Correspondence of Nathaniel Macon
(Branch Historical Papers, Randolph Macon College, Vol.
Ill) throws some light on political conditions, as do also
Battle's Letters of Nathaniel Macon, John Steele, and Wil-
liam Barry Grove (James Sprunt Historical Monographs,
University of North Carolina, No. 3) and Letters of William
R. Davie (Ibid., 7), Hamilton's Correspondence of John Rust
Eaton (James Sprunt Historical Publications, Vol. IX, No.
1), WagstafY's Letters of William Barry Grove (Ibid., IX, 2),
Anderson's Letters of Bartlett Yancey (Ibid., X, 2), Wag-
staff's Harrington Letters (Ibid., XIII, 2) and Harris Letters
(Ibid., 14, 1), and the Correspondence of Bedford Brown
(Papers of the Trinity College Historical Society, series VI-
VU). Among personal narratives should be mentioned the
Memoirs of W. W. Holden (Trinity College Historical Soci-
ety, 1911) and Autobiography of Brantley York (Ibid., 1910),
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 395
Autobiography of Joseph Caldwell (1859), and Autobiog-
raphy of Joseph Travis (1856).
V. Travel and Description. Works of this nature are
few. Lanman 's Letters from the Alleghany Mountains ( 1849 ) ,
Olmsted's Journey in the Seaboard Slave States (1856), El
kanah Watson's Men and Times of the Revolution (1856),
Anne Royal's Southern Tour (1830) are the most prominent.
Elisha Mitchell left a Diary of a Geological Tour in 1827 and
1828 (James Sprunt Historical Monograph, No. 6). ■
AUTHORITIES
I. Histories, General and Local. No history of North
Carolina gives an adequate treatment of the period included
in this volume. "Wheeler's Historical Sketches (1851) is ex-
ceedingly slight and Moore's History of North Carolina
(1880) is based mainly on traditions and reminiscences. Valu-
able for political history are Wagstaff's State Rights and
Political Parties (Johns Hopkins Studies, 1906) and Federal-
ism in North Carolina (James Sprunt Historical Publica-
tions, IX, 2) and Hamilton's Party Politics, 1835-1860 (Ibid.,
Vol. XIII). Most of the local histories are confined to the Colo-
nial and Revolutionary period, but including material on the
years treated in this volume are Arthur's History of Western
North Carolina (1914) and History of Watauga County
(1915), the Publications of the Guilford County Literary and
Historical Association (1908) and Albright's Facts, Figures,
Traditions and Reminiscences (1904) ; Allen's Centennial of
Haywood County (n. d.), Winborne's Colonial and State Po-
litical History of Hertford County (1906), Alexander's His-
tory of Mecklenburg County (n. d.) and Thompson's History
of Mecklenburg (2 vols., 1903) ; Swain's Early Times in
Raleigh (1867), Battle's Early History of Raleigh (1893),
Amis' Historical Raleigh (1902), and Sprunt 's Chronicles of
the Cape Fear River (1916). The histories of Tennessee, all
of which treat of the State of Franklin, should be supple-
mented by Sioussat's North Carolina Cession of 1784 (Pro-
ceedings Miss. Valley Hist. Society, 1909) and Ashe, State of
Franklin (N. C. Booklet, Vol. XIV).
II. Biographies. A. Collected. Ashe (Ed.) Biographical
History of North Carolina (Vols. I-VII, Greensboro, 1905-
1907); Peele, Lives of Distinguished North Carolinians
(1898) ; Connor, Makers of North Carolina History (1911) ;
396
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA 397
Haywood, Lives of the Bishops of North Carolina (1910) ;
Wheeler, Reminiscences and Memoirs of North Carolina and
E m incut North Carolinians (1884).
B. Individual. Dowd, Braxton Craven (1896) ; Dodd, Na-
thaniel Macon (1903); Clark (et al.), Otway Burns (1905);
Hubbard, William R. Davie (1848) ; Caruthers, David Cald-
well (1842) ; MacClenny, James O'Kelly (1910) ; Moore, Pio-
neers of Methodism in Virginia and North Carolina (1884).
MISCELLANIES
I. Legal and Political. Battle, History of the Supreme
Court of North Carolina (1889) ; Hamilton, Party Politics in
North Carolina; WagstafT, State Rights and Political Parties
in North Carolina (1906).
II. Educational. Knight, Public School Education in
North Carolina (1916) ; Smith, History of Education in North
Carolina (1888) ; Raper, Church and Private Schools of North
Carolina (1898) ; Weeks, Beginning of the Common School
System in the South (1897) ; Battle, History of the University
of North Carolina, Vol. I (1907).
III. Religious. Grissom, History of Methodism in North
Carolina, Vol. I (1905); Foote, Sketches of North Carolina
(1846, 1912) ; Biggs, History of the Kehukee Association
(1830) ; Purefoy, History of the Sandy Creek Association
(1859) ; Delke, History of the Chowan Association (1882) ;
Williams, History of the Baptists in North Carolina (1901) ;
Vass, History of the Presbyterian Church in Newbern (1886) ;
DeRossett (Ed.), Essays in the Church History of North Car-
olina (1892).
IV. Economic. Weaver, Internal Improvements in NortJi
Carolina (Johns Hopkins Studies, 1903) ; Barringer, History
of the North Carolina Railroad (University of North Carolina,
1894) ; Morgan, State Aid to Transportation in North Caro-
lina (N. C. Booklet, Vol. X) ; Boyd, Currency and Banking in
North Carolina (Papers of the Trinity College Historical So-
ciety X), Finances of the Literary Fund (South Atlantic
Quarterly Vol. XIII), The North Carolina Fund for Internal
398 HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Improvement (Ibid., XV) ; Thompson, From Cotton Field to
Cotton Mill (1906).
V. Boundaries and Indians. Royce, The Cherokee Nation of
Indians (Bureau of American Ethnology, 1884), and Mooney,
Myths of the Cherokee (Ibid., 1897) ; Goodloe, The North
Carolina and Georgia Boundary (N. C. Booklet, Vol. Ill) ;
Kerr, Geology of North Carolina (1875).
VI. Slavery. Bassett, History of Slavery in the State of
North Carolina (Johns Hopkins Studies, 1899), and Anti-
Slavery Leaders of North Carolina (Ibid., 1898) ; Weeks,
Southern Quakers and Slavery (1895).
VII. Periodicals — Historical and Literary. Historical
Papers of the Trinity College Historical Society (1897 — ),
and John Lawson Monographs (1910 — ) ; James Sprunt Mon-
ographs and James Sprimt Historical Publications (Univer-
sity of North Carolina, 1900 — ), the North Carolina Booklet
(Raleigh, 1901 — ). Historical Publication of the North Car-
olina State Normal and Industrial College (1914 — ) ; the
Baptist Historical Papers (1897-1907) ; Papers of the North
Carolina Conference Historical Society (1897, 1901) ; the
South Atlantic Quarterly (1902 — ) ; the North Carolina Re-
view (1909-1913).
VIII. Political Reference. Connor, Manual of North
Carolina (1913) contains lists of public officials and election
returns.
INDEX
Academies, 2, 356; incorporation, by
counties, 354
Adams, John Q., 170
Advalorem principle, 318; argument
against, 320
Agricultural Fund, 100
Agricultural journals, establishment
of, 332
Agricultural societies, organization of,
100
Agricultural Society, foundation of.
332
Agriculture, 87, 331
Albermarle and Chesapeake Canal, 353
Alien and sedition laws, 51
Amendments, first ten to Constitution
of 1787. 44; made possible by Hills-
boro Convention, 45
Amendments to Articles of Confedera-
tion proposed, 21
American Abolitionist, first, 210
Annexation of Texas, 280
Anti-federalists, 31
Anti-negro legislation, 219
Appropriations for internal improve-
ments, 92
"Arator," 332
''Arminian Magazine." 189
Articles of Confederation, amendments
proposed, 21; new movement to re-
vise. 24
Ashe, John B.. 47
Assessment of property, imperfect, 111
Assumption bill, 48
Assumption of state debts, 47
Asylums, 251 ; foundation of, 242
Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad,
349
Badger, George E., 270; (portrait), 298
Bank bill. 49
Bank dividends. 108; suspension of, 109
Banking, 102, 105-118
Banking problems. 119
Bank, new, established 1829-30, 130
Bank of Cape Fear, 96, 103, 117, 137.
175; rechartered. 121
Bank of Newbern, 96. 103, 117, 137,
175; rechartered. 121
Bank of North America, charter vali-
dated, 21
Bank of North Carolina, 135
Bank of State of North Carolina Note
(illustration). 134
Bank stock, dividends from, 106
Banks, early, 96; effects on finance and
commerce. 117; state currency dis-
posed of through cooperation of. 119;
suspension of specie payment by,
123; state aid to, 125: charters saved
from judicial procedure, 129; private,
135
Baptist Literary Institute, 366
Baptists. 186
Karringer. David, 158
Battle, Jeremiah, 88
Bechtler. Christian, 341
Bibliography. 393
Biggs. Asa. 158, 309
Bill of Rights, 8, 288
Blakely, Johnston, 60. 62; Congression-
al Medal in Honor of (illustrations),
61
Blind, instruction of. 253
Bloodworth. Timothy, 47
Blount, William. 25: (portrait), 22
Board of Agriculture. 100
Board of Internal Improvements, 94
Bonded debt, 241
Bonds, policy of issuing begun in 1848,
241
Borough franchise, 144
Borough representation. 159
Boundaries, state, 70; controversy over
Georgia boundary. 72 ; dispute over
Tennessee boundary, 73
Boundary commissioners. 70
Boylan. William. 52
Bragg. Thomas. 310
Branch, John. 158; (portrait), 176
British debts, liquidation of, 49
British orders in council, 57
Brown. Bedford, 184
Brown (John) raid at Harper's Ferry,
322
Buchanan. James B., 316
Burns. Otway. 60
Bynum. Jesse A., 177
Caldwell, David. 145. 191, 385
Caldwell. Joseph, 72, 89, 345,
(portrait), 364
363;
399
400
INDEX
Cameron. Duncan. 151
Campaigns in North Carolina, before
adoption of Constitution, 31; presi-
dential, of 1824, 168; presidential,
of 1860. 325
(amp meeting*. 190; scenes in Ruther-
ford County. 192
C anal and river navigation, 352
Canals, state aid to, 97
Cape Fear river, 84
Capital, located in Wake County, 80;
locating of. 80; Hillsboro chosen for,
80; location of, 149; factional strife
over removal of. 154: removal of
from Raleigh to Fayetteville, agreed
to, 154
Capitol, total cost of present, 82; burn-
ing of, 153; construction of, 239
Capitol, The (illustration), frontispiece
Care of the insane. 253
"Carolina Cultivator," 332
'"Carolina Federal Republican," 375
'■Carolina" (Gaston), 386
"Carolina Watchman," 156. 243, 376
Caruthers, Eli. 209, 383, 385
Caswell, Richard. 18
Catawba College. 372
Census reports. 153
Certificate debt, 4, 115
Certificates, registration of, 115; re-
demption of, 115. 228: process of re-
demption, 116; sale of land principal
means of redemption. 116
'Charlotte Democrat." 377
Charlotte, government mint at. 341
Charter of Bank of North America
validated, 21
Charter of 1663. 143
Chavis. John. 221
Cheap lands. 173
Cherokee Indians, removal of, 73, 76,
104
Cherokee Lands. 94
Cherokee Land sales, difficulty in col-
lecting notes. 96
Cherokee Life. 79
Chickasaw Indians, removed, 75
Chowan Baptist Female Institute, 372
Chowan Female Institute, 249
Christian Church. 200
Church, prohibition of an established,
145
Circuit courts. 66
Circuit riders. 189
Clark. Mary B.. 385
Clay. Henry. 277. 303
Clinton Female Institute, 249
Coal. 343
Code Commission. 216
Cokesbury School. 188
Colonial patrol law of 1753. 216
Colored fabric mill, first. 337
Commerce, S3: effects of banks on. 117
Common Schools, office of superintend-
ent created, 245; Wiley's efforts on
behalf of, 248
Compromise on Slavery, 304; vote on,
305
Conflict between the East and the
West, 99, 147. 152, 227, 293
Congressional Medal in Honor of Cap-
tain Johnston Blakeley (illustra-
tions), 61
Congress, apportioning representation,
27
Constitutional convention of 1835, 100
Constitutional reform. 225
Constitution. North Carolina next to
last member to ratify, 46
Constitution of the United States, in
the making. 24-31
Constitution of 1776. defects of, 141;
provisions regarding religion, 144
Constitution of 1787, debates, 31; first
convention called to consider, 35;
second convention call for reconsid-
eration of, 43 ; Fayetteville conven-
tion ratifies, 44; first ten amend-
ments. 44; belated ratification of,
45 : Hillsboro Convention made first
ten amendments possible, 45;
Twelfth amendment to, 56
Constitution of 1835, ratified by the
people. 165
Constructing the State House, 80
Construction of new capitol, 239
Contentnea Society vs. Dickinson, 217
Continental debt, tobacco to be sold
and applied to state's quota of, 6
Controversy between Legislature and
Judiciary. 9
Controversy over Georgia boundary, 72
Convention called to consider Constitu-
tion of 1787, first, 35
Convention Hall. Fayetteville (illustra-
tion). 44
Convention issue, results of vote on,
155. 157
Convention of 1787. 25-31
to (portraits). 22
Convention of 1835. 139
Convention, second, called for reeon-
s'deration of Constitution of 1787, 43
Cooke, William D. (portrait), 252
Corn. 334
Gotten. Edward R., 385
Cotton. 334: decline in price of, 335
Cotton fabric mill, first colored, 337
Cotton goods, 338
Cotton mills. 337; first south of Poto-
mac river. 335: of 1840, 337
County representation, abolishing of,
159'
Court of Conference. 69
Court system, adjustment after the
Revolution. 66
Craven. Braxton (portrait), 371
Delegates
INDEX
401
Credit demoralized, 7
Crude turpentine, 338
Crudup, Josiah, 145, 158
Culpepper, John, 145
Currency, 3, 105-118; retirement of
post-revolutionary, 105 ; inflation of,
105 ; issued during the Revolution,
redemption of. 114; State, 116: re-
tiring, 117; extent to which inflated,
136
Daniel, Joseph J., 158
Davidson College, 369; manual labor,
358
Davie, William R., 10, 13, 25, 49, 51,
360, 385; (portrait), 22
Deaf and Dumb, North Carolina Insti-
tution for the Instruction of, 251
Debt, 227
Debts of loyalists held valid, 11
Debts, provision for settlement of, 7 ;
imprisonment for, 257
Declaration of Rights, 43
Decline of Whig party, 288
"Defense," 383
Delegates to the Convention of 1787
(portraits), 22
Depreciation of money, 3
Die used bv Bechtler (illustration), 342
"Discipline"," 189
Dispute over Tennessee boundary, 73
Distilled turpentine, 338
Distilleries, 335
Distribution of federal surplus revenue
among the states, 227
Distribution of negroes, 203
Dividends from bank stock, 106
Dix, Dorothea. 253
Dobbin. James C. 309; (portrait), 256
Dockery, Alfred, 158, 306, 310
Domestic debt. 4; payment of, 115
Douglas, Stephen A.,' 326
Dred Scott decision, 326
Dudley, Edward B. (portrait), 226
Early banks, 96
Economic conditions, 1800-1836, 83
Economic depression, 335
Economic development, 84, 229
Economic influences, 84
Economic problems at the close of the
Revolution, 1
Economic reform, 146
"Edenton Gazette." 375
Edenton judicial district, 66
Educational growth, aversion to taxa-
tion checked. 91
Education, 354; in 1815, 101; dearth of
capable teachers, 244; early curricu-
lum of Xorth ' Carolina University,
362
Education Society of North Carolina.
390
Edwards, Welclon N., 158
Election of 1800, 54
Vol. 11—26
Electoral system, 29
•Elizabeth "City Gazette," 376
Ellis, John W, 233, 316; (portrait),
321
Embargo act of 1807, 57
Embree, Elihu, 210
Emmons, Ebenezer, 332
"Enterprise," 62
Episcopalians, 197
Equality in the Senate, 28
Established church, prohibition of an,
145
Evans. Henry, 220
Excise tax, 48
Expenditures, review of. 109
Extension of slavery, 297
Fares, railroads, 238
Farmers, 83 ; dependent on distant
markets, 83
"Farmers' Advocate," 332
"Farmers' Journal." 332
Farms, average size in 1860, 331; value
per acre, 331
Fayetteville, 155; session of legisla-
ture at. 80
Fayetteville Convention ratifies Consti-
tution, 44
"Fayetteville Gazette." 374
"Fayetteville Intelligencer," 375
Fayetteville judicial district, 66
"Fayetteville Observer," 166, 376
Federal Convention, 24
Federal judiciary, 49
Federal politics, 1824-1836, 166-184
Federal relations. 17S3-17S7. 21-47
Federal surplus revenue, distribution
of among states, 227
Federalists. 31, 47
Federalists' policies, reaction against,
49
Federalists' reaction. 51
"54° 40' or fight," 281
Finance, effects of banks on. 117
Financial policy during the Revolution,
12
First Methodist preacher in Xorth Car-
olina, 200
First Railway Office in Halifax County
(illustration), 229
First republican newspaper, 52
First State House, Burned in 1831
(illustration), 81
Fisher, Charles, 158
Floral College. 249, 372
Flour and meal mills. 338
Foote. William H., 383
Force Bill, 181
Forests, 87
Forsythe, Benjamin, 60, 62
Franklin, Benjamin. 17. 26
Franklin. Jesse, 52
Franklin, Meshack, 158
Franklin. State of, 16, 18
402
INDEX
Frauds, Statute of. 261
Freeman, Ralph. 221
Free negroes, 203, 220, 260
Free negro suffrage, 146, 162, 220
Free Soil ticket, 299
Fulton, Hamilton, 94
Fund for Internal Improvements, 94,
113, 136, 228; decline of, 95
Gales, Joseph, 52; (portrait), 53
Gaston, William, 70. 128. 146. 155, 158,
160, 163, 207; (portrait), 131; "Car-
olina," 386
Geographical character of the state, 83
Geological survey, 100
Georgia boundary, controversy over,
72
Gerrard, Charles, 76
Gilliam. Robert, 232
Glasgow, James, 68
Glendenning. William, 195
Gold deposits, 340
Gold Piece Coined by Bechtler (illus-
tration), 342
Government Mint at Charlotte, 341
Governor, popular election of, 161
Graham, William A., 227, 300; (por-
trait), 278
Grand Lodge of the Masonic Order, re-
vived, 3
Graves, Calvin, 158, 232
Greensboro Female College, 249, 372
"Greensboro Patriot." 180, 376
Green Hill House (illustration), 188
Halifax, session of legislature at, 80
Halifax County, First Railway Office in
(illustration), 229
Halifax judicial district. 66
Hall, John (portrait), 71
Hamilton, Alexander, 47
Harper's Ferry, John Brown raid at,
322
"Hawk," 62
Hawks, Francis L., 379; (portrait),
381
Hawkins, Benjamin, 47
Hawkins, M. T., 148
Haywood, John, 68. 113
Haywood, William H., 155, 228; (por-
trait), 282
Hedrick. Benjamin S., 311, 315
Helper, Hinton R.. 323
Henderson, Leonard (portrait), 71
Henrv, Joseph, 146
"Hero." 62
Hillsboro. chosen for state capital, 80
Hillsboro Convention, 35; made possi-
ble ten amendments to Constitution,
45 ;' left open way for later ratifica-
tion, 45
Hillsboro judicial district. 66
Hillsborough Military Academy, 357
"Historical Sketches of North Caro-
lina," John H. Wheeler, 379
"History of North Carolina," Francis
Xavier Martin, 378
"History of North Carolina," Hugh
Williamson, 378
Holden. William W., 317, 326; (por-
trait), 276
Holt, Edwin M. (portrait), 337
Hooper. William, 141
Hostility, sectional, 148
Hubbard, F. M., 385
Huckaby vs. Jones, 216
Hunter, Humphrey, 185
Illiteracy, 88
Illustrations, The Capitol, frontispiece;
Revolutionary and Post-Revolution-
ary Currency, 5 ; Convention Hall,
Fayetteville, 44; Congressional Med-
al in Honor of Captain Johnston
Blakeley, 61; First State House
Burned in 1831, 81; Residence of
Joel Lane, 81; State Bank Building,
Now Rectory Christ Church, Raleigh,
120; State Treasury Notes, 124;
Note of Bank of the State of North
Carolina, 134; Green Hill House,
188; First Railway Office in Halifax
County, 229; Locomotive, R. & G.
R. R., with W. W. Vars, President
of the Road, 235; Old Alamance
Mill, Burlington, 337; Die used by
Bechtler, 342; Gold Piece Coined by
Bechtler, 342; Salem Temple Acad-
emy in 1800, 372; Residence of John
Louis Tavlor, where Gaston wrote
"Carolina," 386
"Impartial Intelligencer and Weekly
Advertiser," 374
"Impending Crisis," 323
Imprisonment for debt, 257; abolished,
258
Independence of the United States, 1
Indian removal from North Carolina
(map). 78
Insane, care of, 253
Instruction of the blind, 253
Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb,
North Carolina Institution for, 251
Internal Improvements. 96, 156, 225,
227, 236, 294: appropriations for,
92; fund for, 94, 113
Iredell, James, 8, 24, 33, 50, 52, 175,
205. 361. 385; (portrait), 32; opinion
on States Rights, 50
Iron, 341
Jackson, Andrew, 170
Jacksonian democracy, 225
Jefferson, Thomas. 51, 153, 167
John Brown raid at Harper's Ferry,
322
INDEX
403
Johnston, Samuel, 8, 31, 35, 42, 47, 52,
361
Jones, James, 210
Jones, Willie, 33, 42; (portrait). 36
Judges, increased to six in 1806, 67
Judicial decisions relating to slavery,
260
Judicial districts, state divided into
six, 66
Judicial procedure, bank charters saved
from, 129
Judiciary Act of 1801, repeal of, 55
Judiciary and Legislature, controversy
between, 9
Keith, Robert. 374
Kentucky resolutions. 51
King, William R., 362
Know Nothing Party, 311
Labor, 338
Land bounties to soldiers, 23
Land grants; offered as inducements
to military service, 12
Land policy, 173
Land speculation, 88
Land tax, 106, 108
Land warrants, validity of, 74
Lands, cheap, 173
Lands, vacant, sales of. 104
Lane, Joel, Residence of (illustration),
81
Lane, Lunsford, 222; (portrait), 223
Lead, 344
Legal reform, 242, 257-262
Legislative reform, 158
Legislative representation, inequality
of. 148
Legislature and judiciary, controversy
between, 9
Legislature, 80; sessions at Halifax,
Tarboro, Smithfield, Fayetteville,
Xewbern, Salem, Wake Courthouse,
80; biennial sessions of, 161
License taxes, 104
Lincoln, Abraham. 329
Literary Board, 125
Literary Fund, 101, 103. 113, 136, 227,
228, 242; management of, 248
Literary periodicals, 387
Literature. 378
Locating the capital, 80
Locomotive, R. & G. R. R., with W.
W. Vars. President of the Road (il-
lustration), 235
'"Lovely Lass," 62
Loyalists, Persecution of, 9; treatment
of. 10; debts of held valid. 11
Lumber, 338, 339
Lutherans, 186
Macon Bill No. 2, 58
Macon measure might have avoided
War of 1812, 58
Macon, Nathaniel, 52, 56, 157, 166, 206,
385
Madison, James, President, 58
Mangum, Willie P., 146, 221; (por-
trait), 182
Manly, Charles, 221; (portrait), 290
Manual labor colleges, 358
Manual labor schools, 357
Manufacturers, 334
Manufacturing, from 1840 to 1860,
338
Manumission Society, 210
Maps : Indian removal from North
Carolina, 78 ; Railroads in North
Carolina prior to 1860, 351
Martin. Alexander, 1, 18, .25, 50; (por-
trait), 22
Martin, Francis X.. 374; '-History of
North Carolina," 378
Masonic order. Grand Lodge of re.-
vived, 3
McCaule, Thomas, 185
McRae, Duncan. 316
McRee, Griffith J., 385
Meal mills, 338
Mecklenburg Declaration of Independ-
ence, controversy over. 383
Mecklenburg Resolves of May 20, 1775,
382
Methodists, 187; first preacher in North
Carolina, 200
Methodist Sunday School, 188
Mexican war, 284; volunteers, 285
Military Reservation, 74
Military schools, 357
Military service. Revolution, land
grants offered as inducements to, 12
Militia. War of 1812, 59
Mineral resources, 340
Mineralogy of North Carolina, 100
''Minerva," 52, 206
Mint, Charlotte, 341
Miscellaneous taxes, 106
Missions, 197
Mississippi river, navigation of, 18
Missouri Compromise, 206, 305
Money depreciation, 3
Money, paper. 4
Moore, Alfred, 361
Moore, Bartholomew F. (portrait), 215
Moravians, 186
Morehead. John M., 158, 266; (por-
trait), 269
Morganton judicial district, 66
Morris. Robert, 21
Morrison, Robert H. (portrait), 368
Mt. Pleasant Academy, 249
Murphey, Archibald 1).. 91, 101, 151,
249, 257. 380; report on education,
101; (portrait). 92
Nationalization. 26
Nat Turner conspiracy. 21 s
Naval stores. 339
404
INDEX
Navigation acts, 28
Navigation of Mississippi river, 18
Newbern Academy, 356
Newbern judicial district. 66
Newbern, session of legislature at, 80
New capitol, construction of, 239
Negroes, free, 203, 220; number and
distribution of, 203; legislation, 219
Negro suffrage, 158, 162; free, 146,
220
Neuse river, 85
Newspapers, early. 2: first reptiblican,
52; beginning of partisan press, 53;
none in state at close of Revolution,
374
Norfolk Southern Railroad. 350
North Carolina; financial policy during
Revolution, 12; Independence of
Watauga region from, 15: next to
last member to ratify Constitution,
46: in federal politics, 166
North Carolina Baptist Missionary So-
ciety. 198
North' Carolina Bible Society. 196
'•North Carolina Chronicle." 375
North Carolina College. 372
North Carolina delegates to the Con-
vention of 1787 (illustration). 22
'•North Carolina Gazette." 2, 374, 375
North Carolina Historical Society, or-
ganization of, 363
North Carolina Institution for the In-
struction of the Deaf and Dumb,
251
"North Carolina Journal," 374, 376
'"North Carolina Journal of Education,"
247. 391
"North Carolina Medical Journal." 389
"North Carolina Medical Society." 388
"North Carolina Mercury and Salis-
bury Advertiser." 375
North Carolina Military Academy. 357
"North Carolina Minerva and Favette-
ville Gazette," 374
"North Carolina Planter." 332
North Carolina Railroad Company,
234, 294, 344
"North Carolina Standard," 275, 316,
377
"North Carolina Telegraph," 377
Nullification. 178
Number of Negroes, 203
Old Alamance Mill (illustration), 337
Oregon question. 281
Osborn. Charles, 210
Outlaw. David, 155
Oxford Female College, 372
Paper currency, redemption of, 48
Paper money, 4, 119; effects on busi-
ness, 6
Partisan dissensions. 308
Partisan prr^s. beginning of, 53
Pearson, Jesse A., 150
Peddler's tax, 107
Persecution of Loyalists, 9
Philanthropic Baptist Missionary So-
ciety, 197
Pierce, Franklin, 309
Pilmoor, Joseph, 200
Plank roads. 250, 350
Plot for rising of slaves, 218
Policy of issuing bonds begun in 1848,
241
Political conditions at the close of the
Revolution, 1-20
Politics: Federalists and republicans,
1790-1815, 47; Federal, 1824-1836,
166-184; in 1836-1847, 263-288; rela-
tion of University of North Carolina
to, 363
Polk. James K., 280, 362
Poll tax. 106, 108
Pool, John, 322
Population, 153, 185, 204; at the close
of the Revolution, 1 ; exodus to
other states, 88
Portraits: John Sevier, 15; James Ire-
dell, 32; Willie Jones, 36; Joseph
Gales. 53; Supreme Court. 1818, 71;
Archibald DeBow Murphey. 92;
William Gaston, 131; D. L. Swain,
140; John Branch, 176; Willie P.
Mangum. 182; Bartholomew F.
Moore, 215; Lunsford Lane, 223;
Governor Edward B. Dudlev. 226;
Calvin H. Wiley, 246; William D.
Cooke. 252; James C. Dobbin. 256;
Justice Thomas Ruffin, 261; John M.
Morehead. 269; William W. Holden,
276; William A. Graham, 278; Wil-
liam H. Haywood, 282; Governor
Charles Manl'y, 290; David S. Reid,
290; George 'E. Badger, 298: Gov.
John W. Ellis, 321; Edwin M.
Holt, 337; Joseph Caldwell. 364;
Samuel Wait, 366; Robert Hall Mor-
rison. 368: Braxton Craven, 371;
Francis Lister Hawks, 381.
Post-revolutionary currency, retire-
ment of, 105
Pottle, Brackett, 622
Presbyterians, 185
Present capital, 82
Presidential campaign of 1824. 168; of
1860, 325
President, four year term adopted, 30
Press: beginning of partisan. 53
Printing press, established 1783, 2
Private banks, 135
Privateers, 62
Prohibition movement, first step to-
ward, 196
Property, assessment of imperfect, 111
Protection of slaves, 213
INDEX
405
Public accounting, defects in method
of. 112
Public debt, 105
Public funds, misappropriation of, 112
Public lands. 316; sale of, 106
Public schools, 242; agitation for, 91;
establishment of system, 225
Quakers, 186
Kailroad Bill, 234
Eailroad conventions, 156
Kailroads. 236, 344; state aid to. 97,
230, 239; wooden rails. 230; effects
on social life. 237; early history of,
237; fares, 23S; prior to' 1860 (map),
351
Raleigh, 82, 154
Ealeigh and Gaston Eailroad, 229, 235,
344
Raleigh and Oaston Eailroad. locomo-
tive, with W. W. Vars, president of
the road (illustration), 235
"Ealeigh Minerva." 375
Ealeigh Peace Society, 391
"Ealeigh Eegister." 52, 168, 206, 375
"Raleigh Star," 375, 376
Randolph, John, 56
Ratification of Constitution, belated,
45; Hillsboro convention left way
open for. later. 45
Rayner. Kenneth, 158
Readjustment after the Revolution, 2
Rectory Christ Church, Raleigh (il-
lustration), 120
Redemption of paper currency, 48
Redemption of treasury notes, 137
Reid, David S., 289; (portrait), 290
Eeid. John. 150
Religion, 163; provisions of the Con-
stitution regarding, 144: develop-
ment after revolution, 185; relation
of University of North Carolina to,
363
Eeligious newspapers, 377
Eepeal of Judiciary Act of 1801. 55
Eepresentation problem, 160
Eepresentatives, qualifications of, 28
Eepublican newspaper, first, 52
Republican victory in 1800, 54
Eepublicans, 47
Eesidence of John Louis Taylor, where
Gaston wrote "Carolina" (illustra-
tion), 386
Eesidence of Joel Lane (illustration),
81
Revenue, federal surplus, distribution
among the states, 227
Revivals, 190; of 1800, 190
Revolutionary and Post-Revolutionary
Currency (illustration), 5
Revolutionary currency, 4; redemption
of, 114
Revolutionary war. political and social
conditions at close of, 1; population
at the close of. 1 ; economic prob-
lems at the close of, 1 ; readjustment
after, 2 ; North Carolina's financial
policy during, 12; land grants offered
as inducements to military service,
12; adjustment of Court svstem
after, 66
Rice, 334
"Richmond Family Visitor.'' 377
Eight of eminent domain, 261
Right of search. 57
Right of secession, 306
River navigation, 352; improvement
of, 93
River systems, 84
Roads, 2; state aid to, 97
Roanoke river. 85
Rogers. Sion H., 310
Ruffin, Thomas, 333; (portrait), 261
Saint Mary's School, 372
Salem Female Academy. 372
Salem, session of legislature at. 80
Salem Temple Academy in 1800 (il-
lustration), 372
Sales of vacant lands. 104
Salisburv judicial district, 66
School law of 1839, 242
School system, 101
School tax, 242
Schools: established by Legislature.
90; agitation for public. 91; prior
to 1860, 103: establishment of pub-'
lie system, 225, 242; establishment
of, 242; office of superintendent cre-
ated, 245 ; problem of supplying
teachers, 247: number in 1860, 248;
Dr. Wiley's efforts on behalf of com-
mon. 248"
Seaboard Air Line. 350
Secession, right of, 306
Second Bank of the United States,
123
Sectional hostility, 148
Sedition laws, 51
Senate. Spaight suggests election of
members of bv state legislatures. 26;
proportion of membership to legis-
lature. 26: equality of representa-
tion demanded by small states, 26;
equality in. 28
Senatorial suffrage. 288
Senators, qualifications of. 28
Sessions of legislature. 80
Settlement of debts, provision for, 7
Sevier, John, 47: (portrait). 15
Shelby. Fvan. 19
Silver ore, 343
Sitgreaves, John, 361
Slave trade. 205; adjustment of. 28
Slave value, 318
Slavery. 202: Williamson against. 29:
sectional aspect of. 204; religious
-rntiment against'. 208; economic op-
406
INDEX
position to, 208; judicial decisions
relating to, 260; extension of, 297;
compromise on, 304; vote on, 305
Slaves, value of, 204: protection of.
213; treatment of. 213; plot for ris-
ing of, 218; taxed, 318; value of,
318
Smith. Benjamin, 76
Smithfield, session of legislature at, 80
"Snap Dragon.'' 60
Social conditions at the close of the
Revolution, 1-20; 1800-1836, 83
Social development. 229
Social life, effects of railroads on, 237
Social reform. 91
Society of the Cincinnati. 3
Soldiers, land bounties to, 23
Solicitor-general, office created in
1790, 67
Spaight, Richard D., 25, 158; (por-
trait), 22; suggests election of mem-
bers of senate by state legisla-
tures, 26
Specie payment, suspension of by
North Carolina banks. 123
Specie, resumption of. 125
State Agricultural Society, organized,
100; foundation of, 332*
State aid, 100; to roads, canals, rail-
ways, 97, 125; to railroads, 230. 239
State Bank. 103. 137
State Bank of North Carolina, 117. 175
State Bank Building. Now Rectory
Christ Church. Raleigh (illustra-
tion), 120
State boundaries. 70
State capitol. building of. 109
State Constitution of 1776, revising of,
139
State currency. 4. 116; redemption of,
118; disposed of through co-opera-
tion of banks. 119
State debts, assumption of, 47
State dollar. 3
State Fair. 332
"State Gazette of North Carolina,"
374
State House, constructing. 80; First,
burned in 1831 (illustration). 81;
fire. 82; cornerstone laid in 1792, 82
State of Franklin. 16. 18; collapsed,
20
State Treasury Notes (illustrations),
124
State's debt. 227
States Rights, Iredell's opinion. 50
Statesville Female College, 372
State vs. Manuel. 220
State vs. Will, 214
Statue of Washington. 80, 82
Statute of Frauds. 261
Steamboat line. 230
Steele, John, 47. 54. 63
St i ike-. John, 361
Stokes, Montford, 151, 153
Stone. David. 59, 64
Store tax, 107
Strange, Robert, 184, 385
Student labor. 358
Suffrage. 26. 139, 143; free negro, 146,
158, 162. 220; senatorial, 288
Sunday schools, 391; introduced. 188
Superintendent of Common Schools,
office created, 245
Superior courts, 67
Supreme Court created, 68
Supreme Court, 1818 (portraits), 71
Supreme Court reform. 259
Suspension of specie payment by
North Carolina banks, 123
Swain, David L., 105, 128, 153, 363;
(portrait), 140
Swamp lands, 249
Tarboro. session of legislature at, 80
'"Tarborough Press," 377
Tariff. 178
Tar river, 85
Taxation. 105. 106, 317; reversion to
checked educational growth, 91
Taxes. 106. 240; excise. 48; license,
104: land tax, poll tax, bank divi-
dends, 108: revenue derived from,
108; methods of assessing. 109; de-
fects in method of public account-
ing. 112; school, 242; slaves, 318
Tax rate, 106
Tax system. 240
Taylor, John L. (portrait). 71
Taylor, John Louis, residence, where
Cast on wrote '"Carolina" (illustra-
tion). 386
Taylor. William. 145
Teachers, problem of. 247
Tennessee boundary, dispute over, 73
Texas, annexation of. 280
Thomas. William H.. 77
Tippecanoe Club of Raleigh, 267
Tipton, John, 19
Tobacco. 334. 338; to be sold and ap-
plied to state's quota of continental
debt. 6
Trade, 83 : demoralized, 7 : relations,
determined by geography, 83 ;
routes, 86
Transmontane lands. 13
Transportation, condition of in 1899,
84: better means of. issue in 1830,
172: facilities. 344
Treasurv notes, redemption of, 109,
137
Treatment of Loyalists, 10
Treatment of slaves, 213
Treaty of Hopewell, 76
Treatv of peace, 9, 24
Treat'v of 1799, 52
Trinity College, 249. 370
"True* Republican." 376
INDEX
407
Turner conspiracy. 218
Turpentine, 338, 339
Twelfth amendment to the Constitu-
tion, 56
Underground Railroad, 211
United States Bank, recharter of, 175
United States, Independence of, 1
"University Magazine," 388
University of North Carolina, 76;
founded in 1795, 90; second state
university to be chartered in the
South, 360; early curriculum, 362;
famous alumni, 362 ; relation to
politics and religion, 363
Van Buren, Martin, 263
Vance, Zebulon B., 321
Vars, W. W., 235
Vendor's lien, 261
Veto power, 30
Virginia-Kentucky resolutions, 51
Wait, Samuel (portrait), 366
Wake County, capital located in. 80
Wake Courthouse, session of legisla-
ture at, 80
Wake Forest College, 249, 367; man-
ual labor, 358
War of 1812, 59; Macon measure
might have avoided, 5S; effect on
North Carolina, 63
Washington, George, 50; statue of.
80, 82
"Wasp," 62
Watauga Association, 12
Watauga region; independence from
North Carolina, 15
Watauga Settlement, 11
Watson, Elkanah, 33
"Western Carolinian," 168, 376
Western lands, 11; movement to cede
to Congress, 12
Western North Carolina Railroad, 346,
349
Wheat, 334
Wheeler (John H.) "Historical Sketch-
es of North Carolina," 379
Whig party, origin of, 171
Whig party, decline of, 288
Wiley, Calvin H., 245, 370, 385; (por-
trait), 246
Williamson, Hugh, 4, 13, 25, 29, 46, 47 ;
(portrait), 22; against slavery, 29;
"History of North Carolina," 378
Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad, 226,
228, 344
Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, first
office (illustration), 229
Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford-
ton Railroad, 348
"Wilmington Chronicle and North
Carolina Weekly Advertiser," 375
"Wilmington Gazette," 375
Wilmington judicial district. 66
Wilmot Proviso of 1846, 297
Wilson, Frank I.. 319
Woman's rights, 259
Wooden rails, 230
Woolen mills, 338
Worth, Daniel, 323
X. Y. Z. Correspondence, 51
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