Colonial North Carolina

A New Light "Infestation": Charles Woodmason on Colonial Piedmont Religion Commentary

North Carolinians do not think of the present-day and economically thriving Piedmont as an ignorant backcountry that undermines social order.  But in the eastern part of the Province of North Carolina during the Pre-Revolutionary Period (1750-1775) many believed it was exactly that.

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Edenton Tea Party: An American First Commentary

Many Americans have heard of the Boston Tea Party of 1773.  Far less can tell of the Edenton Tea Party of 1774.  I can count a few, but I have some fingers left.

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Gordon Wood: Revolutionary Characters Commentary

On March 27, 2007, Pulitzer Prize winner Gordon Wood discussed his recent book, Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different, at a North Carolina History Project Headliner Luncheon. His entire lecture can be viewed here.

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The State of Franklin: Mountain Secession and Independent Thought Commentary

In North Carolina, regionalism has existed since day one.  In August 1784, western North Carolinians established the State of Franklin—“the only de facto state that functioned in every aspect of statal power,” writes historian Samuel Cole Williams.  After a civil war in the mountains, however, the “Lost State of Franklin” ceased in February 1789.

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When Wilmington Threw A Tea Party: Women and Political Awareness in Revolution-Era North Carolina Commentary

Most readers are familiar with the details of the Boston Tea Party of 1773, and properly identify it as a key event in the radical movement that triggered the American Revolution. Many North Carolinians have also heard of the Edenton Tea Party of October 1774, when the leading women of that Eastern North Carolina town did not actually dump tea in a nearby sound but did stage one of the nation’s earliest acts of political theater by women. But how many are familiar with the far more incendiary Wilmington Tea Party of 1775, also led by women?

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