North Carolina played a critical, often overlooked, role in our nation’s founding. We at the North Carolina History Project have put together this timeline of our state’s contributions to the American Revolution. The following timeline chronologically lays out some of the most important events in North Carolina’s revolutionary history and links out to our more...
To academic historians and amateur (or avocational) historians: We explored the North Carolina Historical Review to find articles about the American Revolution. I hope these summaries (written by a person, not AI) will whet your appetite for the longer versions. (A link to each article on JSTOR is provided for each.) Did North Carolina’s Revolution...
The North Carolina Historical Review includes a rich collection of articles about the American Revolution. This list was compiled by Kathryn McKee and Jane Shaw Stroup.
Pyle’s Defeat occurred in February 1781 near the end of the Revolution. It was a savage blow to British hopes, as Lt. Gen. Charles, Lord Cornwallis attempted to stop the Patriots’ momentum.
The subject of Scottish folklore and myth, Flora MacDonald assisted Prince Charles Stuart in his escape from King George II. In 1774, she moved to North Carolina, where her Loyalist husband and son fought in the Battle of Moores Creek.
The Edenton Tea Party was one of the earliest organized women’s political actions in United States history. On October 25, 1774, Mrs. Penelope Barker organized, at the home of Mrs. Elizabeth King, fifty-one women in Edenton, North Carolina. Together they formed an alliance wholeheartedly supporting the American cause against “taxation without representation.”
State v. Mann
The 1829 decision of the North Carolina Supreme Court in State v. Mann declared that chattel slaves have virtually no legal rights from their masters. Thomas Ruffin authored the opinion of the court, in which he asserts the "full dominion of the owner over the slave."
Charles Clinton Spaulding (1874-1952)
Charles Clinton Spaulding led the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company from 1900 to 1952, a span during which North Carolina Mutual was the largest business owned by African-Americans. Known during his life as "Mr. Negro Business," Spaulding's success at North Carolina Mutual made Durham known as "the Black Wall Street."
Walter Hines Page (1855 – 1918)
Born in Cary, North Carolina in 1855, Walter Hines Page profoundly influenced American culture in the early twentieth century during his tenure at several national periodicals, most notably the Atlantic Monthly.
Judge Samuel Spencer (1738-1794)
Born in Virginia in 1738, Samuel Spencer played important roles in several chapters of the history of North Carolina. He served as the de facto executive of North Carolina after the American Revolution broke out. Shortly thereafter, he was elected a superior court judge in North Carolina, remaining on the bench until his death. He is, however, best known as the leader of the antifederalist faction at the Hillsborough Convention of 1788.
Fayetteville Convention of 1789
Called by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1789, the Fayetteville Convention was the second meeting to consider ratification of the Federal Constitution in North Carolina. It followed the Hillsborough Convention, at which delegates, rather than rejecting the new Constitution, refused to ratify it.
Hugh Williamson (1735 – 1819)
Born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Hugh Williamson was a physician and polymath who served as one of North Carolina’s delegates to the Federal Constitutional Convention. Active in the debates at the Convention, Williamson was a leading intellectual in Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary America.
Hillsborough Convention of 1788
Meeting in Hillsborough, North Carolina, Antifederal and Federal delegates convened from July 21 to August 4, 1788 to consider ratification of the newly proposed U.S. Constitution. The two-week long deliberations resulted in neither ratification nor rejection. North Carolina refused to make a decision. Ratification was postponed until the 1789 Fayetteville Convention.
Alexander Martin (1740-1807)
Born in New Jersey in 1738, Alexander Martin was a politician and North Carolinian delegate to the Federal Constitutional Convention. He was the only delegate to the Federal Convention who sought election to a state convention and lost.
Ratification Debates
Resulting from nationalists' claim that the Articles of Confederation was too weak, a more powerful central government was proposed. In Philadelphia during the summer of 1787, Constitutional Convention delegates drafted the U.S. Constitution and submitted the document to the states for ratification. In North Carolina, the document was neither approved or rejected at the state's first convention, the Hillsborough Convention of 1788. The following year, delegates met at the Fayetteville Convention and ratified the Constitution. North Carolina had joined the Union.
Duke Power Company
In addition to producing electricity that spurred industrial development in North Carolina, the Duke Power Company, now called the Duke Energy Corporation, has played important roles in several chapters of the state's history.
Angus W. McLean (1925-1929)
Remembered as the "Businessman's Governor," Angus W. McLean implemented sensible fiscal and economic policies during his 1925-1929 term as North Carolina governor. Born into a farming family in Robeson County, McLean was trained as a lawyer by the University of North Carolina. Upon graduating, McLean served North Carolina as an auspicious lawyer, mill-owner, banker, and public servant. In 1925, McLean took the office of governor and streamlined the state's fiscal management, invested heavily in education and infrastructure, and amassed a surplus of $2.5 million to help North Carolina through the Depression.
National Recovery Administration
Established by the National Industrial Recovery Act in 1933, the National Recovery Administration (NRA) was one of two early New Deal programs intended to revive U.S. industry after years of contraction. While designed to stabilize commerce, the NRA was unsuccessful, particularly in North Carolina, where it exerted baneful economic and sociological effects.