Maximilian Longley is a former contributing editor of the John Locke Foundation’s Carolina Journal and the author of many books and articles, including The Conservative In Spite of Himself: A Reluctant Right-Winger’s Thoughts on Life, Law and the Three Stooges http://www.amazon.com/Conservative-Spite-Himself-Reluctant-Right-Wingers/dp/0977802426/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1278443907&sr=1-1 (accessed July 7, 2010) (Monograph Publishers, 2007).
Maximilian Longley
North Carolina Division of State Historic Sites
James Emerson (1736 – 1786)
James Emerson (also spelled “Emmerson” in some documents) was born around 1736. He fought against the British crown during the North Carolina Regulation and the Revolutionary War. Emerson came close to being hanged for treason by the British in the first conflict. He later survived the latter conflict and lived out his remaining days as a Chatham County farmer.
NC Postal Censorship Law of 1924 (Grist Law)
A state legislator named Frank Grist shepherded a law through the state legislature in 1924 which applied state-level penalties to anyone who sold literature in North Carolina which had been banned by the U.S. Post Office Department pursuant to federal law. A magazine published by the famous editor H. L. Mencken potentially ran afoul of this statute, which was on the books until 1971.
Speaker Ban Law
Enacted in 1963, the Speaker Ban was a North Carolina state law that restricted the appearance of Communists and other radical speakers at state-supported campuses, including the University of North Carolina. The Speaker Ban sparked a major controversy over Communism, academic freedom, and the First Amendment.