Johnston, Samuel (Role in Founding)
His work influenced politics and law in the years leading up to and following the Revolutionary War.
Subject: Colonial North Carolina
North Carolina's Ratification Debates Guaranteed Bill of Rights
The 1787-89 debates over ratifying the Constitution offer another example of North Carolina’s longstanding role as a battleground state in U.S. political history.
North Carolina's Ratification Debates Guaranteed Bill of Rights
The 1787-89 debates over ratifying the Constitution offer another example of North Carolina’s longstanding role as a battleground state in U.S. political history.
Regulator Dispute Literally Made North Carolina A Battleground State
Tar Heels may be surprised to learn that North Carolinians, with opposing opinions, once unfortunately settled their political debate on an actual battleground—the Battle of Alamance (1771).
Enfield Riot (1759)
Leaving Halifax County on a wintry January day, approximately two dozen men travelled seventy miles to Edenton and kidnapped Francis Corbin. The land agent was hauled back to Halifax County and sequestered in Enfield with his subordinate Joshua Bodley. After four days, the two co-agents agreed to demands to be more transparent in their official operations, and the rioters were assuaged—at least temporarily. What transpired those four days is known as the Enfield Riot (1759).
Defending Liberty From the Bench
A jurist and pamphleteer from North Carolina, Maurice Moore opposed the passage and implementation of the Stamp Act (1765). He was the father of Alfred Moore, a justice on the United State Supreme Court.
Fletcher, Inglis Fletcher’s Novels Offered Entertaining Perspective Of Early N.C. History
Maybe more so than any other novelist below the Mason-Dixon line, including the 19th-century William Gilmore Simms of South Carolina, Inglis Fletcher of North Carolina painted the most comprehensive, historical portrait of the land on which she lived.
Raleigh, Names of Streets and Parks in Raleigh Loaded With History
Street signs can be much more than guideposts. They often can provide interesting clues into an area’s history.
Tryon Palace
One of the largest and most ornate buildings in colonial North Carolina, the Tryon Palace was built in the late 1760s at the behest of its namesake, Royal Governor William Tryon. John Hawks was the architect, and the government assembly chambers and the house were dedicated on December 5, 1770. Increased taxes to pay for the palace’s construction angered many Piedmont colonists. After the American Revolution, the palace burnt down in a fire in 1798. In 1959, after efforts to restore the site, Tryon Palace opened as the state’s first historic site.
Martin, Josiah; Royal Governor; Tryon
Josiah Martin, the last royal governor of North Carolina, was born in Ireland in 1737. Due to his family’s connection to the British crown, Martin replaced Governor Tryon in 1771 as royal governor of North Carolina. Martin assumed a difficult position because Patriot colonists in North Carolina had long resented overwhelming British taxation and the War of Regulation remained fresh in the colonist’s minds. In May 1775, Martin fled the Tryon Palace in New Bern, and he joined Lord Cornwallis in his efforts to regain control of the North Carolina colony.