Johnston, Samuel (Role in Founding)
His work influenced politics and law in the years leading up to and following the Revolutionary War.
His work influenced politics and law in the years leading up to and following the Revolutionary War.
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.
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.
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).
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).
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.
Street signs can be much more than guideposts. They often can provide interesting clues into an area’s history.
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.
Located on the Roanoke River, the town of Halifax developed into a commercial and political center around the time of the American Revolution. A guided walking tour takes you into several authentically restored and furnished buildings. These include the 1760 home of a merchant, the house and law office of a 19th-century attorney, and the 1808 home of a wealthy landowner. The 1833 clerk’s office, a jail, Eagle Tavern, and a unique archaeological exhibit are also featured on the tour.
European settlement near the Pamlico River in the 1690s led to the creation of Bath, North Carolina’s first town, in 1705. The town’s location seemed ideal with easy access to the river and the Atlantic Ocean 50 miles away at Ocracoke Inlet.