Until 1868, the Governor was North Carolina’s only elected executive. The Constitution of 1868, however, created the office of Lieutenant Governor and provided for the popular election of the office of the Governor and the Lt. Governor, each for four-year terms. In 1970 the Lt. Governorship became full-time and evolved into the only elected post with executive and legislative duties.
The Carolina Charter of 1663 was the first organic law of what eventually became the state of North Carolina. It conferred territory that also included what is now South Carolina to eight “true and absolute Lords Proprietors.” They possessed broad feudal powers and bore the responsibility of managing Carolina in the interests of England.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had many fans, but North Carolina Senator Josiah Bailey, an author of the Conservative Manifesto of 1937, was not one. In a letter to anti-New Dealer Senator Peter G. Gerry of Rhode Island, Bailey wrote, “Our President is not actuated by principle, but by fears. He will try to head off anything in order that he may stay at the head.”
Francis Oliver was a Baptist preacher from Duplin County, North Carolina and a delegate at the 1788 state convention to ratify the federal constitution. An Anti-Federalist, Oliver vigorously defended individual liberty and upheld republican values.
The constitutional revisions of 1835 resulted in large part from North Carolina’s acceptance of Jacksonian democracy, a political movement that emphasized participation of the common man in the political process.
Many North Carolinians, and Americans from elsewhere, respected, if not adored, Gaston. John Marshall (1755-1835) once said that he would retire if he knew Gaston would replace him as U.S. Supreme Court Justice. In 1840, the state legislative leaders proposed Gaston as U.S. Senator, but he declined the honor.
Anti-Federal was the name given to the men and the movement opposing the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Ironically, Anti-Federals wanted a more federal government than the Federals; the term resulted from a Federal political strategy to present Anti-Federals as opponents of limited government. Before they ratified (approved) the Constitution, Anti-Federals wanted a Bill of Rights to be included.
The Conservative Manifesto was a 1937 bi-partisan effort opposing what was considered excessive government intervention and growth. U.S. Senator Josiah W. Bailey (N.C.) authored the Manifesto.The Manifesto was a response to what was perceived as growing state collectivism and the fear that FDR led America, knowingly or not, down this path. Many southern Democrats and Republicans opposed the New Deal or believed that New Deal programs were necessary but needed to be limited.