Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

NORTH CAROLINA

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 778 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

NORTH CAROLINA , a See also:South See also:Atlantic See also:state of the See also:United though few, if any, descend to less than 2000 ft. above the See also:sea. States of See also:America, situated between latitudes 330 51' 37" (the southernmost point of the See also:southern boundary—35° is the northernmost) and about 36° 34' 25.5" N., and between longitudes 75° 27' W. and 84° 2o' W. It is bounded N. by See also:Virginia, E. and S.E. by the Atlantic Ocean, S. and S.W. by South Carolina, S. also by See also:Georgia, and W. and N.W. by See also:Tennessee. North Carolina has an extreme length from E. to W. of 5031 m., which is greater than that of any other state See also:east of the See also:Mississippi See also:river. It See also:total See also:area is 52,426 sq. m., of which 3686 sq. m. are See also:water See also:surface. See also:Physical Features.—The state lies wholly within the three leading topographical regions of the eastern portion of the United States: the Coastal See also:Plain Region, which occupies approximately the eastern See also:half, the See also:Piedmont See also:Plateau Region, which occupies about 20,000 sq. m. in the See also:middle, and the Appalachian Region, which occupies about 6000 sq. m. in the See also:west. At the eastern extremity of the Coastal Plain Region an See also:outer See also:coast See also:line is formed by a See also:chain of See also:long narrow barrier beaches from which project capes Hatteras, Lookout and Fear, whose outlying shoals are known for their dangers to See also:navigation. Between Hatteras and Lookout is See also:Raleigh See also:Bay and between Lookout and Fear is See also:Onslow Bay; and between the chain of islands and the deeply indented mainland Currituck, See also:Albemarle, Pamlico and other sounds See also:form an extensive area, especially to the northward, of shallow, brackish and almost tideless water. Projecting into these sounds and between the estuaries of See also:rivers flowing into them are extensive tracts of swamp See also:land—the best known of these is See also:Dismal Swamp, which lies mostly in Virginia and is about 30 M. long and to m. wide. Through most of the Coastal Plain Region, which extends inland from 8o to 150 m., the See also:country continues very level or only slightly undulating, and rises to the westward at the See also:rate of little more than r ft. to the mile. Along the W. border of this region, however, the slope becomes greater and there are some hills. The " Fall Line," the boundary between the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont Plateau, has a very irregular course across North Carolina, but lies in a See also:general S.W. direction from the Falls of See also:Roanoke between See also:Halifax and See also:Northampton counties to See also:Anson See also:county on the South Carolina border and marks a rapid increase in See also:elevation of about 200 ft.

The Piedmont Plateau Region extends from this line to the See also:

Blue See also:Ridge Escarpment, toward which its mean elevation increases at the rate of about 31 ft. to the mile. It is traversed from N.E. to S.W. by a See also:series of ridges which in the E. portion produce only a general undulating surface but to the westward become higher and steeper until the country assumes a bold and rugged aspect. The S.E. See also:face of the Blue Ridge Escarpment, which rises precipitously 1200-1500 ft. or more above the Piedmont Plateau, forms the S.E. border of North Carolina's Appalachian See also:Mountain Region, which includes the high Unaka Mountain Range, segments of which are known by such See also:local names as See also:Iron Mountains, Bald Mountains and See also:Great Smoky Mountains. These ranges reach their See also:culmination in this state, and with a series of more or less interrupted See also:cross ranges constitute the greatest masses of mountains in the E. half of the United States. Four peaks along the Blue Ridge have an elevation exceeding 5000 ft.—one of these, the Grandfather, rises 5964 ft.; and about See also:thirty peaks in the Unakas and in the several cross ranges exceed 6000 ft., the highest being See also:Mount See also:Mitchell or Mitchell See also:Dome (6711 ft.), of the See also:Black Mountains, a See also:short cross range extending N. from the Blue Ridge through See also:Yancey county. Other See also:note-worthy peaks are Black See also:Brother (6690 ft.) and Hairy See also:Bear (6681 ft.), the next highest mountains. Many of the neighbouring mountain ridges have See also:uniform crests, but a greater number terminate in numerous peaks, some See also:sharp, rugged and rocky, but more of them rounded domes. Throughout the whole region the slopes vary greatly: the N.W. slope of the Blue Ridge is almost imperceptible, or confused with the numerous mountain slopes that rise above it. As a See also:rule the mountain slopes are well graded and subdued, but a few are steep and some are rocky and precipitous. The numerous valleys are usually narrow and deep, The Blue Ridge is the See also:principal water parting of the state. West of it the Hiwassee, the Little Tennessee and the See also:French Broad rivers flow W. or N.W. into Tennessee. Farther N. are the headwaters of the New river, which flows N.E. and finds its way to the See also:Ohio.

On the S.E. slope of the Blue Ridge rise the Broad, the See also:

Catawba and the Yadkin, which flow for some distance a little N. of E., then, finding a passage across one of the ridges of the Piedmont Plateau, turn to the S.S.E. and across the boundary line into South Carolina, in which state their See also:waters reach the Atlantic. In the N.W. See also:part of the Piedmont Plateau Region, and a little to the N. of the most N.E. course of the Yadkin rises the See also:Dan, which in its N.E. course crosses the boundary into Virginia, where it becomes a tributary of the Roanoke, in which its waters are returned to North Carolina near the " Fall Line." The other principal rivers—the Cape Fear, the Neuse and the See also:Tar—rise in the N.E. part of the Piedmont Plateau Region, have their S.E. courses wholly within the state, and, with the Roanoke, drain the Coastal Plain Region. In the Mountain Region and in the Piedmont Plateau Region the rivers have numerous falls and rapids which afford a total water See also:power unequalled perhaps in any other state than See also:Maine on the Atlantic Coast, the largest being on the Yadkin, Roanoke and Catawba; and in See also:crossing some of the mountains, especially the Unakas, the streams have carved deep narrow See also:gorges that are much admired for their scenery. In contrast with the rivers of these regions those of the Coastal Plain are sluggish, and toward their mouths expand into wide estuaries. The Coastal Plain Region is the only part of the state that has any lakes, and these are chiefly shallow bodies of water, with sandy bottoms, in the midst of swamps. In all they number only about fifteen, and have an area estimated at 200 sq. m., about one-half of which is contained in See also:Lake Mattamuskeet in See also:Hyde county. See also:Flora.—In North Carolina's flora are many See also:species See also:common to sub-tropical regions and many common to temperate regions, and the variety is consequently very great. In the swamps are the bald See also:cypress, the See also:white See also:cedar and the live See also:oak, usually draped in southern long See also:moss; south of Cape Fear river are palmettos, magnolias, prickly ash, the See also:American See also:olive and See also:mock See also:orange; along streams in the Coastal Plain Region are the sour See also:gum, the sweet bay and several species of oak; but the See also:tree that is most predominant throughout the upland portion of this region is the long-See also:leaf or southern See also:pine. In the Piedmont Plateau Region oaks, hickories and elms are the most common. In the Mountain Region at the bases of the mountains are oaks, hickories, chestnuts and white poplars: above these are hemlocks, beeches, birches, elms, ashes, maples and limes; and still higher up are spruce, white pine and See also:balsam; and all but a comparatively few of the higher mountains are See also:forest-clad to their summits. All of the species of pine and of See also:magnolia, and nearly all of the species of oak, of See also:hickory and of spruce, indigenous to the United States, are found in North Carolina. On the dome-like tops of such mountains as are too high for trees are large clusters of rhododendrons and patches of See also:grasses fringed with See also:flowers.

The forests throughout most of the state have a luxuriant undergrowth consisting of a great variety of shrubs, flowering See also:

plants, grasses, ferns and mosses, and the display of magnolias, azaleas, kalmias, See also:golden See also:rod, asters, jessamines, smilax, ferns and mosses is often one of unusual beauty. See also:Venus's See also:fly-See also:trap (Dionaea muscipula), a rare plant, is found only south of the Neuse river; and there are several varieties of See also:Sarracenia, carnivorous See also:pitcher plants. Among the See also:fruit-bearing trees, shrubs, vines and plants the See also:grape, the blue-See also:berry, the See also:cherry, the See also:plum and the See also:cranberry are indigenous and more or less common. Aromatic and medicinal herbs, of which the state has several See also:hundred distinct species, have been obtained in larger quantities than from any other state in the See also:Union. See also:Fauna.—In North Carolina five of the seven See also:life-zones into which North America has been divided are represented, but more of its area belongs to the upper-austral than to any other See also:zone. The species of fauna that are at all characteristic of this part of the United States are found in the Piedmont Plateau Region and the western portion of the Coastal Plain Region. Among the See also:song-birds are the I mocking-See also:bird, the Carolina See also:wren and the See also:cardinal See also:grosbeak (or red bird) ; there are plenty of See also:quail or " bob white " (called See also:partridge in the South). Among the mammals are the See also:opossum, See also:raccoon, See also:star-nosed See also:mole (Condylura cristata), See also:grey See also:fox and fox See also:squirrel. The mammals of the Mountain Region include the See also:cotton-tail See also:rabbit, red squirrel, See also:lynx and See also:woodchuck; and there is a considerable variety of migratory song-birds, which are common to the more See also:northern states. In the eastern portion of the Coastal Plain Region are the cotton See also:rat, See also:rice-See also:field rat, See also:marsh rabbit, big-eared See also:bat, See also:brown See also:pelican, See also:swallow-tailed See also:kite, black See also:vulture and some rattlesnakes and cotton-mouth See also:moccasin See also:snakes, all of which are common farther south; and there are some turtles and terrapins, and many geese, swans, ducks, and other water-See also:fowl. Large See also:numbers of See also:shad, blue See also:fish, weak fish (squeteague), alewives, See also:Spanish See also:mackerel, See also:perch, See also:bass, croakers (Micropogon undulatus), See also:mullet, See also:menhaden, oysters and clams are caught in the sounds, in the See also:lower courses of the rivers flowing into them, or in the neighbouring waters of the sea. See also:Climate.—North Carolina has a climate which varies from that of the S.E. corner, which approaches the sub-tropical, to that of the Mountain Region, which is like the See also:medium See also:continental type, except that the summers are cooler and the rainfall is greater.

The mean See also:

annual temperature for the state (below an elevation of 4000 ft.) is about 59 F. For the Coastal Plain Region it is 61° F.; for the Piedmont Plateau Region, 6o° F.; fox' the Mountain Region, 56° F.; for See also:Southport, in the S.E. corner of the state, 64° F.; and for See also:Highlands, at an elevation of 3817 ft. in the S.W. corner, 50° F. See also:January, the coldest See also:month, has a mean temperature of 38° F. in the Mountain Region, of 41° F. on the Piedmont Plateau, and of 44° F. on the Coastal Plain; and in See also:July, the warmest month, the mean is about 79° F. on both the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont Plateau and 74° F. in the Mountain Region. Extremes have ranged from – 19° F. at Highlands in 1899 to 107° F. at See also:Chapel See also:Hill, Orange county, in 1900 and again in 1902. The See also:average precipitation for the state is about 52 in. a See also:year, nearly all of it in the form of See also:rain. For the Coastal Plain Region it is 54 in.; for the Piedmont Plateau Region, 48 in.; and for the Mountain Region, 53 in. On the E. slope of some of the mountains the rainfall is exceeded nowhere in the United States, See also:save in the N. part of the Pacific Slope. At Highlands, See also:Macon county, during 1898 it was 105.24 in., and during 1901 it was 106.17 in., 30.74 in. falling here during the month of See also:August. The winds are variable and seldom violent, except along the coast during the sub-tropical storms of See also:late summer and See also:early autumn. See also:Soil.—On the Coastal Plain the soil is generally sandy, but in nearly all parts of this region more or less See also:marl abounds; south of the Neuse river the soil is mostly a loose See also:sand, north of it there is more See also:loam on the uplands, and in the lowlands the soil is usually compact with See also:clay, silt or See also:peat ; toward the western border of the region the sand becomes coarser and some See also:gravel is mixed with it. Throughout much of the Piedmont Plateau and Mountain regions the decomposition of See also:felspar and of other aluminous minerals has resulted in a deep soil of clay with which more or less sand is mixed. It is deeper and more sandy where See also:granite is the underlying See also:rock, deeper and more fertile on the north-western than on the south-eastern mountain slopes, and shallower and more clayey where See also:slate is the underlying rock.

See also:

Agriculture.—Until the See also:Civil See also:War agriculture was about the only important See also:industry in the state, and at the See also:close of the 19th See also:century it was still the leading one; but from 188o to 1900 the ratio of agriculturists to all inhabitants of the state engaged in some gainful occupation decreased from 75.3 to 64.1%. The land included in farms amounted in 1900 to 22,745,356 acres or 73 % of the total land surface of the state, and the percentage of See also:farm land that was improved increased from 26.5 in 1870 to 36.6 in 1900. Throughout the colonial era the See also:establishment of small estates was a part of the territorial policy of the See also:government of North Carolina, 640 acres being the largest normal See also:grant to any one See also:person; as a consequence of this policy land holdings have always been much smaller here than in most of the other parts of the South, and since the Civil War the rise in the percentage of improved land, the development of See also:truck farming, and the growth in number of See also:negro holdings, have been accompanied by a further decrease in the average See also:size of farms from 316 acres in 186o to 101.3 acres in 1900. In the latter year there were in all 224,637 farms: of these 93,097 contained less than 50 acres, 55,028 between 50 and 100 acres, 44,052 between See also:loo and 175 acres, and 4224 over 500 acres. Of the total number of farms 128,978 were operated by owners or part owners, of whom I7,434 were coloured (including See also:Indians) ; 19,916, by See also:cash tenants, of whom 10,331 were coloured; and 73,092 by See also:share tenants,. of whom 26,892 were coloured. After the Civil War there have been several important changes in the crops raised: the development of cotton manufacturing in the South and the utilization of cotton-See also:seed oil and See also:meal gave impetus to cotton culture; and the See also:discovery of the adaptability of much of the cotton land to the culture of See also:tobacco of a See also:superior quality resulted first in the development of a vast tobacco industry and then to a fluctuation in acreage of the crops of tobacco and of cotton, according as the See also:price of either See also:rose or See also:fell. The destruction of pine forests to meet the demands for See also:naval stores, and the introduction and increased use of the refrigerator See also:car, resulted in much See also:attention to the growth of See also:garden produce for Northern markets. Peanut culture, Introduced into the state from Virginia soon after the close of the Civil War, spread rapidly. In the meantime the crops of cereals increased little, and stock raising generally decreased. The principal crops are cotton, See also:Indian See also:corn, tobacco, See also:hay, See also:wheat, sweet potatoes, apples and peanuts. The yield of cotton increased from 62,901,790 lb in 1869 to 307,500,000 lb in 1909. In 1909 2,898,000 acres were planted to Indian corn, with a See also:crop of 48,686,000 bushels; 570,000 acres to wheat, with a crop of 5,415,000 bushels; and 196,000 acres to oats, with a crop of 3,234,000 bushels.

In Caswell county, North Carolina, " See also:

lemon yellow " tobacco was first produced in 1852, and the demand for this " See also:bright " variety became so great that except during the interruption of the Civil War its culture spread rapidly. In 1879 the state's crop amounted to 26,986,213 Ib, in 1889 to 36,375,258 lb, in 1899 to 127,503,400 lb,and in 1909 to 144,000,000 lb. The hay and See also:forage crop increased from 80,528 tons in 1879 to 246,820 tons in 1899; and in 1909 the hay crop was 242,000 tons In the See also:production of vegetables and fruits the state ranks high. Potatoes, See also:cabbage and See also:lettuce are much grown for the early Northern markets. Farmers of the Piedmont Plateau formerly kept large numbers of horses and See also:cattle from See also:April to See also:November in ranges in the Mountain Region, but with the opening of portions of that country to cultivation the business of pasturage declined, except as the cotton plantations demanded an increased See also:supply of mules; there were 25,259 mules in 1850,110,011 in 1890, 138,786 in 1900, and 181,000 in 1910. The number of horses was 192,000 in 191o; of See also:dairy cows, 297,000; of hogs, 1,356,000; and of See also:sheep, 215,000. Cotton is grown most largely in the S. portion of the Piedmont Plateau and in a few counties along or near the W. border of the Coastal Plain; tobacco, in the N. portion of the Piedmont Plateau and in the central and N.W. portions of the Coastal Plain; rice, along the See also:banks of rivers near the coast; wheat, in the valley of the Yadkin; See also:orchard fruits, in the W. portion of the Piedmont Plateau and in the Mountain Region; vegetables and small fruits in the middle and S. portion of the Coastal Plain; peanuts, in the N. portion of the Coastal Plain; See also:sorghum See also:cane, almost wholly in See also:Columbus county in the S. part of the Coastal Plain. The state government, through its See also:Department of Agriculture, takes an active See also:interest in the introduction of See also:modern agricultural methods, and in the promotion of diversified farming; In 1899 it established the Edgecombe and in 1902 the Iredell test farm. Forests.—North Carolina had in 1900 about 35,300 sq. M. of woodland; great quantities of merchantable See also:timber still remained, especially in the Mountain Region and on the Coastal Plain. The trees of the greatest commercial value are oak and See also:chestnut at the See also:foot of the mountains and yellow pine on the uplands of the Coastal Plain. But mixed with the oak and chestnut or higher up are considerable hickory, See also:birch and See also:maple; farther up the mountain sides are some See also:hemlock and white pine; and on the swamp lands of the Coastal Plain are much cypress and some cedar, and on the Coastal Plain south of the Neuse there is much long-leaf pine from which See also:resin is obtained.

Several other pines are found, and among the less important timber trees are black spruce, Carolina balsam, beeches, ashes, sycamore or See also:

button See also:wood, sweet gum and lindens. The value of the See also:lumber and timber products was $1,074,003 in 186o; $5,898,742 in 1890; $14,862,593 in 1900; and $15,731,379 in 1905. See also:Fisheries.—In the sounds along the coast, in the lower courses of the rivers that flow into them, and along the outer shores fishing is an important industry. The fisheries are chiefly of shad, oysters, mullet, alewives, clams, black bass, menhaden, croakers and blue-fish. In 1908 the catch was valued at about $1,750,000. The State See also:Geological and Economic Survey has made a careful study of the fishes of North Carolina, of the shad fisheries, of See also:oyster culture, and of the development of terrapin. At See also:Beaufort the United States See also:Bureau of Fisheries has a marine biological laboratory, established in 1901 for the study of the aquatic fauna of the south-east coast. Minerals.—At the beginning of the loth century a great number of minerals were found in the Piedmont Plateau and Mountain regions, but most of them in such small quantities as to be of little or no commercial value, and in 1902 the total value of the products of the mines and quarries was only $927,376; but in 1907 their value was $2,961,381, and in 1908, $2,145,947. During the first half of the 19th century North Carolina was a See also:mining state of the first importance; in 1804 it was the only state in the United States from which See also:gold was obtained. Operations ceased during the Civil War, and although resumed soon after its close, they became somewhat desultory. Probably the earliest large find was a 17-1b nugget on the See also:Reed See also:Plantation in See also:Cabarrus county in 1799; in the same mine a 28-lb nugget, probably the largest found in eastern United States, was discovered in 1803. The production in See also:Rutherford and See also:Burke counties and their vicinity was so great, and transportation to the United States See also:Mint at See also:Philadelphia so difficult, that from 1831 to 1857 gold was privately coined in 1, 21 and 5 See also:dollar pieces bearing the See also:mark of the coiner " C.

Bechtler, Rutherford county, N.C." The coins were of See also:

standard purity (or higher) ; they are now very rare. A See also:branch mint of the United States was established in 1837 at See also:Charlotte. See also:Silver, which is rarer in the state than gold, is found chiefly in the W. portion of the Piedmont Plateau. In 1902 the value of the gold and silver product combined was $71,287, and in 1908, when the See also:Iola mine 6 m. E. of See also:Troy, See also:Montgomery county, was the most productive, the value of the gold alone was $97,945, that of the silver $668, and that of See also:copper, $2560. In 187o North Carolina's See also:mica mines were reopened, and they produce the best grade of See also:sheet mica for See also:glazing and a large percentage of the country's yield of this See also:mineral. Most of it has been found in the N.E. portion of the Mountain Region; and that mica was See also:mined here before any See also:European See also:settlement of the country seems proved by numerous excavations and by huge heaps on which are large oak and chestnut trees, some fallen and decayed. North Carolina is also the leading state in the Union in the production of See also:monazite. The mining of See also:corundum was begun at Corundum Hill in Macon county in 1871, and from 188o to 1902 the output was considerable, but with the discovery of the See also:Canadian corundum deposits the importance of those of North Carolina greatly declined. numbering in 1907 nearly 5000, living mostly in Robeson h county, are of mixed breed and have been named the Croatans, on the See also:assumption (probably baseless) that they are the descend-ants of See also:John White's lost See also:colony of 1587. The Cherokees have no ambition to accumulate See also:property, but both they and the Croatans have been generally peaceable and many of them send their See also:children to school—for the Croatans the state provides See also:separate See also:schools. The Baptist and Methodist churches are the leading religious denominations in the state; but there are also Presbyterians, See also:Lutherans, members of the See also:Christian Connexion (O'Kellyites), Disciples of See also:Christ (Campbellites) Episcopalians, See also:Friends, See also:Roman Catholics, Moravians and members of other denominations. Until nearly a century after the See also:founding of the Carolinas there was not a See also:town in North Carolina that had a See also:population of Iwo, and the See also:urban population of the state was exceptionally small at the beginning of the rapid rise of the manufacturing See also:industries about 1880.

In 1900 the urban population (in places having 4000 inhabitants or more) was 152,019, or 8% of the total; the semi-urban (in incorporated places having less than 4000 inhabitants) was 186,258 or 9.8% of the total; and the rural (outside of incorporated places) was 1,555,533 or 82.1% of the total. But between 1890 and 1900 the urban population increased 56.6% and the semi-urban 61.6%, while the rural increased only Io•6%. The principal cities are See also:

Wilmington, Charlotte, See also:Asheville, Raleigh (the See also:capital), See also:Greensboro, Winston and See also:Newbern. See also:Administration.—North Carolina has been governed under the charters of 1663 and 1665 (1663-1729), under commissions and instructions from the See also:crown (1729-1776), and under the state constitutions of the 18th of See also:December 1776 (amended in 1835, in 1856, and in the See also:Secession See also:Convention of 1861) and of Apra 1868 (amended in 1872-1873, 1875,2 1879, 1888 and 1899), The See also:present constitution, as amended, prescribes that no See also:con vention of the See also:people of the state may be called by the legislature unless by the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members of each See also:house followed by an affirmative See also:vote of a See also:majority of the See also:electors voting on the question; and that an See also:amendment to the constitution may be adopted only by a three-fifths vote of each house followed by an affirmative vote of the majority of electors voting on the question. The See also:suffrage provisions containing the famous " grandfather clause " (in See also:Art vi. See also:section 4), were adopted in the form of a constitutional amendment, ratified in August 1900, and in effect on the 1st See also:day of July 1902. All persons otherwise qualified may See also:place their names on the voting See also:register, provided they can read and write any section of the constitution in the See also:English See also:language and have paid on or before the 1st of May the See also:poll tax for the previous year. An exception to the educational requirement is made in favour of any male person who was, on the 1st day of January 1867, or at any See also:time See also:prior thereto, entitled to vote under the See also:laws of any state in the United States wherein he then resided, and in favour of lineal descendants of such persons. This exception remained in force until the 1st of December 1908, after which time all who were on the See also:list became (unless disqualified because convicted of See also:felony) life voters, but new applicants had to stand the educational test. Perhaps the most notable feature about the administration is the weakness of the See also:governor's position. He is elected by popular vote 3 for four years, and cannot succeed himself in See also:office. His power is limited by a See also:council of state, a relic of colonial days. This See also:body is not, however, a See also:special See also:board, as in Maine, New See also:Hampshire, and See also:Massachusetts, but a See also:kind of administrative See also:cabinet as in See also:Iowa, consisting of the secretary of state, the auditor, the treasurer, and the See also:superintendent of It was along t e coast of North Carolina that Europeans in 1585 made the first discovery of iron ore within the present limits of the United States.

Iron ores are widely distributed within the state, and there have been times since the See also:

eve of the War of See also:Independence when the mining of it was an industry of relatively great importance. In 1908 the product amounted to 48,522 long tons (all See also:magnetite), and was valued at $76,877; almost the entire product is from the Cranberry mines, near Cranberry, Mitchell county. The state has two small areas in which bituminous See also:coal occurs; one in the See also:basin of the Dan and one in the basin of the Deep. Very little coal was produced in the state until the Civil War, when, in 1862 and again in 1863, 30,000 short tons were obtained for the See also:relief of the Con-federate government, an amount which up to 1905, when the yield was only 1557 short tons (falling off from 7000 short tons in 1904), had not since been equalled; in 1906, in 1907 and in 1908 no coal was mined in the state. The most valuable immediate product of the state's mines and quarries for nearly every year from 1890 to 1908 was See also:building stones of granite and See also:gneiss, which are found in all parts of the state west of the " Fall Line "; the best grades of granite are quarried chiefly in Gaston, Iredell, Rowan, Surry and Wilkes counties. The value of the building See also:stone increased from $150,000 in 1892 to $800,177 (of which $764,272 was the value of granite) in 1908. See also:Talc also is widely distributed in the state; the most extensive beds are in the south-western counties, Swain and See also:Cherokee. Manufactures.—During the See also:quarter of a century between 1880 and 1905 a great See also:change was wrought in the See also:industrial life of the state by a phenomenal growth of cotton manufacturing. A cotton See also:mill was erected in See also:Lincoln county about 1813, and by 184o about 25 small See also:mills were in operation within the state. When the Civil War was over, the abnormally high price of cotton made cotton raising for more than a See also:decade a great assistance to the people in recovering from ruin, but when the price had steadily declined from 23.98 cents a See also:pound in 1870 to 10.38 cents a pound in 1879, they turned to the erection and operation of cotton mills. In 188o the total value of the manufactured products of the state was$2o,o95,037; in 1900 the value of the cotton manufactures alone was $28,372,789, and in 1905 $47,254,054. The rapid See also:extension of tobacco culture was accompanied by a corresponding growth in the manufacture of chewing and smoking tobacco and See also:snuff, and some of the brands have a wide reputation.

The product increased in value from $4,783,484 in 1890 to $25,488,721 in 1905. In 1890 the lumber and timber products, valued at $5,898,742, ranked second among the state's manufactures; by 1905 their value had increased to $15,731,379. The value of the state's factory product for 1900 was $85,274,083, and that for 1905, $142,520,776, an advance of 67.1 %. The cotton mills are mostly in the Piedmont Plateau Region; See also:

Durham, Durham county, and Winston. Forsyth county, are leading centres of tobacco manufacture, and High Point (pop. in 1900, 4163) in See also:Randolph is noted for its manufacture of See also:furniture. Transportation.—Railway building was begun in the state in 1836 with the Raleigh & Gaston line, opened from Raleigh to Gaston in 1844 and extended to See also:Weldon in 1852. A longer line, that from Wilmington to Weldon, was completed in 184o. But the greatest See also:period of building was from 188o to 189o; during this decade the mileage was increased from 1486 m. to 3128 m., or 1642 m., which was more than one-third of all that had been built up to the year 1909, when the total mileage was 4464.14. The principal systems of See also:railways are the Southern, the Atlantic Coast Line, the See also:Norfolk & Southern and the Seaboard See also:Air Line. By means of its navigable waters and safe harbours the state has an extensive See also:coasting See also:trade. The harbours along the sounds and in the estuaries of the rivers are well protected from the storms of the ocean by the long chain of narrow islands in front, but navigation by the largest vessels is interrupted by shoals in the sounds, and especially by bars crossing the inlets between islands. The channel leading to the See also:harbour of Wilmington has been cleared to a See also:depth of 20 ft. or moreby dredging and by the construction of jetties and an immense See also:dam, See also:works which were begun by the state in 1823 but from 1828 were carried on from time to time by the See also:national government.

The Roanoke river is navigable to Weldon and the Cape Fear river to See also:

Fayetteville; the Neuse is navigable for small vessels only to Newbern. Population.—The population 1 of North Carolina increased from 1,399,750 in 188o to 1,617,949 in 189o, or 15.6 %; to 1,893,810 in 1900, a further increase of 17.1%; and to 2,206,287 in 1910, an increase of 16.5% since 1900. Of the total in 1900 only 4492, or less than 4 of 1 % were See also:foreign-See also:born, nearly half of these being natives of See also:Germany and See also:England, 1,263,664 were whites, 624,469 negroes, 5687 Indians and 51 See also:Chinese. Nearly onefo.urth of the Indians are Cherokees, who occupy, for the most part, the Qualla See also:Reservation in Swain and See also:Jackson counties, not far from the south-western extremity of the state. The others, ' The population of the state was 393,751 in 1790; 478,103 in 1800; 555,500 in 1810; 638,829 in 1820; 737,987 in 1830; 753,419 in 1840; 869,039 in 1850; 992,622 in 1860; and 1,071,361 in 1870. 2 The changes made in 1875 were adopted in a convention, were ratified in 1876, and were so numerous that the amended constitution is frequently referred to as the Constitution of 1876. ' Up to 1835 he was elected annually by the two houses of the legislature, and no See also:man could serve as governor for more than three years in any six successive years. Under an amendment of 1835 he was elected for two years by popular vote of electors for members of the House of See also:Commons, and no man was eligible to serve for more than four years in any See also:term of six years. public instruction, and advising the governor in the administration of his office. See also:Judges, heads of departments, and executive boards are elected, and even in the few instances in which the governor appoints to office the See also:confirmation of the See also:Senate is necessary. Furthermore, in North Carolina the governor has no See also:veto power. In addition to the executive officials mentioned above there are a See also:lieutenant-governor, an See also:attorney-general, a Bureau of Labor See also:Statistics, established in 1887, and a See also:Corporation See also:Commission, which in 1899 superseded the Railroad Commission, established in 1891.

The governor and the lieutenant-governor must at the time of their See also:

election be at least thirty years of See also:age, and must have been citizens of the United States for five years and residents of the state for two years. Sessions of the General See also:Assembly are held biennially, beginning on the Wednesday after the first See also:Monday in January. The Senate is composed of fifty members elected biennially by senatorial districts as nearly as possible equal to one another in population, and the House of Representatives (in the Constitution of 1776 called the House of Commons) of one hundred and twenty, elected biennially and chosen by counties' according to their population, each county having at least one representative, no See also:matter how small its population. A senator must at the time of his election be at least 25 years of age, and must have been a See also:resident and See also:citizen of the state for at least two years, and a resident in his See also:district for one year immediately preceding his election; and a representative must be a qualified elector of the state and must have resided in his county for at least one year immediately preceding his election. The pay for both senators and representatives is four dollars per day for a period not exceeding sixty days; should the session be prolonged the extra service is without See also:compensation. Extra sessions, called by the governor on the See also:advice of the council of state, are limited to twenty days, but may be extended under the same limitations in regard to compensation. The Senate may sit as a See also:court of See also:impeachment to try cases presented by the House, and a two-thirds vote is necessary for conviction. There is a supreme court consisting of a See also:chief See also:justice and four associates, elected by popular vote for eight years, and a superior or See also:circuit court, composed of sixteen judges elected by the people in each of sixteen districts for a term of eight years. The county officials are the See also:sheriff, a See also:coroner, a treasurer, a register of deeds, a surveyor and five commissioners, elected for two years. The commissioners supervise the penal and charitable institutions, schools, roads, See also:bridges and finances of the county. Subordinate to them are the township boards of trustees, composed of a clerk, and two justices of the See also:peace. By the constitution See also:personal property to the value of $500 and any See also:homestead to the value of $l000 is exempt from See also:sale for See also:debt, except for taxes on the homestead, or for obligations contracted for the See also:purchase of said premises.

Under the revised See also:

code (1905) a wife may hold property which she had acquired before See also:marriage See also:free from any See also:obligation of her See also:husband, but in general she is not permitted to make contracts affecting either her personal or real See also:estate without the written consent of her husband. Neither can the husband convey real estate without the wife's consent, and a widow may dissent from her husband's will at any time within six months after the See also:probate of the same, the effect of such dissent being to allow her the right of one-third of her deceased husband's property, including the dwelling house in which they usually resided. The constitution prescribes that " all marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a white person of negro descent to the third See also:generation inclusive, are hereby forever prohibited." Until 1905 the only grounds for an See also:absolute See also:divorce were ' Under the Constitution of 1776 senators were elected by counties, one for each county, and representatives also by counties, two for each county—in addition, the towns of See also:Edenton, Newbern, Wilmington, See also:Salisbury, Hillsboro and Halifax each elected one representative; and a property qualification—a See also:freehold of 5o acres held for six months before an election—was imposed on electors of senators. Under amendments of 1835 senators were chosen by districts formed on the basis of public taxes paid into the state See also:treasury, representatives were still chosen by counties, and were apportioned among them on the same basis as their Federal See also:representation (i.e. counting three-fifths of the slaves), and free negroes or mulattoes " descended from negro ancestors to the See also:fourth generation inclusive " were excluded from the suffrage. In 1856 the property qualification for electors of senators was removed.See also:adultery, natural See also:impotence, and pregnancy of the wife at the time of marriage; but an amendment of 1907 allows a divorce whenever there has been a separation of husband and wife for ten successive years, provided the parties have lived in the state for that period and no children have been born of the marriage. The working of children under twelve years of age in any factory or manufacturing establishment is unlawful, the working of children between the ages of twelve and thirteen in such places is allowed only on See also:condition that they be employed as apprentices and have attended school for at least four months during the preceding year; and no boy or girl under fourteen is to See also:work in such places during See also:night time. An See also:anti-See also:trust See also:law of 1907 makes it unlawful for any corporation controlling within the state the sale of 50% of an See also:article to raise or lower the price of that article with the intention of injuring a competitor. On the 26th of May 1908 the people of the state voted " against the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors " in the state; the See also:prohibition See also:act thus approved went into effect on the 1st of January 1909. State prohibition had been defeated in 1881 by a vote of 100,000; in 1902 the Anti-See also:Saloon See also:League organized in the state; in 1903 the See also:Watts Law enacted rural prohibition, giving towns local See also:option, under which many of the towns voted " no See also:licence "; and in 1905 severe See also:police regulations were provided for towns in which saloons were licensed. Charitable and Penal Institutions.—In the systematic care of the dependent and defective classes North Carolina was one of the See also:pioneer states of the South. An See also:institute for the See also:deaf and dumb and See also:blind was opened at Raleigh in 1845, and another for the deaf and dumb at Morganton in 1894; by a law of 1907 every deaf See also:child of See also:sound mind must attend, between the ages of eight and fifteen, a school for the deaf at least five terms of nine months each; and by a law of 1908 every blind•child (between seven and seventeen), if of sound mind and body, must attend some school for the blind for nine months of each year. The North Carolina State See also:Hospital (for the insane) at Raleigh was opened in 1856 as a result of the labours of See also:Miss Dorothea Lynde See also:Dix (1805-1887); in connexion with it there is an epileptic colony.

The State Hospital at See also:

Morgan-ton, opened in 1883, completed in 1886, and intended for the use of the western part of the state, is perhaps the best equipped institution of its kind south of the See also:Potomac. In 1901 a department for criminal insane was opened in a wing of the state See also:prison at Raleigh. The See also:Oxford See also:Orphan See also:Asylum at Oxford (1872) is supported partly by the Masonic See also:Order and partly by the state. A See also:movement begun by the Confederate Veterans Association in See also:October 1889 resulted in the establishment in 1890 of a See also:home for disabled veterans at Raleigh; this became a state institution in 1891. In 1908 a state See also:tuberculosis See also:sanatorium was opened near See also:Aberdeen, See also:Moore county. The state also takes See also:good care of the unfortunates among the negro See also:race. The Institute for the Colored Deaf, Dumb and Blind (1867) at Raleigh and the Eastern Insane Hospital (188o) near See also:Goldsboro are the See also:oldest institutions of the kind for negroes in the See also:world; in connexion with the last there is an epileptic colony for negroes. There is also (at Oxford) an Orphanage for the Colored (1883), which was established by the " See also:Wake and See also:Shiloh Associations of the Colored Baptist See also:Church," first received state aid in 1891, and is now supported chiefly by the state. The state prison is at Raleigh, although most of the convicts are distributed upon farms owned and operated by the state. The See also:lease See also:system does not prevail, but the farming out of convict labour is permitted by the constitution; such labour is used chiefly for the building of railways, the convicts so employed being at all times cared for and guarded by state officials. A reformatory for white youth between the ages of seven and sixteen, under the name of the Stonewall Jackson See also:Manual Training and Industrial School, was opened at See also:Concord in 1909, and in See also:March 1909 the Foulk Reformatory and Manual Training School for negro youth was provided for. Charitable and penal institutions are under the supervision of a Board of Public Charities, appointed by the governor for a period of six years, the terms of the different members expiring in different years.

Private institutions for the care of the insane, idiots, feeble-minded and inebriates may be established, but must be licensed and regulated by the state board and become legally a part of the system of public charities. See also:

Education.—The public school system was established in 1839, being based on the See also:programme for state education prepared in 1816-1817 by See also:Archibald Debow Murphey (1777-1832), whose educational ideas were far in advance of his day. See also:Calvin See also:Henderson Wiley (1819-1887), the author of several romances dealing with life in North Carolina, such as Roanoke: or, Where is See also:Utopia? (1866), and of Life in the South: a See also:Companion to See also:Uncle Tom's See also:Cabin (1852), was superintendent of common schools in 1853-1865 (the executive See also:head of the state's educational department having previously been a " See also:literary board "), and won the name of the " See also:Horace See also:Mann of the South " by his See also:wise reforms. He kept the public schools going through the Civil War, having advised against the disturbance of the school funds and their reinvestment in Confederate securities. The present school system is supervised by a state board of education consisting of the governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, treasurer, auditor, attorney-general, and superintendent of public instruction. In the counties there is a board of education and there is also a local school See also:committee of three in each township. The compulsory attendance at school of children between the ages of eight and fourteen for sixteen See also:weeks each year by a state law is optional with each county. A state library commission was established in 1909. At the head of the state system of education is the university of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, chartered in 1789 and opened in 1795, one of the oldest state See also:universities in the country and one of the oldest universities in the South; it consists of the See also:college, the See also:graduate department, the law department, the department of See also:medicine (189o, part of whose work is done at Raleigh) and the department of See also:pharmacy (1897). In 1907-1908 it had 75 instructors and 775 students. Other state educational institutions are the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (1889) at West Raleigh, which in 1907-1908 had 42 instructors and 436 students; the State Normal and Industrial College (1892) for See also:women, at Greensboro; and the East Carolina Teachers' Training School (1907), at See also:Greenville.

For the higher education of the negroes the state supports an Agri-cultural and See also:

Mechanical College (1891) at Greensboro, and normal and industrial schools at Fayetteville, See also:Elizabeth See also:City and Winston. The more important sectarian schools are Wake Forest College (Baptist, opened 1834 as a " manual labour and classical institute "; as a college, 1838) at Wake Forest, 16 m. north of Raleigh, with 371 students in 1907-1908; See also:Davidson College (Presbyterian, 1837) at Davidson, with 308 students (1907-1908); See also:Biddle University (Presbyterian) at Charlotte, for negroes; Greensboro See also:Female College (Methodist Episcopal, South; 1846); See also:Guilford College (coeducational; Society of Friends, 1837) near Greensboro; Trinity College (coeducational; Methodist, 1852) at Durham; Lenoir College (Lutheran, 1890) at. Hickory; Catawba College (Reformed, 1851) at See also:Newton; Weaverville College (Methodist Episcopal, 1873) at Weaverville; Elon College (Christian, 189o) at Elon; St See also:Mary's College (Roman See also:Catholic, 1877), under the See also:charge of See also:Benedictines, at See also:Belmont; See also:Shaw University (Baptist, 1865), for negroes, at Raleigh; and See also:Livingston College (Methodist, 1879), for negroes, at Salisbury. See also:Finance.—The revenues of the state come from two See also:sources; about two-thirds from See also:taxation and about one-third in all from the earnings of the See also:penitentiary, from the fees collected by state officials, from the proceeds from the sale of state publications, and from the dividends from stock and bonds. The state owned, in 1909, 30,002 shares of stock in the North Carolina Railroad See also:Company,l with a See also:market value (1907) of $5,580,372 (the stock being quoted at 186), and an annual income of $210,014 and 12,666 shares of stock in the Atlantic & North Carolina Railroad Company, from which the annual income is $31,665. In addition to the See also:ordinary general property tax, licences and polls, there are a tax on corporations and an income tax. North Carolina is one of the few states to experiment with the See also:inheritance tax, but the last law dealing with that subject was repealed in 1899. The total receipts of the general fund for the fiscal year 1907 were $2,603,293, and the total disbursements for the same year were $2,655,282. The state debt at the close of the fiscal year 1907 amounted to $6,880,950. It may be divided into three parts: that contracted between 1848 and 1861 for the construction of roads, railways and canals; that contracted during the Civil War for other than war purposes; and that contracted during the Reconstruction era, nominally in the form of loans to railway companies. In their impoverished condition it was impossible for the people to bear the See also:burden, so an act was passed in 1879 scaling part of the debt 6o%, part of it 75% and part of it 85%. The See also:remainder, $12,805,000, and all arrears of interest were repudiated outright.

This of course impaired the obligation of a See also:

contract, but under the See also:Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution of the United States the bondholders could not bring suit against the state in the Federal courts. Another state could do so, however, and in 1904, certain creditors having given ten of their bonds to South Dakota, the See also:case of South Dakota versus North Carolina came before the Supreme Court. The court decided, four judges dissenting, that North Carolina must pay the amount due or suffer her railway bonds to be seized and sold to satisfy the See also:judgment (192 U.S. Reports, 286. See also 1o8 U.S. 76). ' The North Carolina Railroad from Goldsboro, via Raleigh, Greensboro and Salisbury, to Charlotte, was an extension of the Raleigh & Gaston, which had come into the hands of the state; it was chartered in 1849, the act being passed by the casting vote of the See also:speaker, whose See also:action was the cause of his failure to be re-elected to that, or to be elected to any other office afterwards, since the poverty of the state did not See also:warrant such an See also:expenditure. The See also:original stock of $3,000,000, of which the state was to subscribe $2,000,000, was increased in 1855 to $4,000,000, the state subscribing the added million. The road was leased in 1871 to the See also:Richmond & See also:Danville for thirty years at 6%; and in 1905 to the Southern See also:Rail-way Company for ninety-nine years at 61% for the first six years and at 7% for the remainder of the term. The Atlantic & North Carolina, the second great See also:internal improvement undertaken by the state, was chartered in 1853, and was opened from Goldsboro to Morehead City (95 m.) in 1858; it was in 1910 a part of the Norfolk & Southern system. Although the state of North Carolina owns 70.3 % of the stock (besides this See also:Craven county holds 7.7 %; Lenoir, 2.8%; and Pamlico county, 1.13 %), the state casts only 350 votes to the 700 of the private stockholders. See also:History.—The history of North Carolina may be divided into four See also:main periods: the period of discovery and early colonization (1520-1663); the period of proprietary rule (1663-1729); the period of royal rule (1729-1776); and the period of statehood (from 1776).

It is possible that some of the early French and Spanish explorers visited the coast of North Carolina, but no serious See also:

attempt was made by Europeans to establish a settlement until near the close of the 16th century. After receiving from See also:Queen Elizabeth a patent for colonization in the New World, See also:Sir See also:Walter Raleigh, in April 1584, sent See also:Philip Arnadas, or Amidas (1550—1618), and See also:Arthur Barlowe (c. 1550-c. 1620) to discover in the region bordering on See also:Florida a suitable location for a colony. They returned in See also:September with a glowing See also:account of what is now the coast of North Carolina, and on the 9th of April 1585 a colony of about 1o8 men under See also:Ralph See also:Lane (c. 1530-1603) sailed from See also:Plymouth in a See also:fleet of seven small vessels commanded by Sir See also:Richard See also:Grenville. The colony was established at the north end of Roanoke See also:Island on the 17th of August, and about a See also:week later Grenville returned to England. Threatened with See also:famine and with destruction from hostile Indians, the entire colony See also:left for England on the 19th of See also:June 1586 on Sir See also:Francis See also:Drake's fleet. Only a few days after their departure Sir Richard Grenville arrived with supplies and more colonists, fifteen of whom remained when he sailed away. Although greatly disappointed at the return of the first colony, Raleigh despatched another company, consisting of 121 persons under John White, with instructions to remove the plantation to the See also:shore of Chesapeake Bay. They arrived at Roanoke Island on the 22nd of July 1587 and were forced to remain there by the refusal of the sailors to carry them farther. Of the fifteen persons left by Grenville not one was found alive.

White's See also:

grand-daughter, Virginia Dare (b. 18th August 1587), was the first English child born in America. White soon returned to England for supplies, and having been detained there until 1591 he found upon his return no trace of the colony except the word " Croatan " carved on a tree; hence the colony was supposed to have gone away with some friendly Indians, possibly the Hatteras tribe, and See also:proof of the assumption that these whites mingled with Indians is sought in the presence in Robeson county of a mixed people with Indian habits and occasional English names, calling them-selves Croatans. In 1629 See also:Charles I. granted to his attorney-general, Sir See also:Robert See also:Heath, all the territory lying between the 31st and 36th See also:parallels and extending through from sea to sea, but the patent was in time vacated, and in 1663 the same territory was granted to the See also:earl of See also:Clarendon (1609-1674), the See also:duke of Albemarle (1608-1670), and six other favourites of Charles II. By a second See also:charter issued in 1665 the limits were extended to 29° and 36° 30'. The proprietors had all the See also:powers of a county See also:palatine and proposed to establish a feudal and aristocratic form of government. To this end John See also:Locke drafted for them in 1669 the famous Fundamental Constitutions providing for the See also:division of the See also:province into eight counties and each county into seigniories, baronies, precincts and colonies, and the division of the land among hereditary nobles who were to grant three-fifths of it to their freemen and govern through an elaborate system of feudal courts. But these constitutions, several times revised, actually served only as a theoretical standard for the proprietors and were abrogated altogether in 1693, and the colonists were governed by instructions which granted them much greater privileges. From the very beginning the territory tended to See also:divide into two distinct sections, a northern and a southern. The northern section was first called Albemarle, then " that part of our province of Carolina that lies north and east of Cape Fear," and about 1689 North Carolina. Settled largely by people from See also:Pennsylvania, this section came to be closely associated with the continental colonies. The southern section, influenced by its location, by the early settlers from See also:Barbados, and by its trade connexions, was brought into rather more intimate relations with the island colonies and with the See also:mother country.

The proprietors struggled in vain to bring about a closer union. In 1691 one governor was placed over both settlements, but it was found necessary to appoint a See also:

deputy for North Carolina, and finally in 1712 again to allow her a governor of her own. So long as the intervening territory was a See also:wilderness no effort was made to define the boundary line. The first steps were taken in that direction just after the close of the proprietary period in 1729, but the work was not completed until 1815.' The first permanent English colony in North Carolina was established at Albemarle on the Chowan river about 166o by people from Virginia. The colony See also:grew rapidly, and at the close of the colonial period (1776) the population numbered approximately 300,000, including English, Scotch, Scotch-Irish, Swiss, French Protestants, Moravians, and about 40,000 negroes. According to Dr Weeks " the earliest settlers . . . were not religious refugees, . . . they came to the province not from religious but economic motives." The proprietary period (1663–1729) was a turbulent one, in spite of the supposedly peaceful See also:influence of the See also:Quakers. Six out of sixteen See also:governors or deputy-governors were driven from office between 1674 and 1712, and there were two uprisings which have been deemed worthy of the term See also:rebellion. The first under John Culpeper in 1677 was primarily economic in See also:character, the chief grievance being the See also:payment of an export See also:duty on tobacco. It was evidently influenced by the See also:recent uprising in Virginia under Nathaniel See also:Bacon. The insurrection of dissenters (17o8–1711), which was headed by See also:Thomas See also:Carey, who was deputy-governor while the trouble was See also:brewing, was in opposition to the establishment of the Church of England; it was ultimately unsuccessful, the Church was established in 1711, a law was passed which deprived Quakers of the See also:privilege of serving on juries or holding public office, and the establishment was continued until the War of Independence.

A war with the See also:

Tuscarora Indians, in 1711–1713, resulted in the defeat of the Indians and the removal of the greater part of the tribe to New See also:York, where they became the See also:sixth nation of the See also:Iroquois confederacy. North Carolina did not join South Carolina in the revolution of 1719 (see SOUTH CAROLINA), but remained under proprietary rule until 1729. In that year an act was passed by See also:parliament establishing an agreement with seven of the Lords Proprietors for the surrender of their claims to both provinces. They were allowed £17,500 for their rights and £5000 for arrears of quit rents. See also:Lord See also:Carteret refused to sell and continued to hold a one-eighth undivided share until 1744, when he gave up his claim in return for a large See also:strip of land in North Carolina lying between See also:latitude 350 34' and the Virginia line (36° 3o'). So that while the See also:king was governmental head of the whole of North Carolina from 1729 to 1776 he was, after 1744, territorial lord of only the southern half. The See also:political history during the royal period is, like that of the other colonies, the See also:story of a See also:constant struggle between the representatives of the people and the representatives of the crown. The struggle was especially See also:bitter during the administrations of the last three royal governors, Arthur Dobbs (1684-1765), See also:William See also:Tryon (1729–1788) and See also:Josiah See also:Martin (1737–1786). There were disputes over questions of government, of See also:commerce, of finance and of See also:religion. The See also:ship which brought stamps and stamped See also:paper to Wilmington in 1766 was not permitted to land, and the stampmaster was compelled by the people to take an See also:oath that he would not exercise the functions of his office. Through the vigilance of Governor Tryon, however, the Assembly was prevented from sending delegates to the See also:Stamp Act See also:Congress. The colonists were also angered by the attempt to 1 Between 1735 and 1746 the southern boundary was first definitely established by a See also:joint commission of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

The line was resurveyed in 1764, and in 1772 was extended; parts of the line were resurveyed under acts of the assembly of 1803, 1804, 18o6, 1813, 1814 and 1815, and by an act of 1819 the last extension, to the Tennessee line, was confirmed and established. According to the charter the northern boundary was to be the line of 36° 30', but the surveys (of 1728, 1749 and 1779) were not strictly accurate, and the actual line runs irregularly from 336° 33' 15" at its eastern to 36° 34' 25.5° at its western end. The boundary between North Carolina and Tennessee was surveyed in 1799 and 1821.enforce the acts of trade and navigation and by the See also:

parliamentary See also:statute of 1764 forbidding the issue of bills of See also:credit; and the Scotch-Irish among them in particular were aroused by the See also:repeal of an act of 1771 allowing Presbyterian ministers to per-form the marriage ceremony and of another act of the same year for the establishment of Queen's College in See also:Mecklenburg county for Presbyterians. In the " back country " extortionate fees, excessive taxes, and the oppressive manner of See also:collecting them brought about a popular uprising, known as the Regulation, which centred in Orange and Anson counties, but was strong also in Brown, Edgecombe, See also:Johnson, See also:Granville and Halifax counties. See also:Hermon Husband (c. 1724–1795) was the chief agitator of See also:measures for relief, but, since, as a Quaker, he discouraged violence, the cause was left without a recognized See also:leader. Governor Tryon manifested no sympathy for the oppressed and sought only the thorough suppression of the disturbance, which was organized in the See also:spring of 1768 by Regulators, " for regulating public grievances and abuses of power." The Regulators agreed to pay no more taxes until satisfied that they were in accordance with law, and to pay nothing in excess of the legal fees. Violence speedily followed; the local See also:militia was called out, but since only a few would serve the only means found to quiet the people was an alleged promise from the governor that if they would See also:petition him for redress and go to their homes he would see that justice was done. In reply to their petition the governor denied that he had made any promise in their behalf; and in September he had at his command a military force of 1153, about one-fourth of whom were See also:officers. Although the Regulators assembled to the number of about 3700 they were not prepared to withstand the governor's force and again submitted without bloodshed, there being only a few arrests made. In the following year the Regulators attempted to elect new members to the assembly and petitioned the newly-elected house. But as little had been accomplished when the superior court met at Hillsboro, Orange county, in September 1770, the Regulators became desperate again, whipped the chief offender, See also:Colonel See also:Edmund Fanning, and demolished his See also:residence.

These riotous proceedings provoked the second military expedition of the governor, and on the 16th of May 1771, with a force of about r000 men and officers, he met about twice that number of Regulators on the banks of the Alamance, where, after two See also:

hours of fighting, with losses on each See also:side nearly equal, the See also:ammunition of the Regulators was exhausted and they were routed. About fifteen were taken prisoners, and of these seven were executed. This insurrection was in no sense a beginning of the War of Independence; on the contrary, during that war most of Tryon's militia who fought at Alamance were Patriots and the majority of the Regulators, who remained in the province, were See also:Loyalists. In August 1771 Governor Tryon was succeeded by Governor Josiah Martin, who was soon engaged in spirited controversies with the assembly on questions pertaining to taxes, the southern boundary, and the See also:attachment of property belonging to non-residents. So See also:complete became the See also:breach between them that in 1773 the royal government had nearly ceased to operate, and in 1774 the governor was deserted by his hitherto subservient council. The first Provincial Congress met at Newbern on the 25th of August 1774 and elected delegates to the Continental Congress. When the governor learned that a second Provincial Congress was called to meet in April 1775 he resolved to convene the assembly on the same day. But the assembly, the members of which were nearly the same as those of the congress, refused to interrupt the See also:meeting of the congress, and in the next month the governor sought safety in See also:flight, first to Fort Johnson on the Cape Fear below Wilmington and then to a man-of-war along the coast. On the 31st of May 1775 a committee representing the militia companies of Mecklenburg county passed a series of resolutions which declared that the royal commissions in the several colonies were null and void, that the constitution of each colony was wholly suspended, and that the legislative and executive powers of each colony were vested in its provincial congress subject to the direction of the Continental Congress; and the resolutions requested the inhabitants of the county to form a military and civil organization See also:independent of the crown of Great See also:Britain which should operate until the Provincial Congress should otherwise provide or the See also:British parliament should " resign its unjust and arbitrary pretensions with respect to America." The " Mecklenburg See also:Declaration," which it is alleged was passed on the 20th of the same month by the same committee, " dissolves the political bonds " which have connected the county with the mother country, " absolves " the citizens of that county " from all See also:allegiance to the British Crown," declares them " a free and independent people," and abounds in other phrases which closely resemble phrases in the great Declaration of the 4th of July 17 76. The Resolutions were published in at least two See also:newspapers only a few days after they were passed. As for the " Declaration," the original records of the transactions of Mecklenburg county were destroyed by See also:fire in 1800, but it is claimed that a copy of the " Declaration " was made from memory in the same year, and when, in 1819, a controversy had arisen as to where the movement for independence originated, this copy was published, first in the Raleigh Register and North Carolina See also:Gazette and then in many other See also:news-papers. Several aged men also testified that they had heard a declaration of independence read at Charlotte, the county-seat, in May 1775; and one of them stated that he had carried it to the Continental Congress.

Thomas See also:

Jefferson and John See also:Adams, however, declared that they had never heard of it before, and both believed it See also:spurious. But Jefferson was charged with See also:plagiarism by those who believed in the authenticity of the " Declaration," and in 1833 there was discovered a See also:proclamation of Governor Martin, dated the 8th of August 1775, in which he mentioned a publication in the Cape Fear See also:Mercury of a series of resolves by a committee of Mecklenburg county which declared " the entire See also:dissolution of the laws, government and constitution of the country." Another See also:stage of the controversy was reached in 1838–1847 when the Mecklenburg Resolutions of the 31st of May 1775 were discovered either in part or in full in newspaper files. There seems practically no basis for the contention that a declaration of independence was adopted on the loth other than the tradition that independence was declared by the Mecklenburg Committee on that date, and the occasional references in See also:print, even before 1819, to a declaration of independence in the county in 1775. Those who believe the " Declaration " to be spurious argue that survivors remembered only one such document, that the Resolutions might easily be thought of as a declaration of independence, that Governor Martin in all See also:probability had knowledge only of these and not of the alleged " Declaration," and that the See also:dates of publication in the Raleigh and See also:Charleston newspapers, and the politics of those papers, show that the Resolutions are See also:authentic. In July 1905 there appeared in See also:Collier's Weekly (New York) what purported to be a facsimile See also:reproduction of a copy of the Cape Fear Mercury which was referred to by Governor Martin and which contained the " Declaration "; but this was proved a See also:forgery.' The first and the second provincial congress did little except choose delegates to the Continental Congress and the management of affairs passed in large measure from the royal government to the several county committees. The third provincial congress, which met on the 21st of August 1775, still required its members to sign an oath of allegiance to King See also:George III. but formed a provisional government consisting of a provincial council and six District Committees of Safety. The first See also:sanction of independence by any body representing the whole province was given by the fourth Provincial Congress on the 12th of April 1776, and the same body immediately proceeded to the See also:consideration of a new and permanent form of government. Their labours ended, however, in another provincial government by a Council of Safety, and the drafting of North Carolina's first state constitution was left to a constitutional convention which assembled at Halifax on the 12th of November. North Carolinians fought under See also:Washington at See also:Brandywine and See also:Monmouth and played a still more important part in the Southern See also:campaigns of 1778-1781. The state was twice invaded, in 1776 and in 178o–1781, and two important battles were fought upon her soil, Moore's See also:Creek on the 27th of See also:February 1776 and Guilford Court House on the 15th of March 1781. The territory now comprising the state of Tennessee belonged to Carolina under the charters of 1663 and 1665, and fell to North Carolina when the original province was divided. To thisterritory settlers, many of them from North Carolina, had gone immediately before and during the War of Independence, and had'organized a practically independent government.

In 1776 this was formally annexed to North Carolina, but in 1784 the state ceded this district to the national government on condition that it should be accepted within two years. The inhabitants of the district, however, objected to the cession, especially to the terms, which, they contended, threatened them with two years of anarchy; declared their independence of North Carolina and organized for themselves the state of See also:

Franklin. But the new state was weakened by factions, and after a brief and See also:precarious existence it was forced into submission to North Carolina by which in 1790 the territory was again ceded to the national government with the proviso that no regulation made or to be made by Congress should tend to the emancipation of slaves (see TENNESSEE). North Carolina sent delegates to the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention of 1787, but the state convention, at Hillsboro, called to pass upon the constitution for North Carolina, did not meet until the 21st of July 1788, when ten states had already ratified. On the first day of this convention the opponents to the constitution, among whom were most of the delegates from the western counties, were ready to reject it without debate, but yielded to a proposal for discussing it clause by clause. In this discussion, which was continued for nine days, the document was most strongly opposed because it contained no See also:bill of rights and on the ground that it would provide for such a strong central government that the state governments would ultimately be sacrificed. At the conclusion of the debate the convention by a vote of 184 to 84 declared itself unwilling to ratify the constitution until a bill of rights had been added and it had been amended in several other particulars so as to See also:guarantee certain powers to the states. By See also:reason of this rejection the relations of North Carolina with the other states were severed upon the dissolution of the See also:Confederation, and it took no part in the first election or in the organization of the new government. However, there was a speedy reaction against the oppositon which had in no small measure been inspired by fear of a requirement that debts be paid in gold and silver. A second convention met at Fayetteville in November 1789 and the constitution was speedily ratified (on the 13th) by a vote of 195 to 77. The period from 1790 to 1835 was marked by a prolonged contest between the eastern and the western counties. When the state constitution of 1776 was adopted the counties were so nearly equal in population that they were given equal representation in the General Assembly, but the equality in population disappeared in the general westward movement, and in 1790 the West began to urge a new division of the state into representative districts according to population and taxation.

This was stubbornly resisted, and the West assumed a threatenfs ,, attitude as the East opposed its projects for internal improvements for which the West had the greater need. In 1823 the West called an extra-legal convention to meet at Raleigh, and delegates from 24 of the 28 western counties responded, but those from the far West, in which there were practically no slaves, wished free white population to be made the basis of representation, while those from the Middle West demanded the See also:

adoption of the basis for the national House of Representatives and the convention made only a divided See also:appeal to the people. Ten years later, however, at the election of assemblymen, 33 of the western counties polled an extra-legal vote on the question of calling a constitutional convention, and 30,000 votes were See also:cast for it to only l000 against it. The effect of this was that in January 1835 the legislature passed a bill for submitting the question legally to all the voters of the state, although this bill itself limited the proposed convention's power See also:relating to re-presentation by providing that it should so amend the constitution that senators be chosen by districts according to public taxes, and that commoners be apportioned by districts according to Federal representation, i.e. five slaves to be counted equal to i The 20th of May has been made a See also:holiday in North Carolina, three whites. When the popular vote was taken, in the following and the date appears on the state See also:flag and the state See also:seal; and a statue has been erected at Charlotte in memory of the signers of the I April, every eastern county gave a majority against the conven- " Declaration." See also:Lion, but the West, even with the See also:limitation which was decidedly favourable to the East, voted strongly for it and carried the election with a total majority in the state of 5856 votes. Again, however, the See also:advantage was with the East, for the delegates were chosen by counties, two from each; but in the convention, which was in session at Raleigh from the 4th of June to the lrth of July, the East made some concessions: such as the popular election of the governor (who had previously been elected by the two houses of the legislature), the disfranchisement of free negroes, and the abolition of representation from 6 boroughs, 4 of which were in the East. The number of senators was reduced to 5o, the number of commoners to '20, and the manner of choosing senators and commoners was changed as directed in the act providing for the convention. The electorate gave its approval to the revision by a vote of 26,771 to 21,606, and with this the agitation over representation ceased. The fundamental points of difference between North Carolina and South Carolina were exemplified in the See also:slavery conflict. South Carolina led the extreme See also:radical See also:element in the South and was the first state to secede. North Carolina held back, worked for a See also:compromise, sent delegates to the Washington Peace Convention in February 1861, and did not secede until the loth of May 1861, after See also:President Lincoln's See also:call for troops to preserve the Union. Liberal support was given to the Confederacy, both in men and supplies, but Governor See also:Vance, one of the ablest of the Southern war governors, engaged in acrimonious controversies with President Jefferson See also:Davis, contending that the general government of the Confederacy was encroaching upon the prerogatives of the separate states.

Owing to its distance from the border, the state escaped serious invasion until near the close of the war. Wilmington was captured by the Federals in February 1865; General See also:

Sherman's See also:army crossed the southern boundary in March; a See also:battle was fought at Bentonville, March 19-21; Raleigh was entered on April 13; and the Confederates under General See also:Joseph E. See also:Johnston surrendered near Durham Station, in Durham county, on the 26th. Reconstruction was a costly experience here as in other Southern states. See also:Jonathan See also:Worth (18o2-1869), elected governor under the presidential See also:plan in 1865, was an honest and capable See also:official, but the government established in accordance with the views of Congress in 1868 was corrupt, inefficient and tyrannical. See also:Carpet-baggers, negroes and unscrupulous native whites, known as scalawags, were in See also:control of affairs, while the people of See also:wealth, refinement and education were disfranchised. Governor William See also:Woods See also:Holden (1818-1892; governor 1868-187o) was so weak and tyrannical that he was impeached by the legislature in December 187o. Under his successor, See also:Tod R. Caldwell (1818-1874), there was some improvement in the condition of affairs, and in 1875 a constitutional convention, in session at Raleigh, with the Democrats slightly in the majority, amended the constitution, their work being ratified by the people at the state election in 1876. The native white element completely regained See also:possession of the government in the following year, when the Democrats came into office under Governor Zebulon B. Vance. Since that time the most interesting feature in the political history has been the rise and fall of the People's party.

The hard times which followed the See also:

financial panic of 1893 made it possible for them, in See also:alliance with the Republicans, to carry the state in the election of 1894. Afterwards their strength declined, because the people became more prosperous, because the national Democratic party in 1896 and 1900 adopted their views on the See also:money question, and because of the unpopularity of a See also:coalition with Republicans, which made it necessary to give the coloured people a share of the offices. The race question was the chief issue in the election of 1898, the Democrats were successful, and what amounted to a negro-disfranchising amendment to the constitution was adopted in August two. In 1907 there was a serious clash between the state authorities and the Federal judiciary, arising from an act of the legislature of that year which fixed the maximum railway fare at 2; cents a mile and imposed enormous fines for its violation. The two principal railway corporations, the Southern and the Seaboard Air Line, contended that the act was clearly contrary to the 14th Amendment to the Federal Constitution in that it denied the equal See also:protection of law. The promise of the rail-ways to give to every purchaser of a See also:ticket a See also:rebate check until the question of the validity of the act should be decided by the courts was not satisfactory to the state authorities, who arrested a ticket See also:agent of the Southern railway, convicted him of violating the law, and sentenced him to the chain-gang for thirty days. Thereupon the attorneys for the railway applied to See also:Judge Jeter Connelly See also:Pritchard (b. 1857) of the United States Circuit Court for a See also:writ of habeas corpus; this was granted and the prisoner was released. The governor of the state, Robert Brodnax Glenn (b. 1854), nevertheless urged the state courts and attorneys to proceed with the See also:prosecution of other ticket agents, and threatened to resist with the force of the state any further interference of Federal judiciary; but in March 1908 the Supreme Court of the United States declared the North Carolina rate law unconstitutional on the ground that it was confiscatory.

End of Article: NORTH CAROLINA

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
NORTH CAPE (Nordkap) 		[next]
NORTH DAKOTA

Site © 2006 - Net Industries