History of North Carolina

This article discusses the of a. For information on the state today, see.

British colonization

 * See also: and .

The developed distinctly from  almost from the beginning. As early as 1689, the Carolina proprietors named a separate governor for the region of the colony that lay to the north and east of. By 1712, the term "North Carolina" was in common use. In 1728, the dividing line between North Carolina and Virginia was surveyed. By 1729, the Crown bought out seven of the eight original proprietors, making North Carolina a royal colony.

The proprietor who refused to sell was, who in 1744 received rights to the vast , constituting the northern half of North Carolina. This happened just as the tide of immigration to North Carolina from Virginia and Pennsylvania started to swell. Many of the mid-eighteenth-century immigrants were farmers of or  descent. On the eve of the American Revolution, North Carolina was the fastest-growing British colony in North America. The small family farms of the Piedmont contrasted sharply with the plantation economy of the coastal region, where wealthy planters grew and  with  labor. By 1760, enslaved Africans constituted one quarter of North Carolina's population and were concentrated along the coast.

In the late 1760s, tensions between Piedmont farmers and coastal planters welled up in the. With specie scarce, many inland farmers found themselves unable to pay their taxes and resented the consequent seizure of their property. Governor conspicuous consumption in the construction of a new governor's mansion at  fuelled their resentment. As the western districts were underrepresented in the colonial legislature, it was difficult for the farmers to obtain redress by legislative means. Ultimately, the frustrated farmers took to arms and closed the court in. Tryon sent troops to the region and defeated the Regulators at the in May 1771.

North Carolina in the American Revolution
Although wealthy coastal settlers opposed the Regulators, they too were growing unhappy with royal government in the 1760s. In the spring of 1776, North Carolinians, meeting in the fourth of their, drafted the , a set of resolutions that empowered the state's delegates to the to concur in a declaration of independence from Great Britain. In November 1776, North Carolina representatives gathered in Halifax to write a new, which remained in effect until 1835.

Although North Carolina was spared violence in the early years of the Revolutionary War, it was a major focus of fighting in 1780-81. American general  British forces under  at the  in March 1785.

The drafted in 1787 was controversial in North Carolina. Delegates meetings at Hillsboro in July 1788 initially voted to reject it. They were persuaded to change their minds partly by the strenuous efforts of and  and partly by the  prospect of a Bill of Rights. Meanwhile, residents in the wealthy northeastern part of the state, who generally supported the proposed Constitution, threatened to secede if the rest of the state did not fall into line. A second ratifying convention was held in Fayetteville in November 1889, and on November 21, North Carolina became the twelfth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

North Carolina adopted a new state constitution in 1835. One of the major changes was the introduction of direct election of the governor, for a term of two years; prior to 1835, the legislature elected the governor for a term of one year. North Carolina's current capitol building was completed in 1840.

, who was president of the United States from 1845 until 1849, was born in North Carolina. , who was president of the United States from 1829 until 1837, was most likely born in South Carolina, but is sometimes also claimed as a native of North Carolina.

The Civil War and
As a plantation state, North Carolina had a long history of slavery. In the fraught election of 1860, North Carolina's electoral votes went to Southern Democrat, an adamant supporter of slavery who hoped to extend the "peculiar institution" to the United States' western territories, rather than to the Constitutional Union candidate, , who carried much of the upper South. Yet North Carolina (in marked contrast to most of the states that Breckinridge carried) was reluctant to secede from the Union when it became clear that Republican had won the presidential election. In fact, North Carolina did not secede until May 20, 1861, after the fall of and the secession of the Upper South's bellwether,. North Carolina was the last of the eleven Confederate states to leave the Union.

Many North Carolinians, especially yeoman farmers who owned few or no slaves, felt ambivalently about the. Draft-dodging, desertion, and tax evasion were common during the Civil War years. The Union's naval blockade of Southern ports and the breakdown of the Confederate transportation system took a heavy toll on North Carolina residents, as did the runaway inflation of the war years. In the spring of 1863, there were food riots in North Carolina (as well as ).

North Carolina was readmitted to the Union in 1868, after ratifying a new state constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Its government was "redeemed" by Southern Democrats in 1870. After the of 1871 went into effect, the U.S. Attorney General,, vigorously prosecuted Klan members in North Carolina. Anti-Klan efforts by Governor, combined with other controversies, led to his impeachment and removal from office in 1871.

, who became president of the United States following Lincoln's assassination in the spring of 1865 and remained in office until succeeded by in 1872, was born in North Carolina.

Post-war economic development
During the late 19th century, North Carolina's Piedmont region developed a textile industry, based in close-knit company towns. The introduction of manufacturing helped to diversify North Carolina's overwhelming agricultural economy.

On December 17, 1903, the made the first successful airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

In the early 20th century, North Carolina launched both a major education initiative and a major road-building initiative to enhance the state's economy. The educational initiative was launched by Governor in 1901; supposedly, North Carolina built one school per day while Aycock was in office. The state's road-building initiative began in the 1920s, after the automobile became a popular mode of transportation. During the early decades of the 20th century, North Carolina became the site of several major U.S. military installations, notably.

North Carolina since the New Deal
In the period since the 1930s, North Carolina's reputation as an educational and manufacturing center has continued to grow. During, North Carolina supplied the U.S. armed forces with diverse manufactured goods, including more textiles than any other state in the nation. North Carolina also became known for its excellent universities. Three major institutions compose the state's : the at Chapel Hill (chartered in 1789 and greatly expanded from the 1930s on),, and  (rechartered in 1924).

Another major theme of North Carolina history in the era since the New Deal has been racial. The that began at the  lunch counter in  on February 1, 1960, sparked a wave of copycat sit-ins across the American South. The Greensboro sit-in continued sporadically for several months until, on July 25, African-Americans were at last allowed to eat at Woolworth's.

In 1971, North Carolina's third was ratified. A 1997 amendment to this constitution granted the governor power over most legislation.

Surveys

 * James Clay and Douglas Orr, eds., North Carolina Atlas: Portrait of a Changing Southern State (University of North Carolina Press, 1971).
 * Crow; Jeffrey J. and Larry E. Tise; Writing North Carolina History University of North Carolina Press, (1979) online
 * Fleer; Jack D. North Carolina Government & Politics University of Nebraska Press, (1994) online political science textbook
 * Hawks; Francis L. History of North Carolina 2 vol 1857
 * Marianne M. Kersey and Ran Coble, eds., North Carolina Focus: An Anthology on State Government, Politics, and Policy, 2d ed., (Raleigh: North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research, 1989).
 * Lefler; Hugh Talmage. A Guide to the Study and Reading of North Carolina History University of North Carolina Press, (1963) online
 * Hugh Talmage Lefler and Albert Ray Newsome, North Carolina: The History of a Southern State University of North Carolina Press (1954, 1963, 1973), standard textbook
 * , Tar Heel Politics: Myths and Realities (University of North Carolina Press, 1990).
 * William S. Powell, North Carolina through Four Centuries University of North Carolina Press (1989), standard textbook

Pre 1900

 * Eric Anderson, Race and Politics in North Carolina, 1872-1901 (Louisiana State University Press, 1981).
 * Bolton; Charles C. Poor Whites of the Antebellum South: Tenants and Laborers in Central North Carolina and Northeast Mississippi Duke University Press, 1994
 * A. Roger Ekirch, "Poor Carolina": Politics and Society in Colonial North Carolina, 1729-1776 (University of North Carolina Press, 1981)
 * Escott; Paul D. Many Excellent People: Power and Privilege in North Carolina, 1850-1900 University of North Carolina Press, (1985) online
 * Gilpatrick; Delbert Harold. Jeffersonian Democracy in North Carolina, 1789-1816 Columbia University Press. (1931)
 * Harris, William C. "William Woods Holden: in Search of Vindication." North Carolina Historical Review 1982 59(4): 354-372. ISSN 0029-2494
 * Harris, William C. William Woods Holden, Firebrand of North Carolina Politics. Louisiana State U. Press, 1987. 332 pp.
 * Harris, William C. William Woods Holden, Firebrand of North Carolina Politics. Louisiana State U. Press, 1987. 332 pp.

Since 1900

 * Abrams; Douglas Carl; Conservative Constraints: North Carolina and the New Deal University Press of Mississippi, 1992
 * Badger; Anthony J. Prosperity Road: The New Deal, Tobacco, and North Carolina University of North Carolina Press, (1980) online
 * Gilmore; Glenda Elizabeth. Gender and Jim Crow: Women and the Politics of White Supremacy in North Carolina, 1896-1920 University of North Carolina Press, 1996
 * Grundy; Pamela. Learning to Win: Sports, Education, and Social Change in Twentieth-Century North Carolina University of North Carolina Press, 2001
 * Key, V. O. Southern Politics in State and Nation (1951)
 * Elmer L. Puryear, Democratic Party Dissension in North Carolina, 1928-1936 (University of North Carolina Press, 1962).
 * Elizabeth A. Taylor, "The Women's Suffrage Movement in North Carolina", North Carolina Historical Review, (January 1961): 45-62, and ibid. (April 1961): 173-89;
 * Weare; Walter B. Black Business in the New South: A Social History of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company University of Illinois Press, 1993
 * Wood; Phillip J. Southern Capitalism: The Political Economy of North Carolina, 1880-1980 Duke University Press, 1986