Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/723

NORTH CAROLINA. which they had founded on Roanoke Island. The next year John White was sent with men, women, and children. He went back to England for supplies, but on his return the colony had utterly vanished; tradition relates that they were absorbed by an Indian tribe in the neighborhood. In 1629 Charles I. granted to Sir Robert Heath, under the name of Carolina, the territory between 31° and 36° N., but the proprietor failed to make use of his grant, and in 1663 Charles II. conferred on eight ‘Lords Proprietors’ the territory between 31° and 36° extending to the Pacific Ocean. The limits were enlarged in 1665 to 29° to 36° 30′. The proprietors received palatine powers, divided the territory into two parts, North and South Carolina, and began to send out settlers. Already there were scattered settlements along the streams and sounds in the eastern part. For the government of the colony, an elaborate scheme, the ‘Fundamental Constitution’ was drawn up by the philosopher John Locke. This provided for three orders of nobility and four houses of Parliament. It was never put fully into operation, and was abandoned entirely in 1693. The population was hardy and rude and paid little attention to any sort of government, occasionally driving away an obnoxious Governor by force. Up to 1710, when Edward Hyde was appointed Governor of North Carolina, there was but one Governor for Carolina with deputies for the divisions. A strong hand was, however, needed. In 1711 the Tuscarora Indians had fallen upon the scattered farms and massacred several hundred people, and the power of the Indians was broken only by aid from Virginia and South Carolina. (See .) Pirates also were ravaging the coast.

Carolina did not prove a success from a financial standpoint, and in 1728 seven of the proprietors sold to the Crown their shares for £2500 each. Lord Carteret (afterwards Lord Granville) retained his, and in 1744 it was laid off in severalty for him. Affairs were more settled after the Crown assumed control, and the western portion of North Carolina began to receive settlers, largely Scotch-Irish from Pennsylvania, and Germans from the Palatinate. After the battle of Culloden (1746) a number of Scotch settled on the Upper Cape Fear River. Many of the royal Governors came into conflict with the inhabitants, and during the administration of William Tryon the (q.v.) threatened to overturn the Government in 1771.

The First Provincial Congress met in defiance of Governor (q.v.) in 1774, and sent delegates to the Continental Congress. (See .) The colony was the first to authorize her delegates in Congress to vote for independence, on April 12, 1776, and a State constitution was adopted, on December 18, 1776. North Carolina troops took part in many of the important battles of the war, and in 1780-81 the State was invaded by the British. The State sent delegates to the national constitutional convention in 1787, but refused to ratify the instrument, in 1788, and presented twenty-six amendments. The State did not vote in the first Presidential election, but after the adoption of the first ten amendments to the Constitution, ratified that instrument, on November 19, 1789. The western lands, now the State of Tennessee, were offered to Congress in 1784. The inhabitants, indignant at

being transferred without their consent, revolted and set up the State of Franklin. Governor Caswell was able to cause the dissolution of this abortive State, and the lands were again ceded in 1790. The next year the capital was located at Raleigh. In 1795 the State University was opened for students. The question of a market for their products was a serious one to the residents of the middle and eastern counties. After 1820 much money was spent in the fruitless attempt to make the shallow rivers navigable, and to connect them by canals. The measures were opposed by the eastern counties, which had abundant water transportation. The question of constitutional revision was one of great interest for a long time. The Constitution of 1776 gave equal representation to every county, and this gave an unfair advantage to the smaller counties of the east. After much effort the Convention of 1835 was called and drafted a constitution giving representation in the Senate according to property and in the House according to population. But during this period thousands of people had gone to Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.

The State opposed secession as a matter of expediency, and in February, 1861, refused to call a convention, but with President Lincoln's demand for troops to coerce the seceding States sentiment changed. An ordinance of secession was unanimously passed, May 20th, and the State lost the first soldier of the war at Big Bethel. North Carolina furnished more than 120,000 soldiers to the Confederate cause, nearly twice her proportion, lost more soldiers than any other Southern State, and during the last year of the war practically fed Lee's army. At the close of the war W. W. Holden, formerly a rabid secessionist, was appointed Provisional Governor. A convention was called which repealed the ordinance of secession, abolished slavery, and ordered an election for State officers. Jonathan Worth was elected Governor, but in the following year the new Constitution was rejected. With the beginning of reconstruction in 1867 the civil authority was superseded by the military. Another convention was called in 1868, and a constitution allowing negro suffrage was adopted. Under this W. W. Holden was elected Governor. In this year the (q.v.) appeared, and Alamance and Granville counties were placed under martial law. The Conservative Democrats secured the Legislature in 1870, and Governor Holden was impeached. The present Constitution was adopted in 1876, and in 1900 a clause intended to restrict negro suffrage was added. The State has been Democratic in national elections since the beginning of parties, with, the exception of the years 1840-48, when it voted for the Whig candidates, and 1868-72, when its vote was cast for Grant. The Governors of the colony and State have been as follows: