The Colonization of 

North Carolina

Introduction

    During the 1600's tobacco was an important plant to grow if you needed to earn money.  Tobacco quickly drains nutrients from soil therefore, people needed large quantities of land in order to grow this.  They also needed to be close to the water so they could transport their merchandise by boat.   They soon found out that NC would be the perfect place to settle.  

Carolana

    In 1625, King James died and was succeeded by his son, Charles I.  In 1629 Charles I gave Sir Robert Heath, a large piece of land in America.  Charles gave Heath all the land between Florida and the Albemarle sound.  Charles named this piece of land after himself calling it Carolana.  He tried to extend the Christian religion and help European Protestants escape persecution.  Charles made and effort to colonize Carolana several times but failed. 

   In Virginia there was a land shortage and people began to settle in North Carolina.  The first to do so was Nathaniel Batts.  In 1655, at the western end of Albemarle Sound on Salmon Creek, he built a twenty-foot-square home.  He bought land from the Weapemeoc Indians; this was the first recorded deed to NC.  Other settlers from Virginia quickly followed Batts.  When they bought land from the Indians the, Indians viewed it as borrowing land, they thought the land was the communities and not an individuals.  The Europeans viewed land as once you bought the land it remained yours until you sold it. 

  Lords Proprietors

        In the 1660, Charles II, who was the son of Charles I, became the king of England.  Charles II wanted to repay all those men who helped him become king of England.  On March 24,1663, he granted the old Heath patent to eight of his supporters.  These men became known as the Lords Proprietors of Carolina.  The Lords Proprietors had many rights.  They had the right to establish counties, towns, and courts, collect fees and taxes: make grants of land: raise a militia, and wage war.

          The Carolina Charter

        The Carolina Charter of 1663 gave colonist certain rights.  It was also the basis for representative government in North Carolina.  Laws passed by the Proprietors had to be approved by the freemen of the colony or by their delegates, if it wasn’t an emergency.  After a while, the meeting of delegates became the Assembly.  The laws that the Assembly passed had to agree with the laws of England.  The charter allowed the practice of other religions, even though the Church of England was the same church of Carolina.  

         In 1665, King Charles II issued a second charter to the Lords Proprietors.  This charter gave the Lords Proprietors all the land up to the Virginia border.  Also, the charter gave them rule of Albemarle County, which the Lords Proprietors established. In 1664, the Lords Proprietors named William Drummond the first governor of Albemarle County.  The Proprietors wanted to keep a monarchy government in Carolina and not transfer to a democracy.  They tried to create a document called the Fundamental Constitutions which was supposed to give them more power, but was never carried out.  

Government

    In Albemarle County you could  see an outline of the  modern system of government.  The Proprietors chose a governor, the governor then appointed a council, which consisted of ten members.  At first the council acted as the colony's court.  The Assembly was the only elected branch of government.  To begin with, the council and Assembly sat as a unicameral legislature.  Around 1700 it became bicameral.  The council then became the "upper house" and the Assembly the "lower house".  The Assembly had power over money matter such as the governors salary, taxes, and paper currency. Even with this modern system of government, Albemarle County was a lawless, disordered frontier.    

                            Culpepper's Rebellion

    The Proprietors wanted more settlers in Albemarle so to bring them in they lowered taxes on land and even excused taxes sometimes.  Land grants were limited to 660 acres.  Albemarle sound was the perfect place for thieves, debtors, runaway slaves, and pirates to live.  The Assembly protected settlers for five years from lawsuits , debts, or crimes committed elsewhere.  Because of this, Albemarle Sound was known by the Virginians as a "Rogue's Harbor".  Albemarle Sound and Virginia had different views of the borders set by the Charter of 1665.  Virginian  colonist would ignore these rules.  Albemarle colonist accused Virginians of creating problems with the Indians that attacked the settlers.  Problems got worse in 1679 when Virginia refused to ship Albemarle tobacco from Virginia ports.  

    During this time the Proprietors tried to enforce the Navigation Acts of 1651, 1660, and 1673.  This act forced colonies to only use English vessels for their shipments.  This meant that if you didn't sent your shipment strait to England you had to pay a taxes of a penny a pound.  Settlers such as George Durant, John Jenkins, and John Culpeper ignored the Navigation Acts.  John Jenkins used his power as active governor to try and break up the Assembly by doing this he got thrown out of office.  

    Afterwards, Thomas Eastchurch and Thomas Miller who sided with the proprietors went to England to talk to them.  They told them what went on and the proprietors them names Eastchurch the new governor.  On their way back to Carolina Eastchurch got stuck in the West Indies and therefore had to give Miller the title of governor which soon went to his head.  Miller started to increase taxes, seize goods he said had been brought into the colony illegally, imposed heavy fines, and jailed many people who dared to oppose him.  

    Finally in December 1667, the colonist decided that they had, had all they could take.  A band of forty captured Miller , jailed him, and took the tobacco and customs records he held.  The "rebels" then set up their own Assembly.  Miller later escaped from jail and fled to England to ask the Proprietors for help.  Culpeper followed Miller and tried to represent his side of the story but as soon as he got their he was arrested and tried for treason.  Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl was sent to defend Culpeper.  He argued that Miller had no authority to serve as governor the Proprietors agreed and Culpeper was acquitted.   

A New Governor

    In 1678, the Proprietors named Seth Sothel governor of Albemarle.  He did not arrive until 1683 because he was captured by Turkish pirates.  When he finally arrived and took office he proved himself to be a corrupt and oppressive governor.  He jailed opponents without a trail, took over estates, seized cattle, slaves, and personal goods, and even accepted bribes.  In 1689, the colonist had, had enough.  Sothel was tried before the Assembly, found guilty, and banished from Albemarle.  Then he started for Charles Town, South Carolina where he claimed governorship and continued with his unlawful acts.  Philip Ludwell then took Sothel's place as governor.  Now, the County of Albemarle was going to become North Carolina.  

North Carolina

    The first county established in NC was Bath in 1996.  Bath extended from Albemarle Sound to Cape Fear.  The population grew from 4,000 people to 11,000 people.  In 1710, a group of German, Swiss, and English settlers decided to settle in NC to escape religious persecution.  Von Graffenried was the leader of this group of protestants.  He asked permission from surveyor general John Lawson to purchase 20,000 acres of land.  He explained that he wanted to establish a county, New Bern.  He also asked permission to practice their own religion.  Lawson gave him permission to do both.  When Von Graffenried arrived with his settlers he established New Bern and laid it out in the shape of a cross.   

Cary's Rebellion

    The Church of England was the "established" church of Carolina.  The governor and Proprietors had been very tolerant of all non-Anglicans, people who did not belong to the Church of England.  

During the 1600s a religious group known as the Quakers moved into the Albemarle region.  Quakers did not believe in churches or ceremonies and would not fight for any reason at all.  They did not were any flashy clothing only plain clothes.  The Quakers came to Carolina searching for a place where they could freely practice their peaceful religion.  Quakers held many elected positions in the County.  

    In 1701, the Assembly passed a Vestry Act.  This act helped build churches and pay clergymen (ministers).  A tax would be collected to pay for all this.  All the religious groups that did not believe in churches protested this tax.  The Proprietors and Governors also did, they felt it gave too much power to the church therefore, the law was never really enforced.  

    In 1703, the Assembly passed another Vestry Act this time the law involved the Quakers more than any other religious group.  Quakers were not allowed to swear.  This new law required all members of the Assembly to swear an oath of allegiance to Queen Ann and also be followers of the Church of England.  The new governor Thomas Cary strictly enforced this law and stated that to hold any office they could either swear and oath or pay a fine.  The Quakers were outraged.  They sent John Porter to London to seek help from the Proprietors.  He came back with an order allowing Quakers to affirm oaths instead of swearing and also and order that removed Cary as governor. 

William Glover then became active governor.  The Quakers found Glover to be even worse than Cary who had now joined forces with the Quakers.  Cary and the Quakers forced Glover out of Carolina and into Virginia.  Then Cary became governor again he held office from 1708-1711.

      The Proprietors decided in 1712 that Carolina had grown too large for just one governor and now needed two.  The Proprietors divided the land into two, North Carolina and South Carolina.  They then appointed Edward Hyde governor of NC.  Cary tried to overthrow governor Hyde by rebelling.  He sailed up the Albemarle Sound to Thomas Pollock's house where Hyde and his advisors were meeting, he then fired cannonballs at Pollock's house.  He was arrested and taken to England for a trial but was released because of lack of evidence.  

The Tuscarora War

    The Indians of Bath and Albemarle Sound were treated horribly by the whites.  They seized there land by threatening to burn crops, imprisoning them without food and water, and many other treatments until they surrendered their land.  In 1710 the Tuscaroras sent a petition to the governor of Pennsylvania protesting the seizure of their land and the capture and enslavement of their people.  The governor did not respond however, the Indians did.  In September 1711, Graffenried and Lawson were captured by the Tuscaroras, during their trip to explore the Neuse River.  The Tuscaroras burned Lawson to stake and Graffenried was soon released because the Indians thought he was the governor.  Before Graffenried could return to New Bern to warn the white settlers the Indians had launched an attack murdering, burning, and scalping over 130 people in two hours.  The only section spared of torture was the Albemarle because Tom Blunt a Tuscarora leader remained neutral.  During January 1712, the whites marched nearly 300 miles, under the leadership of Colonel John Barnwell, into the  wilderness and defeated the Indians in two battles near New Bern.  Barnwell and the Indians agreed to a peace treaty but it did not hold.  Barnwell took over 200 of their women and children to sell into slavery and killed of nearly 50 of their men.  These actions led to many summer Indian attacks on white settlers.  In March 1713, Colonel James Moore arrived from South Carolina and finally crushed the Tuscarora Indians.  

As a reward for Tom Blunt and his people for not fighting they were given a reservation of Roanoke River on Bertie Island.  Some effects of the war were beneficial and some were not.  The war made North Carolina more open for settlement.  However, NC lost many lives and suffered lots of property damages.  A new Vestry Act was passed and the Quakers and any other dissenters were free to practice their religion and also hold an office.  To encourage growth of NC, the Assembly gave all borough towns representation in the legislature.  A borough town was a town with sixty or more families. 

Piracy

            The most notorious Carolina pirate was Edward Teach, he was also known as “Blackbeard”.  He had a long black beard and hair in which he twisted bits of smoldering rope to add his fierce appearance when boarding a prize ship.  He was really mean and he stole lots of valuable things.  He also gave back to NC for letting him hide in their sounds. He made his headquarters at Bath briefly.  The second most famous pirate was Stede Bonnet; he was once a respected army officer, but his nagging wife forced him to purchase a ship to transport merchandise. The temptation of faster profits turned him into the second most famous pirate known in NC. Edward Teach and Stede Bonnet became good friends.  Stede Bonnete was finally captured in 1718.  He was tried and convicted.  He was hanged on December 10 then given a pirate’s burial at sea.  Crews from a British warship stationed in the James River and commanded by Lieutenant Robert Maynard, set out in search of Blackbeard.  On the twenty second Blackbeard’s ship was spotted near Ocracoke Inlet, attacked, and boarded.  In a long and painful battle Blackbeard was defeated.  Maynard had cut off his head and hung it high in the rigging of his ship when it sailed into Bath.  There were many other pirates, including some females; during November and December 1718, forty-nine of them were hanged in