text assets/images/thmbs/intro.gif Colonial North Carolina

During the eighteenth century, North Carolina was more isolated than many parts of the colonies. It had few reliable options for transportation: its terrain forbade extensive road construction; its rivers were barely navigable; and the Outer Banks locked in its coast. The printing press did not arrive in North Carolina until 1747, forcing the colony to rely on other colonies for their printing needs. Most of the colony's residents looked to Charleston or Williamsburg for leadership and news, if they looked at all.

The Regulators

The residents of the N.C. backcountry were mostly in the latter category, even as coastal

]]> New Bern developed into something resembling the capitals of other colonies. The legislature failed to address their interests: laws gave older counties five representatives while newer ones only received two, and in practice, this meant the East had more power than the West.

The Regulators were a group of westerners who were angry with the legislature and the corrupt local officials it appointed. Although their arguments reflected common sentiments during the years leading up to the American Revolution, the movement failed due to political manuevering by Governor William Tryon and various other factors, possibly including their inability to spread their message outside the Carolinas. In 1771, a

]]> militia from New Bern crushed the Regulators at the Battle of Alamance.

The Revolution

While residents of the East forcibly ended a rebellion against corrupt government and unfair representation within their own colony, they largely joined the other colonies' rebellion against the same problems. The few papers in the colony carried favorable news of the anti-British protests. However, as North Carolina's press was very small and restricted mostly to New Bern and Wilmington, printed material concerning N.C. during the time is limited.

Click on the thumbnails above to view the materials for this section.

]]> image assets/images/thmbs/1765-colonialpress.gif This is a 1957 illustration of a colonial printing press. Printing was difficult and time-consuming in the eighteenth century, as it required setting every letter by hand. It was a highly skilled trade requiring a long apprenticeship.

Because of the time involved in printing, papers in the colonial era were issued once a week at most; but since communication was slow as well, weekly papers generally kept up with the news. Often printers would print the first half of the week's news at midweek and leave space for news items to be added later; this made printing easier but meant that front page stories by today's standards ended up on page 3 or 4 of colonial newspapers.

]]> assets/images/1765-colonialpress.jpg full-size (opens in new window)]]> This image is provided courtesy of the NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES and may be protected by copyright law, Title 17 US Code. The user must obtain the proper release forms prior to reproducing this material. Tunis, Edwin. "A Colonial Printing Press." In Colonial Living, (World Publishing Co., 1957), 118. General Negative Collection, North Carolina State Archives. Call Number N.82.7.24.

]]> image assets/images/thmbs/1765-stamp.gif In 1765, the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act, which put a tax on paper. It required that every piece of paper going into the colonies have a stamp on it showing that the tax had been paid. Two examples of these stamps are pictured here.

The Stamp Act was not the first British law that angered the colonists. However, taxing paper meant taxing everything from land grants to psalm books and newspapers to playing cards. The act galavanized opposition to the British because it affected all levels of society, especially the publishers and lawyers most capable of organizing a revolt. The Stamp Act protests were among the most violent before the war.

]]> assets/images/1765-stamp.jpg full-size (opens in new window)]]> This image is provided courtesy of the NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES and may be protected by copyright law, Title 17 US Code. The user must obtain the proper release forms prior to reproducing this material. "British Colonial Stamp." General Negative Collection, North Carolina State Archives. Call Number N.57.9.2A.

]]> image assets/images/thmbs/1765-wilmgaz.gif Multiple newspapers were titled North-Carolina Gazette or variants thereof until 1836, when copyright laws ended the practice. This is a supplement to a newspaper in Wilmington published with that title.

This article is about one of the many Stamp Act protests. Note how the participants insist upon their "drinking, liberty, property, and no stamp-duty." Alcohol was a fairly common component of pre-revolutionary riots and continued to be a strong tradition in politics well after the war and into the nineteenth century. The use of effigies, visual icons or representations of certain people or ideas such as Liberty, was also common in protests.

]]> assets/images/1765-wilmgaz.gif entire document (new window)]]> This image is provided courtesy of the NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES and may be protected by copyright law, Title 17 US Code. The user must obtain the proper release forms prior to reproducing this material. The North-Carolina Gazette (Wilmington). 1765. November 20. North Carolina Newspaper Project, State Library of North Carolina & North Carolina State Archives. Microfilm reel number 18Cen5.

]]> image assets/images/thmbs/1766-londonchronicle.gif This is a clipping from an original copy of the March 18, 1766 London Chronicle. This issue also announces the act repealing the Stamp Act; one interesting item in the paper is a letter supporting the American cause, stating that since the colonists were "virtually" represented, they could pay "virtual" taxes, too. It alludes to the importance of American trade in the British economy and the role British merchants played in lobbying Parliament for repeals of American taxes.

The Stamp Act provoked some of the most violent responses of any British law; the event described here was actually fairly tame, as other Stamp Officers had their homes burned down or worse.

]]> assets/images/1766-londonchronicle.jpg full issue (opens in new window)]]> This image is provided courtesy of the NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES and may be protected by copyright law, Title 17 US Code. The user must obtain the proper release forms prior to reproducing this material. The London Chronicle (London). 1765. March 18. [P.C. 777] Louis T. Moore Collection, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.

]]> image assets/images/thmbs/1769-cfmerc.gif The Cape Fear Mercury in Wilmington printed this lengthy exchange between Governor Tryon and the North Carolina assembly in New Bern in 1769.

Newspapers often printed the full addresses of government officials. Unlike some colonies, the North Carolina assembly saw its governor as something of a spokesman for their interests, rather than an adversary. In 1769, those interests included two of the Regulators' chief complaints: the desperate need for paper currency and charges of misuse of public funds. With currency in such short supply, it was literally impossible for many to pay taxes - or the hated, often corrupt lawyers in the western courts.

]]> assets/images/1769-cfmerc.gif full issue (opens in new window)]]> This image is provided courtesy of the NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES and may be protected by copyright law, Title 17 US Code. The user must obtain the proper release forms prior to reproducing this material. The Cape Fear Mercury. (Wilmington). 1769. November 24. North Carolina Newspaper Project, State Library of North Carolina & North Carolina State Archives. Microfilm reel number 18Cen5.

]]>. image assets/images/thmbs/1771-battleofalamance.gif This is a representation of the Battle of Alamance, a clash between the Regulators and the militia led by Governor Tryon that ended the Regulator rebellion in North Carolina. The Regulators were angry with corrupt local officials and representation that favored the colony's coastline over its interior in the legislature.

There was no press in the N.C. backcountry until 1820 and communication with other areas of the colony was very poor. These factors may have kept the Regulators' arguments from being as widely disseminated as similar complaints in other colonies. The Regulators' concerns were not addressed until the 1776 state constitution.

]]> assets/images/1771-battleofalamance.jpg full-size (opens in new window)]]> This image is provided courtesy of the NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES and may be protected by copyright law, Title 17 US Code. The user must obtain the proper release forms prior to reproducing this material. "The Battle of Alamance." Artist, current location, and copyright holder unknown. General Negative Collection, North Carolina State Archives. Call Number N.51.9.15.

]]> image assets/images/thmbs/1774-nbgaz.gif This is an excerpt from a fall 1774 North-Carolina Gazette. The entire page consists of an essay by Ben Franklin. Franklin was not only one of the most prominent men in the Revolution, but he was also well-respected in Europe.

Newspapers in colonial America had largely followed the British tradition of carrying academic arguments between gentlemen, and this essay illustrates how the American press applied that tradition to the politics of the Revolution. This application is the beginning of the process that created the party press that dominated American politics in the next century, as American newspaper editors became increasingly active in politics.

]]> assets/images/1774-nbgaz.gif full issue (opens in new window)]]> This image is provided courtesy of the NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES and may be protected by copyright law, Title 17 US Code. The user must obtain the proper release forms prior to reproducing this material. The North-Carolina Gazette. (New Bern). 1774. Fall (Date partially missing: "----ber 16, 1774.") North Carolina Newspaper Project, State Library of North Carolina & North Carolina State Archives. Microfilm reel number 18Cen2.

]]> image assets/images/thmbs/1775-edenton.gif This is a political cartoon printed in London in 1775 about the October 25, 1774 Edenton Tea Party. It was actually a tea party, unlike its Boston counterpart, and its result was a petition signed by 47 women vowing to stop drinking English tea and buying English goods. The event was one of the first instances of women taking political action in America.

North Carolina had passed non-importation agreements following the 1773 Tea Act, so the petition at Edenton was not unusual except for the fact that women signed it. Women publicly participating in politics was unheard of in the eighteenth century, and residents of London found it absolutely shocking.

]]> assets/images/1775-edenton.jpg full-size (opens in new window)]]> This image is provided courtesy of the NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES and may be protected by copyright law, Title 17 US Code. The user must obtain the proper release forms prior to reproducing this material. Political cartoon showing the Edenton Tea Party. First published in London, 1775. Original publication and current location unknown. General Negative Collection, North Carolina State Archives. Call Number N.53.15.1821.

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