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2. North Carolina 1820 Governor
3. North Carolina 1813 U.S. House of Representatives, District 6
4. North Carolina 1822 House of Commons, Granville County
5. North Carolina 1824 House of Commons, Buncombe County
6. North Carolina 1807 State Senate, Richmond County
7. North Carolina 1796 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2
8. North Carolina 1822 U.S. Senate, Ballot 5
9. North Carolina 1819 State Senate, Perquimans County
10. North Carolina 1811 State Senate, Anson County
11. North Carolina 1803 House of Commons, Fayetteville Borough
12. North Carolina 1823 State Senate, Rutherford County
13. North Carolina 1812 House of Commons, Rowan County
14. North Carolina 1806 U.S. Senate, Ballot 2
15. North Carolina 1801 House of Commons, Granville County
16. North Carolina 1807 House of Commons, Buncombe County
17. North Carolina 1810 House of Commons, Caswell County
18. North Carolina 1820 House of Commons, Moore County
19. North Carolina 1819 State Senate, Guilford County
20. North Carolina 1824 State Senate, Northampton County
21. North Carolina 1810 Attorney General, Ballot 2
22. North Carolina 1818 State Senate, Lincoln County
23. North Carolina 1820 State Senate, Carteret County
24. North Carolina 1802 House of Commons, Wilkes County
25. North Carolina 1801 House of Commons, Rutherford County
26. North Carolina 1818 House of Commons, Robeson County
27. North Carolina 1806 U.S. House of Representatives, District 1
28. North Carolina 1814 Governor, Ballot 2
29. North Carolina 1805 State Senate, Warren County
30. North Carolina 1790 State Senate, Martin County
31. North Carolina 1791 State Senate, Duplin County
32. North Carolina 1792 U.S. Senate, Ballot 2
33. North Carolina 1800 Governor
34. North Carolina 1824 House of Commons, Rowan County
35. North Carolina 1795 U.S. Senate
36. North Carolina 1810 House of Commons, Warren County
37. North Carolina 1808 House of Commons, Richmond County
38. North Carolina 1819 U.S. House of Representatives, District 10, Special
39. North Carolina 1798 U.S. Senate, Ballot 8
40. North Carolina 1824 State Senate, Cabarrus County
41. North Carolina 1805 State Senate, Richmond County
42. North Carolina 1795 House of Commons, Person County, Special
43. North Carolina 1801 State Senate, Wake County
44. North Carolina 1811 House of Commons, Nash County
45. North Carolina 1823 House of Commons, Stokes County
46. North Carolina 1800 U.S. House of Representatives, District 5
47. North Carolina 1810 U.S. House of Representatives, District 10
48. North Carolina 1819 U.S. House of Representatives, District 3
49. North Carolina 1795 State Senate, Richmond County
50. North Carolina 1820 House of Commons, Orange County
51. North Carolina 1821 Comptroller
52. North Carolina 1817 House of Commons, Wake County
53. North Carolina 1810 State Senate, Lenoir County
54. North Carolina 1815 U.S. House of Representatives, District 12
55. North Carolina 1790 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2
56. North Carolina 1818 House of Commons, Pasquotank County
57. North Carolina 1820 State Senate, Greene County
58. North Carolina 1821 State Senate, Pasquotank County
59. North Carolina 1812 State Senate, Bertie County
60. North Carolina 1804 Public Printer
61. North Carolina 1815 U.S. Senate, Special, Ballot 5
62. North Carolina 1821 Governor, Ballot 6
63. North Carolina 1812 House of Commons, Hillsborough Borough
64. North Carolina 1815 House of Commons, Hillsborough Borough
65. North Carolina 1808 Electoral College, Edenton District
66. North Carolina 1821 Comptroller, Ballot 2
67. North Carolina 1824 House of Commons, Montgomery County
68. North Carolina 1823 State Senate, Bertie County
69. North Carolina 1792 House of Commons, Richmond County
70. North Carolina 1810 House of Commons, Pitt County
71. North Carolina 1798 U.S. House of Representatives, District 7
72. North Carolina 1796 U.S. House of Representatives, District 6
73. North Carolina 1824 House of Commons, Salisbury Borough
74. North Carolina 1796 State Senate, Brunswick County
75. North Carolina 1801 State Senate, Granville County
76. North Carolina 1804 State Senate, Craven County
77. North Carolina 1818 State Senate, Robeson County
78. North Carolina 1818 State Senate, Mecklenburg County
79. North Carolina 1819 State Senate, Orange County
80. North Carolina 1810 Speaker of the Senate
81. North Carolina 1819 Governor
82. North Carolina 1818 Governor
83. North Carolina 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 11
84. North Carolina 1825 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2
85. North Carolina 1821 State Senate, Carteret County
86. North Carolina 1821 State Senate, Stokes County
87. North Carolina 1816 House of Commons, Perquimans County
88. North Carolina 1824 State Senate, Surry County
89. North Carolina 1815 State Senate, Wilkes County
90. North Carolina 1806 U.S. Senate
91. North Carolina 1807 House of Commons, Rowan County
92. North Carolina 1814 State Senate, Beaufort County
93. North Carolina 1818 State Senate, Chowan County
94. North Carolina 1796 U.S. House of Representatives, District 4
95. North Carolina 1798 U.S. House of Representatives, District 5
96. North Carolina 1812 State Senate, Cumberland County
97. North Carolina 1796 State Senate, Nash County
98. North Carolina 1804 U.S. Senate, Ballot 4
99. North Carolina 1805 House of Commons, Franklin County
100. North Carolina 1803 House of Commons, Johnston County
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Established in 1663, the proprietary colony of Carolina became the state of North Carolina during the American Revolution. In December of 1776, the North Carolina Provincial Congress ratified the state's first constitution, which established three branches of government: a bicameral General Assembly comprising a Senate and a House of Commons; a judiciary; and a weak executive. Representatives to the legislature were chosen by ballot annually, with each county electing one senator and two members to the House of Commons. Landholding, age, and residency restrictions limited the size of the electorate. The legislature appointed supreme court judges and annually elected the governor and representatives to the United States Congress.
Following the Revolution, Federalists and Anti-Federalists fought for control over the state government. This "critical period" laid the foundation for the clash over ratification of the United States Constitution. North Carolina's delegation to the 1787 Constitutional Convention favored strengthening the central government, but not at the expense of individual liberties or their state's sovereignty. Anti-Federalist representatives to the state's 1788 constitutional convention blocked ratification of the Constitution, but Federalists eventually forced the convening of a second convention. On November 21, 1789, North Carolina became the twelfth state to ratify the Constitution. Anti-Federalists chipped away at Federalist dominance during the next decade and, by 1792, secured a majority in the legislature. The efforts of Federalists such as James Iredell and influential easterners allowed the party to continue to elect candidates to the United States Congress and the governorship, but by 1799, distrust of the central government and growing resentment over the Federalist Party's alliance with the state's eastern elite led to the party's demise.
Swept into power by their platform of state hegemony, strict constitutional construction, tax restraint, and the promotion of smallholder interests, Republicans controlled the state's political future. Republicans confronted a series of problems that included currency inflation, unstable banking, Amerindian resistance to western expansion, inadequate internal improvements, educational deficiencies, economic stagnation, and an undemocratic political system. Despite the progressive efforts of Orange County’s Senator Archibald Murphey, resistance from the state's conservatives and easterners derailed proposed reforms. Despite state Republican support for Jefferson's acquisition of Louisiana Territory and for "Mr. Madison's War," North Carolina increasingly found itself isolated from the rest of the nation, earning the moniker the "Rip Van Winkle State."
The 1820s proved to be a transformative period as divisions emerged within the Republican ranks and a wave of democratization swept the state in the wake of Andrew Jackson's rise to prominence. The Missouri Compromise further fractured the Republican Party, and the 1824 presidential election cemented the state's political realignment. Republican leaders nominated William H. Crawford, alienating many Republicans. That decision led to the formation of a splinter party whose "People's Ticket" nominated Jackson for president and John C. Calhoun for vice president. Jackson won the popular vote in North Carolina, but the state's electoral votes went to Crawford. The 1824 election loosened the political grip of the eastern elite, and the continued political democratization propelled Jackson to victory in the 1828 election.
Bibliography
- Broussard, James H.
"The North Carolina Federalists, 1800–1816." North Carolina Historical Review, 55 (1978): 18–41. - Butler, Lindley S. and Alan D. Watson, eds.
The North Carolina Experience: An Interpretive and Documentary History. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1984. - Cavanagh, John C.
Decision at Fayetteville: The North Carolina Ratification Convention and the General Assembly of 1789. Raleigh, NC: Division of Archives and History, 1989. - Gilpatrick, Delbert H.
Jeffersonian Democracy in North Carolina, 1789–1816. New York: Octagon Books, 1967. - Jeffrey, Thomas E.
State Parties and National Politics: North Carolina, 1815–1861. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1989. - Lefler, Hugh Talmage and Albert Ray Newsome.
North Carolina: A History of a Southern State, 3rd ed. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1973. - Powell, William S.
North Carolina: Through Four Centuries. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1989. - Risjord, Norman K.
Chesapeake Politics, 1781–1800. New York: Columbia University Press, 1978. - Trenholme, Louise Irby.
The Ratification of the Federal Constitution in North Carolina. New York: Columbia University Press, 1932. - Wheeler, John Hill.
Historical Sketches of North Carolina: from 1584 to 1851, compiled from original records, official documents and traditional statements ; with biographical sketches of her distinguished statemen, jurists, lawyers, soldiers, divines, etc. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Grambo and Co., 1851. - North Carolina History Project
- 1776 North Carolina ConstitutionThe Avalon Project at Yale Law School