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352. North Carolina 1807 State Senate, Mecklenburg County
353. North Carolina 1807 State Senate, Pasquotank County
354. North Carolina 1807 State Senate, Richmond County
355. North Carolina 1807 State Senate, Rockingham County
356. North Carolina 1807 State Senate, Rowan County
357. North Carolina 1807 State Senate, Wake County
358. North Carolina 1807 State Senate, Warren County
359. North Carolina 1808 Attorney General
360. North Carolina 1808 Attorney General, Ballot 2
361. North Carolina 1808 Electoral College, Burke District
362. North Carolina 1808 Electoral College, Edenton District
363. North Carolina 1808 Electoral College, Edgecombe District
364. North Carolina 1808 Electoral College, Fayetteville District
365. North Carolina 1808 Electoral College, Halifax District
366. North Carolina 1808 Electoral College, Mecklenburg District
367. North Carolina 1808 Electoral College, Newbern District
368. North Carolina 1808 Electoral College, Northampton District
369. North Carolina 1808 Electoral College, Orange District
370. North Carolina 1808 Electoral College, Raleigh District
371. North Carolina 1808 Electoral College, Rockingham District
372. North Carolina 1808 Electoral College, Salisbury District
373. North Carolina 1808 Electoral College, Wilkes District
374. North Carolina 1808 Electoral College, Wilmington District
375. North Carolina 1808 Governor
376. North Carolina 1808 House of Commons, Cabarrus County
377. North Carolina 1808 House of Commons, Chatham County
378. North Carolina 1808 House of Commons, Duplin County
379. North Carolina 1808 House of Commons, Edenton Borough
380. North Carolina 1808 House of Commons, Edenton Borough, Special
381. North Carolina 1808 House of Commons, Edgecombe County
382. North Carolina 1808 House of Commons, Franklin County
383. North Carolina 1808 House of Commons, Granville County
384. North Carolina 1808 House of Commons, Halifax County
385. North Carolina 1808 House of Commons, Mecklenburg County
386. North Carolina 1808 House of Commons, Newbern Borough
387. North Carolina 1808 House of Commons, Orange County
388. North Carolina 1808 House of Commons, Richmond County
389. North Carolina 1808 House of Commons, Rowan County
390. North Carolina 1808 House of Commons, Salisbury Borough
391. North Carolina 1808 House of Commons, Sampson County
392. North Carolina 1808 House of Commons, Wake County
393. North Carolina 1808 House of Commons, Warren County
394. North Carolina 1808 Public Printer
395. North Carolina 1808 State Senate, Cabarrus County
396. North Carolina 1808 State Senate, Chatham County
397. North Carolina 1808 State Senate, Duplin County
398. North Carolina 1808 State Senate, Edgecombe County
399. North Carolina 1808 State Senate, Franklin County
400. North Carolina 1808 State Senate, Granville 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