USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: The Colonial and Revolutionary Periods 1584 1783, Volume I > Part 39
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rioters, counterfeiters, traitors and other malefactors. Little popularity was to be expected from efforts, however success- ful, to adjust disputes among army officers over their relative ranks ; to pass impartially upon applications for military and civil commissions; to hear and determine justly appeals for pardon and prayers for mercy; to enforce rigid discipline among a mutinous soldiery; to execute martial law against former friends and neighbors whose only crime was refusal to join in rebellion and revolution; to enforce without an ade- quate police obedience to a confessedly revolutionary govern- ment among those who denied its moral or legal right to rule. Whatever glory was to be won by successful military achieve- ments all knew well enough would go to the soldiers in the field, not to the councilors in the cabinet who, by grinding out their spirits and lives over the details of organizing and equipping armies, made such success possible. Nevertheless day and night, week in and week out, President Harnett and his associates with unfailing tact, patience and energy, and with remarkable success, gave conscientious and efficient attention to a thousand and one details as unin- spiring as they were necessary.
The chief problems of the Council related to defense. The Indians on the frontier, the Tories of the interior, and Clinton on the coast threatened the province with attack from three directions. A few days before the Council met, Clinton with- ' drew from the Cape Fear River, but nobody knew where he had gone nor what his plans were, and all apprehended that his movement was but a change of base for an attack on North Carolina. Clinton did contemplate such a movement, but was frustrated by the activity of the committees and the Council. The Council's problem was to organize and equip the troops ordered to be raised by the Congress. The or-
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ganization was more tedious than difficult, but it required much time and labor. A harder task was to equip thenl. Even the utmost exertions of the Council could not keep the several arsenals sufficiently supplied to meet the constant calls on them for arms and ammunition. The Council con- tinued to press into public service arms found in private hands; they appointed commissioners to purchase warlike supplies ; they imported them from other states; they manu- factured them; they purchased them in the North through the delegates in the Continental Congress; and they chartered vessels which they loaded with cargoes of staves and shingles . to be exchanged for military supplies. The Polly, the Heart of Oak, the King Fisher, the Lilly, the Little Thomas, the Johnston, and other fast sailing vessels slipped through the inlets of Eastern Carolina, ran down to the West Indies, sold their cargoes of lumber, and eluding the British cruisers which patrolled those waters returned safely to Ocracoke, Edenton, and New Bern with cargoes of small arms, cannon, gunpowder, salt, clothes and shoes. Their enterprising crews, the prototypes of the more famous blockade-runners of later days, continued this work throughout the Revolution, and made no inconsiderable contributions to the cause of Ameri- can independence. The Council issued letters of marque and reprisal to the Pennsylvania Farmer, the King Tammany, the General Washington, the Heart of Oak, and the Johnston; and they organized courts of admiralty and appointed judges. They set up iron works for casting cannon and shot, and salt works for supplying that necessary article. In one way or another they managed to put into the field equipped for service 1,400 troops to aid in the defense of Charleston, 300 militia to aid Virginia against the Indians, and an army of 2,400 riflemen for a campaign against the Creeks and the Cherokee beyond the Alleghanies.
The efforts to secure the neutrality of the Indians had failed. In the spring of 1776, while Clinton was on the coast, Cameron determined to stir up the Cherokee on the frontier. Under his leadership, the warriors of the Upper and Middle towns, with some Creeks and Tories of the vicinity, took up arms and laid waste the border far and wide. Aroused by their common danger, Virginia, North Carolina, South Caro- lina, and Georgia determined to strike a blow at the Cherokee that would compel them to remain passive during the struggle with England. Accordingly, during the summer of 1776 four expeditions were simultaneously launched against them from
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four different quarters. The North Carolina expedition of 2,400 men was under command of General Griffith Rutherford. Crossing the Blue Ridge at Swannanoa Gap in August he struck the first Indian town, Stikayi, on the Tuckasegee, and acting with vigor destroyed in rapid succession every town on the Tuckasegee, Oconaluftee, the upper part of the Little Ten- nessee, and on the Hiwassee to below the junction of Valley River. The Indians attempted resistance but were every- where defeated. Their most determined opposition was offered while Rutherford was passing through Waya Gap of the Nantahala Mountains. The invaders lost more than forty men, killed and wounded, before they put the red men to flight. Unable to offer further resistance the Cherokee fled to the fastnesses of the Great Smoky Mountains, leaving their crops and towns at the mercy of the enemy. All told Ruther- ford destroyed thirty-six towns and laid waste a vast stretch of the surrounding country. In the meantime Coloned Andrew Williamson with an army of 1,800 men from South Carolina was pushing up from the south through the Lower Towns, and on September 26, reached Hiwassee River, near the present town of Murphy, where he effected a junction with Ruther- ford; while Colonel William Christian, of Virginia, with a force of about 1,700 Virginians and 300 North Carolinians, was advancing from the north.
The effect upon the Cherokee of this irruption of more than 6,000 armed men into their territory was paralyzing. More than fifty of their towns were destroyed, their fields laid waste, their cattle and horses driven off, hundreds of their warriors killed, captured and sold into slavery, and their women and children driven to seek refuge in the recesses of the moun- tains. From the Virginia line to the Chattahoochee the destruction was complete, and the red men were compelled to sue for peace. Accordingly, at De Witts Corners in South Carolina, May 20, 1777, was concluded the first treaty ever made by the Cherokee with the new states. By its terms the Lower Cherokee surrendered all of their remaining territory in South Carolina except a small strip along the western bor- der. Two months later, July 20, at the Long Island in the Holston, Christian concluded a treaty with the Middle and Upper Cherokee by which they ceded everything east of the Blue Ridge, together with all the disputed territory on the Watauga, Nolichucky, upper Holston and New rivers.
While Rutherford was engaged with the red men on the frontier, the Council of Safety were wrestling with a strong
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and energetic domestic enemy in the very heart of the State. The Tories of North Carolina, as the Council declared, were "a numerous body of people * who, although lately sub- dued, are only waiting a more favorable opportunity to wreak their vengeance upon us." The Tories hoped and the Whigs feared that this opportunity would come through a British suc- cess either at Wilmington or at Charleston. Moore's Creek Bridge had warned the former of the folly of an uprising with- out the co-operation of the British army, and the result at Charleston dashed their hopes of an immediate insurrection. Nevertheless they regarded this as only a temporary setback which necessitated a postponement but not a surrender of their plans. Though forced to work more quietly, they seized every opportunity to undermine and counteract the work of the Council. The Council, therefore, were compelled to devote a large part of their time to the detection and punishment of these domestic enemies. Their active leaders were arrested and brought before the Council on such general charges as denouncing the Council and the committees for exercising arbitrary and tyrannical powers ; as uttering "words inimical to the cause of liberty"; as endeavoring "to inflame the minds of the people against the present American measures"; as using their influence to prevent the people from "associating in the common cause." More specific charges were corres- pondence with the enemy; refusal to receive the continental currency; and efforts to depreciate both the continental and provincial bills of credit. The Council dealt with each case upon its individual merits. In a general way, however, they permitted those who were willing to subscribe the test and submit to the revolutionary government to remain at home unmolested. They "naturalized" prisoners captured in battle who expressed a willingness to take the oath of allegiance, and admitted them to the privileges of free citizens. Persons suspected of disaffection, but who had committed no overt act, were required to give bond for their good behavior. Those whose presence among their neighbors was regarded as dan- gerous were taken from their homes and paroled within pre- scribed limits ; while the most active leaders were imprisoned, some in North Carolina, some in Virginia and some in Phila- delphia. The last two methods of punishment in some cases worked real hardships and moving appeals were made to President Harnett for relaxations of the restrictions.
While a majority of the cases that came before the Council involved the conduct of individuals only, a few instances were
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reported in which something like general disaffection ap- peared in a community. In such cases the Council acted with determination and vigor. Those whom they believed to have been led into disaffection through ignorance they undertook to instruct in "their duty to Almighty God," and to "the United States of America." But to those "who had been nursed up in the very bosom of the country," and yet "by their pre- tended neutrality declare themselves enemies to the Ameri- can Union," the Council offered but one course,-the pledge either of their property or their persons for their good behavior. On July 4, 1776, they directed the county committees to require under oath from all suspected persons inventories of their estates, and ordered the com- manding officers of the militia to arrest all who refused and bring them before the Council for trial. This order going forth simultaneously with the news of Clinton's defeat at Charleston, carried dismay into the ranks of the Loyalists. "This glorious news [Clinton's defeat], with the Resolve of Council against the Tories," wrote James Davis, the public printer, "has caused a very great Commotion among them. They are flocking in to sign the Test and Association." By these vigorous measures the Council dealt Toryism in North Carolina a serious blow, and saved the province during the summer of 1776 from the horrors of civil war. It must of course be confessed that these measures, though taken in the name of liberty, smacked themselves of tyranny; their justifi- cation lies in the fact that they were in behalf of peace and the rights of mankind.
On July 22d, while the Council were in session at Halifax, came the welcome news that the Continental Congress had adopted a Declaration of Independence. The Council received the news with great joy. No longer rebellious subjects in arms against their sovereign, they were now the leaders of a free people in their struggle for constitutional self-govern- ment. The Council, therefore, immediately resolved that by the Declaration of Independence the people "were absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown," and therefore "the Test as directed to be subscribed by the Congress at Halifax [was] improper and Nugatory." The first clause of this test -"We the Subscribers professing our Allegiance to the King. and Acknowledging the constitutional executive power of Government"-was accordingly stricken out, and the amended test, which contained no allusion to the king, was signed. The Council also directed that members of courts martial should
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be required to take an oath to try well and truly all matters before them "between the Independant State of North Caro- lina and the prisoner to be tried."
At Halifax the people of North Carolina gave the first official utterance in favor of a national declaration of inde- pendence. Cornelius Harnett was their mouthpiece. At Hali- fax the Declaration of Independence was first officially pro- claimed to the people of North Carolina. Again, Cornelius Harnett was their mouthpiece. One incident was the logical outcome of the other, and the two together enriched our an- nals with a dramatic story. The first entry in the Council's journal for July 22, is a resolution requiring the committees throughout the State upon receiving the Declaration of Inde- pendence to "cause the same to be proclaimed in the most public Manner, in Order that the good people of this Colony may be fully informed thereof." The Council set the example, and set apart Thursday, August 1, "for proclaiming the said Declaration at the Court House in the Town of Halifax; the freeholders and Inhabitants of the County of Halifax are requested to give their Attendance at the time and place afore- said." The people were profoundly interested. On the first day of August an "immense concourse of people" gathered in the county town to hear President Harnett make official proclamation of their independence. The ceremony was simple enough. At noon the militia proudly paraded in such uniforms as they could boast, and with beating drums and flying flags escorted the Council to the court-house. The crowd cheered heartily as President Harnett ascended the platform. When the cheers had died away he arose and midst a profound silence read to the people the "Unanimous De- claration of the Thirteen United States of America." As he closed with the ringing words pledging to the support of that Declaration their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, the people with shouts of joy gave popular ratification to the solemn pledge their representatives had made for them. In the exuberance of their enthusiasm the soldiers seized President Harnett and, forgetful of his staid dignity, bore him on their shoulders through the crowded streets, applaud- ing him as their champion and swearing allegiance to Ameri- can Independence.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE INDEPENDENT STATE
Since the State was now independent it was desirable that a permanent form of government should displace the provi- sional government as soon as possible. Accordingly on the 9th of August, 1776, the Council of Safety, in session at Hali- fax, resolved "that it be recommended to the good people of this now Independant State of North Carolina to pay the greatest attention to the Election to be held on the fifteenth day of October next, of delegates to represent them in Con- gress, and to have particularly in view this important Consid- eration, that it will be the Business of the Delegates then Chosen not only to make Laws for the good Government of, but also to form a Constitution for this State, that this last, as it is the Corner Stone of all Law, so it ought to be fixed and Permanent, and that according as it is well or ill Ordered, it must tend in the first degree to promote the happiness or Misery of the State."
This resolution was the signal for the opening of a cam- paign famous in our history for its violence. Feeling ran high. Riots were numerous. Everywhere democracy exult- ing in a freedom too newly acquired for it to have learned the virtue of self-restraint expressed itself in irregularities, tumults, and carousings. In Guilford County many voters were intimidated by threats of personal abuse; at one voting place a candidate, "with a whip clubbed in his hand," took possession of the polls and drove his opponents away. In Orange County the election was held in such "a tumultuous and disorderly manner," that the Convention afterwards de- clared it null and void. Drunkenness and unbridled abuse characterized the campaign in Chowan. Throughout the State the campaign opened wider than ever the cleaveage in the Whig party. The Radicals were determined to wrench con- trol of public affairs from the Conservatives. Abner Nash in New Bern and Thomas Jones in Chowan, both Conservatives,
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won seats only by narrow margins from constituencies in which they had rarely had serious opposition. In New Hano- ver so strong was the opposition to William Hooper that, to assure his having a seat in the Convention, Cornelius Harnett relinquished his hold on the borough of Wilmington in Hoop- er's favor, himself standing for election in Brunswick County. Samuel Spencer was defeated in Anson, and John Campbell, for many years a representative in the Assembly as well as in the four Provincial Congresses, was left out of tlie Bertie delegation. The climax of the campaign was the fight in Chowan County against Samuel Johnston. Johnston was rec- ognized as chief of the Conservatives, and the Radicals deter- mined that he should not have a seat in the Convention. "No means," says McRee, "were spared to poison the minds of the people; to inflame their prejudices ; excite alarm; and sow in them, by indirect charges and whispers, the seeds of dis- trust. * * It were bootless now to inquire what base arts prevailed, or what calumnies were propagated. Mr. Johnston was defeated. The triumph was celebrated with riot and debauchery; and the orgies were concluded by burning Mr. Johnston in effigy."1 While the chief of the Conserv- atives was thus defeated, Willie Jones, his great radical rival, was elected. The Radicals as a rule were successful in those counties in which the influence of the former Regulators was most potent.
When the Convention assembled at Halifax, November 12th, the violence of the campaign had been followed by a reaction. Richard Caswell, a moderate if not a conservative, was unanimously elected president. The committee appointed to frame a "Bill of Rights and Form of a Constitution for the Government of this State," embraced among its members Willie Jones, Thomas Person, and Griffith Rutherford, rad- ical leaders; Allen Jones, Thomas Jones, Samuel Ashe, and Archibald Maclaine, conservative leaders; Richard Caswell and Cornelius Harnett, who may be classed as moderates. Since the adjournment of the preceding Congress the Amer- icans had progressed considerably in the science of constitu- tion-making, and the North Carolina Convention in Decem- ber had before it several precedents which had been lacking in April. Among them were the constitutions of Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, and South Carolina. John Adams, too, apparently upon the invitation of Caswell, had submitted
1 Life and Correspondence of James Iredell, Vol. I, p. 334.
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some interesting "Thoughts on Government." Better still were the views of the people of North Carolina, some of whom had reduced their ideas to writing in "instructions" to their delegates. Thus the Scotch-Irish of Mecklenburg and Orange counties, putting into practice the principle of the responsi- bility of representatives to their constituents, which the Reg- ulators had tried in vain to establish, had adopted elaborate instructions in which they stated the fundamental principles on which the new government should be founded and outlined some of its details. Many of these details found their way into the new Constitution, but the Convention did not estab- lish, as Mecklenburg desired, "a simple democracy," nor did it accede to Mecklenburg's demand that the Constitution be submitted "to the people at large for their approbation an 1 consent if they should choose to give it, to the end that it may. derive its force from the principal supreme power."
With these precedents before them, the men who could not agree on a form of government in April found no such dif- ficulty in December. The committee on the Constitution was appointed on November 13th; on December 6th it reported a Constitution, and on December 12th a Bill of Rights, to the Convention. Both documents received from the Convention the serious consideration their importance demanded. After being debated paragraph by paragraph, the Bill of Rights was adopted December 17th, and the Constitution the following day. These results were not attained without much sharp de- bate, acrimonious interchange of views, and the acceptance by both factions of numerous compromises. "God knows when there will be an end of this trifling here," wrote Samuel John- ston who, as public treasurer, was at Halifax in attendance on the Convention. "A draft of the constitution was presented to the House yesterday and lies over for consideration. * As well as I can judge from a cursory view of it, it may do as well as that adopted by any other Colony. Nothing of the kind can be good." Two days later he was "in great pain for the honor of the Province," and much alarmed at the tendency to turn affairs over to "a set of men without reading, experience or principle to govern them." But Johnston's pessimistic views were scarcely justified. Discussion and a spirit of compromise eliminated most of the "absurdities" which so excited his disgust, and the instrument which finally emerged was in many ways admirably adapted to the needs of the people for whom it was designed. After passing it upon its final reading the Convention directed that a copy be
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sent to the state printer "with directions that he do immedi- ately print and distribute a number of copies to each county in the State."
The new Constitution was short and simple. It contained merely the framework of government and the great funda- mental principles upon which it was founded. The Conven- tion left the details of administration to be worked out by the legislature. Since 1776 there has been a radical change in the popular conception of what is proper to be included in a constitution. What that change has produced in constitution- making may be seen by contrasting the Constitution of 1776 with its seventy-one sections and general statements of po- litical principles with the Constitution of 1919 with its 198 sections and innumerable details of legislation. Between the new state government and the old colonial government there was no violent break; the members of the Convention were practical statesmen intent only on establishing a working gov- ernment, not philosophers testing out political theories, and they thought it wise to follow as far as possible the forms with which the people had long been familiar. Following the form of the colonial government, therefore, they provided for a legislative department to consist of two houses, a senate and a house of commons ; a judiciary department to embrace a su- preme court of law and equity, an admiralty court, and county courts; and an executive department, to be composed of a governor, a council, and such administrative officers as might be needed.
One radical change was introduced, not so much in the form as in the working of the government, viz., the shifting of the center of political power from the executive to the legis- lative branch. Under the royal government neither the people nor the Assembly exercised any constitutional control over the governor. They had no voice in his selection, no control over his conduct, and no means of removing him from office. His authority was neither fixed nor definite. He acted under instructions from the Crown, whose representative he was, and those instructions he could not make public unless espe- cially authorized by the Crown to do so. As the personal representative of the sovereign he was apt to entertain ex- travagant ideas of his prerogatives and to seek to extend his power to the utmost extreme. The Assembly struggled hard to hedge him about with restrictions, and the result was a perpetual conflict between the executive and the legislative branches of the government with every advantage in favor of
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the former. Through his right of veto the governor had power to negative acts of the Assembly, while the right of prorogation and dissolution placed the very life of the As- sembly in his hands. In consequence of this system the people felt hampered in the only branch of the government in which they had a direct share, and chafed impatiently under the re- striction. Accordingly when the Convention of 1776 came to define the powers of the chief executive in the new state gov- ernment, its members were in a decidedly reactionary frame of mind. "What powers, sir," inquired one of Hooper's con- stituents, "were conferred upon the governor?" "Power," replied Hooper, "to sign a receipt for his salary." In truth the legislative branch now had the upper hand; the pendulum had swung to the other extreme. The governor was to be the creature of the Assembly, elected by it and removable by it. Not only was he shorn of his most important powers; with every power was coupled a restriction. He could take no im- portant step without the advice and consent of the Council of State, and in the selection and removal of his councilors he had no voice. But the Council exercised a restraining author- ity only; to the governor belonged the right of initiative and this fact, added to the moral influence of the office, gave the incumbent opportunity for service and usefulness.
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