USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: The Federal Period 1783-1860, Volume II > Part 31
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or 1826 by L. G. Watson and a Mr. Potter. In 1826 it was purchased by T. Early Strange, who invented the full title, "Greensborough Patriot." From 1827 to 1835 the editor was William Swaim, a member of the North Carolina Manu- mission Society. Under various editors the paper survived until the recent past.
A majority of the newspapers were in politics whig. As an organ for the democrats Philo White, soon after his re- turn to the state in 1834, established the North Carolina Stan- dard. In 1836 he sold the paper to Thomas Loring, who in turn was followed in 1843 by William W. Holden, whose power as editor has never been surpassed in the state. Another democratic paper of importance was the Free Press, established by George Howard of Baltimore in 1824 at Hali- fax, and removed to Tarboro in 1826 where the name was changed to the Tarborough Press. In the west the Charlotte Democrat, edited in 1855 and after by William J. Yates, like- wise supported democratic policies. There was a host of other journals after 1820, but those mentioned have a larger place in the political traditions of the state. The increase of newspapers is shown by statistics; in 1811 only 10 were listed; in 1851 there were 44; in 1858, 74.
In the use of the press religious interests were also active. In January, 1826, Reverend Robert Morrison, a Presbyterian minister, began the publication at Fayetteville of the North Carolina Telegraph, a general religious weekly, which was merged with the Richmond Family Visitor at the end of the year. In 1828 another Presbyterian minister, Reverend Colin McIver, established at Fayetteville the Evangelical Museum, a monthly journal of theology, and also the Presbyterian Preacher. The progressive element among the Baptists felt the need of a paper, and in 1832 the Intelligencer was estab- lished at Edenton by Reverend Thomas Meredith; the next year the name was changed to the Biblical Recorder. In 1835 the paper was removed to Newbern and in 1838 to Raleigh. Those Baptists opposed to change in the denominational or- ganization found an ally in the Primitive Baptist, edited at Tarboro by Mark Bennett. In 1844 the Christian Sun was established at Hillsboro and became the spokesman for the
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Christian Church. In 1855 the North Carolina Christian Ad- vocate was founded as the organ for the Methodists, and in 1860 the Church Intelligencer was launched at Raleigh to cul- tivate the interests of the Episcopalians.
The years in which the press revived and expanded also marked the beginning of literature. The new epoch opened by the revolt against Great Britain aroused curiosity and pa- triotic interest concerning the past. Hence the historians led in the production of books. First in point of time was Hugh Williamson's "History of North Carolina," published in 1812. The author was a physician and a native of Penn- sylvania, who resided at Edenton from the beginning of the Revolution to 1793, served as a surgeon in the army, and was also a member of the legislature, the Continental Con- gress, the Federal Convention, and the first Congress of the United States. In culture, outlook on life, and in experience he was far above the average of his contemporaries. In 1787 he contributed to the American Museum a series of papers entitled "Letters of Sylvius," which dealt with the ills of the currency, trade conditions, and the need of manufactures. For all historical development he believed there was a basis in nature, and therefore wrote a work comparing the climate of America with that of Europe. However, his two volumes pertaining to North Carolina from 1584 to 1786 displayed lit- tle understanding of the forces which moulded the early his- tory of the state, but the style is clear and vigorous, the moral sense strong, the typographical work durable and artistic.
Of even less value than Williamson's work was Francis Xavier Martin's "History of North Carolina," published at New Orleans in 1829. The author was the French refugee and printer already mentioned, who lived at Newbern. He was admitted to the bar in 1789; law and the printing press opened to him an avenue to affluence and fame. In 1791 he published the first of a number of legal works, "The Office and Authority of the Justice of the Peace." The next year this was followed by his "Statutes of the Parliament of Eng- land Enforced in the Courts of North Carolina," an official collection authorized by the legislature, notable for its inac- curacies. To these must be added his "Private Acts of North
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Carolina," likewise an official publication, and "Acts of the General Assembly of North Carolina, 1791-1794," indepen- dently printed. In 1797 he published his "Decisions of the Superior Courts of North Carolina," and in 1804 he also is- sued "Martin's Revisal of the Laws of North Carolina," an official publication. Other legal publications consisted of a treatise on the powers and duties of the sheriff, "Martin's Ex- ecutor," and a translation of Pothier on "Obligations." From his press also came several novels-"Lord Rivers," "The Fe- male Foundling," "Delaval," "Stephanie de Bourbon," and a "Rural Philosopher." In 1809 he removed to Louisiana, where he became successively superior court judge of the Ter- ritory of Mississippi and also of the Territory of Orleans, At- torney-General of the State of Louisiana, and a member of the Louisiana Supreme Court. It was while in Louisiana that he published his "History of North Carolina." It has the charac- teristic of his legal works-inaccuracy and a predilection for compilation. Many errors are inexcusable, unused evidence being available. Other mistakes were derived from tradition, and the two volumes as a whole are no more than annals, de- void of insight. Judge Martin also published a "History of Louisiana" and a number of legal works which have a valu- able place in the bibliography of that state.
Nearly a generation passed before another history was published. Then in 1851 appeared John H. Wheeler's "His- torical Sketches of North Carolina," the first history of the state by a native. It is a digest of information by a demo- cratic politician. The first two parts of the book are a nar- rative of events and miscellaneous matters from 1584 to 1851; the second is a collection of sketches of the various counties, including short biographies of prominent men. Inaccuracy, blind prejudice in the matter of elimination and inclusion of men and facts, and a lack of unity in plan characterize the book, but it had an extensive sale and became the most widely known history of the state.
By far the best of the ante-bellum historians was Francis Lister Hawks. Trained for the law by Judge Gaston and at the celebrated school at Litchfield, Connecticut, and full of promise in the legal profession, he became a clergyman of the
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Episcopal Church. In 1829 he removed to New Haven, Con- necticut, and there began a long career in the priesthood, education, and literature, most of which was spent in the State of New York. He was an active member of the New York Historical Society, and achieved distinction as an antiquarian and historian of the Episcopal Church. But his opus magnum was a history of his native state, of which the first two vol- umes, ending with the proprietary period, were published in 1857 and 1858. His conception of history was broader than that of Williamson, Martin, and Wheeler, and also broader than that of contemporary historians generally, for it in- cluded economic, religious, and cultural, as well as political, development. Of the 591 pages in the second volume, 263 are given to these matters. For information he utilized the col- lections made by George Bancroft in England, as well as ma- terials preserved by the State of North Carolina. His style was that of a literary artist, his first volume containing a story of Raleigh and Roanoke Island which is unsurpassed. However his work is marred by his prejudice in matters reli- gious. Himself a devoted churchman, he failed to do justice to the religious motives and policies of the early settlers, but in his conception of history as a revelation of the social as well as the political life of man, and also in attractive presen- tation, his two volumes are still unsurpassed. The Civil War, and also his death in 1866, prevented the completion of the other two volumes which he planned.
Interest in the past was not confined to formal literary works. It also inspired the antiquarian and the collector. A notable service of Archibald Debow Murphey, who planned but never wrote an elaborate history, was to arouse interest in the collection and the preservation of historical sources. In 1827 the legislature requested the governor to apply to the British government for permission to procure copies of manuscripts in the office of the Board of Trade and Planta- tions. The application was made through the proper authori- ties and permission was granted; indeed, the British au- thorities forwarded an index of manuscripts. In 1843 the collection and copying of the governors' letter books and records of local committees in the period of the Revolution
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was authorized; in 1847 another publication of records per- taining to the Revolution was likewise authorized, but was never carried out. In 1849 the governor was also authorized to procure from London such documents pertaining to the colonial and revolutionary history of the state, without re-
FRANCIS LISTER HAWKS
striction as to expense. The execution of this notable work was entrusted to President Swain of the University; but he thought it wiser first to collect material in this country, and to that end he planned a thorough survey of American his- torical collections. In 1856 he secured the co-operation of Doctor Hawks, through whom George Bancroft offered free access to manuscripts transcribed by him in England. In 1858 Swain and Hawks memorialized the legislature for the
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publication of a series of records and annotated statutes. In reply the legislature authorized its publication by Hawks and Swain of a "Documentary History of North Carolina, or of the Statutes at Large," in two volumes; the execution of the work was prevented by the outbreak of civil war. A gen- eration later this scheme was revived and carried out under the title of "Colonial and State Records."
Historical interest found expression in other types of literature than formal histories. Joseph Sewell Jones, of Shocco, chose for his task an investigation of the Revolution- ary history of the state, with the purpose of showing its leadership in the revolt against Great Britain. Thomas Jef- ferson's letter to John Adams, doubting the authenticity of the Mecklenburg Resolves of May 20, 1775, furnished the cue for a violent attack on Jefferson. Hence the title, "Defense of the Revolutionary History of North Carolina from the Aspersions of Mr. Jefferson." The introduction contained an arraignment of the character and influence of Mr. Jeffer- son, very suggestive of the political revolt against Virginia influence which started in the 'twenties.
I yield no faith whatever to the contents of the four volumes of his (Jefferson's) writings. Private and political scandal, truth, re- ligion, infidelity, federalism, republicanism and Jacobinism, are all conglomerated there,-as if the Sage of Monticello had devoted the whole evening of his life to the collection and endorsement of prin- ciples of every kind, from the purest tenet of religion to the most disgusting absurdity of the basest and most abandoned profligacy. And yet, dispute one word of the four volumes of this political Koran, or doubt, for a moment, the immaculate purity of the character of its author, and you have not only all the rabble of the celestial empire, but all the great Images of the Prophet, who have gone or are going
into power, on the strength of his name, roaring out Aristocracy, Federalism, Nullification, or any other unpopular word, suited to sustain them in their places. It may be confidently asserted, that the whole range of history does not exhibit an instance of baser sub- serviency, not only of many, as individuals, but of the nation at large-than the over-powering influence of the mere name of Jefferson. Such is its amazing power, that no party of the present day aspires to popular favor through any other channel, and National Republican, as well as Jackson, Bucktail, and Anti-bucktail, all piously claim for their priesthood the purest legitimacy of descent. The people have placed him upon the throne of public opinion and the statue of Wash- ington is burnt, broken, and scattered into fragments. It is time to
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have done with this delusion. The lives of the eminent and patriotic, whose biographies have not been written, should be studied and cx- amined with an especial view to correct the errors, conspicuous from one end to the other of "the writings of Jefferson." If the pen of their calumniator is to perform this task, and his works go down to posterity as truth, the patriots of our revolution will be ranked by posterity, not as American statesmen but as traitors to their country. The names of Washingon, Hamilton, Richard Henry Lee, Marshall, Story, Henry Lee, Bayard, and a host of others, comprising the talents civil and military of the whole Union, are the companions of William Hooper in the almost universal calumny of his pen.
The "Defense" is interesting and virile, well written but partial. Yet it is a landmark in the awakening of patriotic interest in the state's history. A similar judgment must be meted to Jones' "Memorial of North Carolina" (1838), not- able also for its criticism of John Randolph.
Not polemical, but smacking of the raconteur, were the works of Rev. William Henry Foote and Rev. Eli W. Car- uthers. Mr. Foote was a Presbyterian clergyman of Rom- ney, Virginia. His "Sketches of North Carolina," published in 1844, interwove with formal history the story of the Scotch- Irish settlers and the Presbyterian Church in North Carolina. His work is invaluable, since much of his information was derived from unwritten sources, such as the recollections of early settlers. Of like value is Caruthers' "Old North State" (first series 1854, second series 1856). In these vol- umes were recounted stories and legends gathered at the fire- side, which give local color to historical movements during the latter period of the eighteenth century.
Much of the interest in state history centered around the controversy over the Mecklenburg Declaration of Inde- pendence. There was a tradition in the western counties that at Charlotte on May 20, 1775, a meeting of delegates chosen in Mecklenburg declared independence from Great Britain. It did not gain wide currency until 1819, when the Raleigh Register published an account of the reported meeting and its resolutions. This was really a reply to the claim made in Wirt's "Life of Patrick Henry" that Henry "gave the first impulse to the ball of the Revolution"-a statement that had aroused considerable discussion among North Carolin-
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ians. The matter was given publicity in the newspapers and in 1825 the people of Charlotte hallowed the reputed event with the first of a long series of annual celebrations. In 1829 discussion was again aroused by the publication of Jeffer- son's works, in which was found a letter from Jefferson to John Adams expressing the opinion that the resolutions were spurious. Now this was at the very time of the political revolt in North Carolina against Virginia leadership. It is not surprising therefore to find that the legislature appointed a committee "to examine, collate, and arrange" all the evidence concerning the declaration that could be procured. Its report was published in 1831 and naturally was defensive. Shortly after, Peter Force found in the Massachusetts Spy or American Oracle of Liberty an account of other resolutions at Charlotte, on May 31, 1775, which he published in the National Intelligencer of December 18, 1838. As the two documents were not identical, as the latter was not so radical as the former, and as the resolves of May 20 were not sup- ported by contemporary evidence, while those of May 31 were so substantiated, a long controversy was begun. The problem was the subject of numerous addresses and consider- able investigation; the upshot was a firm, popular conviction that the resolves of May 20 were as genuine as those of May 31, and also a feeling of doubt on the part of those who pa- tiently and rationally weighed all the evidence.
Contemporary with the writing of formal histories and sketches came an interest in religious origins. Foote's "Sketches," above mentioned, was largely a product of this impulse. To preserve the traditions and records of the Bap- tists, Lemuel Burkitt and Jesse Read published in 1806 a "History of the Kehukee Baptist Association;" a continua- tion, bringing the narrative down to 1834, was later issued by Joseph Biggs (1834). George W. Purefoy performed a similar service for the Sandy Creek Baptists in his "History of the Sandy Creek Association" (1859). Rev. John Paris' "History of the Methodist Protestant Church" (1849) is full of information regarding controversies in North Carolina which were directly related to the division in the Methodist
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Church. Robert B. Drane made the first contribution to the history of the Episcopal Church in the state in his "Histori- cal Notices of St. James' Parish, Wilmington" (1843), and Bishop Reichel in 1857 published a "History of the Moravians in North Carolina." Supplementing these were historical and memorial addresses, notably Banks' "Centennial Ad- dress Before the Presbytery of Fayetteville" (1858) and Buxton's "The Church in America, Particularly in North Carolina" (n. d.)
History, too, was the dominant interest in the writing of biography and fiction. In 1840 Edward R. Cotten published a "Life of Hon. Nathaniel Macon," which was little more than an eulogy. Of real value was Rev. Eli W. Caruthers' "Life of David Caldwell," his predecessor as pastor of the Presby- terian churches at Alamance and Buffaloe. The work is a contribution to political as well as religious history. The biography par excellence was Griffith J. McRee's "Life and Times of James Iredell" (2 vols., 1857, 1858), really a collec- tion of letters invaluable for an understanding of social and political affairs in the later eighteenth century, prized by all investigators of national as well as of state history. Profes- sor F. M. Hubbard of the University contributed to Sparks' Library of American Biography a study of William R. Davie (1848), which meets well the standard of that series. The relation between the state and the Cherokee Indians was the theme for a novel by Senator Robert Strange, entitled "Eone- guski (2 vols., 1839) ; because of severe criticisms of the treat- ment of the Indians by prominent white men of western North Carolina, the book was suppressed. Calvin H. Wiley found in the War of the Regulation the subject matter of his story, "Alamance."
Poetry as well as prose had a place in nascent literary ac- tivities. In 1854 Mary Bayard Clarke wrote:
"Come rouse you, ye poets of North Carolina. My State is my theme and I seek not a finer.
I sing in its praise and I bid ye all follow
Till we wake up the echoes of 'Old Sleepy Hollow!' Vol. II-25
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"Come show to his scorners 'Old Rip' is awaking, His sleep like a cloud of the morning is breaking; That the years of his slumber, at last have gone by, And the rainbow of promise illuminates the sky."
These lines are from the introduction to the writer's anthology of North Carolina poetry, entitled "Wood Notes" (2 vols.). It contained 182 poems by sixty authors. Among the selections were Mrs. Clarke's "Triumph of Spring," un-
RESIDENCE OF JOHN LOUIS TAYLOR, WHERE GASTON WROTE "'CAROLINA"
der the pseudonym "Tenella," Gaston's "Carolina," and James B. Shepard's less known poem of the same title, J. M. Morehead's "Hills of Dan," Ellenwood's "Marriage of the Sun and Moon," and "Swannanoa," by an unknown author. Mrs. Clarke likewise published two volumes of her own com- position, "Mosses From a Rolling Stone" (1866) and "Cly- tie and Zenobia" (1871), the latter being a story of ancient Palmyra. In 1846 William Henry Rhodes, a native of Bertie County, a young man then in his twenty-fourth year, a grad- uate of the Harvard Law School and a member of the Texas bar, published "The Indian Gallows and Other Poems," in which the legends of the Tuscaroras were treated in epic
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form. Other volumes of poetry of minor importance were William Hill Brown's "Ira and Isabella" (1807), R. T. Dan- iel's "Selection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs" (1812), of which eighty were original, "Attempts at Rhyming" (1839), by Old Field Teacher, George V. Strong's "Francis Her- bert," a romance of the Revolution (1847), and Lemuel Saw- yer's "Wreck of Honor and Tragedy." Of antiquarian inter- est was a volume, "Hope of Liberty" (1829), by George M. Horton, a slave of Chatham County. Connecting the antebel- lum period with the more recent past was Theo H. Hill, whose "Hesper and Other Poems" appeared in 1861.
The most prevalent form of literature was not the formal volume but the essay or literary address. Its principal spon- sor was the college, notably the University, Wake Forest and Davidson, which published in pamphlet form commencement orations by public men. Among the more notable of these were three issued by the University; Gaston's "Address to the Literary Societies" (1832), widely noticed on account of its condemnation of slavery, George Davis' "Early Men and Times of the Cape Fear" (1855) and William Hooper's "Tis Fifty Years Since" (1859) ; also Romulus M. Saunders" "Address before the Literary Societies of Wake Forest in defense of the Mecklenburg Resolves of May 20, 1775," and William Hooper's "Sacredness of Human Life," likewise issued by Wake Forest. Other pamphlets of interest pub- lished by non-academic authority were Caldwell's "Num- bers of Carlton" (1828) and "Letters on Popular Educa- tion" (1832), Henry W. Miller's "The Eighteenth Century," and the Memoir of Elisha Mitchell (1858). Religious pam- phlets treating of theological or doctrinal subjects were also numerous.
Between 1840 and 1860 efforts were also made to establish literary periodicals. In 1834 the faculty of the University began the publication of a weekly paper, the Harbinger. Its purpose was "to diffuse literary information with correct taste, to impress the importance of popular and academic education, and explain the best methods discreetly, but with independent freedom of stricture; to discuss subjects in which it is important to enlighten the public mind; to fur-
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nish events and circumstances occurring among ourselves that deserve notice; to exhibit science in popular form that will solicit curiosity and be generally intelligible; to promote the cause of internal improvements; and to give a competent portion of the political and religious intelligence of the time, with studious exclusion of all party character." The paper was short-lived, as was also the Columbian Repository, pub- lished at Chapel Hill by Hugh McQueen in 1836.
In 1844 the University Magazine, published by the Liter- ary Societies of the institution, made its appearance; it sus- pended after nine issues but was revived in 1852. and contin- ued without interruption until May, 1861. Its files are espe- cially valuable for their contribution to the history of the state, notably for Johnson's "Biographical Sketch of John- ston Blakeley," Hooper and McCree's "Memoir of John Ashe" (vol. III), General Joseph Graham's "Narrative of Revolutionary History" (vol. V), Hubbard's "Life and Times of Caswell" (vol. VII), the "Autobiography of Jo- seph Caldwell (vol. IX), Swain's "War of the Regulation" (vols. IX and X), and his "Life and Letters of Cornelius Har- nett" (vol. X). Less successful magazine adventures were made by Braxton Craven and Andrew J. Stedman. The for- mer established in 1850 the Evergreen, a literary journal, in which the editor published his "Naomi Wise," a story based on legends of Randolph County. The periodical was short lived, only a few copies being known to exist. Stedman's Salem Magazine made its appearance in January, 1858. De- signed to be a periodical of "pure literature," an "Emporium of Southern Literature," only one issue is known to exist.
A sense of unity and also of duty based on citizenship in the state was manifest in the organizations devoted to pro- fessional and moral causes. On December 17, 1799, the "North Carolina Medical Society" was organized at Raleigh, and six days later was incorporated by the legislature. Lit- tle is known of its activities. The first president was Dr. Richard Fenner of Raleigh. Prizes were offered for essays on selected subjects and for the production of medicines from plants. Applicants for membership were subjected to an ex- amination by a Board of Censors. A botanical garden for
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