USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina, V I pt 2 > Part 3
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The freeholders of the east dominated the Assembly, and they were largely in sympathy with the Church of England.
1771
S.R.,XXIII, 679-823
New Bern and Edenton academies
384
SOCIAL LIFE IT THE REVOLUTION
1721 -- The parish taxes
Weeks, Church and State in North Carolina, 51
Legislation therefore conformed to the wishes of the Crown. Yet it was by no means onerous. But while the burdens im- posed were not heavy, nevertheless the principle of taxation for church purposes was offensive to many of the dissenting inhabitants. How slight the tax was may be gathered from the report of Quaker sufferings made annually "to the Meeting for Sufferings" in London : "in 1756, chiefly for the maintenance 'of an hireling priest.'" £10 14s. 5d. ; two years later, £14 175. 6d. ; 1759. 685 : 1760, £23 ; 1761. no sufferings ; nor in 1762, nor 1765. In 1768 fines were reported amount- ing to 5 is .. "being for priests' wages and repairing their houses. called churches." In 1772, 30s., church rates ; none in 1773 nor 1774.
The amount of tithes collected here, says Dr. Weeks, is ridiculously small ; but in this small sum was wrapped the whole principle of liberty of conscience.
At the west the Presbyterians concerned themselves but little with the vestry laws. They either did not elect vestry- men, or chose those who carried into operation only the pro- visions relating to the poor of the parish, not providing any stipend for "an orthodox minister." Yet certainly some of the incidents of the state church bore hard on the follow- ers of Knox, as on the Baptists.
Since the assemblymen, North Carolinians, enacted the laws, there was no infringement of any liberty of worship; there was no persecution. "There was no opportunity for it under the existing laws, and the dissenters were aggres- sive and powerful. The manuscript records of the Friends show perfectly conclusively that while they suffered distraint for tithes and military levies, they were not imprisoned. They suffered no bodily violence." "There was more re- ligious liberty at the beginning than at the close of the colonial life of North Carolina, but there is no well-authen- ticated case of hodily persecution in our annals, unless we count the imprisonment of the Quakers who refused to bear arms in 1680 as such, and this seems to have been more political than religious in its character."
Weeks, Church and State in North Carolina, 48
Yet the effort to maintain the state church system in a province where so many were indisposed to support it was a source of irritation, without any compensating advantages,
1695456
INFLUENCE OF THE ESTABLISHED CIIURCHI 38;
while fundamentally erroneous in principle. The estab- lished church as a state institution was out of place in America, where the people, bursting the bonds of the past, had emerged into a new life, with greater freedom of thought and action nurtured by their close contact with na- The Vestry ture : and one of the chief objects in view, strengthening the Act Crown, was defeated by its rendering the Crown antagonistic to the dissenters in that relation of life which was dearest to the people, their church affiliations. In 1762 provision was made "for an orthodox clergy," by which the salary of clergymen was fixed at E133. and. as formerly, a ice, for marrying was allowed, although performed by another. The vestry still had the right to select the clergyman, who, how- ever. was required to have a certificate from the bishop of London that he had been ordained in the Church of Eng- land. In case of bad conduct he could be removed by the governor and council. This last provision was objectionable to the authorities in England, and for that reason the act was not allowed. Three years later a similar act was passed. the freeholders in every parish being required to eleet twelve vestrymen, and if they elected a dissenter who refused to qualify he was fined. The vestry could levy a tax of ten shillings on the poll for church purposes. for encouraging schools, maintaining the poor, etc. To meet the objection raised to the former act it was now provided that while clergymen might be suspended by the governor for mis- S R., conduct, the suspension should be only until the bishop of London passed on the cause .* The churches of that com- munion in all the colonies were under the supervision of the bishop of London.
Governor Tryon. with great connections, was very anxious apparently to commend himself to the authorities at home, and yet he declared that he was a zealous advocate of the principles of toleration. It seems that the Presbyterian min- isters in the settlements at the west had performed the mar- riage ceremony without either license or publication of banns. contrary to the law in England, and in the province since 1711. When the act of 1762 was on its passage, the council proposed an amendment, "that no dissenting minister of any
1771
XXIII, 956
*This act was re-enacted in 1768, and again in 1774 for ten years.
C. R., VI, 88x
386
SOCIAL LIFE . IT THE REVOLUTION
1771
The Presbyterian ministers
S. R., XXIII, 672
denomination whatever shall presume on any pretence to marry any persons under the penalty of forfeiting £50 proclamation money for every such offence." The house re- jected that proposed amendment. and the act was passed without such a provision. This action was doubtless consid- ered as impliedly confirming the right of the Presbyterian ministers to perform the marriage service, the Assembly having pointedly declined to concur in a provision declaring it unlawful. Still any marriage without license or banns was irregular under the existing law. One of the first acts passed in Governor Tryon's time. reciting this irregularity, made valid all such marriages and made it lawful for Presbyterian ministers, regularly called to any congregation, to celebrate the rite of marriage in their usual and accustomed manner, as any lawful magistrate might do, there having been issued a license for the same. The fee for such service was, how- ever, reserved to the minister of the Church of England in that parish, if one, unless he refused to do the service. This act did not allow Presbyterian ministers to marry by the pub- lication of hanns, and therefore it was not agreeable to the Presbyterian communities, and they made bitter complaints. To remedy this, at the session of December, 1770, an act was passed allowing these ministers to perform the service with publication. Governor Tryon was eager to please the Pres- byterians, but Lord Dartmouth caused the act to be disal- lowed, saying that he could not approve of the dissenters in North Carolina having any greater privileges than allowed to them in England, and that he was not at liberty to admit a different mode of marriage in the colonies than required by the act of Parliament. Such was one of the effects of colonial dependence on the mother country-a Presbyterian minister could perform the marriage ceremony only as al- lowed by act of Parliament.
S. R., XXIII, 826 C. R., VIII, 527; 1X, 682
The Episcopal clergy
Under Tryon's active management the clergy of the Church of England in the province increased from five to eighteen. These were distributed chiefly throughout the eastern and northern counties. Some were supported solely by the stipend received from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the voluntary offerings of the people; others, being established in parishes, received the allowance
387
GROWTH OF DISSENTERS
made for them by law. There was, however, but little fric- tion between them and the Presbyterians, who were settled chiefly at the west and dominated that entire section In 1766. Rev. Andrew Morton, being sent from England as a missionary to minister in Mecklenburg County, ascertained when he reached Brunswick that that county was settled by Presbyterians, and did not go there. In Rowan there were some of the established church who asked for a min- ister, and about 1770 Rev. Theodorus Drage was assigned to that parish and undertook to have a vestry elected ; but the Presbyterian element was too strong for him to contend with, and after a year or two he gave up his charge.
From an early date there had been adherents of the Bap- tist faith in the province. When in 171.I religious affairs be- came governed by the laws prevailing in England. the Tol- eration Act came into force. By this all penalties were re- mitted for non-conformityin the case of Protestant dissenters who did not deny the doctrine of the Trinity upon their tak- ing the oaths of allegiance and the test oath. declaring that "I do believe that there is not any transubstantiation in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper or in the elements of bread and wine at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever." It required, however, that their places of wor- ship should be registered in the county courts, and that the doors of their place of meeting should be open during the time of worship :* and their ministers were to subscribe the thirty-nine articles of religion, except those relating to ecclesiastical government and infant baptism. At the time of the adoption of this act of toleration, on the accession of William and Mary to the throne and the expulsion of the Stuart kings, it was understood that it relieved from penalties all except alone the Roman Catholics and Unitarians. Every other denomination was content with it. In North Carolina. under that act, the Baptists as well as the Presbyterians were required to register their churches. although probably the requirement was not always observed. In 1770 the Pres- byterians of Rowan registered two of their churches.
The first churches organized by the Baptists were Shiloh and Meherrin ; the next, in 1742, Kehukee ; Sandy Run, 1750;
*These requirements were aimed at the Catholics.
1771 --
The test nath
The Toleration Act
.
C. R., VIII, 227, 507
The Baptists
388
SOCIAL LIFE AT THE REVOLUTION
1771 -
1739
- Fishing Creek, 1755 ; also Reedy Creek. Sandy Creek in Ran- dolph and Grassy Creek in Granville. After that others fol- lowed fast. so that by 1771 there were twenty-two distinct congregations, besides the branches springing from those parent churches which they supplied. At the September term of the county court of Edgecombe, "Jonathan Thomas, a non- conforming preacher, produced an ordination writing signed by George Graham and John Moore, the pastors of the Bap- tists, ordaining him to go forth and preach the Gospel accord- ing to the tenets of that church ; and he therefore took the oaths of allegiance and subscribed the test appointed for that purpose." A similar proceeding was had at the June session of 1740 of the county court of Craven, and the applicants were given liberty to build a house of worship. It seems, however, that some of them were accused of having violated the Toleration Act and they were bound over to appear at the next term of the general court .*
The Methodists
The present Methodist organization was not then in exist- ence. Rev. Mr. Whitefield passed through the province in 1739 and again in 1764, and preached at Wilmington, New Bern and perhaps elsewhere, but still regarded himself as a minister of the Church of England. It was not till 1772 that Joseph Pilmoor, the first Methodist minister in North Carolina, began his ministrations. The year following the first society was formed by Robert Williams ; the first circuit was formed in 1776. The next year John King, John Dick- ens, LeRoy Cole and Edward Pride were appointed to the North Carolina Circuit, and at the close of the year they re- ported nine hundred and thirty members. King resided near Louisburg, and later ten miles west of Raleigh. The first conference was held near Louisburg on April 20th, 1785, at which Bishops Asbury and Coke were present.
Education and schools
Educational facilities in Albemarle were from the begin- ning greatly lacking. If there were schools and schoolmas- ters in the earlier years no mention was made of them: yet as many of the inhabitants. born and bred in Albemarle, evi-
*A verbatim copy of the minutes of that court is to be found in Vass's "History of the New Bern Presbyterian Church."
380
EDUC.ITION.IL FACILITIES
dently received some training in their youth. there must have been teachers among them. When the ministers of the estab- lished church began to come in. about the opening of the eighteenth century, there are traces of some local schools. Charles Griffin was a school-teacher in Pasquotank, as well as lay reader. There was a school taught by Mr. Mashburn at Sarum, thought to be near Bandon, and about three miles from Ballard's Bridge. Perhaps there were others employed as lay readers who also taught school.
When the province passed under the immediate control of the king and its institutions were in a measure con- formed to those of the mother country, Governor Burring- ton was instructed in 1731 that no schoolmaster should be permitted to come from England to North Carolina to keep school without the license of the bishop of London; and "that no other person now there or that shall come from other parts shall be admitted to keep school in North Carolina without your license first obtained."* This instruc- tion was in aid of the general purpose to promote the estabbshed church, to train children in that faith, and strengthen the hold of the Crown on the people. Its natit- ral effect must have been to discourage educational work in the province. We hear of no more schools except one taught about 1745 at Brunswick and the act of 1745 to build a school-house at Edenton. In 1749 John Starkey. himself it is said an ordained Episcopal clergyman, introduced a bill in the legislature to establish a public school, but the act did not become operative. Later, in Governor Dobbs's time. it was proposed to have a free school in every county ; but that effort also miscarried.
Notwithstanding the instructions given to Burrington were repeated to all later governors, it appears that the Scotch-Irish and other settlers in the interior had their local schools soon after coming to the province, as Governor Dobbs indicated when on a visit to his lands in Rowan and
*In 1714, an act known as the Schism Act was passed by Parliament forbidding any person to teach school who was not a member of the established church: this act was, however, repealed in 1719. under the administration of the Whig party. which continued for nearly sixty years. Apparently. the governor could license a teacher who was not of the established church, if so disposed.
1771 --
School- masters to be licensed
1758 C. R., V, 1074
390
SOCI.IL LIFE IT THE REVOLUTION
1771 - Foote's Sketches of North Carolina, 175 Rumple, Hist. of Rowan County, 83
Mecklenburg counties. They were probably not licensed by him. Although Wilmington had no organized Presbyterian church. Rev. James Tate. a Presbyterian minister, came from Ireland about 1760 and opened a classical school there. the first ever taught in that place. In the same year Crowfield Academy was established at Bellemont, near the site of Davidson College.
S. R .. XX111, 673
In 1764 it was proposed to erect a schoolhouse on some church property in New Bern, Thomas Tomlinson, on the first of January of that year, having opened a school there. The school building was probably completed in 1766, when an act of the Assembly incorporated the trustees. provided a tax on runi to raise a salary of £20 per annum, and required the admittance of ten poor pupils, tuition free ; and the license of the governor was required. In 1770 an act was passed reciting that the inhabitants of Edenton had erected a convenient schoolhouse. Trustees were appointed to conduct the school, and the master, as in the case of the school at New Bern, was required to be a mem- ber of the established church. recommended by a majority of the trustees and licensed by the governor. These two academies at New Bern and Edenton afforded educational advantages that were of great benefit, extending through many years, to the people of the eastern counties.
S. P. .. XXII1, 823
Foote's Sketches
In 1767 Dr. David Caldwell opened a classical school in Guilford County that became famous, a large number of eminent men receiving their education there. A year or two later Rev. Henry Pattillo began to teach in Granville. One of his pupils. Charles Pettigrew, then of the Presbyterian faith, in 1773 became the principal of the Edenton Academy. A little later Rev. Daniel Earl, who had been the minister at Edenton, established a classical school in Bertie.
In 1771 the Lutherans on Second Creek, Rowan County, sent Rintelmann and Layrle to Europe to obtain "help to support a minister and school-teacher." Their efforts re- sulted in the establishment of Godfrey Arndt as the school- master of that settlement.
In 1768 Joseph Alexander succeeded Mr. Craighead as pastor of Sugar Creek: "a fine scholar, he, in connection with Mr. Benedict, taught a classical school of high excel-
391
COLONI.IL CLASSICAL SCHOOLS
lence and usefulness." Indeed, there was probably a school kept open in most of the seven Presbyterian settlements in Mecklenburg County.
1771
There was a grammar school at Charlotte before 1770. and S. R., XXV, in that year Edmund Fanning introduced a bill to establish a seminary of learning there under the name of Queen's Queen's College College. Fanning, Pattillo, Abner Nash and other trustees were directed to meet at the grammar school and elect a president and tutors. The college was to have the right to confer degrees. The president was to be of the established church, and licensed by the governor, but that was not required as to the trustees or tutors. To endow the college, a tax of sixpence was laid on all liquors brought into the county of Mecklenburg for ten years. The trustees met and elected Fanning the president. Fanning, however, left the province, along with Governor Tryon, in the summer s. R., XXV, of 1771, and at the next session of the Assembly, in Decem- 520 ber, 1771, the charter was amended, enabling degrees to be conferred in his absence.
The original act having been sent to England, the Board of Trade reported "that this college, if allowed to be incor- porated, will in effect operate as a seminary for the education and instruction of youth in the principles of the Presbyterian Church." and the Board doubted whether the king should give that encouragement to the Presbyterians in North Carolina. The Board also objected to the looseness of the C. R., IX, 250, 251 wording of the tax clause ; but in particular it recommended that the king should disallow the act because it came under the description of those unusual and important acts which were not to be passed without a suspending clause ; that is, such acts were not to go into effect until the king had assented to them. The king disallowed the act in April, 1772, but the college seems to have been continued; and in April, 1773, the amendment being disallowed, a proclama- tion was issued by Governor Martin in June declaring that the amendment was of no effect. The school was maintained, Graham, Life of Gen. Jos. Graham, 18-25 S R .. apparently without interruption, under the name of Queen's Museum, and in 1777 the state legislature incorporated it as Liberty Hall, that act of Assembly then declaring that a XXIV, 30
C. R., IX, 596, 597
392
SOCIAL LIFE AT THE REVOLUTION
1771
number of youths there taught had since completed their education at various colleges in different parts of America.
That there were other schools at that period in other settlements cannot be doubted : while for higher education the colleges of William and Mary, Harvard, Yale, Prince- ton, in America, were patronized, and some of the youths from the seacoast counties at least were educated in England.
Taxation
In those early days, when wealth found investment only in lands and in negro property, the subjects of taxation were few, and for general purposes the exclusive tax. was on the poll. The expenses of government had from the first been cast on the Lords Proprietors, at least to a great degree. The salaries of officers were paid from the quit rents by the receiver-general and by fees. In 1715. however, a tax was laid of es. 6d. on every one hundred acres of land, in addi- tion to fifteen shillings tax on the poll ; but the land tax was for that year only.
Land tax
After the transfer to the Crown the same system was con- tinued, and the Crown officers and provincial officers were paid from the quit rents* and by fees. Many years passed before the Assembly could be induced to make some little provision for a salary for the chief justice and the attorney- general. The chief current expense was in connection with the assemblies.
Poll tax
As soon as Governor Johnston came in the Assembly granted an aid to the king, striking off currency for that purpose, and laying a tax on the poll to retire that currency. From time to time similar action was taken, provision being made to pay the provincial notes by a poll tax.
S. R., XXIII, 190
Similarly there was a county tax for bridges, court-houses, jails, etc .. which generally ran about one shilling on the poll ; and there was a parish tax usually applied to the care of the poor, and similar local purposes-and in some parishes a part of the fund going for the minister's salary, chapels, glebes, etc. This tax was limited to ten shillings, and seems to have run from one to three shillings generally. In 1768 the provincial tax aggregated seven shillings per poll. One
*All grants of land up to the Revolution were made subject to the quit rent.
393
TAXATION
shilling was still being collected to sink the aid to the king granted twenty years earlier, and five shillings of the entire tax was because of these aids. There was a tax for con- tingent expenses of government-to pay the chief justice. attorney-general, the expenses of the Assembly, etc. In that year there was a further tax of eight pence, which had been laid for two years to pay for the erection of the governor's palace. The county tax that year in Orange County was one shilling and the parish tax three shillings. The poll tax was levied on all male whites over sixteen years of age and on all slaves, female as well as male, over twelve years of age. By this distribution, property paid a tax, for as Quit rents the lands were held by quit rents, most of the accumulated wealth was represented by slaves. For special purposes. some other taxes were imposed. A tonnage tax on vessels was collected for a fund to purchase powder. A tax on rum and liquors was sometimes laid for a local purpose -- as for the New Bern Academy and Queen's College.
In order to have the commodities marketed in a mer- chantable condition, there were laws regulating how they should be put up for the market; and there were many places specified where these articles of commerce could be inspected by an officer appointed for that purpose, and they were not to be shipped out of the province unless inspected. Public warehouses for the inspection of tobacco were estab- lished at Edenton. at a point on the Chowan and at Hertford : at Jones's and Pitts's Landing, in Northampton ; at Tarboro, Halifax, Campbellton : at Dixon's, Kingston, and Shep- herd's, in Dobbs County. The inspectors at these ware- houses, on receiving commodities, gave inspectors' notes for the same: and these notes or receipts were receivable in payment of public taxes at the following rates : Tobacco, at fifteen shillings per hundredweight : hemp, forty shillings : rice, twelve shillings : indigo, four shillings a pound ; beeswax, one shilling : myrtle-wax, eight pence; tallow, six pence; Indian-dressed deer skins. two shillings, six pence. Thus it took rather more than a pound of tallow to pay the tax that was levied to build the governor's mansion, and fifty pounds of tobacco paid the entire provincia! tax of 1767-68.
1771
Inspectors1 notes
S. R., XXIII, 782
39.4
SOCIAL LIFE .IT THE REVOLUTION
1771 -- S. R .. XXIII, :82
Lawyers
The lawyers were regulated, and by act of 1770 they were not allowed to charge more than ten shillings for any advice in a matter before the inferior court, where no suit was brought : nor more than fi for advice in a matter cognizable in the superior court. In suits for land they could charge no more than £5. In no other suit in the superior court could they charge more than £2 10s., and in the inferior court their fee was just one-half of that. They were to be fined £50 if they demanded any larger compensation. Their fee was embraced in the bill of costs in the suit, and if the attorney neglected his case the court could order him to pay all costs occasioned by his neglect. After any case was determined, any client could, however, make further compensation. if he chose to do so, to his lawyer.
S. R., XXIII, 789
Quakers and the militia
Quakers had been subject to a fine for not mustering ; in 1770 they were excused from mustering, but still they were required to render military duty in time of peril. It was provided that the colonel of the county should make a list of all male Quakers between the ages of sixteen and sixty, who should be under the command of some officer appointed by the governor. In time of invasion or insur- rection a proportionate number of this Quaker force might be called into service. but could provide substitutes or could pay fio instead.
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