a colonist who supported the colonial insurgency

Citizens in Granville County petitioned the legislature for relief from the corrupt practices of local officials and were met with libel suits by the officials in return. For some, the wave of protest promptly came to embrace the abuse of power within North Carolina itself.

Public dissent swept the colonies that year in response to an imperial tax that many saw as the first step toward the subversion of their liberties as Englishmen. The resentment of Carolina freeholders at the rise and ostentation of a colonial elite coincided with the Stamp Act crisis that shook the British Empire in America in 1765. At the top, a small elite was rapidly consolidating its wealth. Enslaved and indentured workers, with no property of their own, made up the bottom portion of backcountry society. Orange County inventories from the period show that the top 10 percent of all residents holding property controlled more than 40 percent of the total wealth, while the lowest 60 percent controlled scarcely 20 percent of the wealth. While Edmund Fanning was building a handsome new home in Hillsborough and trimming his coats with gold lace in the late 1760s, other newcomers to the Carolina backcountry were having trouble making ends meet. See also: The Way We Lived in North Carolina: Introduction Part I: Natives and Newcomers, North Carolina before 1770 Part II: An Independent People, North Carolina, 1770-1820 Part III: Close to the Land, North Carolina, 1820-1870 Part IV: The Quest for Progress, North Carolina 1870-1920 Part V: Express Lanes and Country Roads, North Carolina 1920-2001 Published by the North Carolina Office of Research and History in association with the University of North Carolina Press. From The Way We Lived in North Carolina, 2003.

Resistance Before the Revolution: North Carolina Before 1770īy Elizabeth A.

A colonist who supported the colonial insurgency