Chapter 12 / NC History

Decline and the Beginnings of Reform 1810-1835

Introduction:

“Rip Van Winkle”

Archibald DeBow Murphey

  • Improve conditions – internal and public education
  • Improve gov’t.
  1. Sleep of Indifference
  1. Isolation
  1. Few towns, little trade, lack of roads and communication
  2. Leads to Individualism
  1. Attitude toward education
  1. Parents – farming more important
  2. Eastern landowner
  1. Political power in Legislature
  2. No increase in taxes
  1. No public schools
  1. Academies(local interest and money)
  2. Only those who can afford attend
  1. State’s Economy
  1. Eli Whitney / cotton gin
  2. One crop state
  1. Must import crops, little industry, limited trade (commerce) and inadequate banking
  1. Slavery’s hidden costs
  1. Cruel and repressive
  2. Wealthy landowners invest in slaves
  1. Not industry or agriculture
  1. Farm conditions
  1. No land improvement
  1. No crop rotation, less fertile soil and erosion and land prices drop
  1. Lack of transportation and communication
  1. Poorly maintained rivers
  2. No bridges / flooding
  1. Cost more to transport crops
  1. Cherokee ordered to leave their lands
  1. All tribes throughout SE
  2. 1838 – Trail of Tears
  1. Winfield Scott leads the trail – holds Indians in stockades
  1. Undemocratic Government (Gov’t.)
  1. Representation by county
  1. Most counties are in the east
  2. Easterners dominate legislature
  3. Most population (pop.) in the west
  1. Legislature
  1. Elects all state officials
  2. East controls the legislature (gov’t.)
  1. Quite wealthy, some large plantations and also own more slaves
  2. West demands reform

Sidebar: By 1850, 31% native NC’s live in other states / 405,161

By 1860, 163 NC natives have been or are in Indiana General Assembley

  1. Archibald Murphey and Beginnings of Reform

Introduction:

1815-1840 Murphey Reforms

  • System of public education, internal improvements and constitutional reform
  • Prominent Reformers: Bartlett Yancey, Joseph Caldwell, Charles Fisher, David L. Swain, William Gaston and John Motley Morehead
  1. Preparation for Leadership
  1. Educated / Guilford County – Caldwell’s school / 1799 UNC graduate / professor
  2. Lawyer, Legislator and Judge 1802-1820
  3. Concerned citizens
  1. The center and the west
  1. Lazy, sickly, poor, dirty and ignorant
  2. “This section will be the hand of industry that will impress a fine character.’
  1. Literary Fund
  1. Pamphlet / “Report on Education”
  2. 1825 – General Assembly creates literary fund
  3. Fund grows slowly
  1. Legislatures poor education attitude
  1. Suggestions for Improvement
  1. Internal Improvements
  1. 1815 plan
  1. Harbors, canals, turnpike and drain swamplands (east) for agriculture
  2. Funded by sale of former Cherokee lands and state investments (stocks)

2. Board of Internal Improvements (1819)

a. develops funds and projects and manages funds

3. Great interest everywhere but poor funding

4. Locomotive engine (1820’s-1830’s) invented in England in 1804

a. 1834 – NC legislature charters first RR company

D. Constitutional Reform is needed

1. West wants public schools and transportation

a. East controls legislature and opposes both

b. Murphey and reformers want constitutional convention to revise 1776 Constitution

2. 1816 – Murphey favors constitutional convention

a. principles of democratic gov’t. are violated

b. recommends legislature hold election to let people decide constitutional reform

c. legislature rejects

E. Murphey’s legacy

1. Devotion to change indifference, poor conditions, and failings / he presented solutions

2. Dies in 1832 / his plans will be followed and a new political party emerges

  1. Contribution of 1835 and It’s Impact

Introduction:

  • Turning point for the state
  • Initial reforms victory for Piedmont and the Mountains
  • Ushers in a new age of progress and prosperity
  1. Rise of the two-party system
  1. 1812-1832 Democrat-Republicans (Jeffersonians) dominant in NC
  1. 1828 election of Jackson (Dem.) changes one party rule
  1. Jackson disappoints many in NC
  1. Opposes internal improvements (canals and turnpikes)
  1. Whig Party (the “American System, *see note) forms in U. S.
  1. Sympathetic to banks and internal improvements
  2. Jackson supporters change name to from Dem.-Rep. to Democrat
  1. Represents the will of the people (Democrats)
  1. Whigs and Dems begin 20 year rivalry
  1. Contributes to NC progess
  1. Western demands in NC
  1. Most NC Whigs in west
  1. Adopt Murphey’s reforms
  1. Constitutional, public school and internal improvement reforms
  1. Newspaper (editors) and mass public support
  1. Eastern landowners still refuse change
  1. West is angry and revolution is threatened
  1. A western leader who can urge the legislature to reform – David L. Swain
  1. 1832 elected governor
  2. Calls for needs of the west and constitutional reform
  3. Leads the call for a constitution convention
  1. 1835 Constitutional Convention
  1. Raleigh June 4 and 128 delegates
  1. Former governors, judges and members of Congress
  1. Easterner Nathaniel Macon is elected convention president
  2. Meet for more than a month
  1. Important Constitutional Changes
  1. New System of representation
  1. Senate has 50 members based on taxes paid in their voting district
  1. Eastern majority
  1. House of Commons has 120 members based on population plus slaves
  1. Wester n majority
  1. Religious restriction to hold office
  1. William Gaston / a lawyer, legislator, judge and Roman Catholic
  1. Only Protestants could hold certain offices
  2. Replace the Protestant in the constitution with the word Christian
  3. Religious restriction to hold office
  1. Election of governor amendment
  1. Suffrage
  1. All white male taxpayers 21 plus of European descent
  2. But, all free African American males denied right to vote
  1. Conclusion
  1. Political compromise of east and west
  2. East no longer controls both legislative houses
  3. West can pass laws to improve conditions
  4. Rip Van winkle has awakened

*The ‘American System’

  • The government provides the dollars for education and internal improvements.
  • Wanted high taxes or “tariffs” on imports to protect U. S. business
  • In 1850’s, the Whigs divide (North and South) over the issue of slavery
  • As a result, many will join the Republican Party

Primary Sources:

These are real and personal insights to history from the people who lived it. It is the first hand evidence of how the people truly felt about the particular situation.

Page 288Debate over Indian Removal

Pres. Andrew Jackson

Chief John Ross, leader of the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears

Page 290Archibald D. Murphey

“Letter to Thomas Ruffin”

Page 297Close to the Land

By Thomas H. Clayton