Part 13 (1/2)

2. What visit was made by Governor Dobbs? How was the new county of Rowan becoming settled?

3. Who was put in command of the North Carolina troops? How was he prevented from joining General Braddock? Find Old Fort on the map.

4. Who had incited the Indians to the proposed attack on Old Fort?

5. Give an account of Colonel Waddell's expedition-against the Indians.

6. What noted man in England had charge of American affairs?

What effect had his administration upon every portion of the world?

7. What great victory was gained in America at this period? What good resulted to the whole country from this victory?

8. What had been the increase of population in North Carolina?

Can you name some of the exports?

9. Where did Governor Dobbs endeavor to have the capital of North Carolina located?

10. What trouble did the Governor have with the Legislature?

With what result?

11. Of what extortions did the people complain? How was Francis Corbin treated, and why?

12. What is said of the close of Governor Dobbs' life?

CHAPTER XX.

GOVERNOR TRYON AND THE FIRST RESISTANCE TO THE STAMP ACTS.

A. D. 1765 TO 1766.

Some months before the death of Governor Dobbs there had come over from England a handsome, polished and genial officer who wore the uniform of the Queen's Guards. This was Lieutenant- Colonel William Tryon, recently appointed Lieutenant-Governor of North Carolina. He succeeded Governor Dobbs, and left a name that will never be forgotten in North Carolina.

2. Governor Tryon was accompanied by his wife and her sister, Miss Esther Wake. They were ladies of great attractiveness, and were destined to become so much valued by the people that their family name is still preserved in our midst, as the name of our metropolitan county.

3. There was much gaiety seen at that time in the eastern counties. The Indians were all gone, beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the rude huts of old had, in many instances, been replaced by large and costly buildings of brick. Weddings were generally celebrated by b.a.l.l.s that lasted for a week.

Hospitality was unstinted, and most men of means thought their establishments imperfect until provided with a private race course. With hound and horn, there was great diversion, for game was abundant and the sport open to all who could get a horse to ride.

4. In such society the brilliant family of the Governor was of course at once sure of unbounded influence. Perhaps no man was ever more warmly esteemed than Governor Tryon during the first years of his rule in North Carolina. He was gracious and wary at the same time. He knew whom to cultivate, and while smiling on all he was fast making friends who were almost ready to die in his behalf.

5. The great preacher, George Whitefield, came to the State in 1765, and moved thousands with his eloquence. His new sect, the Methodist, had until then made no progress in North Carolina, and his converts went to swell the numbers of the Baptists, who were more numerous than any other denomination.

6. There was the utmost kindness of feeling between the new Governor and the people, when the news came that the English Parliament had pa.s.sed a law called the ”Stamp Act.” It had been much talked of and denounced in many portions of America, and now, with a unanimity that is still one of the strangest things recorded in history, the men of all conditions, in every colony, arose in frenzy and swore that this law should not be executed in America.

7. The Stamp Act required that all colonial legal instruments, such as deeds, bonds and notes, should be written only upon stamped paper, otherwise they were not binding, or of any effect. The paper was prepared in England, to be sold to the colonists at the heavy tax of one and two dollars upon each sheet. In addition to this, the act contained a great variety of other ruinous exactions. Newspapers and pamphlets were taxed more than such publications at present would cost. An advertis.e.m.e.nt in a newspaper paid the government fifty cents; almanacs, eight cents; college diplomas, ten dollars; and the fee charged for a marriage license was sometimes as high as fifteen dollars. The act received royal a.s.sent on 22d March, 1765.

8. The law was oppressive upon the people because of the amount exacted, but was considered const.i.tutional in England by many great lawyers who were warm friends of the American people. But in America it had been held for some time that no tax levied by Great Britain, without the consent of America, was just; and thus every man resolved that the Stamp Act should not be enforced.

9. When the news reached Governor Tryon, at New Bern, the General a.s.sembly was in session at that place. A very bold and fearless man, Colonel John Ashe, was then Speaker of the House of a.s.sembly. Governor Tryon asked of Ashe, in private conversation, what the House would do as to the new law.” We will resist its execution to the death,” said he, and that very day Governor Tryon sent them all home by proroguing the session. Nor did he permit them to a.s.semble again until late in the next year, after the repeal of the Stamp Act. By this means he prevented the election of delegates from North Carolina to the Continental Congress which met in New York in 1765 to organize the opposition to that oppressive measure.