School History of North Carolina Part 15

CHAPTER XXII.

GOVERNOR MARTIN AND THE REVOLUTION.

A. D. 1771 TO 1774.

James Hasell, as President of the Council, a.s.sumed the conduct of affairs until the arrival of the new Governor. This new Governor, Josiah Martin, was born 22d April, 1737, and had been a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, which position he was obliged to resign on account of his health. He then sought civil employment and was appointed Governor of North Carolina. He was a far more honorable man than Tryon. He had no unworthy favorites, as Tryon had, and concocted no selfish schemes for his own benefit or that of his family, but was exceedingly obstinate and strict in the observance of royal prerogatives. Unattractive in his manners, and very positive in his opinions, he sometimes failed to withhold the manifestations of his displeasure towards those who might happen to differ with him, no matter how honestly. Perhaps, however, in the fierce antagonisms of the times in which he ruled in North Carolina, his real virtues were not appreciated as they deserved.

1771.

2. Governor Martin met the a.s.sembly, for the first time, in New Bern, on the 19th of November, 1771. At his suggestion, the Legislature pa.s.sed an act of amnesty toward all persons engaged in the war of the Regulation except Husbands and a few other leaders. Such wise and merciful action, however, was not to be the rule of his life.

3. It had long been felt that the taxes were exceedingly burdensome, and, from a statement made to the Legislature at this time, by one of the public treasurers, of the real condition of the public funds, it was seen that these taxes had been, for a time at least, unnecessarily imposed. The treasurer showed that a full collection of the amounts in arrear, for which security had been given, would discharge the entire public debt and leave in the public treasury the sum of twenty thousand dollars. A bill was at once pa.s.sed in both houses of the Legislature, and without opposition in either, discontinuing the special taxes that had been devoted to the extinguishment of the public debt.

Governor Martin, however, vetoed the bill, and thus began a series of conflicts with the Legislature that lasted until his expulsion from the province.

4. The repeal of the Stamp Act had been gratefully received; but Parliament still excited great apprehension by an express and formal a.s.sertion of its powers to tax America. It had cost immense sums to the Crown to drive out the French, and much money was still needed to pay British expenses in America. It was insisted that the colonies ought to pay their fair share in these burdens. The great question was, how this was to be done. If Parliament could levy what it pleased, then Americans were no longer free, in that they were not masters of their own purses.

Many propositions were made to arrange the difficulty, but none were satisfactory to both sides.

1773.

5. So dissatisfied was Governor Martin with his first Legislature that he speedily dissolved it, and did not permit a new one to meet until the last of January, 1773. The new Legislature met in New Bern, and the House gave notice of its temper by electing as its speaker John Harvey, of Perquimans, admitted on all hands to be the most earnest supporter of colonial rights in all the province. Upon every important subject of legislation the Governor and the new a.s.sembly were at variance, and he accordingly dissolved it on the 9th of March, declaring that it "had deserted its duty and flagrantly insulted the dignity and authority of the government."

6. The next a.s.sembly met in New Bern, on the 4th of December, 1773, and continued in session seventeen days, when it shared the fate of its predecessor, and was sent home with the injunction to consult with the people and learn their will.

7. Short as was the session, however, its action was most important. On the day after the session began, letters were received from the Legislature of Virginia and other colonies, proposing that each province should appoint a Committee of Correspondence. The proposition was speedily agreed to by the House of a.s.sembly, and a committee of nine appointed, with instructions to "obtain the most early and authentic intelligence of all such acts and resolutions of the British Parliament, or proceedings of administration, as may relate to or affect the British colonies in America, and to keep and maintain a correspondence and communication with all sister colonies, respecting these important considerations, and the result of such, their proceedings, from hour to hour, to lay before the House."

8. John Harvey, Richard Caswell, Samuel Johnston, Joseph Hewes, Edward Vail, Cornelius Harnett, John Ashe, William Hooper and Robert Howe const.i.tuted the committee, and certainly, in North Carolina at least, it may be said there was never an abler one.

By this action the province took position with its sister colonies on the great question of the day. That the question was regarded as one of great importance and great gravity, if not of great difficulty, we need no other a.s.surance than that afforded by the character of the men into whose hands it was committed.

QUESTIONS.

1. On whom did the government next devolve? Who succeeded James Hasell? How is Governor Martin compared with some of his predecessors?

2. Where did Governor Martin first meet the a.s.sembly? What law was pa.s.sed?

3. What was the financial condition of the government at this period? What act was pa.s.sed concerning taxes?

4. How were the people excited by the English Parliament? What was the trouble?

5. How did Governor Martin act concerning the Legislature? What declaration was made by him?

6. Where did the next a.s.sembly meet, and what was done with it?

7. What letters were received during the session? What was done with the proposition?

8. Who composed the Committee of Correspondence? What is said of these men?

CHAPTER XXIII.

FIRST PROVINCIAL CONGRESS.

A. D. 1774.

1774. By this time the propriety of holding a general or Continental Congress, composed of delegates or representatives duly chosen by the several colonies, had suggested itself to men of sagacity in every portion of the country. Wherever made, the suggestion at once found a lodgment in public favor, and by the time summer had come it was a generally accepted fact that such a congress would be held, and the time and place of its session pretty well agreed upon. During the month of June, 1774, each colony, through its Committee of Correspondence, was invited to send delegates to a Continental Congress, to be held in Philadelphia during the coming September.

2. From its first agitation, the project of a Continental Congress, to consider the best ways and means of redressing the grievances of the colonists, was exceedingly distasteful to Governor Martin, for he regarded it as a most efficient way to organize rebellion. He resolved that he would prevent North Carolina from partic.i.p.ating in such a Congress, as Governor Tryon had prevented her from partic.i.p.ating in a similar one in 1765.

To this end he determined that during the continuance of the existing disturbed condition of the colonies no Legislature should meet in North Carolina, thinking thereby to prevent the due election of delegates from the province.

3. To this fixed purpose on the part of Governor Martin, made known to John Harvey through Mr. Biggleston, the Governor's Private Secretary, the Congress held at New Bern in August, 1774, owed its existence. When Mr. Biggleston told him the Governor did not intend to call another Legislature "until he saw a chance to get a better one," Harvey replied, "then the people will convene one themselves." Accordingly, about the first of July, in accordance with a plan agreed upon three months before between Willie Jones of Halifax, Samuel Johnston of Chowan and Edward Buncombe of Tyrrell, Harvey, the Speaker of the House of a.s.sembly, issued handbills calling upon the people to elect delegates to a Provincial Congress, as it was called, to a.s.semble in New Bern on the 25th of August, to express the sentiments of the people on the acts lately pa.s.sed by the Parliament of Great Britain, and to appoint delegates to represent the province in a Continental Congress. The handbills of this bold Speaker also invited the people to invest the deputies whom they might send to New Bern "with powers obligatory on the future conduct of the inhabitants."

4. The elections for deputies were duly held about the first of August, and the Governor, finding himself thus completely checkmated, was furious. The calm audacity of the Speaker, in summoning such a body to meet in New Bern, in the very presence of the King's represent representatives, as the Governor said, "to concert treasonable schemes against the Crown," astounded him.

5. Up to this time Governor Martin had not at all realized how weak had become the ties that bound the people of the colony of North Carolina to the mother country. Nor did he believe they would, with any degree of unanimity whatever, take so bold and defiant a step in the direction of open rebellion as that involved in the election of a Congress with powers obligatory on the people, but owing no obedience to the authority of the Crown.

Yet, at the appointed times and places, with few exceptions, the people throughout the provinces openly a.s.sembled and elected delegates to the proposed Congress, clothing them with most extraordinary powers.

6. This evidence of the condition of popular sentiment in the province could neither be doubted nor disregarded. Accordingly, on the 12th of August, 1774, the Governor asked his Council to advise him what to do in a state of affairs so inconsistent with the peace and good order of the government and so injurious to the maintenance of the authority of the Crown. After deliberating for a day on the matter, the Council advised him to issue a proclamation, and he did so, condemning the elections just held as highly illegal, and warning all officers of the King, both civil and military, to do all in their power to prevent such a.s.semblages of the people, and especially the meeting of the deputies or delegates at New Bern on the 25th instant.

7. In spite of all this, the first Provincial Congress in North Carolina met at New Bern, August 25th, 1774, and elected John Harvey as Moderator or President. Richard Caswell, Joseph Hewes and William Hooper were chosen as delegates to the Continental Congress. Protesting their loyalty to the Crown, but expressing a full determination to defend their rights as freemen, the members entered into an agreement that unless their grievances were redressed they would discontinue all trade with English merchants.

8. This Congress was the first great step in the Revolution, which was to deliver North Carolina and America from the dominion of a distant King and Parliament. The men of America were soon to be free from all foreign interference in their government. It was a bold and hazardous step in Colonel Harvey and the men over whom he presided as Moderator, but safety in the end was the reward of those who thus dared to be free.

QUESTIONS.

1. What important step was suggesting itself to the people? How was the suggestion received? What was done in June, 1774?

2. How did Governor Martin regard this matter? What did he determine to do?

3. What vas the result of the Governor's plan? What was done by John Harvey?

4. How was Governor Martin affected by Harvey's success?

5. What had the Governor begun to realize? What was done by the people?

6. What advice did the Governor seek? What was given?

7. When and where did the first Provincial Congress of North Carolina meet? Who was Moderator? Who were chosen as delegates to the Continental Congress?

8. What is said of this Provincial congress?

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE SECOND PROVINCIAL CONGRESS.

A. D. 1775.