The Old North State has a rich recorded history that has lasted approximately 450 years.
Explore our encyclopedia
On May 31, 1775, the county of Mecklenburg, North Carolina signed 20 resolutions or “Resolves.” They start by saying that a recent address by Parliament had stated that “the American Colonies are declared to be in an actual State of rebellion.” Whereas by an Address presented to his Majesty by both Houses of Parliament in February last,...
Josiah Martin, the last royal governor of North Carolina, was born in Ireland in 1737. Due to his family’s connection to the British crown, Martin replaced Governor Tryon in 1771 as royal governor of North Carolina. Martin assumed a difficult position because Patriot colonists in North Carolina had long resented overwhelming British taxation and the War of Regulation remained fresh in the colonist’s minds. In May 1775, Martin fled the Tryon Palace in New Bern, and he joined Lord Cornwallis in his efforts to regain control of the North Carolina colony.
In July 1775 Patriot militiamen carried out the first military operation of the Revolutionary War in what became the Tar Heel State. There was no pitched battle. No one died. But the Patriots made their point: Reasserting British control over North Carolina would be no easy task.
Joseph Hewes is best known as one of North Carolina’s three signers of the Declaration of Independence. But he also played an important role in the creation of the U.S. Navy. In fact, a World War II transport ship, the U.S.S. Joseph Hewes, was named for him, and so was a frigate deployed in the...
Most people consider the Battle of Yorktown as marking the end of the American Revolution, but some historians have called the Battle of Beaufort, North Carolina, the last battle of the war. (Beaufort is in Carteret County on Beaufort Inlet, across from Shackleford Banks and near Cape Lookout.) In early April 1782, a wily party...
Two spiritual revivals known as the First and Second Great Awakenings permanently changed the cultural and religious makeup of the fledgling United States. North Carolina experienced both revivals firsthand.
Isaac Shelby, one of the most celebrated leaders in early United States history, was a soldier, statesman, and pioneer renowned for his pivotal role in the Revolutionary War.
The Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 is the only successful coup d’état in American history. The event was the first and only time in this country that a lawfully elected government was overthrown by a violent force motivated by racism. The Wilmington Insurrection, now often called the Wilmington Coup but historically called the Wilmington Race Riot,...
Issued by the British following the conclusion of the French and Indian War, the Proclamation of 1763 was a significant factor in the cultivation of revolutionary fervor but one that has been somewhat neglected. The proclamation was an attempt by the British not only to prevent colonists from migrating westward but to stabilize relations with...
To combat radicalism, teach the Founding
Our system of government, with its multiple layers and separate branches, its freedoms to speak and assemble, is designed not to produce consensus but to manage disagreement, to channel it to productive rather than destructive ends. For too many young people, these are unfamiliar truths. That’s on us.
NC’s bumpy road to joining the United States of America
“Because NC held out as long as it did, James Madison was forced to usher a bill of rights… NC required a bill of rights as a condition of ratification.”
The Constitution and its enemies
Today’s would-be philosopher kings are just as hungry for power as their 20th-century predecessors, and they are just as willing to destroy the institutions of constitutional government in order to get it. To prevent that, we must make sure those institutions continue to be well manned.