THE CONDITION OF THE STATE.
A. D. 1827 TO 1836.
1. While the Republic of the United States was so divided and
agitated as to matters of policy touching the interests of all
the Union, there were, at the same time, many issues of local
importance confined to North Carolina.
2. The old habit of annually changing the place for holding the
sessions of the Legislature had first brought about a feeling of
sectionalism between the eastern and western counties. Western
men had first learned to combine in securing Hillsboro rather
than New Bern for this purpose. It was natural and right for
them to seek to lessen as much as possible the distance that
separated the State capital from their homes.
1829.
3. The western counties were also anxious to change the system of
representation, so that their weight in population should be felt
in legislation. As it was, the east held control of both Houses
of the General Assembly. Hertford, with five hundred voters, had
exactly the weight of Buncombe or Orange, with its thousands.
Eastern men would not consent to modify this hardship. They
insisted that the Halifax Constitution was still to be adhered
to, and refused to go into a constitutional convention for fear
of changes that might subject eastern wealth to taxation in order
to secure the construction of highways in the west.
1831.
4. On the morning of the 21st of June the capitol at Raleigh was
burned. The fire was caused by the carelessness of a workman who
was covering the roof. The building was a total loss, as was
also the beautiful statue of Washington, which stood in the
rotunda. A new capitol was erected upon the site of the old
building, by act of the Legislature of 1832. It is an elegant
structure, and was built of native granite, at a cost of over a
half million of dollars.
5. The burning of the Capitol, or State-House, as it was called,
was a calamity and inconvenience, but the chief regret was over
the loss of the marble statue of Washington. This fine work had
recently been received from the famous sculptor Canova, in Italy,
and was said to be one of his finest productions.
[NOTE--By a freak of liberality, unusual in those good
old days, when the State never spent over ninety thousand dollars
a year for all purposes, when taxes were six cents on the one
hundred dollars value of real estate only, and personal property
was entirely exempt, the General Assembly had placed in the
rotunda a magnificent statue of Washington, of Carrara marble, by
the great Canova. It was the pride and boast of the state. Our
people remembered with peculiar pleasure that La Fayette had
stood at its base and commended the beauty of the carving and
fitness of the honor to the great man, under whom he had served
in our war of independence, and whom he regarded with a
passionate and reverential love. --(Hon. Kemp P. Battle. LL. D. ).]
1834.
6. On the 4th day of June, 1823, a political convention, composed
of gentlemen from the western portion of the State, met in
Raleigh. It was presided over by Bartle Yancey. The object of
the convention was to devise measure to secure greater weight in
the Legislature to their great and growing popular majorities.
Many wise and desirable changes in the Constitution of 1776 were
suggested, and the result was that sectional feeling ran very
high. So much so, that in time the people of the west might have
proceeded to extreme measures had not the Legislature of 1834
come to the rescue in the passage of the "Convention Bill."
7. On a close vote, aided by the votes of eastern borough
members, the bill was passed which provided that, in case a
call for a convention therein contained should be endorsed by a
majority of the voters in the State, then a convention should be
held; and each member chosen, before taking his seat should take
oath that he would not be a party to any further alterations of
the Constitution than those specified in the enabling act.
1835.
8. The Convention met in Raleigh on June 4th 1835, and Nathaniel
Macon was made President. Many of the ablest men in the State
were members. Judge Gastor, Governor David L. Swain and Judge J.
J. Daniel were leaders in the debates. Borough representation
and free negro suffrage were abolished. The election of Governor
was taken from the Assembly and committed to the people. The
legislative sessions were made biennial instead of annual, as of
old. Each county was to send one member to the House of Commons,
and more if its population justified so doing. One hundred and
twenty members constituted this body, while the Senators were
limited to fifty. The upper House was to represent taxation; and
the lower, population.
9. These organic changes were ratified by a popular majority of
more than five thousand votes. This change of Constitution was
soon followed by the first popular election for Governor.
Governors Miller, Burton, Owen and Swain had successively
occupied the Executive Office in North Carolina, until the
Legislature, in 1835, for the last time, selected a Governor in
the person of Richard Dobbs Spaight, of Craven.
10. This gentleman did not equal his father in the brilliance of
his endowments, but he was well fitted for the exigencies of a
contest before the people. He was nominated for re-election by
the Democrats the next year, but was beaten by the Whig nominee,
Edward B. Dudley, of Wilmington. Mr. Dudley was not only a very
able lawyer, but proved himself a statesman of enduring worth.
QUESTIONS.
1. What is said of these troublesome years?
2. What troubles were seen in North Carolina? What divisions had
rung up between the eastern and western men of the State?
3. How did the men of the two sections view the question of representation?
4. What public building was burned on June 21st, 1831? What was
the cause of the fire? What was lost with the building? Where
was the new capitol built? Of what was it built?
5. What was the chief regret? Who was this work by?
6. What is said of the Western Convention of 1823?
7. What law was enacted concerning a convention?
8. What is said of the memorable convention of 1835? What
changes were made in the Constitution?
9. What was the majority of the votes given to the amendments?
Who was the last Governor selected by the Legislature?
10. What two candidates were before the people in 1836? Who was
the first Governor elected by the people?
13. How had the Northern States acted in regard to slavery?
What checked the liberal spirit of the South concerning slavery?