North+Carolina

**Tori Estatico & Jazzmin Santiago**

=**North Carolina ** =



**Geography:**

=North Carolina is located in the southeast of the United States. Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee and the Atlantic Ocean border it. It has seventeen major river basins. Four of them are within the state borders, which are the Cape Fear, Neuse, White Oak and Tar-Pamlico. Some of its main geographic features are the Atlantic coastal plain, piedmont plateau, and the Appalachian Mountains. The Atlantic coastal plain has islands with sandbars that jut out into the Atlantic Ocean. Two sounds and harbors in the coastal plain are the shallow Pamlico and Albemarle sounds which lie behind the banks. The coastal plain is swampy and flat near the land. The piedmont plateau contains red clay soil; the piedmont plateau has two major ranges. The Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains. The black mountains intersect these ranges. Also the rivers like the Hiawassee, Tennessee, New River, Watauga and the French broad flow from the mountains into the Mississippi river. The Piedmont region is North Carolina’s most city-like section and is a highly populated area. Some sm all mountains are in the piedmont range, Sauratown Mountains, the brushy mountains, Uwharrie Mountains, Kings Pinnacle, south mountains, Pilot Mountain and the Crowders Mountain. Unfortunately since the population is increasing rapidly a lot of farms and countrysides are replaced by more large towns like malls, houses and more. The farms have rich soil and are great for growing cotton, melons, soybeans tobacco and so on. North Carolina produces a lot of tobacco, brick, and textile. Metalworking, chemicals, and paper are also important in this colony. The major products are tobacco, corn, cotton, hay, peanuts, and vegetable crops. Geography affected North Carolinas development because dense forests brought revenue: Lumber, tar, and resin from the longleaf pine provided some of the best shipbuilding materials in the world. Not bound to a single crop as was North Carolina also produced and exported rice and indigo, a blue dye obtained from native plants that was used in coloring fabric. =



= History: = = North Carolina was founded in 1653, In 1664, the governor of Virginia selecteda governor for the region which was soon know was north Carolina around 1691. A Virginian colonist began to settle in this region and soon was recognized by the English crowd. These settlers were originally from the Roanoke and Chowan rivers North Carolina was named in honor of kingCharles I of England. Originally the Virginian settlers had farmers, and some even had a few slaves. The Virginians began to settle here, in the beginning of the 18th century Quakers, Scotch-Irish and German began to settle in the region. It continued to be protest and in the nineteenth century it was a big protestant religious group. North Carolina mainly grew their own food and had slaves maintain their farms. It was a proprietary colony until it was taken over as a charter by King Charles II.Paleo-Indian’s were in the north Carolina region about 10,000 years ago. The Paleo-Indians hunted game with spears and gathered nuts, roots, berries, and freshwater mollusks. They also invented the development of pottery and the Woodland way of life like growing corn, beans, and squash, and hunting game with bows and arrows. They lasted until the Europeans arrived. = = Political: = == In 1663, King Charles II issued a royal charter to eight nobles to settle the area south of Virginia. They created Carolina and included the previous settlement. However, because of internal problems, the crown took over the colony and formed North and South Carolina out of it in 1729. North Carolina was a proprietary colony until it obtained a royal charter by King Charles II. A proprietary colony is a colony run by either an individual or a group of people who get land. North Carolina became a royal colony and the King appointed royal governors. Generally the people were happy with their royal governors, and the colony was well run. In 1729 the population was approximately 36,000. By 1775 the population had increased to 350,000 and much of what is now North Carolina was settled. During this time North Carolina contributed money and troops to the colonial wars that Eng land fought with the French and Indians. By 1775 England, deep in war debt began imposing taxes on the colonies, which of course led to Revolution. Citizens of North Carolina staged many rebellions against the royal governor, and for the most part wanted independence. The royal Governor William Tryon had to take drastic steps to preserve royal influence, but it only made the crown less popular, leading to the downfall of the colony, and the birth of the state. == =Economic:= North Carolina grew their own food along with growing three major **//cash crops//**, tobacco, rice, and indigo. These were grown on plantations typically worked by  slaves and indentured servants. The main commerce of the South was with England. Plantations kept people widely separate which prevented the growth of many towns. Living on the edge of Native-American country, frontier families built cabins, cleared the wilderness, and cultivated maize and wheat. The men wore leather made from the skin of deer or sheep, known as buckskin. The women wore garments of cloth they spun at home. Their food consisted of venison, wild turkey, and fish. They had their own amusements like great barbecues, dances, housewarmings for newly married couples, shooting matches, and contests for making quilted blankets. Due to **//mercantilism//** North Carolina benefited from bounties on tar, pitch, turpentine, and lumber. Various colonial exporters benefited when they exported to Britain because competing goods from foreign nations were subject to tariffs theirs were not. Mercantilism is the theory that states that a nation's power is based on its wealth compared to other nations. This requires a balance of trade that favors exports over imports. The colony followed a concept that stated that you shouldn’t interfere in the American affairs but for them to fend for themselves so many colonists in North Carolina did fend for themselves. Another word for this concept is called **//Salutary Neglec//t.** North Carolina also took part in a system of trade called the **//triangular trade//**. In this trade system a ships would leave Europe with rum. Weapons and cloth and give them to other captains to trade their cargo in return for African Americans and ship them to the Americas to buy as slaves and receive goods in return and kept repeating as a cycle. However soon colonists started abandoning this concept causing strong hatred, which soon would cause the start of the revolution.

Social:
== North Carolinas main language was English because they were a colony of the British who spoke English. Alsoin North Carolina the main religion was the Protestant group. In the Southern colonies, especially in the "back country" regions, the **//Great Awakening//** was influential among Presbyterians. The Great Awakening was a religious revitalization movement that swept the American colonies inthe 1730’s and 1740’s leaving a permanent impact on American religion. Pulling away from ritual and ceremony, the Great Awakening made religion intensely personal to the average person by making a deep sense of spiritual guilt and redemption, and by encouraging introspection and a commitment to a new standard of personal morality. Women in colonial North Carolina had limited l egal rights, largely dependent upon their marital status. An unmarried woman or widow could legally act as an adult in her own right. A married woman had no rights within her marriage or as an independent individual, but often worked alongside her husband in the home, business and community. The status of women in colonial North Carolina was quite similar to that of women throughout the colonies and even in Europe. ==

Road to Revolution

** French and Indian War **
== When Washington was in a battle during the French and Indian war, he was defeated and needed assistance. When he heard of Washington’s defeat, Lieutenant-Governor Dinwiddie called for aid from neighboring colonies, but only North Carolina responded and refused to send any men or money ==

outside its own borders. North Carolina and other southern colonies didn’t have much part in this war. Loyalists were American colonist who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolution, they were often referred to as Tories, Royalists, or King's Men by the Patriots those who supported the revolution. The people of North Carolina were for the majority Loyalist, which therefore means they did not support the revolution.

** Revolution: **
Colonists from North Carolina became very upset when the British taxation began in 1763. Two events the stamp act and Townsend acts angered the north Carolinas greatly that later on led the Sons of Liberty group. The Sons of Liberty group of Americans loyalists that was made to provoke action and change in the Britain’s treatment of the Colonies. Another issue was the colonists angered by the Tea Act of 1773 and forced merchants to stop trade with Britain. They also helped their north neighbor Massachusetts by sending them food and other supplies when the Boston tea party took place. North Carolinian Josiah Martin was against his colonies first continental congress but the local delegates adopted a resolution against the Parliament governor and elegated delegates to congress. During the War, the opposing sides in North Carolina took on the name of English Parliamentary parties. North Carolinas military Soldiers from North Carolina did see action in neighboring Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia. In March 1781, American forces under the main General Nathanael Green beat the Lord Cornwalls force at the courthouse of Guilford. This outcome forced Britain to leave this region.

Bibliography:
 * "North Carolina." //American Government//. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Oct. 2010. []
 * "North Carolina." //American Government//. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Oct. 2010. []
 * "colonial government and politics." //American Government//. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Oct. 2010. 