p. iii  Preface

In the preparation of this volume, I have approached the history of North Carolina somewhat from a different point of view from that adopted by the historians of this period of our history who have preceded me. My purpose has been to bring out more fully than has heretofore been attempted the relations of North Carolina to the British Empire in America of which it was a part. Those incidents, therefore, in our colonial history in which North Carolina participated in Continental affairs have been more fully stressed than has been the custom with our historians, while others of purely local interest and importance which they have set forth in detail have been but briefly told or omitted altogether. The plan adopted made necessary, of course, the rejection of the chronological order in narrating historical incidents and movements.

These volumes are long overdue and my colleagues and I feel that it is but right to say that the publishers are in no way responsible for the delay. Like everybody else during the past two years we have been constantly interrupted and diverted from our work by numerous extra duties incident to the crisis through which our country has been passing, so that it has been impossible to complete these three volumes of narrative history within the time originally set for their publication. To the publishers who have done everything possible to facilitate our work and have displayed the utmost patience at the delay, we are under many obligations.

To Colonel Fred A. Olds I am under obligations for invaluable assistance in securing illustrations for this volume.

R. D. W. Connor.

Raleigh, North Carolina,
May 16th, 1919.

 p. v  Preface

In the present volume the effort has been to emphasize movements rather than events, ideals rather than men, orderly development rather than phenomena of antiquarian interest. Such an undertaking has required a constant reference to contemporary records and the exposition of many movements which have been hitherto neglected or slightly treated. Consequently the volume may leave the impression of series of monographic studies rather than a conventional narrative history. That perhaps is necessarily the character of the treatment of any subject in which social and economic forces are emphasized.

The year 1836 is the first dividing line in the history of the state after the Revolution. Prior to that date political conceptions and ideals of social and economic duty bore the stamp of British heritage; thereafter the spirit of American democracy made rapid progress. The constitutional convention of 1835, the rise of the whig and democratic parties, the establishment of a public school system, the foundation of asylums, the building of railways through state aid, and reform of law — these matters, treated in considerable detail, are evidence of a new order. It has also been my effort to outline the regime they displaced; to the antiquarian it has the greater interest, whereas to him who prefer life in action the epoch after 1836 will always make a stronger appeal.

I wish to express my sense of obligation to many who have upheld my hands in gathering material. To a number of former students in Trinity College I am indebted for use of their researches in North Carolina history. To the authorities of the Trinity College Library and the State Library I am under obligation for special courtesies. To the South Atlantic Quarterly and the Historical Papers of the Trinity  p. vi College Historical Society I am obligated for permission to embody in the text portions of articles I have contributed to their pages. Col. Fred A. Olds of the State Hall of History at Raleigh has rendered indispensable service in securing illustrations.

William K. Boyd.

January, 1919.

 p. iii  Preface

This final volume of the present series is concluded with the full consciousness that, because it deals in great part with a period so recent, it cannot be regarded in its entirety as a definitive history, if, indeed, there is any such thing. Approximately half of the space of the narrative is devoted to the period of the Civil War and Reconstruction. With the addition of one chapter on military affairs in the state, it summarizes the narrative and conclusions contained in my Reconstruction in North Carolina, published in 1914, and covering the period in much greater detail. Sufficient time has already passed to permit interpretation of that period with some pretension to finality, and I have not modified the conclusions reached in the former work.

In respect to the period since 1876, while I have sought always to present with the narrative of fact sufficient interpretation to make an accurate picture of the time, and while I came to the task with little political prejudice and leave it with less, I am aware that there has not been a sufficient lapse of years, for any part of it, to make it a proper subject for definitive historical narrative, much less for any authoritative interpretation. Undoubtedly, some of my conclusions will be altered with the passage of time, and certainly it will be possible later to secure the use of a vast amount of material, now inaccessible, which will make the narrative much more complete and the interpretation more accurate. When I have attempted any interpretation it has been with a full consciousness of the difficulty and danger of the proceeding, and I have carefully refrained where there appeared to be any doubt whatever of its correctness.

For the later period the chief sources of material have been the newspapers, public documents, political handbooks, the census reports, and contemporary pamphlets and speeches. There is an almost complete lack of secondary material and as yet but few letters are available.

To the great number who have given kind and generous assistance in the difficult task I return my grateful thanks. In particular, I wish to express my indebtedness to Col. F. A. Olds, of the North Carolina Hall of History, through whose kindness the greater number of the illustrations were secured.

J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton.

Chapel Hill, N. C.
January 28, 1918.