North Carolina Oppression

Oppression is common throughout history; resistance is common, also. North Carolina finds its place in the American narrative both as a British colony and later as a state, but it has its own individuality in how that transition was made. While many fellow colonists viewed the inhabitants of North Carolina as backwards or simple, this did not impede the development of a culture that was slowly becoming more diverse and growing as immigration drastically raised the population over the course of several decades. Through the mid-eighteenth century, the inhabitants would have certainly recognized their identity as part of the colony, but unification was mainly only governmental. Those who had immigrated from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Germany …show more content…
North Carolina had been largely unaffected by British actions such as the Sugar Act, Quartering Act, and the Currency Act because of the nature of its economy and organization. Conversely, the Stamp Act of 1765 had a much more significant ripple effect. In fact, according the the Wilmington paper, when the colonists heard that a distributor of stamps was set to arrive on a ship soon they set up gallows in the middle of town and “On the gallows, in very conspicuous characters, was written ‘LIBERTY, and no Stamp-Act’” (Gazette 27 November 1765). This demonstration sent a very blatant message for both those who participated and those who dared to publish it- the colonies would not stand for the continual economic abuse of the Crown. They had chosen to declare their objection to British taxation in a way that rejected the power of the British to control the affairs of the colony. Though the debt created by the French and Indian War was a legitimate cause for a higher income, the colonists believed that the right to levy taxes in America belonged to the state assembly where they were represented. Nearly a decade following these events, the North Carolinians have not given up the cause of denying the authority of the king. …show more content…
Whereas resistance to the British had previously been effective but disunited, the year 1775 saw unprecedented teamwork amongst all the colonists to organize a means of independence. This began with the recognition that the colonies were all working together through the continental congress and its officials. These officials establish this coherence with a letter to those in Great Britain that was also published in Wilmington and begins, “The TWELVE UNITED COLONIES by their DELEGATES IN CONGRESS to the INHABITANTS of GREAT BRITAIN” (Gazette 25 August 1775). While they did acknowledge the things that they still shared with the British people such as heritage, they regarded the people there as an outside group in light of the vast differences that now separated them. Additionally, the people of North Carolina further reinforced this shifting allegiance by printing the articles written by the Continental Congress defining the nature of the relationship between the colonies. This document states that, “The said united Colonies hereby severally enter into a firm League of Friendship with each other- binding on themselves and their Posterity for their common Defense against their Enemies- for the Security of their Liberties and Properties, the Safety of their Persons and