Full Transcript for Episode 14: The Corruption

00:04:38,970 --> 00:04:41,700 ignoring lawsuits they had filed against their alleged 68 00:04:41,700 --> 00:04:45,960 oppressors, using the rule of law to protect the wealthy, as 69 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:49,440 Henderson later wrote to Governor Tryon, Fields 70 00:04:50,280 --> 00:04:52,710 Judge Henderson: “proceeded to let Me know that He spoke for 71 00:04:52,710 --> 00:04:56,130 the whole Body of the people called Regulators, That they 72 00:04:56,130 --> 00:04:58,980 understood I would not try their Causes, and that their 73 00:04:58,980 --> 00:05:02,670 Determination was to have them tryed, for they had come down to 74 00:05:02,670 --> 00:05:05,970 see Justice done, and Justice They would have.” 75 00:05:06,300 --> 00:05:08,880 Jim Ambuske: Fields counseled the judge that if he tried their 76 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:13,020 cases, it might prevent much mischief. And for the next 30 77 00:05:13,020 --> 00:05:15,090 minutes, Henderson did his best 78 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:19,080 Judge Henderson: “to soften and turn away the Fury of this mad 79 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:22,800 People in the best Manner in my power as much as could well 80 00:05:22,830 --> 00:05:25,920 [...] pacifie their Rage and at the same Time preserve the 81 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:27,810 little remaining Dignity of the Court.” 82 00:05:28,050 --> 00:05:31,140 Jim Ambuske: Sudden calls rose up from among the regulators to 83 00:05:31,140 --> 00:05:34,950 let the court go about its business. Many who had packed 84 00:05:34,950 --> 00:05:38,730 the courtroom went back outside, giving Henderson reason to think 85 00:05:38,730 --> 00:05:41,550 that all would be well, but 86 00:05:41,550 --> 00:05:44,910 Judge Henderson: “The little Hopes of Peace derived from this 87 00:05:44,910 --> 00:05:48,300 Piece of Behaviour were very Transient.” 88 00:05:48,810 --> 00:05:51,360 Jim Ambuske: As deputy attorney general John Williams made his 89 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:55,980 way into the courtroom, the Regulators grabbed him. Williams 90 00:05:55,980 --> 00:05:59,220 was both Henderson's legal partner and his father in law, 91 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:02,820 and months earlier, he had signed an order authorizing the 92 00:06:02,820 --> 00:06:07,230 arrest of two Regulators. The regulators battered and beat 93 00:06:07,230 --> 00:06:10,440 Williams with sticks and clubs before he managed to flee, 94 00:06:10,830 --> 00:06:15,360 taking refuge in a nearby store, rushing back inside the 95 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:19,140 courthouse, they found another lawyer, Edmund Fanning a member 96 00:06:19,140 --> 00:06:22,110 of the Provincial Assembly, and a man known for extorting 97 00:06:22,110 --> 00:06:27,150 Piedmont settlers hiding behind the bench, they dragged Fanning 98 00:06:27,150 --> 00:06:31,320 outside, beating and spitting on him as they went when Fanning 99 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:35,100 escaped to hide with Williams in the store, the regulators turned 100 00:06:35,100 --> 00:06:38,910 their attention to other local officials who received a similar 101 00:06:38,910 --> 00:06:44,730 dose of the farmer's fury back inside the courtroom, a 102 00:06:44,730 --> 00:06:48,090 regulator named James Hunter informed a cowering Henderson 103 00:06:48,390 --> 00:06:52,620 that he would not be harmed if he agreed to hold court. The 104 00:06:52,620 --> 00:06:57,480 judge had little choice but to comply. That night, after 105 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:00,660 Henderson held hearings under the Regulators' watchful eye, 106 00:07:01,020 --> 00:07:04,740 they made sure he got home safely, but not before 107 00:07:04,740 --> 00:07:07,830 extracting a promise that he would reopen the court the next 108 00:07:07,830 --> 00:07:13,770 morning, fanning they allowed safe passage as well. But as 109 00:07:13,770 --> 00:07:18,600 dawn broke on Tuesday, September 25 the Regulators awoke to find 110 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:22,770 that Henderson had fled without the judge, the court could not 111 00:07:22,770 --> 00:07:27,660 reopen and justice could not be done. Turning their anger on 112 00:07:27,660 --> 00:07:31,770 Fanning, they ran him out of town and in a scene as familiar 113 00:07:31,770 --> 00:07:35,430 in Boston or New York City as it was in the North Carolina back 114 00:07:35,430 --> 00:07:39,750 country, the regulators broke into Fanning's home, ransacked 115 00:07:39,750 --> 00:07:44,640 his possessions and dismantled it. They left Hillsboro the next 116 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:49,830 day, breaking windows and local shops as they went. Weeks later, 117 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:56,790 they reduced judge Henderson's home to ashes, if the regulators 118 00:07:56,790 --> 00:07:59,250 wanted the provincial government's attention to 119 00:07:59,250 --> 00:08:02,310 finally make it see the injustices suffered by the 120 00:08:02,310 --> 00:08:06,240 king's subjects. The Governor and the assembly were certainly 121 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:11,160 listening, but not in the way the regulators wanted for 122 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:14,700 Governor Tryon and the provincial elite. The attack on 123 00:08:14,700 --> 00:08:19,560 the courthouse was a herald of things to come, but not of a 124 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:22,740 reformation, of a revolution. 125 00:08:30,510 --> 00:08:35,100 I'm Jim Ambuske, and this is Worlds Turned Upside Down, a 126 00:08:35,100 --> 00:08:40,290 podcast about the history of the American Revolution. Episode 14: 127 00:08:40,980 --> 00:08:48,060 The Corruption. In August 1766, five months after Parliament 128 00:08:48,060 --> 00:08:51,690 repealed the hated Stamp Act, farmers gathered near Sandy 129 00:08:51,690 --> 00:08:55,650 Creek in Orange County, North Carolina, to demand answers from 130 00:08:55,650 --> 00:08:59,970 their local officials, inspired by the resistance movements in 131 00:08:59,970 --> 00:09:02,820 Boston, New York, and Charleston, the assembled 132 00:09:02,820 --> 00:09:05,850 farmers charged the provincial elite with

subverting their 133 00:09:05,850 --> 00:09:11,250 rights in abusing their power in a published advertisement, they 134 00:09:11,250 --> 00:09:12,120 proclaimed, 135 00:09:12,930 --> 00:09:15,420 Farmers: “While the sons of Liberty withstood the Lords in 136 00:09:15,420 --> 00:09:19,500 Parliament in behalf of true Liberty let not Officers under 137 00:09:19,500 --> 00:09:23,820 them carry on unjust Oppression in our own Province..there is 138 00:09:23,820 --> 00:09:27,240 many Evils of that nature complained of in this County of 139 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:29,190 Orange in private amongst the Inhabitants therefore let us 140 00:09:29,190 --> 00:09:32,370 remove them (or if there is no cause) let us remove the 141 00:09:32,370 --> 00:09:33,900 Jealousies out of our minds.” 142 00:09:35,100 --> 00:09:38,520 Jim Ambuske: Sandy Creek associates as the mostly Quaker 143 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:42,120 farmers came to be known, called on elite officials like Edmund 144 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:46,050 fanning to appear before them to hear their grievances over land, 145 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:50,100 taxes and representation. Such a meeting, they wrote, would 146 00:09:50,100 --> 00:09:50,940 examine 147 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:54,600 Farmers: “whether the free men of this Country labor under any 148 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:56,520 abuses of power or not” 149 00:09:56,670 --> 00:09:59,070 Jim Ambuske: And it would "certainly cause the wicked men 150 00:09:59,070 --> 00:10:00,900 in power to tremble." 151 00:10:03,150 --> 00:10:06,990 Marjoleine Kars: When the Sandy Creek starts in 1766, they have 152 00:10:06,990 --> 00:10:10,620 seen the Sons of Liberty protest the Stamp Act. The Sons of 153 00:10:10,620 --> 00:10:15,450 Liberty draw on a radical political tradition that argues 154 00:10:15,450 --> 00:10:20,040 that a government is based on the consent of the people, and 155 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:23,190 that people turn over some of their liberties and some of 156 00:10:23,190 --> 00:10:27,390 their powers to a government in exchange for that government 157 00:10:27,420 --> 00:10:32,400 acting in the public good and acting to protect them, and that 158 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:37,080 when a government violates that contract, people not only have a 159 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:41,880 right but even a duty to protest. My name is Marjoleine 160 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:46,920 Kars. I am a professor emeritus at the University of Maryland 161 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:50,880 Baltimore County, and I am now a senior scholar in the history 162 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:56,130 department at MIT. These farmers begin to see themselves as akin 163 00:10:56,280 --> 00:11:00,030 to the Sons of Liberty, who are also arguing that Parliament is 164 00:11:00,030 --> 00:11:03,780 corrupt and that the government doesn't have their best interest 165 00:11:03,780 --> 00:11:08,220 at heart. The Sandy Creek farmers are inspired by that. 166 00:11:08,220 --> 00:11:13,440 They're like, Oh, if our leaders on the coast can stand up for 167 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:17,280 government, then we should too. Of course, these leaders don't 168 00:11:17,310 --> 00:11:20,070 see it that way. They think there's a huge difference 169 00:11:20,070 --> 00:11:25,320 between elite men opposing Britain and ordinary farmers 170 00:11:25,350 --> 00:11:26,880 opposing local elites. 171 00:11:28,020 --> 00:11:30,480 Jim Ambuske: Edmund Fanning refused to meet with the Sandy 172 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:35,970 Creek associates in 1766 nor did he or any other official bother 173 00:11:35,970 --> 00:11:38,730 to appear when their constituents asked for another 174 00:11:38,730 --> 00:11:44,610 meeting a year later, by 1767 it seemed that peaceful, organized 175 00:11:44,610 --> 00:11:47,850 resistance to government corruption in North Carolina had 176 00:11:47,850 --> 00:11:53,310 come to an end. But in 1768 farmers in the North Carolina, 177 00:11:53,310 --> 00:11:57,270 Piedmont from Orange, Rowan, Anson, Mecklenburg, and other 178 00:11:57,270 --> 00:12:01,410 counties, Quakers as well as Baptists, Presbyterians as well 179 00:12:01,410 --> 00:12:05,490 as Protestant evangelicals awakened under a new movement 180 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:13,710 with a new name regulators. So why did a large protest movement 181 00:12:13,710 --> 00:12:16,890 erupt in the North Carolina, back country in the years after 182 00:12:16,890 --> 00:12:20,610 the Seven Years' War? How did radical religion inspire 183 00:12:20,610 --> 00:12:24,810 settlers to combat corruption wherever they found it, and why 184 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:28,590 did the regulators rebellion come to a swift and bloody end? 185 00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:33,000 To begin answering these questions, we'll head first down 186 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:36,240 the Great Wagon Road to the North Carolina Piedmont to 187 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:40,050 reconstruct the world the regulators hope to build. We'll 188 00:12:40,050 --> 00:12:43,860 then travel deep into the regulators hearts to explore the 189 00:12:43,860 --> 00:12:48,090 inner light that fired their divine sparks before setting out 190 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:51,030 on a long march with provincial forces to confront the 191 00:12:51,030 --> 00:12:56,160 regulators near Alamance Creek to witness the beginning and the 192 00:12:56,190 --> 00:13:03,780 end of a revolution over a century before the regulator 193 00:13:03,780 --> 00:13:07,320 uprising, the North Carolina Piedmont was part of a much 194 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:13,500 grander Imperial vision in 1663, King Charles the second granted 195 00:13:13,500 --> 00:13:17,970 a charter to eight men for the province of Carolina. These 196 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:21,630 lords, proprietors, as they were known, had remained loyal to the 197 00:13:21,630 --> 00:13:25,710 king's family during the English Civil Wars of the 1640s a 198 00:13:25,710 --> 00:13:28,890 revolution that led to the execution of the king's father, 199

00:13:28,890 --> 00:13:34,050 Charles I and the transformation of England into a republic. When 200 00:13:34,050 --> 00:13:37,110 the Commonwealth collapsed and Parliament restored the monarchy 201 00:13:37,110 --> 00:13:41,610 in 1660 the return of the king heralded great rewards to those 202 00:13:41,610 --> 00:13:45,450 who had bent the knee. Carolina became the property of the eight 203 00:13:45,450 --> 00:13:50,130 lords in England. The Lords proprietors envisioned a colony 204 00:13:50,130 --> 00:13:54,420 where the few ruled the many under a Constitution drafted in 205 00:13:54,420 --> 00:13:58,230 part by the philosopher John Locke. They imagined a Carolina 206 00:13:58,230 --> 00:14:01,950 controlled by men with vast hereditary estates worked by 207 00:14:01,950 --> 00:14:05,970 tenants and enslaved people to encourage settlement. The 208 00:14:05,970 --> 00:14:09,300 fundamental constitutions of Carolina called for religious 209 00:14:09,300 --> 00:14:13,920 toleration for heathens, Jews, and other dissenters, but not 210 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:18,660 Catholics. Attracting settlers to Carolina proved difficult. 211 00:14:19,110 --> 00:14:22,590 Southern Carolina quickly became more prosperous than the north, 212 00:14:22,980 --> 00:14:28,470 while the colony as a whole grew unruly. In 1712 the proprietors 213 00:14:28,470 --> 00:14:32,280 divided the colony into two, hoping separate Carolinas would 214 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:35,910 make them more governable. But by the end of the decade, most 215 00:14:35,910 --> 00:14:38,910 of them concluded that the colonies were no longer worth 216 00:14:38,910 --> 00:14:43,560 the investment. They sold South Carolina to the crown in 1719 217 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:48,510 transforming it into a Royal Colony. 10 years later, seven of 218 00:14:48,510 --> 00:14:51,480 the eight proprietors sold their shares in North Carolina to 219 00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:56,160 George II, only Lord Granville retained his share, leaving him 220 00:14:56,160 --> 00:15:01,050 in control of the northern half of North Carolina in. Unlike 221 00:15:01,050 --> 00:15:04,650 Virginia and South Carolina, North Carolina had no deep 222 00:15:04,650 --> 00:15:08,340 harbors and comparatively fewer connections to the Atlantic 223 00:15:08,340 --> 00:15:12,450 trade, but North Carolina did have plenty of available land. 224 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:17,070 By the 1760s disease, war, and treaties had diminished the 225 00:15:17,070 --> 00:15:20,100 presence and power of native peoples like the Cherokee and 226 00:15:20,100 --> 00:15:23,160 the Catawba in the Piedmont and throughout the back country of 227 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:27,000 both Carolinas and for British Americans struggling to find 228 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:29,940 land elsewhere, the North Carolina Piedmont was a 229 00:15:29,940 --> 00:15:34,050 tremendous opportunity. Marjoleine Kars explains 230 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:37,200 Marjoleine Kars: White settlers had come into the Piedmont 231 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:42,030 beginning really in the 1740s and 1750s the great majority of 232 00:15:42,030 --> 00:15:45,120 them came from the middle colonies, down the Great Wagon 233 00:15:45,150 --> 00:15:49,500 Road from Pennsylvania into western North Carolina. Some 234 00:15:49,500 --> 00:15:52,590 came from Europe directly, but the great majority came from the 235 00:15:52,590 --> 00:15:53,550 middle colonies 236 00:15:54,300 --> 00:15:56,520 Cynthia Kierner: Western North Carolina, or the area called the 237 00:15:56,520 --> 00:16:00,180 back country, was the fastest growing part of the fastest 238 00:16:00,180 --> 00:16:04,380 growing colony in British North America. Cynthia Kierner, 239 00:16:04,380 --> 00:16:07,500 Professor of History at George Mason University. It was 240 00:16:07,500 --> 00:16:11,730 populated mostly by white farmers who had traveled 241 00:16:11,730 --> 00:16:15,090 southward from places like Pennsylvania and Maryland and 242 00:16:15,090 --> 00:16:17,820 Virginia to settle in the Carolina back country, where the 243 00:16:17,820 --> 00:16:18,780 land was cheaper 244 00:16:19,290 --> 00:16:21,720 Marjoleine Kars: and they were partly pushed out of the middle 245 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:25,290 colonies because land prices were really rising there. And so 246 00:16:25,290 --> 00:16:28,620 people hoped to come to North Carolina to find cheap land in 247 00:16:28,620 --> 00:16:33,420 good sized lots. And they came to North Carolina looking for 248 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:37,320 family competency, as they called it, which meant that you 249 00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:40,590 had enough land to remain independent and to be able to 250 00:16:40,590 --> 00:16:44,340 settle your sons nearby when it came time for them to be 251 00:16:44,340 --> 00:16:45,180 independent. 252 00:16:45,990 --> 00:16:48,810 Cynthia Kierner: We're talking about a white population that 253 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:52,530 has tremendous religious and ethnic diversity. There's 254 00:16:52,530 --> 00:16:55,890 German, there's Scotch-Irish, there's English, there's a lot 255 00:16:55,890 --> 00:16:59,580 of people from different places mixing there, and a lot of 256 00:16:59,580 --> 00:17:02,520 religious diversity to go with those different ethnic groups as 257 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:05,400 well. There were some wealthy people in the area, and 258 00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:08,130 therefore also some enslaved people owned by the wealthy 259 00:17:08,130 --> 00:17:11,910 people, but not very many. There were relatively few towns, and 260 00:17:11,910 --> 00:17:15,390 the towns that were there were quite small. So the population 261 00:17:15,390 --> 00:17:19,260 was overwhelmingly white. It was overwhelmingly rural. People did 262 00:17:19,260 --> 00:17:22,410 kind of like mixed agriculture. They grew grain, mostly wheat. 263 00:17:22,500 --> 00:17:25,260 They kept livestock. It wasn't an easy life. 264 00:17:27,810 --> 00:17:30,180 Jim

Ambuske: Jane and William Spurgin were among the many 265 00:17:30,180 --> 00:17:33,000 British Americans who traveled south in search of family 266 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:38,190 competency. By the late 1760s they were among the more than 267 00:17:38,220 --> 00:17:41,100 42,000 white settlers in the Piedmont. 268 00:17:42,120 --> 00:17:44,550 Cynthia Kierner: Both Jane and William were born in Maryland in 269 00:17:44,550 --> 00:17:50,460 the 1730s they got married in the 1750s they settled in the 270 00:17:50,460 --> 00:17:54,000 North Carolina back country, specifically Rowan County, or 271 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:57,120 the eastern part of Rowan County, an area called Abbott's 272 00:17:57,120 --> 00:18:02,160 Creek by around 1757. Like a lot of other people who migrated 273 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:06,180 into that area, they came with siblings, they came with their 274 00:18:06,180 --> 00:18:09,090 parents, and they came with other members of extended 275 00:18:09,090 --> 00:18:12,150 family. And people tended to migrate in groups, and I think 276 00:18:12,150 --> 00:18:15,390 that that really helped in terms of setting up new farm skids, 277 00:18:15,390 --> 00:18:18,270 and they kind of worked communally, at least initially. 278 00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:20,880 Jim Ambuske: The Spurgins settled in Rowan County in the 279 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:25,050 late 1750s using money from land William had sold along the 280 00:18:25,050 --> 00:18:27,810 Potomac to help pay for their Carolina property. 281 00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:30,600 Cynthia Kierner: By the time of the Imperial crisis, like the 282 00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:35,400 Stamp Act, the spurgeons were prosperous. They owned about six 283 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:40,200 or 700 acres of land, and they may have owned one enslaved man 284 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:45,180 as well. But most impressive of all was the fact that in 1764 285 00:18:45,180 --> 00:18:48,480 just one year after the end of the Seven Years' War and one 286 00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:51,480 year before the Stamp Act crisis, William gets himself 287 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:55,050 appointed as a justice of the peace in Rowan County, which is 288 00:18:55,050 --> 00:18:58,890 a really big deal that makes him, in effect, a member of the 289 00:18:58,890 --> 00:19:00,600 county's ruling elite. 290 00:19:01,140 --> 00:19:04,380 Jim Ambuske: Despite William's appointment, most of his Jane's 291 00:19:04,380 --> 00:19:07,440 and their children's time was spent running the farm. 292 00:19:07,770 --> 00:19:11,400 Cynthia Kierner: Jane would have surely enjoyed the prosperity 293 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:15,270 and the elevated status that came as a result of her and her 294 00:19:15,270 --> 00:19:18,030 husband's success, but she would have been a hard working 295 00:19:18,030 --> 00:19:21,810 farmer's wife, not least because she had borne five children by 296 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:26,700 1754, and less you sigh and think that's a lot. In fact, she 297

00:19:26,700 --> 00:19:30,690 and William ended up having a total of 13 children altogether, 298 00:19:30,930 --> 00:19:34,080 Jim Ambuske: William managed the farm, cleared fields and tended 299 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:37,950 to the wheat and other crops. He possibly built a grist mill and 300 00:19:37,950 --> 00:19:40,950 gave orders to an enslaved man the Sprugins may have owned 301 00:19:41,370 --> 00:19:43,950 Cynthia Kierner: Even before he became a justice, he probably 302 00:19:43,950 --> 00:19:47,010 would have gone to town for the court sessions, which were 303 00:19:47,010 --> 00:19:49,740 quarterly, or in other words, four times a year, because 304 00:19:49,740 --> 00:19:52,860 that's what men did. It was a way that you kept up on the 305 00:19:52,860 --> 00:19:56,910 news. It was a way that you sort of made connections and contacts 306 00:19:57,390 --> 00:20:01,140 Jim Ambuske: While very few of Jane's own words survive, we can 307 00:20:01,140 --> 00:20:04,500 reconstruct our daily life using other evidence from the 18th 308 00:20:04,500 --> 00:20:05,130 century. 309 00:20:05,460 --> 00:20:09,660 Cynthia Kierner: There's a very popular housewifery book from 310 00:20:09,660 --> 00:20:13,080 the period that I'm sure Jane and her neighbors did not own, 311 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:16,290 but it has this cool little passage in there where it 312 00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:20,790 basically says that women or housewives, were responsible for 313 00:20:20,790 --> 00:20:24,210 the physical well being of their families, which I think is a 314 00:20:24,210 --> 00:20:28,200 really kind of concrete way to sort of think about it. So what 315 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:32,040 does that mean? Well, it means producing and preserving food. 316 00:20:32,220 --> 00:20:35,220 Women were typically in charge of poultry. They were in charge 317 00:20:35,220 --> 00:20:38,160 of dairying, orchards, vegetable gardens, and so like not only 318 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:42,000 producing this stuff, but preserving it. It also meant 319 00:20:42,030 --> 00:20:46,380 clothing your family making and maintaining things like clothing 320 00:20:46,410 --> 00:20:51,840 and bed linens, probably the most sort of demanding task in 321 00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:56,250 terms of clothing a family was laundry. Both William and Jane 322 00:20:56,250 --> 00:21:00,660 were literate, and since there were no schools in the area, it 323 00:21:00,660 --> 00:21:04,290 would have been Jane who taught her children to read and write 324 00:21:04,470 --> 00:21:07,800 and to do the sorts of kind of simple arithmetic that would be 325 00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:11,550 useful to them in their future lives. So it was a busy life. 326 00:21:14,130 --> 00:21:16,680 Jim Ambuske: Many of the British Americans who resettled in the 327 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:19,980 North Carolina back country brought with them more than just 328 00:21:19,980 --> 00:21:24,720 a desire for new lands, they carried a new light within them 329 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:27,480 as well. Here's Marjoleine Kars 330 00:21:27,930 --> 00:21:30,840 Marjoleine Kars: The settlement of the Piedmont happens at the 331 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:34,050 same time that this big religious movement that 332 00:21:34,050 --> 00:21:36,900 historians call the Great Awakening happened, which 333 00:21:36,900 --> 00:21:41,040 started in New England in the 1730s and 1740s and then moved 334 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:41,850 south. 335 00:21:42,570 --> 00:21:45,240 Jim Ambuske: The Great Awakening swept through British America in 336 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:49,410 the mid 18th century, led by men like Anglican preacher George 337 00:21:49,410 --> 00:21:53,760 Whitefield and Congregational minister Jonathan Edwards, in 338 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:57,720 their view, all people were sinners in the hands of an angry 339 00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:01,950 God, a God who alone was sovereign over salvation, but 340 00:22:01,950 --> 00:22:05,190 also a merciful being to those willing to open their hearts to 341 00:22:05,190 --> 00:22:09,180 the light in emotive and emotional styles of preaching, 342 00:22:09,390 --> 00:22:12,330 Protestant divines like Whitfield sometimes preached 343 00:22:12,330 --> 00:22:16,590 outdoors in fields and parks to thousands of people at a time, 344 00:22:16,770 --> 00:22:19,740 instantly awakening them to God's grace. 345 00:22:20,550 --> 00:22:23,610 Marjoleine Kars: These folks who come down the Great Wagon Road 346 00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:29,670 bring many of these ideas with them, and these are ideas that 347 00:22:29,820 --> 00:22:35,370 are based on a long radical Protestant tradition that says 348 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:41,070 that after a deep conviction of one's sins, people can be 349 00:22:41,100 --> 00:22:46,980 reborn, and once they are reborn, they carry within them a 350 00:22:47,010 --> 00:22:52,320 God, like Spark, an inner light, as they often call it. That 351 00:22:52,350 --> 00:22:55,380 means that they communicate with God directly. 352 00:22:58,020 --> 00:23:00,510 Jim Ambuske: Herman Husband was one of the many British 353 00:23:00,510 --> 00:23:03,360 Americans who felt a stirring in their souls. 354 00:23:03,990 --> 00:23:08,490 Marjoleine Kars: Herman Husband is born to middling, relatively 355 00:23:08,490 --> 00:23:13,020 well to do farming parents in Maryland. He grows up in the 356 00:23:13,020 --> 00:23:16,380 Anglican Church. At some point he experiences one of these 357 00:23:16,380 --> 00:23:20,490 conversion experiences in response to Whitefield, who 358 00:23:20,490 --> 00:23:24,030 comes from England and makes a big tour through the colonies, 359 00:23:24,210 --> 00:23:28,350 calling upon people to experience a rebirth. Herman 360 00:23:28,350 --> 00:23:31,800 Husband is one of those people who falls under his bell and 361 00:23:31,830 --> 00:23:34,920 experiences a rebirth, and eventually he finds a home among 362 00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:35,880 the Quakers.

363 00:23:37,290 --> 00:23:40,800 Jim Ambuske: In a 1761 pamphlet published in Philadelphia, 364 00:23:41,370 --> 00:23:44,520 Husband described the moment of his awakening, 365 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:48,060 Herman Husband: “I began to feel the Wrath of God to kindle in my 366 00:23:48,060 --> 00:23:52,530 Bosom, and I cried ‘O Lord Jesus! Convince me of a Truth 367 00:23:52,530 --> 00:23:57,480 that it is thee, and I will go at thy Command!’ and I can in 368 00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:01,620 Truth declare it, in a Moment’s time he appeared like a Blaze of 369 00:24:01,620 --> 00:24:07,950 Light, enlightening the whole Room and said, ‘It is, I, be not 370 00:24:07,980 --> 00:24:12,990 afraid.’ I had shut my Eyes from seeing the Glory of that 371 00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:18,120 Light…and being told to be not afraid, I opened my Eyes and had 372 00:24:18,120 --> 00:24:22,290 to behold, that Light was wholly within my Soul.” 373 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:27,570 Marjoleine Kars: People who separate themselves from the 374 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:30,810 Congregational Church in New England or the Anglican Church 375 00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:34,440 in the south, and they either join more democratic 376 00:24:34,470 --> 00:24:37,560 congregations, such as the Baptists or Mennonites or 377 00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:42,870 Dunkers or Quakers, others become separates, and they 378 00:24:42,900 --> 00:24:46,380 remain independent, and they just attend services wherever 379 00:24:46,380 --> 00:24:50,760 they can, or they begin their own meetings where people who 380 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:56,130 are inspired by God as they see it, will lead prayers and give 381 00:24:56,130 --> 00:25:00,570 sermons. These people often begin to feel. Feel that they 382 00:25:00,570 --> 00:25:04,380 don't need a learned minister to tell them what to believe, that 383 00:25:04,380 --> 00:25:07,830 they can read the Bible for themselves, that this god like 384 00:25:07,830 --> 00:25:12,870 spark will help them interpret it, and that in fact, learned 385 00:25:12,870 --> 00:25:18,900 ministers who are not themselves reborn, who have not experienced 386 00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:22,920 this deep conversion are, in fact, people who are not to be 387 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:24,780 trusted and not to be followed 388 00:25:26,430 --> 00:25:29,580 Jim Ambuske: This evangelical emphasis on personal salvation 389 00:25:29,580 --> 00:25:33,090 and rebirth challenged the power and authority of the learned men 390 00:25:33,330 --> 00:25:37,770 who led traditional churches in North Carolina as in other 391 00:25:37,770 --> 00:25:41,280 colonies, the Anglican Church was The official established 392 00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:44,460 Church, though it was not as influential in the colony as 393 00:25:44,460 --> 00:25:48,750 some wanted. For Charles Woodmason, an English born 394 00:25:48,750 --> 00:25:52,020 Anglican minister who settled in South Carolina in the mid 18th 395 00:25:52,020 --> 00:25:55,740 century, the

maddening number of Protestant sects in the two 396 00:25:55,740 --> 00:25:59,580 Carolinas was both a threat to the social order and the 397 00:25:59,580 --> 00:26:05,430 people's spiritual well being. In January 1767, Woodmason was 398 00:26:05,430 --> 00:26:08,370 on a missionary tour of the Carolina backcountry when he 399 00:26:08,370 --> 00:26:11,880 preached at a settlement near Lynch's Creek, not far from the 400 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:16,290 border between the two colonies, and what he found there troubled 401 00:26:16,290 --> 00:26:16,650 him. 402 00:26:17,070 --> 00:26:20,280 Charles Woodmason: “I returned and preached the 27th in my Way 403 00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:24,480 back at Lynch’s Creek to a great Multitude of People assembled 404 00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:27,720 together, being the 1st Episcopal Minister they had seen 405 00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:31,140 since their being in the province–They complain’d of 406 00:26:31,140 --> 00:26:35,370 being eaten up by Itinerant Teachers, Preachers, and 407 00:26:35,370 --> 00:26:39,930 Imposters from New England and Pensylvania—Baptists, New 408 00:26:39,930 --> 00:26:43,680 Lights, Presbyterians, Independents, and an hundred 409 00:26:43,710 --> 00:26:47,430 other Sects–So that one day You might hear this System of 410 00:26:47,460 --> 00:26:51,450 Doctrine–the next day another–next day another, 411 00:26:51,690 --> 00:26:55,830 retrograde to both–Thus by the Variety of Taylors who would 412 00:26:55,830 --> 00:26:59,340 pretend to know the best fashion in which Christs Coat is to be 413 00:26:59,340 --> 00:27:03,930 worn, none will put it on–And among the Various Plans of 414 00:27:03,930 --> 00:27:08,550 Religion, they are at Loss which to adapt, and consequently are 415 00:27:08,550 --> 00:27:10,350 without any Religion at all.” 416 00:27:11,580 --> 00:27:14,250 Marjoleine Kars: Charles Woodmason is absolutely appalled 417 00:27:14,430 --> 00:27:18,420 by these congregations, in part because the congregations are 418 00:27:18,420 --> 00:27:21,870 rather egalitarian, and the Anglican Church is rather 419 00:27:21,870 --> 00:27:26,070 hierarchical, partly because women can breastfeed their 420 00:27:26,070 --> 00:27:29,760 babies in the middle of a meeting, people come and go as 421 00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:32,610 necessary, people discipline their children. Children are 422 00:27:32,610 --> 00:27:36,870 talking. It's just chaotic and disrespectful and not at all 423 00:27:36,870 --> 00:27:39,030 like what a service ought to look like. 424 00:27:39,330 --> 00:27:42,600 Jim Ambuske: Even worse, in the eyes of the cantankerous cleric: 425 00:27:43,050 --> 00:27:45,870 Marjoleine Kars: He also feels that it's preposterous that 426 00:27:45,870 --> 00:27:51,000 these uneducated, formerly uneducated people, who are self 427 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:54,780 taught, many of them know the Bible by heart, but who have not 428 00:27:54,780 --> 00:27:57,690 been to seminary or to university, would have the 429 00:27:57,690 --> 00:28:01,320 wherewithal to give a sermon, and they speak really from the 430 00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:06,360 heart, and the point of their speaking is to elicit an 431 00:28:06,360 --> 00:28:10,410 emotional response in their listeners, and that to Woodmason 432 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:14,220 is, of course, also abhorrent. Church is supposed to be a place 433 00:28:14,220 --> 00:28:18,300 where people sit and in silence listen to a learned sermon by 434 00:28:18,300 --> 00:28:21,840 their ministers, and they don't interrupt and they don't shout, 435 00:28:21,870 --> 00:28:25,680 and they don't ride on the floor, and they don't move. He's 436 00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:28,710 altogether disgusted by them, and at the same time, he's very 437 00:28:28,710 --> 00:28:32,640 worried, because he realizes that these folks are making 438 00:28:32,670 --> 00:28:36,690 enormous inroads. The Anglican Church is not well established 439 00:28:36,690 --> 00:28:40,350 in the Piedmont in North Carolina, but it really impedes 440 00:28:40,650 --> 00:28:44,220 efforts to establish it more firmly, because people don't 441 00:28:44,220 --> 00:28:47,640 want to go to those churches. They want to go to their own 442 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:48,360 meetings. 443 00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:51,840 Jim Ambuske: But perhaps most concerning of all for a minister 444 00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:55,830 like Woodmason, the sheep in the backcountry seem to have no real 445 00:28:55,830 --> 00:29:00,300 need for a shepherd like him, nor did they readily defer to 446 00:29:00,300 --> 00:29:03,840 their social betters, the elite men who ruled the counties and 447 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:07,290 governed the colony and with growing unrest in the Piedmont 448 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:11,130 over allegations of corruption levied by back country settlers 449 00:29:11,130 --> 00:29:14,490 against their provincial government. Woodmason feared 450 00:29:14,490 --> 00:29:17,310 that they were meddling with powers they could not possibly 451 00:29:17,310 --> 00:29:18,090 comprehend. 452 00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:21,240 Marjoleine Kars: These folks believe very deeply that this 453 00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:24,780 spark within them, it's sort of like your conscience, it becomes 454 00:29:24,780 --> 00:29:29,400 your moral compass, and it allows ordinary people to 455 00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:36,000 separate good from bad, evil from godliness. And eventually 456 00:29:36,030 --> 00:29:39,540 it extends to people beginning to think that even though 457 00:29:39,540 --> 00:29:43,830 prevailing elite notions say that ordinary people are not 458 00:29:44,070 --> 00:29:49,200 smart enough, educated, enough with it, enough to dabble in 459 00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:54,330 politics. These people begin to believe that God, like spark 460 00:29:54,330 --> 00:29:59,970 within them allows them not only to ferret out sin in each other. 461 00:30:00,300 --> 00:30:05,820 But ferret out sin in the larger political

sphere, and therefore 462 00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:10,680 these people are inspired, in part, in their activities as 463 00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:15,090 regulators by a religious climate that empowers ordinary 464 00:30:15,090 --> 00:30:18,360 people to trust their own conscience and their own moral 465 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:19,050 compass. 466 00:30:22,410 --> 00:30:26,160 Jim Ambuske: The quest for good land and a divine moral compass 467 00:30:26,460 --> 00:30:29,670 guided farmers who settled in the North Carolina, Piedmont in 468 00:30:29,670 --> 00:30:33,990 search of independence, of what Herman Husband called "a new 469 00:30:33,990 --> 00:30:35,670 government of liberty." 470 00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:39,690 Marjoleine Kars: Independence looked like, first of all, 471 00:30:39,690 --> 00:30:43,290 having enough land so as not to have to be a tenant farmer. And 472 00:30:43,290 --> 00:30:46,110 it meant having enough land so your sons didn't have to be 473 00:30:46,110 --> 00:30:50,160 tenant farmers. You could leave them all, you know, a 200 acre 474 00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:54,360 or whatever farm. It meant growing enough produce on your 475 00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:58,380 farm and being able to sell it so that you could pay your taxes 476 00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:01,140 and you could pay your debts, and you were beholden to nobody. 477 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:06,510 So independence meant economic independence, literally, but it 478 00:31:06,510 --> 00:31:09,870 also meant for many of them, independence from a state 479 00:31:09,870 --> 00:31:14,670 church, the ability to live their religious lives as they 480 00:31:14,670 --> 00:31:15,780 wanted to. 481 00:31:16,710 --> 00:31:19,050 Jim Ambuske: But as they began to build this new government of 482 00:31:19,050 --> 00:31:22,680 liberty, they began to believe that the old one was plagued by 483 00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:27,570 corruption and rot. The power of land speculators, the lack of 484 00:31:27,570 --> 00:31:31,230 hard money and the self interest of local officials helps to 485 00:31:31,230 --> 00:31:36,300 explain why. When colonists like Herman Husband or Jane and 486 00:31:36,300 --> 00:31:39,630 William Spurgin headed for the North Carolina backcountry, they 487 00:31:39,630 --> 00:31:42,690 did so with the intention of owning their own land. 488 00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:46,410 Marjoleine Kars: People come to the Piedmont expecting that they 489 00:31:46,410 --> 00:31:50,910 can get deeds to land. And that process turns out to be much 490 00:31:50,910 --> 00:31:55,230 more complicated than many of them had thought. In part that 491 00:31:55,230 --> 00:31:57,960 is because half of North Carolina is owned by Lord 492 00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:02,220 Granville, a descendant of one of the former proprietors who 493 00:32:02,220 --> 00:32:05,430 had been given big pieces of land in North Carolina in the 494 00:32:05,430 --> 00:32:09,120 17th century. All the other proprietors have sold out to the 495

00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:14,250 king. Granville refuses. The other half of the colony is all 496 00:32:14,250 --> 00:32:17,220 in the hands of the king. And both Granville and the king 497 00:32:17,250 --> 00:32:23,250 employ land agents to sell land to people. The way it's supposed 498 00:32:23,250 --> 00:32:27,180 to happen is people settle down on a piece of land, they begin 499 00:32:27,180 --> 00:32:30,360 to improve it, and then when they have a little bit of money, 500 00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:34,620 they make the long trek to New Bern to go to the land offices 501 00:32:34,650 --> 00:32:37,920 and have their land surveyed and register it, and they will get a 502 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:38,310 deed. 503 00:32:39,270 --> 00:32:42,060 Jim Ambuske: Many prospective Piedmont settlers, however, 504 00:32:42,090 --> 00:32:44,520 encountered a vastly different reality. 505 00:32:45,330 --> 00:32:47,940 Marjoleine Kars: A lot of these land agents, who are not well 506 00:32:47,940 --> 00:32:52,080 regulated or closely overseen, use this process to enrich 507 00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:55,230 themselves. So they do that by selling the same piece of land 508 00:32:55,230 --> 00:32:59,550 to three different people, by charging much bigger fees than 509 00:32:59,550 --> 00:33:04,260 they should for registering a deed, for saying to somebody, 510 00:33:04,260 --> 00:33:06,840 oh, that's a really nice piece of land you found there. 511 00:33:06,900 --> 00:33:10,080 Unfortunately, that land has already been promised to 512 00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:12,750 somebody else, usually one of their own friends. 513 00:33:13,980 --> 00:33:16,560 Jim Ambuske: Even when settlers believed they had clear titles 514 00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:20,040 to land, the records in the colonial capital of New Bern 515 00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:22,110 sometimes told a different story. 516 00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:26,550 Marjoleine Kars: Herman Husband, who at some point after he has 517 00:33:26,550 --> 00:33:30,270 moved to the Piedmont in the early 1750s goes to New Bern, 518 00:33:30,300 --> 00:33:34,770 look at the records there, is appalled that all these people 519 00:33:34,770 --> 00:33:37,950 from whom he had gotten notices that their deeds should be 520 00:33:37,950 --> 00:33:41,790 there. Their deeds are not there. The land office is 521 00:33:41,790 --> 00:33:46,650 chaotic. People feel exploited. A lot of people can't get clear 522 00:33:46,650 --> 00:33:51,630 title nearly as easily, and the trek to the coast is really far, 523 00:33:51,630 --> 00:33:53,760 so people cannot do this repeatedly. 524 00:33:56,940 --> 00:33:59,430 Jim Ambuske: Unscrupulous land agents weren't the only 525 00:33:59,430 --> 00:34:02,340 obstacles to the settlers pursuit of good ground. 526 00:34:03,300 --> 00:34:06,150 Marjoleine Kars: Big parts of the Piedmont are in the hands of 527 00:34:06,150 --> 00:34:10,260 speculators, big time speculators, some of whom own as 528 00:34:10,260 --> 00:34:14,550 much as 2000 square miles. And these men are supposed to make 529 00:34:14,550 --> 00:34:19,110 their money by bringing settlers into the Piedmont in order to 530 00:34:19,230 --> 00:34:23,700 augment a population that will pay quick rents to the king. But 531 00:34:23,700 --> 00:34:27,090 instead of spending their own money to bring people from 532 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:30,480 Europe, they just sit back and wait till these folks come from 533 00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:34,920 the middle colonies, settle down on the land, spend a couple of 534 00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:39,180 years of hard work, sweat and tears, to turn those pieces of 535 00:34:39,180 --> 00:34:43,140 land into nice farms. And then they go up to them, and they 536 00:34:43,140 --> 00:34:46,830 say, nice farm you have here that's worth a lot of money. 537 00:34:47,220 --> 00:34:51,720 Unfortunately, you are sitting on my land, so I'll sell you 538 00:34:51,720 --> 00:34:55,620 your own farm if you want me to. And then, in other words, they 539 00:34:55,620 --> 00:35:00,630 retail land to farmers who have already improved it. And thereby 540 00:35:00,660 --> 00:35:04,680 made it valuable. So these settlers are basically turning 541 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:08,880 what is a paper fortune into an actual fortune. For these 542 00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:12,870 speculators and people resent this greatly. They feel that 543 00:35:12,870 --> 00:35:16,050 frontier land should be available to the people who do 544 00:35:16,050 --> 00:35:21,780 the work of turning wilderness and Indian land into European 545 00:35:21,780 --> 00:35:26,640 farms. These speculators feel very differently. They feel that 546 00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:29,790 they obtained these large pieces of land, usually through 547 00:35:29,790 --> 00:35:33,000 connections, very cheaply, and they spent their money by 548 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:37,260 selling that land as farms to the very people who created it. 549 00:35:37,830 --> 00:35:40,560 Jim Ambuske: That left settlers with few good options. 550 00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:44,250 Marjoleine Kars: These farmers are willing to pay fees for the 551 00:35:44,250 --> 00:35:48,780 land and modest sums of money, but are not willing to pay these 552 00:35:48,780 --> 00:35:53,340 speculators what the farm is worth, given that their labor 553 00:35:53,370 --> 00:35:57,360 created that worth in the first place, but given that money is 554 00:35:57,360 --> 00:36:00,300 scarce in the Piedmont and people have trouble coming up 555 00:36:00,300 --> 00:36:04,050 with money to pay these speculators. They're often put 556 00:36:04,050 --> 00:36:07,560 in very awkward positions because the speculators say, if 557 00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:12,420 you can't pay, or you don't want to pay, just move. That means 558 00:36:12,420 --> 00:36:16,440 leaving three, four, five years of work behind. People are often 559 00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:17,370 in a real fix. 560 00:36:17,910 --> 00:36:20,160 Jim Ambuske: The lack of

circulating hard money in North 561 00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:23,910 Carolina only compounded the settlers' problems, giving land 562 00:36:23,910 --> 00:36:28,620 speculators the advantage. In 1764 Parliament passed the 563 00:36:28,620 --> 00:36:31,560 Currency Act forbidding the colonies from issuing paper 564 00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:35,250 money as legal tender and outlawing its use for satisfying 565 00:36:35,250 --> 00:36:38,700 public or private debts. The Act was designed to prevent 566 00:36:38,700 --> 00:36:41,790 colonists from paying British merchants with depreciated paper 567 00:36:41,790 --> 00:36:45,450 currency, but it also drained the colonies of hard money, 568 00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:48,930 making it difficult for settlers in North Carolina to buy land 569 00:36:49,020 --> 00:36:52,350 pay Imperial stamp duties and even local taxes. 570 00:36:52,770 --> 00:36:55,980 Marjoleine Kars: They're worried about these taxes, which they 571 00:36:55,980 --> 00:36:59,730 have trouble paying and which are highly regressive, because 572 00:36:59,730 --> 00:37:03,810 people pay taxes, not according to how much land they own, but 573 00:37:03,810 --> 00:37:07,830 they pay what is called a head tax, meaning that everybody pays 574 00:37:07,830 --> 00:37:12,030 the tax regardless of how much you own or don't own. So a 575 00:37:12,030 --> 00:37:17,340 speculator with 100,000 acres pays the same as a man with 200 576 00:37:17,340 --> 00:37:20,070 acres or a man with no acres, 577 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:23,430 Jim Ambuske: As one farmer in Mecklenburg County lamented: 578 00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:27,540 Farmer: “A man that is worth £10,000 pays no more than a poor 579 00:37:27,540 --> 00:37:30,720 back settler that has nothing but the labour of his hands to 580 00:37:30,720 --> 00:37:32,730 depend upon for his daily support.” 581 00:37:33,270 --> 00:37:35,880 Jim Ambuske: Religious taxes added to the Piedmont settlers. 582 00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:39,900 Growing list of complaints, North Carolina tolerated other 583 00:37:39,900 --> 00:37:43,440 Protestant sects and religious faiths. But like other colonies, 584 00:37:43,440 --> 00:37:46,800 it did not grant religious freedom. Quakers, Baptists, 585 00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:50,700 Moravians, and independents were required to pay a vestry tax to 586 00:37:50,700 --> 00:37:53,940 support the Anglican Church in their respective counties, and 587 00:37:53,940 --> 00:37:57,210 while the vestry tax funded the salaries of local Anglican 588 00:37:57,210 --> 00:38:00,390 ministers, supporting the salaries of local sheriffs, 589 00:38:00,420 --> 00:38:03,780 justices of the peace and other court officials, was an entirely 590 00:38:03,780 --> 00:38:04,680 different matter. 591 00:38:05,370 --> 00:38:09,780 Abby Chandler: North Carolina cannot afford to pay salaries 592 00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:16,140 for many of its positions of the colonial government: the royal 593 00:38:16,140 --> 00:38:19,440 governor gets a salary, the Chief Justice gets a salary, the 594 00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:23,970 Governor's Council gets a salary, but the positions at the 595 00:38:23,970 --> 00:38:27,750 county level, county clerks, county sheriffs, essential for 596 00:38:27,750 --> 00:38:32,460 making a county work, do not get paid salaries. I am Abby 597 00:38:32,460 --> 00:38:36,630 Chandler. I am Associate Professor of early American 598 00:38:36,630 --> 00:38:40,740 history at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell. The 599 00:38:40,740 --> 00:38:45,720 system that the North Carolina legislature comes up with is the 600 00:38:45,720 --> 00:38:49,590 county sheriff is responsible for collecting taxes, both 601 00:38:49,590 --> 00:38:55,710 colonial and imperial taxes, and he can then collect a percentage 602 00:38:56,070 --> 00:38:59,970 on top of that. There are no rules that say how large that 603 00:38:59,970 --> 00:39:03,570 percentage is. The sheriff could come out to your farm and say, 604 00:39:03,570 --> 00:39:08,490 I'm here to collect the colonial taxes, and that'll be 8% on top 605 00:39:08,490 --> 00:39:14,040 of that, and you'll pay him the taxes, plus the 8%. He goes off. 606 00:39:14,310 --> 00:39:18,930 There's also no system for documenting the collection. He 607 00:39:18,930 --> 00:39:21,210 can come back two weeks later and say, hi, I'm here for the 608 00:39:21,210 --> 00:39:24,510 taxes. And you can say, but I paid them. And you can say, no, 609 00:39:24,510 --> 00:39:28,680 you didn't. This is a problem that everybody in North Carolina 610 00:39:28,710 --> 00:39:35,520 is aware of. In the 1750s Governor Dobbs mentions this is 611 00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:40,560 a problem. We need to fix this, but the colonial legislature has 612 00:39:40,560 --> 00:39:43,890 no interest in fixing the problem, because the men who are 613 00:39:43,890 --> 00:39:48,480 in the colonial legislature are from those powerful eastern 614 00:39:48,570 --> 00:39:52,440 North Carolina families, and the county clerks and sheriffs are 615 00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:57,360 their brothers and their sons and their nephews, and this 616 00:39:57,360 --> 00:40:01,620 system is financially benefiting their families. So why fix it? 617 00:40:04,500 --> 00:40:08,430 Jim Ambuske: By 1766 Piedmont farmers began to believe that it 618 00:40:08,430 --> 00:40:12,210 was up to them to fix what they saw as a corrupt system and 619 00:40:12,210 --> 00:40:14,370 defend their rights and liberties as the king's 620 00:40:14,370 --> 00:40:18,480 subjects, Quakers as well as Protestants, men as well as 621 00:40:18,480 --> 00:40:21,780 women, guided by an inner light, met at Sandy Creek in Orange 622 00:40:21,780 --> 00:40:26,280 County that August to discuss their plight. Marjoleine Kars 623 00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:27,270 explains why 624 00:40:27,690 --> 00:40:31,230 Marjoleine Kars: The Sandy Creek Association is started in 1766 625 00:40:31,260 --> 00:40:35,250 by a number of farmers who are deeply

disappointed by what they 626 00:40:35,250 --> 00:40:39,060 found in the Piedmont, the ways in which it did not turn out to 627 00:40:39,060 --> 00:40:43,200 be a new government of liberty, and who decide that together, 628 00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:48,330 they are going to agitate for greater fairness, for farmers to 629 00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:52,620 root out government fraud, government officials on the 630 00:40:52,620 --> 00:40:57,210 local courts, who charge people more fees than they should this 631 00:40:57,210 --> 00:41:01,200 land situation, but also the fact that people have to use the 632 00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:03,600 courts for pretty much everything that happens to a 633 00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:05,520 farmer when they interact with government. 634 00:41:06,240 --> 00:41:09,330 Jim Ambuske: From the farmer's point of view, local courts and 635 00:41:09,330 --> 00:41:12,990 court officials were at the heart of an unfair, unjust and 636 00:41:12,990 --> 00:41:16,770 immoral world that sacrificed virtue, godliness and the 637 00:41:16,770 --> 00:41:21,090 community's well being in favor of self interest, greed and 638 00:41:21,090 --> 00:41:22,200 naked ambition. 639 00:41:22,650 --> 00:41:24,990 Marjoleine Kars: If you want to register a deed or you want to 640 00:41:24,990 --> 00:41:28,710 register a contract, or you want to sue for a debt or you want to 641 00:41:28,710 --> 00:41:32,040 contest the debt, you go initially to your local court, 642 00:41:32,430 --> 00:41:37,350 and those local courts charge fees, and those fees add up very 643 00:41:37,350 --> 00:41:41,760 fast, and what court officials are doing is charge fees that 644 00:41:41,760 --> 00:41:45,000 are way higher than what's allowed, and they frequently 645 00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:49,170 postpone cases. You pay fees every time your case comes up 646 00:41:49,170 --> 00:41:53,880 again. Fees go up because court cases are postponed, and also 647 00:41:53,880 --> 00:41:58,200 people have to travel 1015, 2030, miles to come to court. So 648 00:41:58,200 --> 00:42:01,470 postponements are expensive in a number of different ways. 649 00:42:04,050 --> 00:42:07,320 Jim Ambuske: And then there were lawyers like Edmund Fanning, a 650 00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:10,440 native of Long Island New York, and a favorite of Governor 651 00:42:10,440 --> 00:42:13,770 Tryon, who made a very good living in Orange County 652 00:42:13,830 --> 00:42:17,130 representing land speculators and wealthy clients in local 653 00:42:17,130 --> 00:42:23,130 courts around 1765, one disgruntled back country settler 654 00:42:23,160 --> 00:42:27,750 entertained wedding guests with a song about a poor man who had 655 00:42:27,750 --> 00:42:29,610 become very rich. 656 00:42:30,420 --> 00:42:34,590 Regulator Song: When Fanning first to Orange came; He looked 657 00:42:34,590 --> 00:42:40,380 both pale and wan; An old patched coat upon his back; An 658 00:42:40,380 --> 00:42:45,450 old mare he rode on. Both man and mare wa'n't worth five 659 00:42:45,450 --> 00:42:52,920 pounds; As I've been often told; But by his civil robberies; He's 660 00:42:52,920 --> 00:42:55,530 laced his coat with gold. 661 00:42:56,160 --> 00:42:58,980 Marjoleine Kars: So the Sandy Creek Association starts 662 00:42:59,010 --> 00:43:03,030 initially as a way to figure out, how can they make 663 00:43:03,030 --> 00:43:07,140 government more responsive and more fair and less corrupt? 664 00:43:07,620 --> 00:43:10,080 Jim Ambuske: The farmers called on Edmund Fanning their 665 00:43:10,080 --> 00:43:13,110 representative in the Provincial Assembly, as well as other 666 00:43:13,110 --> 00:43:17,040 officials, to appear before them at Sandy Creek in a manifesto 667 00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:20,160 written by Herman Husband, the farmers demanded that these 668 00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:24,330 officials give an account of their stewardship, fanning 669 00:43:24,390 --> 00:43:27,870 declined, nor did petitions to the governor and the Provincial 670 00:43:27,870 --> 00:43:29,700 Assembly have much effect. 671 00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:34,890 Marjoleine Kars: They have very limited success. And in 1768 672 00:43:34,950 --> 00:43:38,400 they reorganized, and they renamed themselves "The 673 00:43:39,030 --> 00:43:40,050 Regulators." 674 00:43:44,070 --> 00:43:48,300 Jim Ambuske: When dawn broke in 1768, settlers in the North 675 00:43:48,300 --> 00:43:51,780 Carolina Piedmont ushered in the new year with a renewed sense of 676 00:43:51,780 --> 00:43:56,970 purpose and determination that justice would be done. Farmers 677 00:43:56,970 --> 00:44:00,840 in orange, Anson, Mecklenburg, and Rowan counties resurrected 678 00:44:00,840 --> 00:44:04,740 the spirit of the Sandy Creek Association, this time calling 679 00:44:04,740 --> 00:44:09,000 themselves regulators. The choice of that name was no 680 00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:13,020 accident. It revealed the farmers familiarity with English 681 00:44:13,020 --> 00:44:17,460 history and a common moral sense informed by their evangelical 682 00:44:17,460 --> 00:44:18,120 beliefs. 683 00:44:19,230 --> 00:44:21,900 Marjoleine Kars: It's a term that originates in Britain in 684 00:44:21,900 --> 00:44:25,950 about the mid of the 17th century, where regulators were 685 00:44:25,950 --> 00:44:31,170 actually government officials who were appointed to travel 686 00:44:31,170 --> 00:44:36,120 around and ferret out government corruption in towns and cities 687 00:44:36,570 --> 00:44:41,190 by adopting that name, farmers are trying to give themselves a 688 00:44:41,190 --> 00:44:46,440 certain amount of legitimacy and say, we too are going to ferret 689 00:44:46,470 --> 00:44:50,220 out government corruption in order that government work 690 00:44:50,250 --> 00:44:50,790 better 691 00:44:51,390 --> 00:44:53,760 Jim Ambuske: The regulators agreed among themselves not to 692 00:44:53,760 --> 00:44:57,360 pay taxes nor pay court officials any fees greater than 693

00:44:57,360 --> 00:45:01,230 those allowed by law, unless their. Advances were redressed 694 00:45:01,620 --> 00:45:04,530 or they were compelled by force, we 695 00:45:04,530 --> 00:45:08,070 Farmers: “We will stand true and faithful to this cause until We 696 00:45:08,070 --> 00:45:10,290 bring them to a true regulation.” 697 00:45:10,800 --> 00:45:14,400 Jim Ambuske: But who were the leaders of this cause? Unlike 698 00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:17,820 settlers formal petitions to the governor or the assembly, the 699 00:45:17,820 --> 00:45:21,750 regulators often didn't sign their public communications, and 700 00:45:21,750 --> 00:45:22,830 that was intentional. 701 00:45:23,670 --> 00:45:27,750 Marjoleine Kars: They are a very egalitarian group of people, a 702 00:45:27,750 --> 00:45:30,990 movement that loosely hangs together by people who share 703 00:45:30,990 --> 00:45:34,890 grievances, who share similar ideas about how it ought to be 704 00:45:34,980 --> 00:45:39,780 relieved or how things ought to be made better, and who come and 705 00:45:39,780 --> 00:45:45,600 go as the situation requires it, they repeatedly refuse to have 706 00:45:45,600 --> 00:45:49,170 leaders. Or when people are appointed and asked to take 707 00:45:49,170 --> 00:45:52,230 leadership roles, those men say, No, we're all doing this 708 00:45:52,230 --> 00:45:54,240 together. We shouldn't have leaders. 709 00:45:54,990 --> 00:45:57,720 Jim Ambuske: Nevertheless, some settlers exerted a greater 710 00:45:57,720 --> 00:46:01,380 influence than others over the movement, men like Jeremiah 711 00:46:01,380 --> 00:46:05,370 Fields, James Hunter, and most especially Herman Husband. 712 00:46:06,270 --> 00:46:09,540 Nathan Schultz: I would describe Herman Husband as a radical, 713 00:46:09,600 --> 00:46:14,430 theocratic Democrat. He believes in radical politics. He cares 714 00:46:14,430 --> 00:46:17,550 about the common people. He really hates these courthouse 715 00:46:17,550 --> 00:46:20,970 rings. He literally calls him the beast, in a very clear 716 00:46:20,970 --> 00:46:24,270 biblical reference. I'm Nathan Schultz, the site manager at 717 00:46:24,270 --> 00:46:26,670 Alamance Battleground State Historic Site as part of the 718 00:46:26,670 --> 00:46:30,840 North Carolina State Historic Site system. He had religious 719 00:46:30,840 --> 00:46:34,620 visions about his place in the world and how the world should 720 00:46:34,620 --> 00:46:37,200 be, and he cared deeply about the regular people. 721 00:46:38,010 --> 00:46:41,370 Jim Ambuske: Husband is a complicated, confounding figure, 722 00:46:41,880 --> 00:46:45,870 a man who, in this moment and in the decades to come, seemed to 723 00:46:45,870 --> 00:46:50,340 relish rebellion and revolution wherever he found it. When he 724 00:46:50,340 --> 00:46:54,330 migrated to the North Carolina Piedmont in the 1750s he joined 725 00:46:54,330 --> 00:46:57,840 the Quaker community at Cane Creek in Orange County. But in 726 00:46:57,840 --> 00:47:03,030 1764 the community expelled him following a years long dispute 727 00:47:03,060 --> 00:47:06,510 over the membership of a woman named Rachel Wright who had very 728 00:47:06,510 --> 00:47:09,960 publicly supported her young daughter after her alleged rape 729 00:47:10,050 --> 00:47:15,390 by Jehu Stuart. Husband didn't abandon his Quaker beliefs after 730 00:47:15,390 --> 00:47:19,830 his expulsion, but he struggled to reconcile Quaker pacifism in 731 00:47:19,830 --> 00:47:23,820 moderation with evangelical ferocity and his own sense of 732 00:47:23,820 --> 00:47:27,540 his English rights and liberties, he was willing to 733 00:47:27,540 --> 00:47:31,740 lift the terrible, swift sword of God's righteous justice, but 734 00:47:31,740 --> 00:47:33,630 leave it to others to swing it. 735 00:47:34,500 --> 00:47:38,580 Marjoleine Kars: Men like Herman Husband take that idea of a 736 00:47:38,580 --> 00:47:44,190 compact that people have a duty to protect. And he melds that 737 00:47:44,220 --> 00:47:48,240 with this radical Protestant idea about people having a God 738 00:47:48,240 --> 00:47:50,790 like spark within them that tells them what's right and 739 00:47:50,790 --> 00:47:56,250 wrong. And so Herman Husband begins to argue that not only do 740 00:47:56,250 --> 00:48:00,300 people have a right and a duty to protect government, but that 741 00:48:00,300 --> 00:48:05,160 the God, like spark within them, makes that duty a sacred duty, 742 00:48:05,730 --> 00:48:11,700 so that radical religion not only makes it okay for ordinary 743 00:48:11,700 --> 00:48:15,840 people to engage in politics, but it makes it imperative that 744 00:48:15,840 --> 00:48:18,900 men do so. And in fact, God is on their side. 745 00:48:19,620 --> 00:48:22,650 Jim Ambuske: In Husband's view, the regulators had a singular 746 00:48:22,650 --> 00:48:23,370 objective. 747 00:48:23,850 --> 00:48:27,840 Herman Husband: “All we want is to be Governed by Law, and not 748 00:48:27,870 --> 00:48:32,910 by the Will of officers, which to us is perfectly despotick and 749 00:48:32,970 --> 00:48:33,810 arbitrary.” 750 00:48:39,540 --> 00:48:42,330 Jim Ambuske: But from the perspective of Governor, Tryon, 751 00:48:42,360 --> 00:48:45,090 the Provincial Assembly and local officials like Edmund 752 00:48:45,090 --> 00:48:48,810 fanning the regulators and the back country were on the edge of 753 00:48:48,810 --> 00:48:54,270 lawlessness. Tryon was a soldier of empire and a man of Imperial 754 00:48:54,270 --> 00:49:00,600 ambition, appointed governor by the king in 1764 Trion had his 755 00:49:00,600 --> 00:49:04,710 eyes set on an even greater prize, the governorship of New 756 00:49:04,710 --> 00:49:09,270 York, but first he had to prove himself in North Carolina. 757 00:49:10,050 --> 00:49:11,190 Here's Nathan Schultz. 758 00:49:12,000 --> 00:49:14,190 Nathan Schultz: He's really this typical British imperial 759 00:49:14,190 --> 00:49:17,130 official. He

had family connections, both through his 760 00:49:17,130 --> 00:49:20,550 own family and his wife's family, who were considerably 761 00:49:20,550 --> 00:49:23,520 wealthy and influential. He's also a career military officer. 762 00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:27,330 He started in the first Foot Guards, the most prestigious 763 00:49:27,360 --> 00:49:30,390 unit in the British Army, and he eventually rises all the way to 764 00:49:30,390 --> 00:49:33,300 Lieutenant Colonel at that regiment, and fights with them 765 00:49:33,330 --> 00:49:38,070 during raids to France during the Seven Years War, and gains 766 00:49:38,070 --> 00:49:41,070 this royal appointment to become governor of North Carolina. 767 00:49:41,700 --> 00:49:44,340 Jim Ambuske: In North Carolina, the governor hoped to improve 768 00:49:44,340 --> 00:49:45,420 the colony's image. 769 00:49:45,990 --> 00:49:49,080 Nathan Schultz: He tries, from his perspective, he tries to 770 00:49:49,260 --> 00:49:52,830 raise the prestige of North Carolina. He improved the postal 771 00:49:52,830 --> 00:49:57,780 system. He views that to have a respectful colony, you need to 772 00:49:57,780 --> 00:50:00,600 have a place, a center, a focal point. Point of government 773 00:50:00,600 --> 00:50:03,390 power, and that's where he constructs what becomes Tryon's 774 00:50:03,390 --> 00:50:03,900 Palace 775 00:50:04,560 --> 00:50:07,950 Jim Ambuske: In the spring of 1768, word of a new round of 776 00:50:07,950 --> 00:50:12,300 taxes reached farmers in Orange County. The new levies would pay 777 00:50:12,300 --> 00:50:14,970 for the construction of an ostentatious building in the 778 00:50:14,970 --> 00:50:19,500 capital of New Bern three years earlier, the Stamp Act crisis 779 00:50:19,500 --> 00:50:22,860 had soured relations between Governor Tryon, who had a duty 780 00:50:22,860 --> 00:50:26,160 to enforce parliaments to test at law, and the Provincial 781 00:50:26,160 --> 00:50:30,840 Assembly, who resisted it with the crisis abated, and in an 782 00:50:30,840 --> 00:50:33,720 effort to restore harmony with the governor, the assembly 783 00:50:33,720 --> 00:50:37,770 appropriated a total of 15,000 pounds to fund the construction 784 00:50:37,770 --> 00:50:41,310 of a new official residence for the colony's governors that some 785 00:50:41,310 --> 00:50:46,050 would soon call "Tryon Palace." For Tryon, the erection of the 786 00:50:46,050 --> 00:50:49,410 fine red brick, Georgian style building was in keeping with his 787 00:50:49,410 --> 00:50:52,290 efforts to elevate North Carolina from a colonial 788 00:50:52,290 --> 00:50:55,260 backwater into a proper Imperial province. 789 00:50:55,560 --> 00:50:57,900 Nathan Schultz: He comes with an architect to build this. The 790 00:50:57,900 --> 00:51:00,810 Assembly originally authorized only 5,000 pounds to construct. 791 00:51:00,810 --> 00:51:04,050 It eventually cost 15,000 pounds, and so the difference 792 00:51:04,050 --> 00:51:05,700 has to be made up

from the population 793 00:51:06,540 --> 00:51:10,140 Jim Ambuske: To Piedmont farmers Tryon Palace was a monument to 794 00:51:10,140 --> 00:51:14,100 malfeasance, an edifice that symbolized the wealth in which 795 00:51:14,100 --> 00:51:18,690 they did not share. They learned of the palace's greater costs 796 00:51:18,780 --> 00:51:22,200 shortly after the Sheriff of Orange County announced he would 797 00:51:22,200 --> 00:51:26,370 no longer travel from farm to farm to collect all due taxes. 798 00:51:27,060 --> 00:51:30,330 Instead, colonists would be required to pay them at one of 799 00:51:30,330 --> 00:51:32,790 five different collection points, putting the 800 00:51:32,790 --> 00:51:40,560 responsibility and any expenses that came with it on them as the 801 00:51:40,560 --> 00:51:43,950 farmers began working their fields that spring, the back 802 00:51:43,950 --> 00:51:49,350 country reached a breaking point in March, 1768, regulators in 803 00:51:49,350 --> 00:51:52,950 Orange County protested the new appropriations for Tryon Palace, 804 00:51:53,100 --> 00:51:56,460 declaring that they would not pay any tax until Edmund 805 00:51:56,460 --> 00:52:01,140 Fanning, their representative, could justify it to them. In 806 00:52:01,140 --> 00:52:05,040 April, an armed regulator mob confronted the county sheriff 807 00:52:05,040 --> 00:52:08,700 near Hillsboro after he had seized the horse of a Regulator 808 00:52:08,700 --> 00:52:13,200 accused of not paying his taxes, Fanning informed try on that he 809 00:52:13,200 --> 00:52:16,380 could not rely on the county militia to help restore order. 810 00:52:16,740 --> 00:52:19,680 Most militia men were sympathetic to the Regulator's 811 00:52:19,680 --> 00:52:24,360 cause, if not Regulators themselves. Two weeks later, 812 00:52:24,570 --> 00:52:28,650 some 40 armed Regulators in nearby Anson county barged into 813 00:52:28,650 --> 00:52:32,550 the local court in Salisbury and disrupted its proceedings. They 814 00:52:32,550 --> 00:52:36,660 came back days later and in greater numbers, expelling the 815 00:52:36,660 --> 00:52:40,440 judges, holding their own court and debating whether to burn the 816 00:52:40,440 --> 00:52:44,160 building, they warned the sheriff he would do well to make 817 00:52:44,160 --> 00:52:49,410 no attempt to collect taxes. In the wake of these events, Tryon 818 00:52:49,410 --> 00:52:52,920 believed it had become necessary to reassert the provincial 819 00:52:52,920 --> 00:52:57,270 government's authority in the Piedmont. On April 27, the 820 00:52:57,270 --> 00:53:00,240 governor issued a proclamation ordering the regulators to 821 00:53:00,240 --> 00:53:05,550 disperse, submit to law or face force, he deputized Edmund 822 00:53:05,550 --> 00:53:08,850 Fanning and a company of men to arrest the chief agitators, 823 00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:12,330 leading to the arrest of Hermann Husband and William Butler on 824 00:53:12,330 --> 00:53:16,890 May 1. Men, women, and children

gathered by the hundreds on the 825 00:53:16,890 --> 00:53:20,880 streets of Hillsboro to protest the arrests, raising fears of a 826 00:53:20,880 --> 00:53:25,860 violent confrontation or something far worse, as one 827 00:53:25,860 --> 00:53:29,400 regulator wrote, If government officials could arrest husband 828 00:53:29,400 --> 00:53:35,070 and Butler, then none were now safe, whether active, passive or 829 00:53:35,070 --> 00:53:39,870 neutral. Fortunately, Tryons' private secretary managed to 830 00:53:39,870 --> 00:53:44,310 calm the mob, he pledged that if the crowd dispersed, the 831 00:53:44,310 --> 00:53:48,420 governor would receive their petitions for the regulators. 832 00:53:48,450 --> 00:53:51,960 This was a victory, a chance to open the governor eyes to their 833 00:53:51,960 --> 00:53:55,380 plight and the corruption that threatened the liberties of all 834 00:53:55,380 --> 00:53:59,220 the king's subjects. That assurance was, for the moment, 835 00:53:59,460 --> 00:54:06,000 good enough. The crowd went home when the regulators sent their 836 00:54:06,000 --> 00:54:11,010 petition to try on in late May 1768, they apologized for the 837 00:54:11,010 --> 00:54:14,430 recent upheavals, but assured the governor they were 838 00:54:14,430 --> 00:54:15,240 necessary. 839 00:54:16,590 --> 00:54:19,710 Regulators: “Those Disturbances had their source in the corrupt 840 00:54:19,710 --> 00:54:24,480 and arbitrary Practices of nefarious & designing men who 841 00:54:24,480 --> 00:54:28,800 being put into Posts of Profit and Credit among us, and not 842 00:54:28,800 --> 00:54:32,370 being satisfied with the legal benefits which arose from the 843 00:54:32,400 --> 00:54:36,630 execution of their Offices have been using every artiface, 844 00:54:36,660 --> 00:54:40,740 practicing every Fraud…to squeeze and extort from the 845 00:54:40,740 --> 00:54:41,970 wretched Poor.” 846 00:54:42,570 --> 00:54:45,840 Jim Ambuske: But Tryon was not as receptive as the regulators 847 00:54:45,840 --> 00:54:50,160 had hoped. Their complaints he replied, did not justify their 848 00:54:50,160 --> 00:54:54,090 actions, nor did they have any right to call themselves 849 00:54:54,090 --> 00:54:54,900 Regulators. 850 00:54:55,290 --> 00:54:58,440 Marjoleine Kars: Governor Tryon is very upset about them using 851 00:54:58,440 --> 00:55:01,920 that term, and he's constantly. He's saying, quit using that 852 00:55:01,920 --> 00:55:06,750 term regulators. He says it means that you are assuming a 853 00:55:06,750 --> 00:55:09,870 constitutional authority that you do not have. 854 00:55:10,350 --> 00:55:14,250 Jim Ambuske: Still Tryon could not ignore the merits of some of 855 00:55:14,250 --> 00:55:18,240 the regulators grievances. In July, he issued a proclamation 856 00:55:18,240 --> 00:55:21,510 commanding court officials to cease charging excessive fees, 857 00:55:22,230 --> 00:55:25,290 yet he could not turn a blind eye from the perceived weakness 858 00:55:25,290 --> 00:55:28,380 of the government in the back country. He paid a visit to 859 00:55:28,380 --> 00:55:31,050 Hillsboro that summer to make a point. 860 00:55:31,530 --> 00:55:35,340 Marjoleine Kars: He really relishes taking the fields. He, 861 00:55:35,370 --> 00:55:40,290 from the very beginning, refuses to take farmers grievances 862 00:55:40,290 --> 00:55:44,730 seriously. I argue that he does much to inflame the situation. 863 00:55:44,910 --> 00:55:48,840 Several times, coming to Hillsboro, ostensibly to meet 864 00:55:48,840 --> 00:55:52,530 with people, but then, in fact, bringing soldiers with him, 865 00:55:52,770 --> 00:55:55,650 arguing that these farmers are disrespectful, that their 866 00:55:55,650 --> 00:55:58,830 grievances are made up, that they are violating the 867 00:55:58,830 --> 00:56:03,990 Constitution, he ratchets up the situation. He makes what could 868 00:56:03,990 --> 00:56:07,980 have remained peaceful protests into something that becomes 869 00:56:07,980 --> 00:56:12,450 increasingly contentious and tension filled, people 870 00:56:12,450 --> 00:56:16,080 increasingly come to believe that he wants to militarily 871 00:56:16,110 --> 00:56:20,910 fight against them. They no longer believe that he is out to 872 00:56:20,910 --> 00:56:21,660 help them. 873 00:56:22,710 --> 00:56:25,590 Jim Ambuske: Tryon returned in late September, leading a force 874 00:56:25,590 --> 00:56:29,580 of over 1400 men, he marched them through regulator country 875 00:56:29,580 --> 00:56:34,230 in a show of force, though over 3000 Regulators turned out to 876 00:56:34,230 --> 00:56:36,630 meet the governor and his soldiers in Hillsboro on 877 00:56:36,630 --> 00:56:40,650 September 19, they had little wish for an armed confrontation, 878 00:56:41,160 --> 00:56:45,270 nor did they show any enthusiasm for obeying tryons order to turn 879 00:56:45,270 --> 00:56:49,590 over nine of their men and all of their weapons. They simply 880 00:56:49,590 --> 00:56:54,300 faded into the night. Tryon and the militia remained in town as 881 00:56:54,300 --> 00:56:58,680 the trials of William Butler and Herman Husband got underway in a 882 00:56:58,680 --> 00:57:02,310 token measure, Edmund Fanning was charged with extortion. 883 00:57:02,850 --> 00:57:06,360 Martin Howard, the colony's new Chief Justice, presided over the 884 00:57:06,360 --> 00:57:10,470 trials, along with Judge Richard Henderson. Howard was no 885 00:57:10,470 --> 00:57:14,970 stranger to provincial unrest. Three years earlier, he had fled 886 00:57:14,970 --> 00:57:18,270 Rhode Island after colonists confronted him over his support 887 00:57:18,300 --> 00:57:22,770 of the Stamp Act. His court found husband not guilty. It 888 00:57:22,770 --> 00:57:26,400 convicted Butler of illegally retaking the horse confiscated 889 00:57:26,400 --> 00:57:30,930 by the Orange County Sheriff. He was sentenced to prison. Fanning 890 00:57:30,960 --> 00:57:35,250 was found guilty of

extortion, but fined only a single penny. 891 00:57:36,360 --> 00:57:39,300 Anne Hooper, the wife of prominent attorney William 892 00:57:39,300 --> 00:57:42,900 Hooper, was disappointed that Tryon, who had been ill on his 893 00:57:42,900 --> 00:57:46,680 march to Hillsboro, had not done more to end the regulator 894 00:57:46,680 --> 00:57:49,980 uprisings. As she wrote to a friend, in the wake of the 895 00:57:49,980 --> 00:57:50,640 trials, 896 00:57:51,570 --> 00:57:54,840 Ann Hooper: “[A] number of men mostly from orange county who 897 00:57:54,840 --> 00:57:58,680 took the title regulators have given great disturbance to the 898 00:57:58,680 --> 00:58:02,130 County. They demanded that the Register & Clerk of Orange 899 00:58:02,130 --> 00:58:05,310 should be given to them[,] refused paying their taxes[,] 900 00:58:05,730 --> 00:58:09,000 desired the assembly might be Dissolved[,] [and] threatened to 901 00:58:09,000 --> 00:58:11,910 pull the Province House down…..People imagine they have 902 00:58:11,910 --> 00:58:15,720 been too passive with them[.] if the Govr had been well he would 903 00:58:15,720 --> 00:58:18,450 have pursued more vigorous measures & have humbled them 904 00:58:18,480 --> 00:58:18,990 sufficiently.” 905 00:58:23,790 --> 00:58:26,580 Jim Ambuske: If Governor Tryon believed that his martial tour 906 00:58:26,580 --> 00:58:29,490 of the back country had sufficiently humbled the people, 907 00:58:29,790 --> 00:58:33,750 he was wrong, and though the provincial government's flaws 908 00:58:33,750 --> 00:58:38,130 were the regulator's most immediate concern for Tryon, the 909 00:58:38,130 --> 00:58:42,030 regulators were fast becoming part of a much larger Imperial 910 00:58:42,030 --> 00:58:48,630 problem. In early 1768 just as Piedmont farmers began reforming 911 00:58:48,630 --> 00:58:51,930 themselves into regulators, the Massachusetts House of 912 00:58:51,930 --> 00:58:54,210 Representatives issued a circular letter to the 913 00:58:54,210 --> 00:58:58,020 assemblies in the other colonies calling on them to unite in a 914 00:58:58,020 --> 00:59:02,910 coordinated resistance to the townsenax In response, the Earl 915 00:59:02,910 --> 00:59:06,090 of Hillsboro, the Secretary of State for the colonies, and the 916 00:59:06,090 --> 00:59:10,170 namesake of the Piedmont town, ordered governors to suspend or 917 00:59:10,170 --> 00:59:13,650 dissolve their assemblies should their members open debate on the 918 00:59:13,650 --> 00:59:18,690 Massachusetts missive for months from the fall of 1768 through 919 00:59:18,690 --> 00:59:23,610 the Fall of 1770 try on, and the North Carolina assembly danced a 920 00:59:23,610 --> 00:59:27,750 delicate minuet. Tryon needed the assembly to appropriate 921 00:59:27,750 --> 00:59:30,270 money for the militia, should they be needed in the back 922 00:59:30,270 --> 00:59:33,900 country, and the assembly wanted to avoid its suspension or 923 00:59:33,900 --> 00:59:37,650 dissolution so it could consider measures to counter Parliament's 924 00:59:37,650 --> 00:59:41,370 perceived overreach. Neither the governor, nor most of the 925 00:59:41,370 --> 00:59:44,760 representatives, however, had much sympathy for the regulators 926 00:59:44,760 --> 00:59:49,380 grievances. In the fall of 1768, the assembly finished its 927 00:59:49,380 --> 00:59:52,980 legislative work, including funding the militia bill, before 928 00:59:52,980 --> 00:59:55,740 it began a debate on the Massachusetts Circular Letter, 929 00:59:55,980 --> 01:00:01,230 prompting try on to prorogue it. But by May 1769 when the 930 01:00:01,230 --> 01:00:04,590 assembly began considering a boycott of British goods until 931 01:00:04,590 --> 01:00:08,310 Parliament repealed the Townsend Acts, Tryon dissolved it 932 01:00:08,340 --> 01:00:12,540 entirely. He called for new elections, hoping that by the 933 01:00:12,540 --> 01:00:16,380 time the new assembly sat in October, cooler heads would have 934 01:00:16,380 --> 01:00:21,000 prevailed. The Regulators saw the assembly's demise as a major 935 01:00:21,000 --> 01:00:25,230 opportunity. If they wanted to purge the colony of corruption, 936 01:00:25,590 --> 01:00:29,490 they would have to do it from within the government itself in 937 01:00:29,520 --> 01:00:33,120 Orange, Anson, Rowan, and Granville counties, Regulators 938 01:00:33,120 --> 01:00:37,050 ran for the assembly, and much to the delight of Regulators in 939 01:00:37,080 --> 01:00:41,580 Orange and the dismay of Tryon and other leading men, Edmund 940 01:00:41,580 --> 01:00:45,630 Fanning was defeated, and Herman Husband was elected in his 941 01:00:45,630 --> 01:00:46,140 stead. 942 01:00:46,710 --> 01:00:50,550 Marjoleine Kars: They see him as a threat precisely because he 943 01:00:50,550 --> 01:00:54,000 has so many followers, so many people who are willing to come 944 01:00:54,000 --> 01:01:00,360 out for him. He's imprisoned in 1768, and hundreds of people 945 01:01:00,360 --> 01:01:04,410 come and confront a governor demanding his release. They are 946 01:01:04,410 --> 01:01:07,950 afraid of him because he's articulate, he's tenacious, and 947 01:01:07,950 --> 01:01:12,420 people are willing to put bite behind his words. 948 01:01:13,080 --> 01:01:16,380 Jim Ambuske: From England, Henry McCullough, one of the largest 949 01:01:16,380 --> 01:01:19,980 North Carolina land speculators, believed that the election of 950 01:01:19,980 --> 01:01:23,400 Hermann Husband from Orange and Regulator Christopher Hation 951 01:01:23,400 --> 01:01:27,600 from Rowan, was a sign of a dangerous spirit of leveling in 952 01:01:27,600 --> 01:01:28,290 the colony: 953 01:01:29,040 --> 01:01:32,340 Henry McCulloh: “the madness of the people must be great indeed, 954 01:01:32,880 --> 01:01:37,020 to trust such wretches as Herman Husbands and Christopher Nation 955 01:01:37,170 --> 01:01:38,820 as their representatives.” 956 01:01:39,630 --> 01:01:42,810 Jim Ambuske: What McCulloh

imagined as madness and a threat 957 01:01:42,810 --> 01:01:45,750 to the social order. The Regulators and their supporters 958 01:01:45,750 --> 01:01:49,110 saw as a chance, with God's help, to usher in a new 959 01:01:49,110 --> 01:01:53,010 government of liberty. They called for secret ballots and an 960 01:01:53,040 --> 01:01:56,370 end to public voice voting in elections, a practice that 961 01:01:56,370 --> 01:01:59,340 exposed voters to intimidation and pressure by elite 962 01:01:59,340 --> 01:02:03,210 candidates. They sought the elimination of aggressive taxes 963 01:02:03,270 --> 01:02:06,480 and the adoption of a more progressive scheme, and they 964 01:02:06,480 --> 01:02:10,200 suggested that local officials be given salaries instead of 965 01:02:10,200 --> 01:02:15,150 being paid out of fees to remove the corrupting allure the 966 01:02:15,150 --> 01:02:18,180 growing conflict over the Townsend acts dashed the 967 01:02:18,180 --> 01:02:21,390 regulators hopes for any meaningful government reform. 968 01:02:22,110 --> 01:02:26,610 When the new assembly met in New Bern in late October 1769, its 969 01:02:26,610 --> 01:02:30,150 members began debating a non importation agreement, forcing 970 01:02:30,150 --> 01:02:35,490 try on to perrogate once more with the assembly no longer in 971 01:02:35,490 --> 01:02:38,730 session, regulators in the Piedmont turned to the local 972 01:02:38,730 --> 01:02:42,930 courts for relief. They sued men like Edmund Fanning whom they 973 01:02:42,930 --> 01:02:48,690 believed had extorted them. But over the winter of 1769 and into 974 01:02:48,690 --> 01:02:53,190 the fall of 1770 as judges delayed cases and ruled against 975 01:02:53,190 --> 01:02:57,480 them, as court clerks pocketed fees, and as lawyers grew 976 01:02:57,480 --> 01:03:01,680 wealthier at their expense, the Regulators long simmering 977 01:03:01,680 --> 01:03:10,560 frustration began to boil on the morning of Monday, September 24 978 01:03:10,590 --> 01:03:15,450 1770 they gathered at the courthouse in Hillsboro, where 979 01:03:15,450 --> 01:03:17,880 Judge Richard Henderson was about to begin the day's 980 01:03:17,880 --> 01:03:22,410 proceedings. Nathan Schultz helps us to understand what 981 01:03:22,410 --> 01:03:23,520 happened next. 982 01:03:24,270 --> 01:03:27,000 Nathan Schultz: They engage in a very loud conversation with 983 01:03:27,000 --> 01:03:30,090 Henderson to try their cases. They've been sitting on the 984 01:03:30,090 --> 01:03:33,810 docket for a long time, and they refuse to do it. And at some 985 01:03:33,810 --> 01:03:36,480 point, somebody says, Let's retire. Let's go out of the 986 01:03:36,480 --> 01:03:37,710 room. Let's figure this out. 987 01:03:38,370 --> 01:03:40,830 Jim Ambuske: And that's when Deputy Attorney General John 988 01:03:40,830 --> 01:03:42,600 Williams walked into the room. 989 01:03:43,110 --> 01:03:45,600 Nathan Schultz: Now this is the guy who had been trying people 990 01:03:45,630

--> 01:03:49,590 had been really ruining a lot of these people's lives, and they 991 01:03:49,590 --> 01:03:53,040 attack him. We don't know, as always, these things go we don't 992 01:03:53,040 --> 01:03:55,800 know who threw the first punch. We know that some of them were 993 01:03:55,800 --> 01:03:59,520 armed with clubs, whips and a few other things. They attack 994 01:03:59,520 --> 01:04:03,030 him. And this is when a lot of order begins to break down. They 995 01:04:03,030 --> 01:04:06,300 rush into the courtroom, they grab Edmund Fanning and a couple 996 01:04:06,300 --> 01:04:09,570 other corrupt officials, and they drag them out into the 997 01:04:09,570 --> 01:04:12,360 streets and beat them a nearly inch of their lives. 998 01:04:12,930 --> 01:04:15,150 Jim Ambuske: The Regulators allowed Williams and Fanning to 999 01:04:15,150 --> 01:04:17,070 take refuge in a nearby store. 1000 01:04:17,070 --> 01:04:20,010 Nathan Schultz: And they then go back into the courtroom and they 1001 01:04:20,010 --> 01:04:22,920 start, they're like, we're in control. Now to judge Henderson 1002 01:04:22,920 --> 01:04:26,970 to try cases. Now, Henderson will write in his own report 1003 01:04:26,970 --> 01:04:28,860 saying that he didn't, he didn't try any cases. He adjourned the 1004 01:04:28,860 --> 01:04:32,910 court. We know that's not true. Under duress. He tried cases 1005 01:04:32,910 --> 01:04:36,780 because the actual leisure from the court in Hillsborough 1006 01:04:36,810 --> 01:04:42,060 survives, and in the leisure written in a different hand, in 1007 01:04:42,060 --> 01:04:45,510 a different tone, are notes on cases on the docket. 1008 01:04:46,290 --> 01:04:49,200 Jim Ambuske: At the day's end, the Regulators allowed Henderson 1009 01:04:49,200 --> 01:04:52,740 to go home after he gave his word that he would reopen the 1010 01:04:52,740 --> 01:04:55,410 court the next day. But 1011 01:04:55,620 --> 01:04:57,480 Nathan Schultz: The regulators wake up. They go back to the 1012 01:04:57,480 --> 01:05:00,600 courthouse. They see Judge Henderson skip town, and that's 1013 01:05:00,600 --> 01:05:04,020 when they decide to sack revenge. They start rioting 1014 01:05:04,020 --> 01:05:06,810 through the street. They go and target the officials offending 1015 01:05:06,810 --> 01:05:09,120 them. They go to Edmund Fanning's nice timber frame 1016 01:05:09,120 --> 01:05:13,680 house, and disassemble it. They rip off all the siding, stack it 1017 01:05:13,680 --> 01:05:16,170 up next to it. They take his furniture out of the house and 1018 01:05:16,170 --> 01:05:19,380 destroy it with axes. They grab piles of his clothing, throw it 1019 01:05:19,380 --> 01:05:22,980 out into the streets. And after that incident, after all this 1020 01:05:22,980 --> 01:05:27,660 happens, they leave Hillsborough and go from there. And that 1021 01:05:27,660 --> 01:05:30,510 incident, the Hillsborough riots, September 1770 is what 1022 01:05:30,510 --> 01:05:31,620 escalates

everything. 1023 01:05:32,430 --> 01:05:34,770 Jim Ambuske: For Governor Tryon and for the bulk of the 1024 01:05:34,770 --> 01:05:38,430 assembly, the regulators, attack on the courthouse changed the 1025 01:05:38,430 --> 01:05:42,540 calculus of the crisis. This was no longer a matter of keeping 1026 01:05:42,540 --> 01:05:47,040 the peace in the backcountry, it was about suppressing a growing 1027 01:05:47,040 --> 01:05:52,200 colonial rebellion. But Tryon nor the colony had the legal 1028 01:05:52,200 --> 01:05:56,760 powers sufficient to quell the uprising. The colony's attorney 1029 01:05:56,760 --> 01:05:59,700 general advised the governor that the regulators could be 1030 01:05:59,700 --> 01:06:03,720 charged only with rioting and misdemeanors and not with 1031 01:06:03,720 --> 01:06:08,100 rebellion or treason. And under current law, cases would be 1032 01:06:08,100 --> 01:06:11,640 tried in the local district courts, which the regulators 1033 01:06:11,640 --> 01:06:16,650 seemed to have under their control. To counter the emerging 1034 01:06:16,650 --> 01:06:20,010 regulator threat try on, reconvened the assembly and 1035 01:06:20,010 --> 01:06:24,780 asked it to pass a new powerful Riot Act. Samuel Johnston 1036 01:06:24,840 --> 01:06:27,750 introduced his eponymous bill on December 15. 1037 01:06:28,350 --> 01:06:31,260 Nathan Schultz: It's based off an English law where you read 1038 01:06:31,260 --> 01:06:35,970 the riot act, or you read some command for a group to disperse 1039 01:06:36,540 --> 01:06:38,190 or forces legalized. 1040 01:06:39,150 --> 01:06:42,150 Marjoleine Kars: The Johnston Riot Act allows for pretty 1041 01:06:42,150 --> 01:06:46,410 amazingly strong punishments for these rioters, which allows for 1042 01:06:46,410 --> 01:06:50,790 these people to be tried for rebellion and to be outlawed if 1043 01:06:50,790 --> 01:06:54,540 they don't turn themselves in. And it also authorizes the 1044 01:06:54,540 --> 01:06:58,680 governor to raise an army against regulators to go restore 1045 01:06:58,680 --> 01:07:02,160 order in the Piedmont, and asserts that the public monies 1046 01:07:02,160 --> 01:07:03,300 will be used to pay for it. 1047 01:07:04,290 --> 01:07:06,900 Jim Ambuske: The Johnston Riot Act passed in early January 1048 01:07:06,900 --> 01:07:11,730 1771. Besides the legal penalties, the ex post facto 1049 01:07:11,730 --> 01:07:15,450 provision, and the money for the militia, the act enabled the 1050 01:07:15,450 --> 01:07:18,990 government to create courts of oyer and terminer, courts that 1051 01:07:18,990 --> 01:07:22,050 allowed judges to hear and determine a case without a jury 1052 01:07:22,050 --> 01:07:25,530 at a place of their choosing, regardless of where the alleged 1053 01:07:25,530 --> 01:07:26,640 crime was committed. 1054 01:07:27,390 --> 01:07:30,840 Nathan Schultz: And it only goes through that year, and it 1055 01:07:30,840 --> 01:07:34,830 backdated the Hillsborough riots to being under

that law too. 1056 01:07:35,580 --> 01:07:38,280 Jim Ambuske: By then, Herman Husband had been languishing in 1057 01:07:38,280 --> 01:07:42,240 a New Bern jail for weeks. The Assembly expelled him on 1058 01:07:42,240 --> 01:07:46,140 December 20th, five days after the Johnston Riot Act was 1059 01:07:46,140 --> 01:07:49,290 introduced. The assembly accused him of being one of the 1060 01:07:49,320 --> 01:07:53,130 architects of the Regulator rebellion. Chief Justice Howard 1061 01:07:53,130 --> 01:07:56,340 promptly issued an arrest warrant on charges of libel and 1062 01:07:56,340 --> 01:08:01,080 had him confined. Husband’s arrest enflamed the backcountry. 1063 01:08:01,560 --> 01:08:04,530 Rumors began swirling that thousands of Regulators were 1064 01:08:04,530 --> 01:08:08,610 prepared to march on New Bern to rescue him, prompting Tryon to 1065 01:08:08,610 --> 01:08:12,300 keep the militia in the capital in a state of readiness. When 1066 01:08:12,300 --> 01:08:15,360 Husband was released in mid-February, hundreds of 1067 01:08:15,360 --> 01:08:18,150 Regulators who had been making their way to the capital in the 1068 01:08:18,150 --> 01:08:22,890 snow halted their march, and returned home. But by March 1069 01:08:22,920 --> 01:08:27,720 1771, Tryon had learned the king had appointed him governor of 1070 01:08:27,720 --> 01:08:31,170 New York. He was due in the northern province by the summer. 1071 01:08:31,590 --> 01:08:34,830 Not wishing to leave his successor a southern colony in a 1072 01:08:34,830 --> 01:08:38,370 rebellious state, Tryon committed himself to bringing 1073 01:08:38,370 --> 01:08:46,050 the Regulator revolution in North Carolina to an end. The 1074 01:08:46,050 --> 01:08:49,680 governor invoked the Johnston Riot Act and began assembling a 1075 01:08:49,680 --> 01:08:54,360 provincial army. That task was not as easy as he might have 1076 01:08:54,360 --> 01:08:54,840 hoped. 1077 01:08:55,590 --> 01:08:57,270 Marjoleine Kars: A number of historians have sort of 1078 01:08:57,330 --> 01:09:01,170 explained to regulation as a sectional conflict of back 1079 01:09:01,170 --> 01:09:05,550 country versus the coast. But I think that's not quite accurate, 1080 01:09:05,550 --> 01:09:11,400 because by 1771 when Tryon is trying to raise the militia, 1081 01:09:11,640 --> 01:09:16,260 regulators have already sent sort of advanced troops out 1082 01:09:16,350 --> 01:09:20,460 east, and they are beginning to organize there, and Tryon, in 1083 01:09:20,460 --> 01:09:23,730 fact, has a really hard time raising the militia almost 1084 01:09:23,730 --> 01:09:26,850 everywhere. Militia men come out and say, We don't want to fight 1085 01:09:26,850 --> 01:09:30,150 the regulators. We kind of agree with them. And so he has to 1086 01:09:30,150 --> 01:09:34,380 resort to intimidation to get local militia leaders to fulfill 1087 01:09:34,380 --> 01:09:37,950 their quota. He offers big bounties. And even that doesn't 1088 01:09:37,950 --> 01:09:42,090 do it in some counties, they have to institute a draft which 1089 01:09:42,090 --> 01:09:46,410 did not exist. And in the end, instead of the 2200 men he had 1090 01:09:46,410 --> 01:09:51,090 hoped to raise, he only raises 1100 his army is top heavy with 1091 01:09:51,090 --> 01:09:55,680 officers. He has about 300 officers who are quite eager to 1092 01:09:55,680 --> 01:09:59,100 prove their support of the Governor at this point in 1093 01:09:59,100 --> 01:10:05,310 1771and I think one of the reasons is this worry that the 1094 01:10:05,310 --> 01:10:09,030 regulation will spread east, and that they're all potentially 1095 01:10:09,030 --> 01:10:10,470 sitting on a powder keg. 1096 01:10:10,950 --> 01:10:13,410 Jim Ambuske: General Thomas Gage, the commander in chief of 1097 01:10:13,410 --> 01:10:17,460 British forces in North America, was equally supportive. At 1098 01:10:17,460 --> 01:10:19,680 Tryon's request Gage shipped 1099 01:10:20,070 --> 01:10:23,250 Nathan Schultz: Two six pound artillery pieces, some flags, 1100 01:10:23,250 --> 01:10:25,800 some drums and kettles, other support. 1101 01:10:26,280 --> 01:10:30,330 Jim Ambuske: If Tryon ever asked for or if Gage ever offered a 1102 01:10:30,330 --> 01:10:35,100 regiment of British regulars, no record has survived. Neither 1103 01:10:35,130 --> 01:10:39,120 seems likely. In the wake of the shooting on King Street in 1104 01:10:39,120 --> 01:10:43,110 Boston a year earlier, Gage had little desire to see another 1105 01:10:43,110 --> 01:10:45,990 confrontation between soldiers and civilians in the colonies 1106 01:10:45,990 --> 01:10:49,410 become a massacre, and Tryon considered the matter in the 1107 01:10:49,410 --> 01:10:54,930 Piedmont an affair internal to North Carolina. Tryon and his 1108 01:10:54,930 --> 01:10:57,960 army began marching toward Hillsborough in early May. 1109 01:10:58,230 --> 01:11:02,070 Nathan Schultz: Tryon assembles this army, eight cannons, 1000 1110 01:11:02,070 --> 01:11:06,900 men. He's got cavalry from these gentlemen volunteers. He's got 1111 01:11:06,930 --> 01:11:10,620 pioneers, he's got Rangers. He equips them in a military 1112 01:11:10,620 --> 01:11:13,980 capacity with these leggings, echoing the French and Indian 1113 01:11:13,980 --> 01:11:19,050 War. He gets to Hillsborough in May of 1771 and is trying to 1114 01:11:19,050 --> 01:11:22,050 decide how exactly he's gonna disrupt this insurrection. 1115 01:11:22,230 --> 01:11:25,560 Marjoleine Kars: He gets to Hillsboro, and he hears of a 1116 01:11:25,560 --> 01:11:29,790 situation with a militia regiment in Rowan County that is 1117 01:11:29,790 --> 01:11:32,970 being obstructed by large numbers of regulators. And so he 1118 01:11:32,970 --> 01:11:35,370 decides that he should march West. 1119 01:11:35,550 --> 01:11:38,640 Nathan Schultz: He receives word from Hugh Wadell, that other 1120 01:11:38,670 --> 01:11:41,250 group that was raised in the western part, that they had been

1121 01:11:41,250 --> 01:11:45,450 turned back at the Yadkin River, by a group of regulators who 1122 01:11:45,480 --> 01:11:49,830 blew up their gunpowder and their clothing, and Tryon is 1123 01:11:49,830 --> 01:11:52,620 worried that he will get stuck on the other side of a river 1124 01:11:52,620 --> 01:11:54,900 trying to cross it. While the regulators are there. 1125 01:11:55,320 --> 01:11:58,140 Jim Ambuske: The provincial army headed for Alamance Creek, 1126 01:11:58,290 --> 01:12:00,270 twenty miles west of Hillsborough. 1127 01:12:00,810 --> 01:12:03,930 Marjoleine Kars: After a couple of days, he encamps on Alamance 1128 01:12:03,930 --> 01:12:07,950 Creek, and regulators begin to amass on the other bank. 1129 01:12:08,550 --> 01:12:12,030 Nathan Schultz: And it's over 2000 people, just regular 1130 01:12:12,030 --> 01:12:15,390 farmers in the middle of nowhere, just 2000 people show 1131 01:12:15,390 --> 01:12:18,150 up. And often criticism of the regulation is that they weren't 1132 01:12:18,150 --> 01:12:21,990 organized. They were very organized to be able to assemble 1133 01:12:21,990 --> 01:12:25,710 2000 people in a not densely populated area, all in one 1134 01:12:25,710 --> 01:12:30,600 place. And within that are people who show up armed with 1135 01:12:30,600 --> 01:12:33,060 guns. All these people are in the militia, so they have 1136 01:12:33,060 --> 01:12:35,700 militia training, and they're required to own a gun. Lot of 1137 01:12:35,700 --> 01:12:38,790 people don't show up with guns. Some people show up with clubs. 1138 01:12:38,820 --> 01:12:41,340 Some are Quakers who are pacifists. 1139 01:12:41,970 --> 01:12:45,240 Jim Ambuske: The board was set. The pieces were moving. 1140 01:12:45,780 --> 01:12:49,470 Nathan Schultz: May 15, 1771, into that night, into the 16th, 1141 01:12:49,740 --> 01:12:54,060 riders begin to ride between the Regulator camp and Tryon’s camp, 1142 01:12:54,330 --> 01:12:58,710 trying to negotiate, trying their absolute best to solve 1143 01:12:58,710 --> 01:13:01,680 this peacefully. The regulators even assemble together write one 1144 01:13:01,680 --> 01:13:04,770 last petition to Tryon, saying how they are loyal subjects of 1145 01:13:04,770 --> 01:13:07,200 the king, but they do say that. His and His Majesty's subjects 1146 01:13:07,200 --> 01:13:12,000 are not toys to be trifled with, very clear demand, but still 1147 01:13:12,000 --> 01:13:15,360 trying to maintain peacefulness again, all they want is peaceful 1148 01:13:15,360 --> 01:13:19,620 reform riders back and forth, Tryon rejects and ignores every 1149 01:13:19,620 --> 01:13:23,340 overture. Only thing he has to say to them is, give up your 1150 01:13:23,340 --> 01:13:25,920 arms, give up your leaders and surrender. 1151 01:13:26,550 --> 01:13:29,370 Marjoleine Kars: Regulators keep trying to negotiate with the 1152 01:13:29,370 --> 01:13:33,510 governor. At some point, they sent a Presbyterian minister and 1153 01:13:33,510 --> 01:13:38,880 two of their spokesmen to him to talk with him. He refuses to 1154 01:13:38,880 --> 01:13:42,000 negotiate. He sends the minister back, he keeps the two 1155 01:13:42,060 --> 01:13:42,990 spokesmen. 1156 01:13:43,680 --> 01:13:47,340 Jim Ambuske: When dawn broke on the morning of May 16th, Tryon’s 1157 01:13:47,370 --> 01:13:51,570 patience was wearing thin, and time was running out. 1158 01:13:52,320 --> 01:13:55,320 Marjoleine Kars: He gives his soldiers order to execute one of 1159 01:13:55,320 --> 01:13:59,940 these men by firing in such a way that the regulators amassed 1160 01:13:59,940 --> 01:14:03,210 on the other side, can actually see this happening. 1161 01:14:03,750 --> 01:14:06,090 Nathan Schultz: He orders the man shot in the back in front of 1162 01:14:06,120 --> 01:14:08,880 2,000 of his friend, neighbors and allies. And the regulars are 1163 01:14:08,880 --> 01:14:13,140 pretty incensed by this yelling and screaming. And at the same 1164 01:14:13,140 --> 01:14:16,350 time, some regulators are leaving Herman Husband, if he 1165 01:14:16,350 --> 01:14:19,680 was there, left at about this point, seeing that violence is 1166 01:14:19,680 --> 01:14:21,990 happening. Quakers not participating violence, he's 1167 01:14:21,990 --> 01:14:22,440 leaving. 1168 01:14:23,160 --> 01:14:25,770 Jim Ambuske: Shortly after ordering Robert Thompson’s 1169 01:14:25,800 --> 01:14:30,450 execution, Tyron made one last attempt to disperse the mob 1170 01:14:30,780 --> 01:14:33,930 using the powers granted to him in the Johnston Riot Act. 1171 01:14:34,470 --> 01:14:36,690 Nathan Schultz: He sends the Sheriff of Orange County, ahead, 1172 01:14:36,840 --> 01:14:40,740 holding a letter. This letter effectively says, you are 1173 01:14:40,770 --> 01:14:44,370 rebels. You are against His Majesty, give up your leaders, 1174 01:14:44,580 --> 01:14:49,560 to prevent a great effusion of blood. Very clear demands. This 1175 01:14:49,560 --> 01:14:54,300 letter read by the sheriff, constitutes the riot act. About 1176 01:14:54,330 --> 01:14:59,760 11 o'clock, May 16, this is read to groups of regulators. He 1177 01:14:59,760 --> 01:15:02,940 probably then walked over to other groups, and this mob just 1178 01:15:02,940 --> 01:15:07,140 assembled and read to these other bodies of people. We know 1179 01:15:07,140 --> 01:15:10,290 the regulators yelled back at him. We're not happy about this 1180 01:15:10,290 --> 01:15:11,070 situation. 1181 01:15:11,400 --> 01:15:14,160 Jim Ambuske: The riot act required Tryon to give notice 1182 01:15:14,160 --> 01:15:19,140 before taking action. In the meantime, hef began moving his 1183 01:15:19,140 --> 01:15:21,720 men and his artillery into position. 1184 01:15:22,740 --> 01:15:26,880 Nathan Schultz: And then they wait for about 45 minutes, just 1185 01:15:26,880 --> 01:15:31,650 standing there, fully loaded, and the regulators do exactly 1186 01:15:31,650 --> 01:15:33,480 what you'd expect. They start screaming

and yelling at them, 1187 01:15:33,480 --> 01:15:36,270 insulting them. And a little bit away the Boston Massacre, they 1188 01:15:36,270 --> 01:15:39,000 say, you know, if it's battle, let it happen. Now. They start 1189 01:15:39,000 --> 01:15:42,270 yelling, battle, battle. And the thing is, is some of these 1190 01:15:42,270 --> 01:15:45,570 people knew each other, this is Orange County. You got the 1191 01:15:45,570 --> 01:15:49,020 Orange County militia under Edmund Fanning with Tryon, and 1192 01:15:49,020 --> 01:15:52,020 we know there was at least one group. William Butler and his 1193 01:15:52,050 --> 01:15:55,290 brother were on opposite sides. So you have literal brothers 1194 01:15:55,290 --> 01:15:57,750 that could see each other, probably across the field. And 1195 01:15:57,750 --> 01:16:02,040 there's this kind of bizarre tense thing waiting for 45 1196 01:16:02,040 --> 01:16:02,580 minutes. 1197 01:16:03,150 --> 01:16:04,620 Jim Ambuske: Despite their taunts: 1198 01:16:05,130 --> 01:16:07,770 Marjoleine Kars: Most of these men did not really expect there 1199 01:16:07,770 --> 01:16:10,380 to be a battle. They can't really believe the governor 1200 01:16:10,380 --> 01:16:14,940 would order his army to fire on his own citizens. So they only 1201 01:16:14,940 --> 01:16:17,790 brought somebody says, enough bullets as they would have 1202 01:16:17,790 --> 01:16:18,840 brought on a hunt. 1203 01:16:19,560 --> 01:16:22,380 Nathan Schultz: 45 minutes expires, the sheriff goes over 1204 01:16:22,380 --> 01:16:25,140 again, goes over to these people, says, What's your 1205 01:16:25,140 --> 01:16:28,590 answer? And we know, from the accounts they yelled back at 1206 01:16:28,590 --> 01:16:33,930 him, fire and be damned. Goes back to the safety of the lines, 1207 01:16:34,080 --> 01:16:37,290 Tryon probably doesn't see much else to do. He turns to the 1208 01:16:37,290 --> 01:16:40,140 commander of the artillery, guy named Robert Howe. Gives the 1209 01:16:40,140 --> 01:16:43,830 order. He gives the order, and all eight of the cannons fire on 1210 01:16:43,830 --> 01:16:48,480 the regulators. Some accounts say from about 50 to 100 yards 1211 01:16:48,480 --> 01:16:53,610 away, very close with grapeshot sending small iron balls ripping 1212 01:16:53,610 --> 01:16:57,390 through this crowd of people. Shortly after, the militia, the 1213 01:16:57,390 --> 01:17:00,420 first line, 500 men, open up with muskets on them. 1214 01:17:00,690 --> 01:17:03,630 Marjoleine Kars: And initially it looks like the regulators are 1215 01:17:03,750 --> 01:17:07,290 have the upper hand, because the soldiers have trouble aiming 1216 01:17:07,290 --> 01:17:10,290 their cannon right. And they they are fighting in in in 1217 01:17:10,290 --> 01:17:13,320 regiments, but the regulators are fighting what's called 1218 01:17:13,350 --> 01:17:16,920 Indian style. They're hiding behind trees, sort of like 1219 01:17:16,920 --> 01:17:20,580 guerrilla fighters, but pretty quickly the regulators begin to 1220 01:17:20,580 --> 01:17:21,960 run out of ammunition. 1221 01:17:22,290 --> 01:17:24,150 Nathan Schultz: Some archeological evidence and some 1222 01:17:24,150 --> 01:17:27,240 other accounts [say] that during that cannonade, a group of 1223 01:17:27,240 --> 01:17:30,510 Regulators from the far left flank of the army try to attack 1224 01:17:30,540 --> 01:17:33,360 a cannon actually tried to run up on it, and are taken out 1225 01:17:33,360 --> 01:17:36,450 before they get close or even reached it. But after this half 1226 01:17:36,450 --> 01:17:39,990 hour of bombardment, Tryon orders his the militia to 1227 01:17:39,990 --> 01:17:44,190 advance onto them, marching forward and clears them out from 1228 01:17:44,190 --> 01:17:45,660 the woods, capturing as many as they can, and then pursues the 1229 01:17:45,660 --> 01:17:49,020 remnants of the regulators that were left into their camp and to 1230 01:17:49,020 --> 01:17:51,840 loot it, by all accounts, for the next hour and a half. 1231 01:17:52,560 --> 01:17:56,790 Marjoleine Kars: In the end, some 20 farmers are dead, nine 1232 01:17:56,790 --> 01:18:01,710 militia men and some 150 men on both sides are wounded. 1233 01:18:09,120 --> 01:18:12,690 Jim Ambuske: After Tryon cleared the field, he set out to ensure 1234 01:18:12,690 --> 01:18:15,150 that the Regulators never rose again. 1235 01:18:15,600 --> 01:18:18,660 Marjoleine Kars: He begins to undertake a victorious march 1236 01:18:18,660 --> 01:18:21,150 through the back country that is intended to intimidate the 1237 01:18:21,150 --> 01:18:25,050 people. So he destroys the farms of men who he thinks are 1238 01:18:25,050 --> 01:18:30,000 regulator leaders. He turns his horses out into people's fields. 1239 01:18:30,270 --> 01:18:35,370 He requisitions food from local farmers for all his troops. And 1240 01:18:35,370 --> 01:18:39,480 he demands that people come in and says, If you come in and you 1241 01:18:39,480 --> 01:18:44,280 turn in your gun and you swear allegiance to the king, which, 1242 01:18:44,280 --> 01:18:47,850 of course, regulators had never they had never undone their 1243 01:18:47,850 --> 01:18:51,780 allegiance to the king, then I will pardon you, except a number 1244 01:18:51,780 --> 01:18:57,360 of the leaders. Some 6,400 men come forward, which is roughly 1245 01:18:57,360 --> 01:19:00,330 three quarters of all the grown men in the Piedmont. 1246 01:19:01,230 --> 01:19:03,630 Jim Ambuske: Leading Regulators like Herman Husband and James 1247 01:19:03,630 --> 01:19:09,030 Hunter vanished, escaping Tryon’s grasp. Others were not 1248 01:19:09,030 --> 01:19:15,030 so lucky. Empowered by the Johnston Riot Act, the governor 1249 01:19:15,030 --> 01:19:18,300 convened a court of oyer and terminer in Hillsborough on 1250 01:19:18,300 --> 01:19:24,030 Saturday, June 15, 1771, in the same courthouse the Regulators 1251 01:19:24,030 --> 01:19:28,740 had laid siege to the previous September.

Twelve men were 1252 01:19:28,740 --> 01:19:32,940 convicted of treason and sentenced to be executed. Tryon 1253 01:19:32,940 --> 01:19:37,560 commuted the sentences of six. The remaining six would serve as 1254 01:19:37,560 --> 01:19:39,810 a warning. Tryon: 1255 01:19:39,810 --> 01:19:42,660 Nathan Schultz: He goes to a hill that's right next to the 1256 01:19:42,660 --> 01:19:46,200 town. He orders his army to clear the brush around it to 1257 01:19:46,200 --> 01:19:50,820 make it clearly visible. And he constructs these gallows, and 1258 01:19:50,820 --> 01:19:53,850 then surrounds it with the Army just to make sure people could 1259 01:19:53,850 --> 01:19:57,600 watch it, and then, systematically execute six of 1260 01:19:57,600 --> 01:19:58,140 these people. 1261 01:19:59,130 --> 01:20:02,850 Jim Ambuske: James Pugh, Herman Husband’s former brother-in-law, 1262 01:20:02,880 --> 01:20:06,570 climbed atop a barrel and had the noose placed around his 1263 01:20:06,570 --> 01:20:11,040 neck. With his final words, he repeated the Regulators’ 1264 01:20:11,070 --> 01:20:15,360 grievances, prayed for an end to the corruption of this world, 1265 01:20:15,840 --> 01:20:22,320 and prepared to meet God in the next. As Pugh spoke exacted one 1266 01:20:22,320 --> 01:20:24,240 last measure of revenge. 1267 01:20:24,930 --> 01:20:27,990 Marjoleine Kars: The story is that Edmund Fanning had the 1268 01:20:27,990 --> 01:20:30,840 barrel upon which he was standing kicked out from under 1269 01:20:30,840 --> 01:20:32,280 him mid sentence. 1270 01:20:32,820 --> 01:20:38,520 Jim Ambuske: Minutes later, Pugh was dead. Tryon departed for New 1271 01:20:38,520 --> 01:20:43,170 York soon thereafter. Fanning went with him as his new private 1272 01:20:43,170 --> 01:20:48,450 secretary. With the Regulators defeated, the provincial 1273 01:20:48,450 --> 01:20:51,720 assembly and the colonial elite turned their attention back to 1274 01:20:51,720 --> 01:20:54,930 confronting Parliament, to quarreling with Tryon’s 1275 01:20:54,930 --> 01:21:00,120 successor, and to resisting the new imperial order. And as they 1276 01:21:00,120 --> 01:21:03,750 did so, the Regulators confronted the reality that 1277 01:21:03,750 --> 01:21:10,050 their reformation was a failed revolution. That memory endured 1278 01:21:10,050 --> 01:21:13,650 for years, even as matters between the colonies and the 1279 01:21:13,650 --> 01:21:15,810 Mother Country became much worse. 1280 01:21:16,920 --> 01:21:19,470 Marjoleine Kars: When the revolution comes, many people in 1281 01:21:19,470 --> 01:21:23,730 the Piedmont are not willing to support it, in part because the 1282 01:21:23,730 --> 01:21:27,330 leaders of the revolution were just five short years ago their 1283 01:21:27,330 --> 01:21:30,930 opponents. And partly because they've already been burned and 1284 01:21:30,930 --> 01:21:34,590 they don't want to be burned again. Some say, well, we took 1285 01:21:34,590 --> 01:21:38,730 an oath to the king now we can't fight him, because we would be 1286 01:21:38,730 --> 01:21:42,210 bringing our souls in mortal danger. But a great number of 1287 01:21:42,210 --> 01:21:45,180 people, I think, are just sort of disaffected and are like, 1288 01:21:45,180 --> 01:21:48,270 forget it. We're just not doing this anymore. We don't care who 1289 01:21:48,270 --> 01:21:50,820 wins, let them battle it out. 1290 01:21:59,460 --> 01:22:01,740 Jim Ambuske: More than three thousand miles away from the 1291 01:22:01,740 --> 01:22:05,250 North Carolina Piedmont, British men and women began a march of 1292 01:22:05,250 --> 01:22:11,880 their own on London. In May 1771, visitors flocked to the 1293 01:22:11,880 --> 01:22:16,050 Royal Academy of Arts to see the latest work by Benjamin West, a 1294 01:22:16,050 --> 01:22:18,870 Pennsylvania-born British American artist with a flair for 1295 01:22:18,870 --> 01:22:25,890 the historical and the dramatic. In a canvas measuring four feet 1296 01:22:25,890 --> 01:22:30,150 high, and seven feet wide, West used oil paints to depict a 1297 01:22:30,150 --> 01:22:33,480 tragedy at a moment of triumph in the recent history of the 1298 01:22:33,480 --> 01:22:37,530 British Empire: The Death of General James Wolfe on the 1299 01:22:37,530 --> 01:22:43,230 Plains of Abraham at the Battle of Quebec on September 13, 1759. 1300 01:22:44,490 --> 01:22:48,030 The painting’s unveiling at the Royal Academy Exhibition nearly 1301 01:22:48,030 --> 01:22:51,720 twelve years after Wolfe’s demise came at an uncertain 1302 01:22:51,720 --> 01:22:56,160 moment for the empire. New taxes called into question the 1303 01:22:56,190 --> 01:23:00,180 colonies’ connection with the Mother Country; restrictions on 1304 01:23:00,180 --> 01:23:03,450 westward expansion denied settlers access to Indigenous 1305 01:23:03,450 --> 01:23:07,680 lands; the destruction of the final liberty pole on the 1306 01:23:07,680 --> 01:23:12,210 commons in New York city; the shooting on King Street in 1307 01:23:12,210 --> 01:23:20,040 Boston; the War of the Regulation. West depicted Wolfe 1308 01:23:20,040 --> 01:23:23,760 like Christ descending from a cross made of flags bearing 1309 01:23:23,760 --> 01:23:27,840 British colors. Wolfe looks to heaven as he bleeds from a 1310 01:23:27,840 --> 01:23:32,010 pierced wound on his side. The light is fading from his eyes as 1311 01:23:32,010 --> 01:23:35,820 a messenger rushes from just off view bearing the news that 1312 01:23:35,820 --> 01:23:39,750 Protestant British arms have won the day, that Catholic France 1313 01:23:39,750 --> 01:23:45,630 has been defeated. As Christ was surrounded by his disciples in 1314 01:23:45,630 --> 01:23:49,710 Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, so Wolfe is surrounded 1315 01:23:49,740 --> 01:23:54,750 by the empire: Scottish Highlanders, English men, Irish 1316 01:23:54,750 --> 01:23:59,610 soldiers, and British Americans. A tattooed Native warrior rests 1317 01:23:59,610 --> 01:24:03,840 in the foreground, contemplating the scene before him as Wolfe’s 1318 01:24:03,870 --> 01:24:09,420 men fear for their fallen general. In a moment of imperial 1319 01:24:09,420 --> 01:24:13,500 crisis, West’s painting reminded Britons on both sides of the 1320 01:24:13,500 --> 01:24:16,350 Atlantic that an empire of liberty was not without 1321 01:24:16,350 --> 01:24:22,410 hardship, not without sacrifice. It is difficult to know whether 1322 01:24:22,410 --> 01:24:26,310 Black Britons or Black British Americans – free or enslaved – 1323 01:24:26,340 --> 01:24:30,150 gained admittance to see West’s history, a painting in which 1324 01:24:30,150 --> 01:24:34,920 they could not see themselves. But not far from where West’s 1325 01:24:34,920 --> 01:24:39,570 painting hung, in the months after its installation, in a 1326 01:24:39,570 --> 01:24:43,680 courtroom in London, in a case that connected West Africa, 1327 01:24:43,710 --> 01:24:48,030 Virginia, Boston, and England, enslaved Britons would argue for 1328 01:24:48,030 --> 01:24:51,540 their place in Britain’s Empire of liberty. 1329 01:25:01,650 --> 01:25:05,160 Thanks for listening to Worlds Turned Upside Down. Worlds is a 1330 01:25:05,160 --> 01:25:08,880 production of R2 Studios, part of the Roy Rosenzweig Center for 1331 01:25:08,880 --> 01:25:13,350 History and New Media at George Mason University. I’m your host, 1332 01:25:13,380 --> 01:25:17,610 Dr. Jim Ambuske. This episode of Worlds Turned Upside Down is 1333 01:25:17,610 --> 01:25:21,960 made possible with support from a 2024 grant from the National 1334 01:25:21,960 --> 01:25:25,320 Endowment for the Humanities. ​Learn how you can support the 1335 01:25:25,320 --> 01:25:29,370 series at r2studios.org, where you’ll also find a complete 1336 01:25:29,370 --> 01:25:32,640 transcript of today’s episode and suggestions for further 1337 01:25:32,640 --> 01:25:36,480 reading. ​Worlds is researched and written by me with 1338 01:25:36,480 --> 01:25:39,240 additional research, writing, and script editing by Jeanette 1339 01:25:39,240 --> 01:25:43,320 Patrick. Jeanette Patrick and I are the Executive Producers. 1340 01:25:43,350 --> 01:25:47,460 Grace Mallon is our British Correspondent. Our lead audio 1341 01:25:47,460 --> 01:25:50,460 editor for this episode is Patrick Long of Primary Source 1342 01:25:50,460 --> 01:25:54,570 Media. Annabelle Spencer and Amber Pelham are our graduate 1343 01:25:54,570 --> 01:25:58,890 assistants. Our thanks to Abby Chandler, Marjoleine Kars, 1344 01:25:58,890 --> 01:26:01,860 Cynthia Kierner, and Nathan Schultz for sharing their 1345 01:26:01,860 --> 01:26:05,490 expertise with us in this episode. Thanks also to our 1346 01:26:05,490 --> 01:26:09,450 voice actors Sarah Donelson, Evan McCormick, Norman Rodger, 1347 01:26:09,480 --> 01:26:13,950 John Terry, and Peter Walker. Subscribe to Worlds on your 1348 01:26:13,950 --> 01:26:17,610 favorite podcast app. Thanks, and we’ll see you next time.