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Early America
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Bayard v. Singleton Encyclopedia
Bayard v. Singleton is one of the most important early cases involving the exercise of judicial review by an American court. The controversial decision served as a precedent for the later and commonplace practice of judicial review.
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Johnston Blakely (1781-1814) Encyclopedia
Although the most successful American naval officer of the War of 1812 and commander of the feared
Wasp, Blakely never enjoyed the fame that he had for so long desired. It was posthumous.
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William Blount (1749-1800) Encyclopedia
As businessman, Revolutionary War veteran, signer of the Constitution, territorial governor, and United States Senator, William Blount spent his lifetime looking for opportunities. No place in the late-eighteenth century United States offered better opportunities for a person with Blount’s disposition and connections than did the trans-Appalachian frontier. Ultimately Blount’s grasp exceeded his resources, leading Blount to devise a desperate plan that failed—and led to his expulsion from the United States Senate.
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Otway Burns (1775-1850) Encyclopedia
At an early age, Otway Burns had the sea in his veins. He later became a daring privateer during the War of 1812--one of the more famous American privateers in the nation's history. As a state legislator during the 1820s and 1830s his opinions regarding the status of African Americans and the development of western North Carolina upset his constituents.
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William Richardson Davie (1756-1820) Encyclopedia
Soldier, lawmaker, governor, and diplomat, Davie is best remembered as the principal founder of the University of North Carolina. Despite his many accomplishments, Davie’s ardent Federalism fostered a growing voter disenchantment with him, and he spent his last years living in a self-imposed political exile.
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Federalist Party Encyclopedia
Originally, the term “Federalist” referred to supporters of the federal constitution of 1787. Though the Federalist Party existed for less than half of a century, it helped define the new nation. Though they may have lost many political battles, Federalists may have won the war, for their vision of a cosmopolitan and industrialized America eventually came to fruition.
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Jesse Franklin (1760-1823) Encyclopedia
A Patriot during the Revolutionary War, Jesse Franklin later served his state in the House of Commons, as a state senator, as a U.S. Representative, a U.S. Senator (president
pro tempore), and finally as governor of North Carolina. Although only governor for one term, Franklin earned a reputation for being a practical, fiscal conservative.
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Highland Scots Encyclopedia
Countless Highland Scots migrated to North Carolina during the colonial period and lived primarily in the Upper Cape Fear region during the late 1770s. Immediately the Highland Scots contributed to some of the greatest events in the state's history. As evidenced by the modern-day Highland Games, these Scots and their families migrated to other parts of the state, where aspects of their culture are alive and well today.
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William Hooper (1742-1790) Encyclopedia
A representative of North Carolina at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, William Hooper risked death and sacrificed his personal income to secure the creation of the United States. He later pursued a Federalist political ideology, which many North Carolinians disagreed with, and served as a federal judge until shortly before his death.
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Robert Howe (1732-1786) Encyclopedia
In 1732, Robert Howe was born in Brunswick County, North Carolina. He emerged as the colonies’ highest-ranking officer during the Revolutionary War. Althought he supported Royal Governor Tryon in the 1760s, Howe like many others soon grew disenchanted with the English crown and evinced a strong patriotism by the mid-1770s.
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James Iredell, Sr. (1751-1799) Encyclopedia
James Iredell (1751-1799) was a leader of the North Carolina Federalists during the state ratification debates of the federal Constitution. Following ratification, President George Washington appointed the North Carolinian to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he served until his death in 1799. His best-known opinion is his dissent in
Chisholm v. Georgia (1793) that provided the basis for the subsequent adoption of the Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
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Willie Jones (1741-1801) Encyclopedia
Willie Jones was an influential Jeffersonian states’ righter and patriot during the Revolutionary War and Federalist periods. Willie Jones (pronounced Wiley) is remembered mostly for opposing the ratification of the United States Constitution. His political philosophy has had a lasting influence.
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Marriage, History of Encyclopedia
The state government has regulated the solemnization of marriages from North Carolina’s earliest days, and although the law continues to prohibit any “minister, officer, or any other person authorized to solemnize a marriage” from performing a ceremony without a license issued by the Register of Deeds, a marriage ceremony conducted without a license--except in a few cases--is nevertheless a valid marriage.
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Alfred Moore (1755-1810) Encyclopedia
The second, and to date the last, North Carolinian to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, Alfred Moore was appointed in Fall 1799 to succeed Justice James Iredell after the first Supreme Court justice from North Carolina had died. Before then, Moore had battled Tories and the British during the American Revolutionary War and had served in the North Carolina House of Commons. After being nominated twice by the state Senate to run for U.S. Senator, Moore was defeated both times by Republican opponents: Timothy Bloodworth and Jesse Franklin. Moore was considered one of the state’s outstanding attorneys and leading Federalists.
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James O'Kelly (1736?-1826) Encyclopedia
James O’Kelly, a fiery, revivalist preacher in Virginia and North Carolina from 1775-1826, preached religious liberty. He decried slavery, using republican rhetoric in
An Essay on Negro Slavery, and criticized Methodist polity in
The Author’s Apology for Protesting Against the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1794, he created the Republican Methodist denomination, which became the Christian Church in the South in 1802. O’Kelly moved to North Carolina in 1787 and died in Chatham County in 1826.
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