@2009 - Sue Ashby
Updated09/02/2009
When the government violates the people's rights, insurrection
is, for the people and for each portion of the people, the most
sacred of the rights and the most indispensible of duties.
—Marquis de Lafayette, 1790
North Carolina's history as an
organized governing
system led by a governor |
In the sixteenth century the nations of Europe began a period of exploration and colonization in the "NewWorld." England sought to maintain her interests in the struggle for new territories and resources among other contending nations, principally Spain. Queen Elizabeth commissioned Sir Walter Raleigh to establish a settlement in the "New World" to secure England's claims to territory. This new colony was named "Virginia" in honor of Queen Elizabeth, the virgin queen. The territory of that original colony included what is now North Carolina as well as many other States. |
After the mysterious disappearance of
the "Lost
Colony," the first successful English settlement was made at Jamestown.
From Jamestown, settlement spread south. Eventually a distinction began
to be made by the colonists between Virginia, the Chesapeake Bay area,
and Old Virginia or South Virginia, the RoanokeIsland area. When the
latter
area, now a part of North Carolina, became more settled it became known
as the Southern Plantation. A "Commander of the Southern Plantation"
|
The Stuarts succeeded Queen Elizabeth
as monarchs
of Britain. Charles I was beheaded in 1649 and Oliver Cromwell
ruled
during the "interregnum." Charles II returned the Stuarts to the throne
in 1660 and rewarded his loyal supporters. Eight of these loyalists
(Edward
Hyde, Earl of Clarendon; George Monck, Duke of Albemarle; William
|
The Proprietors had difficulty in managing the colony. There were border disputes with Virginia, Indian wars with the Tuscarora, and piracy at the hands of the notorious Blackbeard. A portion of Carolina had emerged as its own organizational unit and became the royal colony of South Carolina in 1719. Advisors to the British king recommended direct royal control of the colonies. In 1729 seven of the eight Lord Proprietors sold their colonial holdings in Carolina to the Crown. The lone Proprietor was John Carteret, Earl Granville, who retained the Granville Tract in North Carolina without governing control until the American Revolution. |
Under the rule of the king, dissent
within
North Carolina grew. The Regulators rose in the western parts of the
state
protesting corrupt colonial government. The ladies of Edenton signed
their
resolve to support the American cause in what has become known as the
Edenton
Tea Party. The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence in 1775
|
Chronology of North Carolina Governors
Ralph Lane, 1585 - 1586 |
Samuel Stephens, 1662 - 1664
|
Lords Proprietors
William Drummond | 1664 - 1667 |
Samuel Stephens | 1667 - 1669 (prev Commander of the Southern Plantation) |
Peter Carteret | 1670 - 1672 |
John Jenkins | 1672 - 1677 (first of two terms) |
Thomas Eastchurch | 1676 - 1678 (never actually served) |
Thomas Miller | 1677 |
John Harvey | 1679 |
John Jenkins | 1679 - 1681 (second term) |
Philip Ludwell | 1689 - 1691 |
Thomas Jarvis | 1691 - 1694 |
John Archdale | 1694 - 1696 |
Thomas Harvey | 1696 - 1699 |
Henderson Walker | 1699 - 1704 |
Robert Daniel | 1704 - 1705 |
Thomas Cary | 1705 - 1706 (first of two terms) |
William Glover | 1706 - 1708 |
Thomas Cary | 1708 - 1711 (second of two terms) |
Edward Hyde | 1711 - 1712 |
Thomas Pollock | 1712 - 1714 (first of two terms) |
Charles Eden | 1714 - 1722 |
Thomas Pollock | 1722 (second of two terms) |
William Reed | 1722 - 1724 |
George Burrington | 1724 - 1725 (later royal governor) |
Richard Everard | 1725 - 1731 |
Royal Governors
George Burrington | 1731 -
1734 (previously
governor under the Lords Proprietors) |
Gabriel Johnston | 1734 - 1752 |
Nathaniel Rice | 1752 - 1753 |
Matthew Rowan | 1753 - 1754 |
Arthur Dobbs | 1754 - 1765 |
William Tryon | 1675 - 1771 |
James Hasell | 1771 |
Josiah Martin | 1771 - 1775 |
Governors of the State of North Carolina
Richard Caswell | 1776 - 1780 (first of two terms) |
Abner Nash | 1780 - 1781 |
Thomas Burke | 1781 - 1782 |
Alexander Martin | 1782 - 1785 (first of two terms) |
Samuel Johnston | 1787 - 1789 |
Alexander Martin | 1789 - 1792 (second of two terms) |
Richard Dobbs Spaight, Sr. | 1792 - 1795 |
Samuel Ashe | 1795 - 1798 |
William Richardson Davie | 1798 - 1799 |
Benjamin Williams | 1799 - 1802 (first of two terms) |
James Turner | 1802 - 1805 |
Nathaniel Alexander | 1805 - 1807 |
Benjamin Williams | 1807 - 1808 (second of two terms) |
David Stone | 1808 - 1810 |
William Hawkins | 1811 - 1814 |
William Miller | 1814 - 1817 |
John Branch | 1817 - 1820 |
Jesse Franklin | 1820 - 1821 |
Gabriel Holmes | 1821 - 1824 |
Hutchins Gordon Burton, | 1824 - 1827 |
James Iredell, Jr. | 1827 - 1828 |
John Owen | 1828 - 1830 |
Montford Stokes | 1830 - 1832 |
David Lowry Swain | 1832 - 1835 |
Richard Dobbs Spaight, Jr. | 1835 - 1836 |
Edward Dudley Bishop | 1836 - 1841 |
John Motley Morehead | 1841 - 1845 |
William Alexander Graham | 1845 - 1849 |
Charles Manly | 1849 - 1850 |
David Steele Reid | 1851 - 1854 |
Warren Winslow | 1854 - 1855 |
Thomas Bragg | 1855 - 1859 |
John Willis Ellis | 1859 - 1861 |
Henry Toole Clark | 1861 - 1862 |
Zebulon Baird Vance | 1862 - 1865 (first of two terms) |
William Woods Holden | 1865 (first of two terms) |
Jonathan Worth | 1865 - 1868 |
William Woods Holden | 1868 - 1870 |
Tod Robinson Caldwell | 1870 - 1874 |
Curtis Hooks Broaden | 1874 - 1877 |
Zebulon Baird Vance | 1877 - 1879 (second of two terms) |
Thomas Jordan Jarvis | 1879 - 1885 |
James Lowry Robinson | 1883 (acting governor for 27 days) |
Alfred Moore Scales | 1885 - 1889 |
David Gould Fowle | 1889 - 1891 |
Thomas Michael Holt | 1891 - 1893 |
Elias Carr | 1893 - 1897 |
Daniel Lindsay Russell | 1897 - 1901 |
Charles Brantley Aycock | 1901 - 1905 |
Robert Broadnax Glenn | 1905 - 1909 |
William Walton Kitchin | 1909 - 1913 |
Locke Craig | 1913 - 1917 |
Thomas Walter Bickett | 1917 - 1921 |
Cameron Morrison | 1921 - 1925 |
Angus Wilton McLean | 1925 - 1929 |
Oliver Max Gardner | 1929 - 1933 |
John Christoph Blucher Ehringhaus | 1933 - 1937 |
Clyde Roark Hoey | 1937 - 1941 |
Joseph Melville Broughton | 1941 - 1945 |
Robert Gregg Cherry | 1945 - 1949 |
William Kerr Scott | 1949 - 1953 |
William Bradley Umstead | 1953 - 1954 |
Luther Hartwell Hodges | 1954 - 1961 |
Terry Sanford | 1961 - 1965 |
Dan Killian Moore | 1965 - 1969 |
Robert Walker Scott | 1969 - 1973 |
James Eubert Holshouser, Jr. | 1973 - 1977 |
James Baxter Hunt, Jr. | 1977 - 1985 (first of two terms) |
James Grubbs Martin | 1985 - 1993 |
James Baxter Hunt, Jr. | 1993 - Present |