Editing North Carolina (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of North Carolina}}

===Native Americans, lost colony, and permanent settlement===
{{See also|Native Americans in the United States|Joara|Roanoke Island|Fort Raleigh National Historic Site}}
[[File:North carolina algonkin-rituale01.jpg|left|thumb|Ceremony of [[Secotan]] warriors in North Carolina. Watercolour painted by English colonist [[John White (colonist and artist)|John White]] in 1585.]]
North Carolina was inhabited for at least 10,000 years by succeeding [[prehistoric]] [[Indigenous peoples|Indigenous]] cultures. The [[Hardaway Site]] saw major periods of occupation dating to 10,000 years BCE. Before 200 AD, people were building [[Earthworks (archaeology)|earthwork]] [[platform mounds]] for ceremonial and religious purposes. Succeeding peoples, including those of the [[South Appalachian Mississippian culture]], established by 1000 AD in the [[Piedmont (United States)|Piedmont]] and mountain region, continued to build this style of mounds. In contrast to some of the larger centers of the classic Mississippian culture in the area that became known as the western Carolinas, northeastern Georgia, and southeastern Tennessee, most of the larger towns had only one central platform mound. Smaller settlements had none, but were close to more prominent towns. This area became known as the homelands of the historic [[Cherokee]] people, who are believed to have migrated over time from the [[Great Lakes]] area.

In the 500–700 years preceding European contact, the Mississippian culture built elaborate cities and maintained far-flung regional trading networks. Its largest city was [[Cahokia]], which had numerous mounds for different purposes, a highly stratified society, and was located in present-day southwestern Illinois near the Mississippi River. Starting in 1540, the Native polities of the Mississippian culture fell apart and reformed as new groups, such as the [[Catawba people|Catawba]], due to a series of destabilizing events known as the "[[Mississippian shatter zone]]". Introduction of colonial trading arrangements and hostile native groups from the north such as the Westo Indians hastened changes in an already tenuous regional hierarchy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fox |first=William A. |title=Mapping the Mississippian Shatter Zone |chapter=Events as Seen from the North |date=2009 |publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]] |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=63–80|doi=10.2307/j.ctt1dgn4d8.7 |jstor=j.ctt1dgn4d8.7 |isbn=978-0-8032-1759-1 }}</ref> As described by anthropologist [[Robbie Ethridge]], the Mississippian shatter zone was a time of great instability in what is now the American South, caused by the instability of Mississippian chiefdoms, high mortality from new Eurasian diseases, conversion to an agricultural society and the accompanying population increase, and the emergence of Native "militaristic slaving societies".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Colonial Genocide in Indigenous North America|editor-last1=Woolford |editor-first1=Andrew John |editor-last2=Benvenuto |editor-first2=Jeff |editor-last3=Hinton |editor-first3=Alexander Laban|date=October 31, 2014|isbn=978-0-8223-5763-6|location=Durham, North Carolina|oclc=873985135 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]]}}</ref>

Historically documented tribes in the North Carolina region include the [[Carolina Algonquian]]-speaking tribes of the coastal areas, such as the [[Chowanoc]], [[Roanoke (tribe)|Roanoke]], [[Pamlico]], [[Machapunga]], and [[Coree]], who were the first encountered by the English; the [[Iroquoian]]-speaking [[Meherrin]], [[Cherokee]], and [[Tuscarora (tribe)|Tuscarora]] of the interior; and Southeastern [[Siouan]]-speaking tribes, such as the [[Cheraw (tribe)|Cheraw]], [[Waxhaws|Waxhaw]], [[Saponi]], [[Waccamaw Siouan|Waccamaw]], [[Cape Fear Indians]], and [[Catawba (tribe)|Catawba]] of the Piedmont.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Speck |first=Frank G. |date=1935 |title=Siouan Tribes of the Carolinas as Known from Catawba, Tutelo, and Documentary Sources |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=201–225 |doi=10.1525/aa.1935.37.2.02a00020 |jstor=662257 |issn=0002-7294}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ganyard |first=Robert L. |date=1968 |title=Threat from the West: North Carolina and the Cherokee, 1776-1778 |journal=The North Carolina Historical Review |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=47–66 |jstor=23518133 |issn=0029-2494}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Coe |first=Joffre L. |date=1979 |title=The Indian in North Carolina |journal=The North Carolina Historical Review |volume=56 |issue=2 |pages=158–161 |jstor=23534827 |issn=0029-2494}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Davis |first1=R. P. Stephen |last2=Ward |first2=H. Trawick |date=1991 |title=The Evolution of Siouan Communities in Piedmont North Carolina |journal=Southeastern Archaeology |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=40–53 |jstor=40712940 |issn=0734-578X}}</ref>

In the late 16th century, the first Spanish explorers traveling inland recorded meeting [[Mississippian culture]] people at [[Joara]], a regional [[chiefdom]] near what later developed as [[Morganton, North Carolina|Morganton]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Fort San Juan and the Limits of Empire: Colonialism and Household Practice at the Berry Site |date=2016-01-26 |publisher=University Press of Florida |isbn=978-0-8130-5567-1 |editor-last=Beck |editor-first=Robin A. |pages=31–56 |doi=10.2307/j.ctvx073wb.10 |jstor=j.ctvx073wb |editor-last2=Rodning |editor-first2=Christopher B. |editor-last3=Moore |editor-first3=David G.}}</ref> Records of [[Hernando de Soto]] attested to his meeting with them in 1540. In 1567, Captain [[Juan Pardo (explorer)|Juan Pardo]] led an expedition to claim the area for the Spanish colony and to establish another route to reach silver mines in Mexico.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=DePratter |first1=Chester B. |last2=Hudson |first2=Charles M. |last3=Smith |first3=Marvin T. |date=1983 |title=The Route of Juan Pardo's Explorations in the Interior Southeast, 1566-1568 |journal=The Florida Historical Quarterly |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=125–158 |jstor=30146259 |issn=0015-4113}}</ref> Pardo made a winter base at Joara, which he renamed ''Cuenca''.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Kickler |first=Troy L |date=2016-03-07 |title=Exploration in North Carolina (Spanish) - North Carolina History |url=https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/exploration-in-north-carolina-spanish/ |access-date=2024-03-24 |website=North Carolina History - |language=en-US |archive-date=March 24, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324044049/https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/exploration-in-north-carolina-spanish/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hudson |first=Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NyAD-F3Q85kC&pg=PA1537 |title=The Juan Pardo Expeditions: Exploration of the Carolinas and Tennessee, 1566-1568 |date=2005-07-24 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=978-0-8173-5190-8 |language=en}}</ref> His expedition built [[Fort San Juan (Joara)|Fort San Juan]] and left a contingent of 30 Spaniards there, while Pardo traveled further.<ref name=":3" /> His forces built and garrisoned five other forts. He returned by a different route to [[Mission Santa Elena|Santa Elena]] on [[Parris Island, South Carolina]], then a center of [[Spanish Florida]]. In the spring of 1568, natives killed all but seventy four of the Spaniards and burned the six forts in the interior, including Fort San Juan.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Fort San Juan and the Limits of Empire: Colonialism and Household Practice at the Berry Site |date=2016-01-26 |publisher=University Press of Florida |isbn=978-0-8130-5567-1 |editor-last=Beck |editor-first=Robin A. |doi=10.2307/j.ctvx073wb |jstor=j.ctvx073wb |editor-last2=Rodning |editor-first2=Christopher B. |editor-last3=Moore |editor-first3=David G.}}</ref> Although the Spanish never returned to the interior, this effort marked the first European attempt at colonization of the interior of what became the United States. A 16th-century journal by Pardo's scribe Bandera, and [[archaeological]] findings since 1986 at Joara, have confirmed the settlement.<ref name=richards>{{cite web |url=http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~arch/berrysitepress/amerarchspring2008.pdf |author=Richards, Constance E. |title=Contact and Conflict |website=American Archaeology |date=Spring 2008 |page=14 |access-date=June 26, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090624110618/http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~arch/berrysitepress/amerarchspring2008.pdf |archive-date=June 24, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author1=Patrick Gibbs |url=http://antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/moore/index.html |first2=David G. |last2=Moore |first3=Robin A. Jr. |last3=Beck |first4=Christopher B. |last4=Rodning |title=Joara and Fort San Juan: culture contact at the edge of the world |volume=78 |issue=229 |publisher=Antiquity.ac.uk |date=March 2004 |access-date=July 24, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724171011/http://antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/moore/index.html |archive-date=July 24, 2011 }}</ref>

===Anglo-European settlement===
[[File:Sir Walter Raleigh oval portrait by Nicholas Hilliard.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Walter Raleigh|Sir Walter Raleigh]], namesake of the state capital of North Carolina, [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]]]]
In 1584, [[Elizabeth I]] granted a charter to [[Sir Walter Raleigh]], for whom the state capital is named, for land in present-day North Carolina (then part of the territory of [[Virginia]]).<ref>{{cite book
|last=Randinelli
|first=Tracey
|title=Tanglewood Park
|year=2002
|publisher=Harcourt
|location=Orlando, Florida
|page=16
|isbn=978-0-15-333476-4 }}</ref> It was the second American territory that the English attempted to colonize. Raleigh established two colonies on the coast in the late 1580s, but both failed. The colony established in 1587 saw 118 colonists 'disappear' when [[John White (colonist and artist)|John White]] was unable to return from a supply run during battles with the [[Spanish Armada]]. The fate of the "[[Roanoke Colony|Lost Colony]]" of [[Roanoke Island]] remains one of the most widely debated mysteries of American history. Two native Chieftains, [[Manteo (Native American leader)|Manteo]] and [[Wanchese (Native American leader)|Wanchese]], of which the former helped the colonists and the latter was distrustful, had involvement in the colony and even accompanied Raleigh to England on a previous voyage in 1585. Manteo was also the first Indigenous North American to be baptized by English settlers. Upon White's return in 1590, neither native nor Englishman were to be found. Popular theory holds that the colonists either traveled away with or assimilated into local native culture.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Anonymous |date=May 12, 2022 |title=Our roots go back to Roanoke: Investigating the Link between the Lost Colony and the Lumbee People of North Carolina |url=https://dsi.appstate.edu/projects/lumbee/sing001 |access-date=March 23, 2023 |website=Digital Scholarship and Initiatives |language=en |archive-date=March 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323161527/https://dsi.appstate.edu/projects/lumbee/sing001 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Virginia Dare]], the first English person to be born in North America, was born on Roanoke Island on August 18, 1587; the surrounding [[Dare County, North Carolina|Dare County]] is named for her.

As early as 1650, settlers from the [[Colony of Virginia|Virginia colony]] had moved into the [[Albemarle Sound]] region. By 1663, King [[Charles II of England]] granted a [[charter]] to start a new colony on the North American continent; this would generally establish North Carolina's borders. He named it ''Carolina'' in honor of his father, [[Charles I of England|Charles{{spaces}}I]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/NC/HISTORY/HISTORY.HTM |title=North Carolina State Library—North Carolina History |publisher=Statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us |access-date=July 24, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205021230/http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/NC/HISTORY/HISTORY.HTM |archive-date=February 5, 2009 }}</ref> By 1665, a second charter was issued to attempt to resolve territorial questions. This charter rewarded the [[Lord proprietor|Lords Proprietors]], eight Englishmen to whom King Charles II granted joint ownership of a tract of land in the state. All of these men either had remained loyal to the Crown or aided Charles's restoration to the English throne after [[Oliver Cromwell|Cromwell]]. In 1712, owing to disputes over governance, the Carolina colony split into North Carolina and [[South Carolina]]. North Carolina became a crown colony in 1729.<ref>{{Cite web |title=North Carolina Became a Royal Colony |url=https://www.ncdcr.gov/blog/2016/07/25/north-carolina-became-royal-colony |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=www.ncdcr.gov |date=July 25, 2016 |language=en |archive-date=January 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125194827/https://www.ncdcr.gov/blog/2016/07/25/north-carolina-became-royal-colony |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[History of slavery in North Carolina|Most of the English colonists]] had arrived as [[indentured servant]]s, hiring themselves out as laborers for a fixed period to pay for their passage. In the early years the line between indentured servants and African [[slave]]s or laborers was fluid. Some Africans were allowed to earn their freedom before slavery became a lifelong status. Most of the [[free people of color|free colored]] families formed in North Carolina before the Revolution were descended from unions or marriages between free whites and enslaved or free Africans or African-Americans. If the mothers were free, their children were born free. Many had migrated or were descendants of migrants from colonial Virginia.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/ |title=Paul Heinegg, ''Free African Americans in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware'' |publisher=Freeafricanamericans.com |access-date=July 24, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100807191511/http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/ |archive-date=August 7, 2010 }}</ref> As the flow of indentured laborers to the colony decreased with improving economic conditions in [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]], planters imported more slaves, and the state's legal delineations between free and slave status tightened, effectively hardening the latter into a racial caste. Conditions for both slaves and workers worsened as the ranks of the former eclipsed the latter and expansion of farming operations into former Indigenous territories lowered prices. Unable to establish deep water ports such as at Charles Town and Norfolk, the economy's growth and prosperity was thus based on cheap labor and slave plantation systems, devoted primarily to the production of tobacco, then later cotton and textiles.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources |date=March 23, 2023 |title=Birth of a Colony: North Carolina |url=https://www.ncdcr.gov/media/737/download |access-date=March 23, 2023 |archive-date=July 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220728121900/https://www.ncdcr.gov/media/737/download |url-status=live }}</ref>

In [[1738–1739 North Carolina smallpox epidemic|1738–1739]], smallpox caused high fatalities among the Native Americans, who had no [[immunity (medical)|immunity]] to the new disease (it had become [[endemic]] over centuries in Europe).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uncpress.unc.edu/nc_encyclopedia/cherokee.html |title=Cherokee Indians |publisher=Uncpress.unc.edu |date=November 16, 1919 |access-date=July 24, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726163819/http://www.uncpress.unc.edu/nc_encyclopedia/cherokee.html |archive-date=July 26, 2011 }}</ref> According to the historian Russell Thornton, "The 1738 epidemic was said to have killed one-half of the [[Cherokee]], with other tribes of the area suffering equally."<ref>Russell Thornton (1990) ''[https://archive.org/details/americanindianho00thor_0 American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History since 1492] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160108232606/https://books.google.com/books?id=9iQYSQ9y60MC |date=January 8, 2016 }}'', University of Oklahoma Press. p.79. {{ISBN|0-8061-2220-X}}</ref>

===Colonial period===
{{Main|Province of Carolina|Province of North-Carolina|French and Indian War|Treaty of Paris (1763)|American Revolutionary War||United States Declaration of Independence|Articles of Confederation#Ratification}}
<gallery widths="220" heights="165" class="center" style="line-height:130%">
File:Croatoan.jpg|[[John White (colonist and artist)|John White]] returns to find the colony abandoned
File:The Carte of all the Coast of Virginia by Theodor de Bry 1585 1586.jpg|Map of the coast of [[Virginia]] and North Carolina, drawn 1585–1586 by [[Theodor de Bry]], based on map by [[John White (colonist and artist)|John White]] of the [[Roanoke Colony]]
File:Tryon Palace.JPG|Reconstructed royal governor's mansion [[Governor's Palace, New Bern|Tryon Palace]] in [[New Bern, North Carolina|New Bern]]
</gallery>
After the Spanish in the 16th century, the first permanent European settlers of North Carolina were English colonists who migrated south from [[Virginia]]. Virginia had grown rapidly and land was less available. [[Nathaniel Batts]] was documented as one of the first of these Virginian migrants. He settled south of the [[Chowan River]] and east of the [[Great Dismal Swamp]] in 1655.<ref>Fenn and Wood, ''Natives and Newcomers'', pp. 24–25.</ref> By 1663, this northeastern area of the [[Province of Carolina]], known as the [[Albemarle Settlements]], was undergoing full-scale English settlement.<ref>Powell, ''North Carolina Through Four Centuries'', p. 105.</ref> During the same period, the English monarch Charles{{spaces}}II gave provincial land grants to the [[Lords Proprietors]], the group of noblemen who had helped restore him to the throne in 1660. These grants were predicated on an agreement that the Lords would use their influence to bring in colonists and establish ports of trade. This new [[Province of Carolina]] was named in honor and memory of his father, Charles{{spaces}}I (Latin: ''Carolus'').

Lacking a viable coastal port city due to geography, towns grew at a slower pace and remained small. By the late 17th century, Carolina was essentially two colonies, one centered in the Albemarle region in the north and the other located in the south around Charleston.<ref name=":2" /> In 1705 South Carolinian [[John Lawson (explorer)|John Lawson]] purchased land on the Pamlico River and laid out Bath, North Carolina's first town. After returning to England, he published the book A New Voyage to Carolina, which became a travelogue and a marketing piece to encourage new colonists to Carolina. Lawson encouraged Baron Christoph Von Graffenried, the leader of a group of Swiss and German Protestants, to immigrate to Carolina. Von Graffenried purchased land between the Neuse and the Trent Rivers and established the town of [[New Bern, North Carolina|New Bern]]. After an attack on New Bern in which hundreds were killed or injured, Lawson was caught then executed by [[Tuscarora Indians]]. A large revolt happened in the state in 1711, known as [[Cary's Rebellion]]. In 1712, North Carolina became a separate colony, and in 1729 it became a royal colony, with the exception of the [[John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville|Earl Granville]] holdings.<ref name="autogenerated1">Lefler and Newsome, (1973).</ref>

In June 1718, ''[[Queen Anne's Revenge]]'', the flagship of pirate [[Blackbeard]], ran aground at Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina, in present-day [[Carteret County, North Carolina|Carteret County]]. After the grounding, her crew and supplies were transferred to smaller ships. In November 1718, after appealing to the governor of North Carolina, who promised safe-haven and a pardon, Blackbeard was killed in an ambush by troops from Virginia.<ref>{{cite web|title=Blackbeard killed off North Carolina|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/blackbeard-killed-off-north-carolina|website=History.com|date=February 9, 2010|access-date=April 30, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150401125703/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/blackbeard-killed-off-north-carolina|archive-date=April 1, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1996, Intersal, Inc., a private maritime research firm, discovered the remains of a vessel likely to be the ''[[Queen Anne's Revenge]]'', which was added to the U.S. [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref>D. Moore. (1997) "A General History of Blackbeard the Pirate, the Queen Anne's Revenge and the Adventure". In Tributaries, Volume VII, 1997. pp. 31–35. (North Carolina Maritime History Council).</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=QAR Discovered|url=http://www.lat3440.com/|website=Intersal, Inc.|access-date=13 July 2016}}</ref>

North Carolina became one of the [[Thirteen Colonies]] and with the territory of [[South Carolina]] was originally known as the [[Province of North Carolina]]. The northern and southern parts of the original province separated in 1712, with North Carolina becoming a royal colony in 1729. Originally settled by small farmers, sometimes having a few slaves, who were oriented toward [[subsistence agriculture]], the colony lacked large cities or towns. [[Piracy|Pirates]] menaced the coastal settlements, but by 1718 piracy in the Carolinas was on the decline. Growth was strong in the middle of the 18th century, as the economy attracted [[Scotch-Irish American|Scots-Irish]], [[Quaker]], [[English American|English]] and [[German American|German]] immigrants. A majority of the North Carolina colonists generally supported the [[American Revolution]], although there were some [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]]. Loyalists in North Carolina were fewer in number than in some other colonies such as Georgia, South Carolina, Delaware, and New York.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The American Revolution in North Carolina – The Loyalists and Their Militias |url=https://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/revolution_loyalists_militia_nc.html |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=www.carolana.com |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922233252/https://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/revolution_loyalists_militia_nc.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=North Carolina History Project |title=Tories |url=https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/tories/ |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=North Carolina History Project |date=March 7, 2016 |publisher=John Locke Foundation |language=en-US |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922233251/https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/tories/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=North Carolina in the US Revolution |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/history/usrevolution/overview |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=NCpedia |archive-date=April 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401070056/https://www.ncpedia.org/history/usrevolution/overview |url-status=live }}</ref>

During colonial times, [[Edenton, North Carolina|Edenton]] served as the state capital beginning in 1722, followed by [[New Bern, North Carolina|New Bern]] becoming the capital in 1766. Construction of [[Governor's Palace, New Bern|Tryon Palace]], which served as the residence and offices of the provincial governor [[William Tryon]], began in 1767 and was completed in 1771. In 1788, [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]] was chosen as the site of the new capital, as its central location protected it from coastal attacks. Officially established in 1792 as both county seat and state capital, the city was named after Sir [[Walter Raleigh]], sponsor of [[Roanoke Colony|Roanoke]], the "lost colony" on [[Roanoke Island]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nchistoricsites.org/capitol/stat_cap/ |title=Capitol History |access-date=May 16, 2013 |author=North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029200430/http://www.nchistoricsites.org/capitol/stat_cap/ |archive-date=October 29, 2013 }}</ref> The population of the colony more than quadrupled from 52,000 in 1740 to 270,000 in 1780 from high immigration from Virginia, [[Maryland]] and [[Pennsylvania]], plus immigrants from abroad.<ref>Wiki Article Historical Demography of the United States.</ref>

North Carolina did not have any printer or print shops until 1749, when the North Carolina Assembly commissioned [[James Davis (printer)|James Davis]] from Williamsburg Virginia to act as their official printer.  Before this time the laws and legal journals of North Carolina were handwritten and were kept in a largely disorganized manner, prompting the hiring of Davis. Davis settled in New Bern, married, and in 1755 was appointed by [[Benjamin Franklin]] as North Carolina's first postmaster. In October of that year the North Carolina Assembly awarded Davis a contract to carry mail between [[Wilmington, North Carolina]] and [[Suffolk, Virginia]]. He was also active in North Carolina politics as a member of the Assembly and later as the Sheriff. Davis also founded and printed the ''[[North-Carolina Gazette]]'', North Carolina's first newspaper, printed in his printing house in New Bern.<ref name=powell34-35>[[#powell2000|Powell, 2000]], pp. 34–35</ref><ref>[[#lee1923|Lee, 1923]], p. 53</ref>

Differences in the settlement patterns of eastern and western North Carolina, or the [[Atlantic coastal plain]] and uplands, affected the political, economic, and social life of the state from the 18th until the 20th century. Eastern North Carolina was settled chiefly by immigrants from rural England and Gaelic speakers from the [[Scottish Highlands]]. The [[Piedmont (United States)|Piedmont]] upcountry and western mountain region of North Carolina was settled chiefly by [[Ulster Scots people|Scots-Irish]], English, and German Protestants, the so-called "[[cohee]]". Arriving during the mid-to-late 18th century, the Scots-Irish, people of Scottish descent who migrated to and then emigrated from what is today Northern Ireland, were the largest non-English immigrant group before the Revolution; English indentured servants were overwhelmingly the largest immigrant group before the Revolution.<ref>{{cite web |author= Bethune, Lawrence E |title= Scots to Colonial North Carolina Before 1775 |website= Lawrence E. Bethune's M.U.S.I.C.s Project |url= http://www.dalhousielodge.org/Thesis/scotstonc.htm |access-date= October 26, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120219045151/http://www.dalhousielodge.org/Thesis/scotstonc.htm |archive-date= February 19, 2012 }}</ref><ref name="census.gov">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/files/pc80-s1-10/tab03a.pdf|title=Ancestry of the Population by State: 1980—Table 3a—Persons Who Reported a Single Ancestry Group for Regions, Divisions and States|access-date=May 11, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190830234458/https://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/files/pc80-s1-10/tab03a.pdf|archive-date=August 30, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/files/pc80-s1-10/tab01.pdf |title=Table 1. ''Type of Ancestry Response for Regions, Divisions and States: 1980'' |access-date=May 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708160626/https://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/files/pc80-s1-10/tab01.pdf |archive-date=July 8, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/nai_cilh/servitude.html |title=Indentured Servitude in Colonial America |publisher=Webcitation.org |access-date=May 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091022161033/http://geocities.com/nai_cilh/servitude.html |archive-date=October 22, 2009 }}</ref>

===Revolutionary War===
[[File:Halifax Resolves plaque - North Carolina State Capitol - DSC05912.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Halifax Resolves]] plaque inside the [[North Carolina State Capitol]]]]
During the [[American Revolutionary War]], the English and Gaelic speaking Highland Scots of eastern North Carolina tended to remain loyal to the British Crown, because of longstanding business and personal connections with Great Britain. The English, Welsh, Scots-Irish, and German settlers of western North Carolina tended to favor American independence from Britain. British loyalists dubbed the [[Mecklenburg County, North Carolina|Mecklenburg County]] area to be 'a hornet's nest' of radicals, birthing the name of the future Charlotte NBA team. On April 12, 1776, the colony became the first to instruct its delegates to the [[Continental Congress]] to vote for independence from the British Crown, through the [[Halifax Resolves]] passed by the [[North Carolina Provincial Congress]]. The date of this event is memorialized on the [[Flag of North Carolina|state flag]] and [[Seal of North Carolina|state seal]]. Throughout the Revolutionary War, fierce [[guerrilla warfare]] erupted between bands of pro-independence and pro-British colonists. In some cases the war was also an excuse to settle private grudges and rivalries.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Today in History – April 12 |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/april-12/ |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922233252/https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/april-12/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Halifax Resolves – April 12, 1776 |url=https://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com/halifax-resolves-april-12-1776.html |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=Revolutionary War and Beyond |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922233252/https://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com/halifax-resolves-april-12-1776.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

North Carolina had around 7,800 [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriots]] join the [[Continental Army]] under General [[George Washington]]; and an additional 10,000 served in local militia units under such leaders as General [[Nathanael Greene]].<ref>Milton Ready, ''The Tar Heel State: A History of North Carolina'' (U. of South Carolina Press, 2005), pp. 116, 120.</ref> There was some military action, especially in 1780–81. Many Carolinian frontiersmen had moved west over the mountains, into the [[Washington District, North Carolina|Washington District]] (later known as [[Tennessee]]), but in 1789, following the Revolution, the state was persuaded to relinquish its claim to the western lands. It ceded them to the national government so the [[Northwest Territory]] could be organized and managed nationally.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Six Western Counties Ceded |url=https://www.ncdcr.gov/blog/2017/02/08/six-western-counties-ceded |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=www.ncdcr.gov |date=December 22, 2016 |language=en |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922233251/https://www.ncdcr.gov/blog/2017/02/08/six-western-counties-ceded |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Battle of Kings Mountain|A major American victory]] in the war took place at [[King's Mountain]] along the North Carolina–South Carolina border; on October 7, 1780, a force of 1,000 Patriots from western North Carolina (including what is today the state of [[Tennessee]]) and [[southwest Virginia]] overwhelmed a force of some 1,000 British troops led by Major [[Patrick Ferguson]]. Most of the soldiers fighting for the British side in this battle were Carolinians who had remained loyal to the Crown (they were called "Tories" or Loyalists). The American victory at King's Mountain gave the advantage to colonists who favored American independence, and it prevented the British Army from recruiting new soldiers from the Tories.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kings Mountain |url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/kings-mountain |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=American Battlefield Trust |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:Battle of Guiliford Courthouse 15 March 1781.jpg|thumb|left|1st Maryland Regiment holding the line at the [[Battle of Guilford Court House]], 1781]]

The road to [[Yorktown, Virginia|Yorktown]] and America's independence from [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] led through North Carolina. As the [[British Army]] moved north from victories in [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]] and [[Camden, South Carolina]], the Southern Division of the [[Continental Army]] and local militia prepared to meet them. Following General [[Daniel Morgan]]'s victory over the British Cavalry Commander [[Banastre Tarleton]] at the [[Battle of Cowpens]] on January 17, 1781, southern commander [[Nathanael Greene]] led British Lord [[Charles Cornwallis]] across the heartland of North Carolina, and away from the latter's base of supply in Charleston, South Carolina. This campaign is known as "The Race to the Dan" or "The Race for the River".<ref name="autogenerated1" />

In the [[Battle of Cowan's Ford]], Cornwallis met resistance along the banks of the [[Catawba River]] at Cowan's Ford on February 1, 1781, in an attempt to engage General Morgan's forces during a tactical withdrawal.<ref>Stonestreet, Ottis C. IV, ''The Battle of Cowan's Ford: General Davidson's Stand on the Catawba River and its place in North Carolina History'' (CreateSpace Publishing 2012) {{ISBN|978-1-4680-7730-8}} p. 2, 3, 4.</ref> Morgan had moved to the northern part of the state to combine with General Greene's newly recruited forces. Generals Greene and Cornwallis finally met at the [[Battle of Guilford Courthouse]] in present-day [[Greensboro, North Carolina|Greensboro]] on March 15, 1781. Although the [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] troops held the field at the end of the battle, their casualties at the hands of the numerically superior Continental Army were crippling. Following this "[[Pyrrhic victory]]", Cornwallis chose to move to the Virginia coastline to get reinforcements, and to allow the [[Royal Navy]] to protect his battered army. This decision would result in Cornwallis' eventual defeat at [[Yorktown, Virginia]], later in 1781. The Patriots' victory there guaranteed American independence. On November 21, 1789, North Carolina became the twelfth state to ratify the [[U.S. Constitution]].

===Antebellum period===
{{Main|Constitutional Convention (United States)|Admission to the Union|List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union}}
After 1800, cotton and tobacco became important export crops. The eastern half of the state, especially the Coastal Plain region, developed a slave society based on a [[plantations in the American South|plantation]] system and [[slavery|slave]] labor. Planters owning large estates wielded significant political and socio-economic power in antebellum North Carolina. They placed their interests above those of the generally non-slave-holding [[yeoman farmer]]s of North Carolina. While slaveholding was slightly less concentrated compared to some other Southern states, according to the 1860 census, more than 330,000 people, or 33% of the population out of 992,622 people in total, were enslaved African Americans.<ref name=census>{{cite web|title=Historical Census Browser:Census Data for Year 1860 |date=2004 |access-date=June 26, 2014 |website=University of Virginia Library |url=http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu/php/start.php?year=V1860 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141011024040/http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu/php/start.php?year=V1860 |archive-date=October 11, 2014 }}</ref> They lived and worked chiefly on plantations in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions of the state. In addition, 30,463 [[free people of color]] lived in the state.<ref name=census /> They were also mainly concentrated in the eastern coastal plain, especially at port cities such as Wilmington and New Bern, where a variety of jobs were available. Most were descendants from free African Americans who had migrated along with neighbors from [[Virginia]] during the 18th century. The majority were the descendants of unions in the working classes between white women, indentured servants or free, and African men, indentured, slave or free.<ref>[http://freeafricanamericans.com/ Paul Heinegg, ''Free African Americans in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120919165518/http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/ |date=September 19, 2012 }}, 2005.</ref>[[File:Map North Carolina roads and railroads 1854.jpg|thumb|Map of the roads and railroads of North Carolina, 1854]]

After the American Revolution, [[Religious Society of Friends|Quakers]] and [[Mennonite]]s worked to persuade slaveholders to free their slaves. Some were inspired by their efforts and the language of the Revolution to arrange for [[manumission]] of their slaves. The number of free people of color rose markedly in the first couple of decades after the Revolution.<ref>John Hope Franklin, ''Free Negroes of North Carolina, 1789–1860'', Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1941, reprint, 1991.</ref> Many [[free people of color]] migrated to the frontier, along with their European-American neighbors, where the social system was looser. By 1810, nearly three percent of the free population consisted of free people of color, who numbered slightly more than 10,000. The western areas of North Carolina were mainly white families of [[European Americans|European]] descent, especially [[Scotch-Irish Americans|Scotch-Irish]], who operated small subsistence farms. In the early national period, the state became a center of [[Jeffersonian democracy|Jeffersonian]] and [[Jacksonian democracy]], with a strong [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] presence, especially in the western part of the state. After [[Nat Turner]]'s slave uprising in 1831, North Carolina and other southern states reduced the rights of free blacks. In 1835, the legislature withdrew their right to vote.

In mid-century, the state's rural and commercial areas were connected by the construction of a {{convert|129|mi|adj=on|abbr=on}} wooden plank road, known as a "farmer's railroad", from [[Fayetteville, North Carolina|Fayetteville]] in the east to [[Bethania, North Carolina|Bethania]] (northwest of [[Winston-Salem, North Carolina|Winston-Salem]]).<ref name="autogenerated1" /> On October 25, 1836, construction began on the [[Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historync.org/railroads.htm |title=NC Business History—Railroads |publisher=Historync.org |access-date=July 24, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726152211/http://historync.org/railroads.htm |archive-date=July 26, 2011 }}</ref> to connect the port city of [[Wilmington, North Carolina|Wilmington]] with the state capital of [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]]. In 1840, the [[North Carolina State Capitol|state capitol]] building in Raleigh was completed, and still stands today.

In 1849, the North Carolina Railroad was created by act of the legislature to extend that railroad west to [[Greensboro, North Carolina|Greensboro]], [[High Point, North Carolina|High Point]], and [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]]. During the Civil War, the Wilmington-to-Raleigh stretch of the railroad was vital to the Confederate war effort; supplies shipped into Wilmington were moved by rail through Raleigh to the Confederate capital of [[Richmond, Virginia]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=State Agency Finding Aid: North Carolina Railroad Company, 1849–1965 |url=https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p16062coll15/id/1382 |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=digital.ncdcr.gov |language=en |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922233252/https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p16062coll15/id/1382 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===American Civil War===
{{Main|Ordinance of Secession|Confederate States of America|North Carolina in the American Civil War}}
{{Further|American Civil War}}
[[File:Battle of Fort Fisher.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1|Union troops capture [[Fort Fisher]], 1865]]
In 1860, North Carolina was a slave state, in which one-third of the state's total population were African-American slaves. The state did not vote to join the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] until President [[Abraham Lincoln]] called on it to invade its sister state,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Historic Sites: The Road to Secession|url=https://historicsites.nc.gov/resources/north-carolina-civil-war/road-secession|access-date=January 25, 2021|website=historicsites.nc.gov|archive-date=January 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210129121230/https://historicsites.nc.gov/resources/north-carolina-civil-war/road-secession|url-status=live}}</ref> [[South Carolina]], becoming the last or penultimate state to officially join the Confederacy. The title of "last to join the Confederacy" has been disputed; although Tennessee's informal secession on May 7, 1861, preceded North Carolina's official secession on May 20,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.civiced.org/index.php?page=timeline_lincoln |title=Center for Civic Education—Lincoln Bicentennial with Supplemental Lesson: Timeline |publisher=Civiced.org |access-date=July 24, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719031654/http://www.civiced.org/index.php?page=timeline_lincoln |archive-date=July 19, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://docsouth.unc.edu/highlights/secession.html |title=Highlights: Secession |publisher=Docsouth.unc.edu |access-date=July 24, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110916195201/http://docsouth.unc.edu/highlights/secession.html |archive-date=September 16, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> the Tennessee legislature did not formally vote to secede until June 8, 1861.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jun08.html |title=Today in History: June 8 |publisher=Memory.loc.gov |date=April 9, 1959 |access-date=July 24, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514034825/http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jun08.html |archive-date=May 14, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Around 125,000 troops from North Carolina served in the Confederate Army, and about 15,000 North Carolina troops (both black and white) served in [[List of North Carolina Union Civil War units|Union Army regiments]], including those who left the state to join Union regiments elsewhere.<ref>[https://www.ncmuseumofhistory.org/faqs-about-north-carolina-and-civil-war FAQs about North Carolina and the Civil War] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624215638/https://www.ncmuseumofhistory.org/faqs-about-north-carolina-and-civil-war |date=June 24, 2021 }}. ''North Carolina Museum of History''. Retrieved December 20, 2020.</ref> Over 30,000 North Carolina troops died from combat or disease during the war.<ref>[https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-casualties Civil War Casualties | American Battlefield Trust] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205222144/https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-casualties |date=February 5, 2021 }}. Retrieved December 22, 2020.</ref> Elected in 1862, Governor [[Zebulon Baird Vance]] tried to maintain state autonomy against Confederate President [[Jefferson Davis]] in [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]]. The state government was reluctant to support the demands of the national government in [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]], and the state was the scene of only small battles. In 1865, Durham County saw the largest single surrender of Confederate soldiers at [[Bennett Place]], when [[Joseph E. Johnston]] surrendered the Army of Tennessee and all remaining Confederate forces still active in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, totalling 89,270 soldiers.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 23, 2018 |title=Bennett Place Surrender |url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/bennett-place-surrender |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=American Battlefield Trust |language=en-US |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922233251/https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/bennett-place-surrender |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:2008-08-16 Bennett Place historic site.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1|[[Bennett Place]] historic site in [[Durham, North Carolina|Durham]]]]
Confederate troops from all parts of North Carolina served in virtually all the major battles of the [[Army of Northern Virginia]], the Confederacy's most famous army. The largest battle fought in North Carolina was at [[Battle of Bentonville|Bentonville]], which was a futile attempt by Confederate General [[Joseph E. Johnston|Joseph Johnston]] to slow Union General [[William Tecumseh Sherman]]'s advance through the Carolinas in the spring of 1865.<ref name="autogenerated1" /> In April 1865, after losing the [[Battle of Morrisville]], Johnston surrendered to Sherman at [[Bennett Place]], in what is today [[Durham, North Carolina|Durham]]. North Carolina's port city of [[Wilmington, North Carolina|Wilmington]], was the last Confederate port to fall to the Union, in February 1865, after the Union won the nearby [[Second Battle of Fort Fisher]], its major defense downriver.

The first Confederate soldier to be killed in the Civil War was Private [[Henry Lawson Wyatt|Henry Wyatt]] from North Carolina, in the [[Battle of Big Bethel]] in June 1861. At the [[Battle of Gettysburg]] in July 1863, the 26th North Carolina Regiment participated in [[Pickett's Charge|Pickett/Pettigrew's Charge]] and advanced the farthest into Union lines of any Confederate regiment. During the [[Battle of Chickamauga]], the 58th North Carolina Regiment advanced farther than any other regiment on Snodgrass Hill to push back the remaining Union forces from the battlefield. At [[Appomattox Court House National Historical Park|Appomattox Court House]] in Virginia in April 1865, the 75th North Carolina Regiment, a cavalry unit, fired the last shots of the Confederate [[Army of Northern Virginia]] in the Civil War.  The phrase "First at Bethel, Farthest at Gettysburg and Chickamauga, and Last at Appomattox", later became used through much of the early 20th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=First at Bethel, Farthest to the Front at Gettysburg and Chickamauga, and Last at Appomattox |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/first-bethel-farthest-front-gettysb#:~:text=%27%22First%20at%20Bethel,%20Farthest,use%20as%20early%20as%201901. |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=NCpedia |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922233301/https://www.ncpedia.org/first-bethel-farthest-front-gettysb#:~:text=%27%22First%20at%20Bethel,%20Farthest,use%20as%20early%20as%201901. |url-status=live }}</ref>

After secession, some North Carolinians refused to support the Confederacy. Some of the yeoman farmers chiefly in the state's mountains and western Piedmont region remained neutral during the Civil War, with others covertly supporting the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] cause during the conflict.<ref>Bochna, Allie. (2017). [https://civilwar.vt.edu/the-secret-societies-of-the-south-southern-unionist-societies-during-the-civil-war/ The Secret Societies of the South: Southern Unionist Societies During the Civil War] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412005114/https://civilwar.vt.edu/the-secret-societies-of-the-south-southern-unionist-societies-during-the-civil-war/ |date=April 12, 2021 }}. ''Virginia Center for Civil War Studies''. Retrieved April 11, 2021.</ref> Approximately [[List of North Carolina Union Civil War units|15,000 North Carolinians]] (both black and white) from across the state enlisted in the [[Union Army]]. Numerous slaves also escaped to Union lines, where they became essentially free.

===Reconstruction era through late 19th century===
{{Main|Reconstruction era}}
[[File:NCG-WilliamHolden.jpg|thumb|left|150px|[[William Woods Holden]], a Unionist who served as the 38th and 40th [[List of governors of North Carolina|Governor of North Carolina]], and during the [[Reconstruction era]]]]
Following the collapse of the Confederacy in 1865, North Carolina, along with other former Confederate States (except Tennessee), was put under direct control by the [[U.S. military]] and was relieved of its [[Constitution of North Carolina|constitutional government]] and representation within the [[United States Congress]] in what is now referred to as the [[Reconstruction era]]. To earn back its rights, the state had to make concessions to Washington, one of which was ratifying the [[Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution|Thirteenth Amendment]]. Congressional Republicans during Reconstruction, commonly referred to as "[[radical Republicans]]", constantly pushed for new constitutions for each of the Southern states that emphasized equal rights for African-Americans. In 1868, a constitutional convention restored the state government of North Carolina. Though the [[Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fifteenth Amendment]] was also adopted that same year, it remained [[Jim Crow laws|in most cases]] ineffective for almost a century, not to mention paramilitary groups and their [[lynching in the United States|lynching]] with impunity.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Reconstruction in North Carolina |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/reconstruction-north |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=NCpedia |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922233253/https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/reconstruction-north |url-status=live }}</ref>

The elections in April 1868 following the constitutional convention led to a narrow victory for a Republican-dominated government, with 19 African-Americans holding positions in the [[North Carolina State Legislature]]. In attempt to put the reforms into effect, the new Republican Governor [[William W. Holden]] declared martial law on any county allegedly not complying with law and order using the passage of the [[Shoffner Act]].

A [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] coalition of black freedmen, northern [[carpetbagger]]s and local [[scalawag]]s controlled state government for three years. The white conservative Democrats regained control of the state legislature in 1870, in part by [[Ku Klux Klan]] violence and terrorism at the polls, to suppress black voting. Republicans were elected to the governorship until 1876, when the [[Red Shirts (Southern United States)|Red Shirts]], a paramilitary organization that arose in 1874 and was allied with the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]], helped suppress black voting. More than 150 black Americans were murdered in electoral violence in 1876.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Documenting Reconstruction Violence |url=https://eji.org/report/reconstruction-in-america/documenting-reconstruction-violence/ |access-date=September 22, 2022 |newspaper=Equal Justice Initiative Reports |language=en-US |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922233252/https://eji.org/report/reconstruction-in-america/documenting-reconstruction-violence/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Beeby |first=James M. |date=2008 |title=Red Shirt Violence, Election Fraud, and the Demise of the Populist Party in North Carolina's Third Congressional District, 1900 |journal=The North Carolina Historical Review |volume=85 |issue=1 |pages=1–28 |jstor=23523367 |issn=0029-2494}}</ref>

Post–Civil War-debt cycles pushed people to switch from subsistence agriculture to commodity agriculture. Among this time the notorious Crop-Lien system developed and was financially difficult on landless whites and blacks, due to high amounts of usury. Also due to the push for commodity agriculture, the free range was ended. Prior to this time people fenced in their crops and had their livestock feeding on the free range areas. After the ending of the free range people now fenced their animals and had their crops in the open.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Changes in Agriculture |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/changes-agriculture |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=NCpedia |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922233252/https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/changes-agriculture |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Primary Source: The Evils of the Crop Lien System |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/evils-crop-lien-system |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=NCpedia |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922233332/https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/evils-crop-lien-system |url-status=live }}</ref>[[File:Drinking fountain on the county courthouse lawn, Halifax, North Carolina.jpg|thumb|right|Segregated drinking fountain during the [[Jim Crow]] era in [[Halifax, North Carolina|Halifax]], 1938]]

Democrats were elected to the legislature and governor's office, but the [[People's Party (United States)|Populists]] attracted voters displeased with them. In 1896 a biracial, Populist-Republican Fusionist coalition gained the governor's office and passed laws that would extend the voting franchise to blacks and poor whites. The Democrats regained control of the legislature in 1896 and passed laws to impose [[Jim Crow]] and [[racial segregation]] of public facilities. Voters of North Carolina's [[North Carolina's 2nd congressional district|2nd congressional district]] elected a total of four African-American [[United States Congress|congressmen]] through these years of the late 19th century.

Political tensions ran so high a small group of white Democrats in 1898 planned to take over the [[Wilmington, North Carolina|Wilmington]] government if their candidates were not elected. In the [[Wilmington Insurrection of 1898]], white Democrats led around 2,000 of their supporters that attacked the black newspaper and neighborhood, killed an estimated 60 to 300 people, and ran off the white Republican mayor and aldermen. They installed their own people and elected [[Alfred M. Waddell]] as mayor, in the only successful coup d'état in [[List of coups and coup attempts by country#United States|United States history]].<ref>[http://www.history.ncdcr.gov/1898-wrrc/report/Chapter5.pdf "Chapter 5"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090321002041/http://www.history.ncdcr.gov/1898-wrrc/report/Chapter5.pdf |date=March 21, 2009 }}, ''1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission Report'', North Carolina Dept. of Cultural Resources.</ref>

In 1899, the state legislature passed a new constitution, with requirements for [[poll tax]]es and [[literacy test]]s for voter registration which [[Disenfranchisement after the Reconstruction Era|disenfranchised]] most black Americans in the state.<ref>[https://ssrn.com/abstract=224731 Richard H. Pildes, "Democracy, Anti-Democracy, and the Canon", ''Constitutional Commentary'', Vol.17, 2000, p. 27] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121211213/https://ssrn.com/abstract=224731 |date=November 21, 2018 }}. Retrieved March 10, 2008.</ref> Exclusion from voting had wide effects: it meant black Americans could not serve on juries or in any local office. After a decade of [[white supremacy]], many people forgot North Carolina had ever had thriving middle-class black Americans.<ref>Pildes (2000), "Democracy, Anti-Democracy, and the Canon", pp. 12–13.</ref> Black citizens had no political voice in the state until after the federal [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] and [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]] were passed to enforce their constitutional rights. It was not until 1992 that another African American was elected as a U.S. Representative from North Carolina.

===Early through mid-20th century===
[[File:Wright First Flight 1903Dec17 (full restore 115).jpg|thumb|left|First successful flight of the ''[[Wright Flyer]]'', near [[Kitty Hawk, North Carolina|Kitty Hawk]], 1903]]
After the reconstruction era, North Carolina had become a one-party state, dominated by the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]. The state mainly continued with an economy based on tobacco, cotton textiles and commodity agriculture. Large towns and cities remained in few numbers. However, a major industrial base emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century, in the counties of the [[Piedmont Triad]], based on cotton mills established at the [[Atlantic Seaboard fall line|fall line]]. Railroads were built to connect the new industrializing cities.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Economy |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/economy/colonial-to-2004 |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=NCpedia |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922233322/https://www.ncpedia.org/economy/colonial-to-2004 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The state was the site of [[Wright Flyer|the first successful controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air flight]], by the [[Wright brothers]], near [[Kitty Hawk, North Carolina|Kitty Hawk]] on December 17, 1903.

[[File:Research-triangle-north-carolina.png|thumb|right|Map of [[Research Triangle]], with points representing [[North Carolina State University|NC State University]], [[Duke University]], and [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]]]]
In the first half of the 20th century, many African Americans left the state to go North for better opportunities, in the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]]. Their departure changed the demographic characteristics of many areas.

North Carolina was hard hit by the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]], but the [[New Deal]] programs of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] for cotton and tobacco significantly helped the farmers. After [[World War II]], the state's economy grew rapidly, highlighted by the growth of such cities as Charlotte, Raleigh, and Durham in the Piedmont region.

[[Research Triangle Park]], established in 1959, serves as the largest [[Science park|research park]] in the United States. Formed near Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, the [[Research Triangle]] metro is a major area of universities and advanced scientific and technical research.

The [[Greensboro sit-ins]] in 1960 played a crucial role in the Civil Rights Movement to bring full equality to American blacks. By the late 1960s, spurred in part by the increasingly leftward tilt of national Democrats, conservative whites began to vote for Republican national candidates and gradually for more Republicans locally.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Twentieth-Century North Carolina Timeline {{!}} North Carolina Museum of History |url=https://www.ncmuseumofhistory.org/learn/in-the-classroom/timelines/twentieth-century-north-carolina |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=www.ncmuseumofhistory.org |archive-date=July 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230709194543/https://www.ncmuseumofhistory.org/learn/in-the-classroom/timelines/twentieth-century-north-carolina }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Twentieth Century |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/history/20th-Century/overview |access-date=September 22, 2022 |website=NCpedia |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922233312/https://www.ncpedia.org/history/20th-Century/overview |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Late 20th century to present===
[[File:North-Carolina-Museum-of-History-20080321.jpeg|thumb|right|[[North Carolina Museum of History]] in Raleigh, 2008]]
Since the 1970s, North Carolina has seen steady increases in population growth. This growth has largely occurred in [[metropolitan area]]s located within the [[Piedmont Crescent]], in places such as Charlotte, Concord, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Durham and Raleigh.<ref>[https://www.thinkcurrituck.com/blog/north-carolina-population North Carolina Population Growth: More People, Bigger Economy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203191025/https://www.thinkcurrituck.com/blog/north-carolina-population |date=February 3, 2021 }}. ''Currituck Economic Development''. Retrieved December 22, 2020.</ref> The Charlotte metropolitan area has experienced large growth mainly due to its finance, banking, and tech industries.<ref>Duren, Carolyn & Khawaja, Armughan. (May 16, 2019). [https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/kdZchEwDkYSXozJJ7Z8gQA2 Charlotte, NC, outpacing nationwide growth in banking, set for further expansion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116215730/https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/kdZchEwDkYSXozJJ7Z8gQA2 |date=November 16, 2020 }}. ''S&P Global Market Intelligence''. Retrieved December 22, 2020.</ref>

By the 1990s, Charlotte had become a major regional and national banking center. Towards Raleigh, [[North Carolina State University|North Carolina State]], [[Duke University]], and [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]], have helped the [[Research Triangle]] area attract an educated workforce and develop more jobs.<ref>[https://raleigh-wake.org/news-and-media/news-and-rankings/job-growth-study-raleigh-no-2-in-tech-no-1-in-stem Job growth study: Raleigh No. 2 in tech, No. 1 in STEM] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130072926/https://raleigh-wake.org/news-and-media/news-and-rankings/job-growth-study-raleigh-no-2-in-tech-no-1-in-stem |date=November 30, 2020 }}. ''Wake County Economic Development''. Retrieved December 22, 2020.</ref>

In 1988, North Carolina gained its first professional sports franchise, the [[Charlotte Hornets]] of the [[National Basketball Association]] (NBA). The hornets team name stems from the [[American Revolutionary War]], when British General Cornwallis described Charlotte as a "hornet's nest of rebellion".<ref>[https://www.wbtv.com/story/38577831/wbtv-speak-out-editorial-a-hornets-nest-of-rebellion/ WBTV Speak Out Editorial: A Hornet's Nest of Rebellion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110025929/https://www.wbtv.com/story/38577831/wbtv-speak-out-editorial-a-hornets-nest-of-rebellion/ |date=January 10, 2022 }}. ''wbtv.com''. Retrieved January 28, 2022.</ref> The [[Carolina Panthers]] of the [[National Football League]] (NFL) became based in Charlotte as well, with their first season being in 1995. The [[Carolina Hurricanes]] of the [[National Hockey League]] (NHL) moved to [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]] in 1997, with their colors being the same as the [[NC State Wolfpack]], who are also located in Raleigh.

By the late 20th century and into the early 21st century, economic industries such as technology, [[Pharmaceutical industry|pharmaceuticals]], banking, [[food processing]], [[automotive industry|vehicle parts]], and tourism started to emerge as North Carolina's main economic drivers. This marked a shift from the state's former main industries of [[Cultivation of tobacco|tobacco]], [[Textile manufacturing|textiles]], and furniture. Factors that played a role in this shift were globalization, the state's higher education system, national banking, the transformation of agriculture, and new companies moving to the state.<ref>Smith, Rick. (September 17, 2021). [https://wraltechwire.com/2021/09/17/mike-walden-five-factors-that-made-nc-economy/ Mike Walden: The five factors that made North Carolina's economy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114235046/https://wraltechwire.com/2021/09/17/mike-walden-five-factors-that-made-nc-economy/ |date=January 14, 2022 }}. ''WRAL TechWire''. Retrieved January 28, 2022.</ref>