1760: THE EAST-WEST CONUNDRUM

At this point in our story, North Carolina had experienced two separate colonizing movements, an eastern and a western. Eastern setters had migrated down from Virginia or unpacked their European bags along the Cape Fear River. These easterners eventually established productive farming and trading communities afforded by fertile plains and coastal waters. Their efforts were subsidized by a growing population of slaves. Eastern colonials grew in wealth, political power and educational opportunities—and maintained close ties with Britain.

Western settlers, as we have learned, came primarily from Pennsylvania and populated the hilly, less fertile valleys of the Piedmont. They tended to be a more independent, self-sufficient lot, relying on their own labor and resourcefulness to meet their daily needs—finding success in hunting, small farms and manufacturing (producing goods they were unable to purchase). To market their products, western settlers traveled trails and river routes, which headed southeast into South Carolina; consequently, there was very little interaction between eastern and western North Carolinians.

The unique differences between these two populations—separated by geographic distance, genealogical background and British loyalties—led to a high level of distrust and congenial animosity. With the royal colonial government residing in the east, westerners found little representation of their needs in the growing frontier. Easterners maintained a monopoly on legislative decisions, and the officials appointed to govern the western regions (conveniently chosen by eastern officials) were often corrupt—collecting illegal fees and exorbitant taxes to line their own pockets.

At the close of the French and Indian War, westerners felt isolated and neglected. Demanding equal representation in government affairs, honest government agents and equal dispersal of tax funds (for the construction of roads and schools), western voices fell on deaf ears. Tempers would soon flare, and the American colonies would experience the first violent revolt against their own government. The Regulator Movement, as it came to be called, produced the early rumblings of a people yearning for a fair system of self-government (preferably one without taxes).