Essay On The Regulator Movement

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The Regulators By: Anika Khanderia What was the Regulator Movement? The Regulator Movement (also known as the War of the Regulation, or the Regulator uprising) was an uprising that took place in the Carolinas from 1765 to 1771 when citizens of both colonies took up arms against corrupt colonial officials. Historians consider the Regulator Movement to be a catalyst to the American Revolution, even though it was unsuccessful. Causes of the Uprising Many factors influenced the uprising that took place in the Carolinas during the 1760s and 70s. Firstly, many people emigrated from the urban northeast to the rural southwest during the 1760s which created a huge population increase in the Carolinas (as noted by the Censuses). The once agricultural …show more content…

The loss of crops cut out the average farmers'/planters' main food source as well as their primary means of an income. This led to the farmers having to rely on the goods being bought by newly arrived merchants. The local farmers and planters often fell into debt as the income was cut off. As a result, merchants relied on lawyers and the court to settle disputes. Citizens began to dislike the presence of the new merchants and lawyers as the court cases often led to former losing homes as well as their property. The large population increase led to a change/shift in politics which, in turn, led to an imbalance within the colony's courthouses. The lawyers that had just recently arrived were well-educated and used their vast knowledge of the law to sometimes unfairly turn things to their favor/advantage. The group was called a 'courthouse ring'- a small group of officials who held most of the political power for themselves. In 1764, a herd/mass of about a couple of thousand citizens from several counties of North Carolina (inclouding the Orange, Anson, and Granvill counties) were deeply unsatisfied with the wealthy Carolina officials. They thought of them as "cruel, arbitrary, tyrannical, and

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