The Regulators of North Carolina

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The history of colonial North Carolina is bombarded with frequent strife and

turmoil. The people of North Carolina, because of a lack in supervision from

the British monarchy, learned to possess an independent spirit. The colony remained

isolated from the rest of the country because of several geographical

conditions such as poor harbors, the abscence of navigable rivers, numerous

swamps, and bad road conditions. Due to these conditions, communities

throughout North Carolina became widely seperated. The colony was initially

set up by the Lords Proprietors, an English founding company that helped

finance early American exploration. When North Carolina was freed from

British proprietorship, the Granville family, descendants from the original

Lords Proprietors, con-tinued to hold their land rights. This area, which

became known as the "Granville District," was the scene of many disputes over

land grants, taxes, British support, and a great deal of lesser issues.

Settlers in the back country (Piedmont) felt particularly oppressed by the laws

drawn up by an assembly largely composed of eastern landowners. "Local"

officials in many counties, particularly in the western segment of the back

country were not local men at all, but friends of the royal governor, William

Tryon. These so-called "friends" often collected higher fees than authorized

by the law while obtaining tax money or divided a single service into many

services and charged fees for each. Lawyers who followed the judges around

the colony also fell into the same habit.

The citizens of Anson, Orange, and Granville counties were the first to make

themselves heard. In 1764, this band of citizens, referred to as the "mob," created a

number of local disturbances until Governor Arthur Dobbs passed a proclomation

forbidding the collection of illegal fees, the practice that the people complained of the

most. Their protests were calmed only temporarily. However, the efects of the new

law wore off soon enough and sheriffs and other county officers returned to

their old dishonest practices. Citizens complained largely in part because

money was so scarce; local trading was almost limited to barter. Often,

property was seized and resold, and citizens felt that their property was

being sold to a friend of an official for much less than its true value (1).

People among the Granville District were anxious to revolt and needed only a

leader to provide the spark that led to the fire of the War of Regulation. A

man named Hermon Husband became actively involved and was referred to as a

leader several times, despite the fact that he was often nothing more than an

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