"Downright Roguish Practices of Ignorant and Unworthy Men": The North Carolina Regulator Rebellion, 1768-1771

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Croot, M. (2019). "Downright Roguish Practices of Ignorant and Unworthy Men": The North Carolina Regulator Rebellion, 1768-1771. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

From 1768 to 1771 in North Carolina, backcountry farmers in Orange, Rowan, and Anson Counties stood defiant against their local officials and the colonial government. Calling themselves Regulators for their desire to regulate the government’s authority and power, the tensions between the colonial government and the Regulators culminated in bloodshed at the Battle of Alamance in May 1771. While researchers often imagine North Carolina’s backcountry settlers as rugged pioneers and simple yeomen farmers, in actuality North Carolina’s central piedmont region fostered a vibrant and unique political culture centered around land-ownership, produce-centered economies, and political participation. A rising population in the backcountry necessitated an expansion of the central authority, and the spreading infrastructure and political culture from North Carolina’s eastern region collided with the political culture in the central and western regions. The North Carolina Regulator Rebellion exemplified this cultural collision. By analyzing population movements in the eighteenth century, the spread of a merchant-based bureaucracy and central authority, and the political and religious influences evident in their writings, this thesis argues that two distinct political cultures did exist in eighteenth-century North Carolina and that the irreconcilability between the two particular concepts of government characterized North Carolina’s Regulator Rebellion.

Details
Author

Croot, Mitchell

Title

"Downright Roguish Practices of Ignorant and Unworthy Men": The North Carolina Regulator Rebellion, 1768-1771

Physical Description

1 online resource (110 pages) : PDF

Date

2019

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

From 1768 to 1771 in North Carolina, backcountry farmers in Orange, Rowan, and Anson Counties stood defiant against their local officials and the colonial government. Calling themselves Regulators for their desire to regulate the government’s authority and power, the tensions between the colonial government and the Regulators culminated in bloodshed at the Battle of Alamance in May 1771. While researchers often imagine North Carolina’s backcountry settlers as rugged pioneers and simple yeomen farmers, in actuality North Carolina’s central piedmont region fostered a vibrant and unique political culture centered around land-ownership, produce-centered economies, and political participation. A rising population in the backcountry necessitated an expansion of the central authority, and the spreading infrastructure and political culture from North Carolina’s eastern region collided with the political culture in the central and western regions. The North Carolina Regulator Rebellion exemplified this cultural collision. By analyzing population movements in the eighteenth century, the spread of a merchant-based bureaucracy and central authority, and the political and religious influences evident in their writings, this thesis argues that two distinct political cultures did exist in eighteenth-century North Carolina and that the irreconcilability between the two particular concepts of government characterized North Carolina’s Regulator Rebellion.

Genre

masters theses

Subjects--Topics

History

Subjects--Places

America

Degree

M.A.

Keywords

Culture
Politics
Rebellion
Regulators

Subject Area

History

Advisor(s)

Cameron, Christopher

Committee Members

Dupre, Daniel
Johnson, David

Degree Note

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2019.

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Rights Holder Information

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Identifier

Croot_uncc_0694N_12127

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:2048