Hillsborough Convention

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Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of North Carolina in 1788 Conv1788tp.jpg
Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of North Carolina in 1788
Governor Samuel Johnston presided Samuel Johnston Bust.JPG
Governor Samuel Johnston presided

The Hillsborough Convention was the first of two North Carolina conventions to ratify the United States Constitution. Delegates represented 7 boroughs and 59 counties, including six western counties that became part of Tennessee when it was created in 1796. They met in Hillsborough, North Carolina from July 21 to August 4, 1788 to deliberate and determine whether to ratify the Constitution recommended to the states by the General Convention that had been held in Philadelphia the previous summer. The delegates had won their seats through special elections held in March 1788, as mandated by the North Carolina General Assembly. [1] Governor Samuel Johnston presided over the Convention. [2] The Hillsborough Convention was dominated by anti-Federalists, and North Carolina did not ratify the Constitution until the Fayetteville Convention, which met a year later.

Contents

Location

The general convention was held at St. Matthew's Church, Hillsborough. The church building was located on Lot 98 in Hillsborough. It was also the location of the third Provincial Congress of North Carolina of 1775 and the meeting place of the North Carolina Legislature in 1778, 1782 and 1783. The church was destroyed by fire before 1800s. A new structure was built on the site in 1814 and became the Hillsborough Presbyterian Church in 1816. [3] [4] [5]

Division

Key state Federalists were James Iredell Sr., William Richardson Davie, and William Blount. Anti-Federalist leaders included Willie Jones, Samuel Spencer, and Timothy Bloodworth. The Anti-Federalist delegates outnumbered their Federalist colleagues by a margin of two to one. The Federalists wanted to strengthen the powers of the federal government to help the country keep from dissolving. They argued that the powers granted to the federal government in the Articles of Confederation were not sufficient. On the other side, the Anti-Federalists were suspicious of the federal government and did not want self-rule to come under fire from a government that could intrude on state and individual rights. Knowing that they would likely lose, members of the Federalist minority brought a stenographer to the convention to record their arguments for publication in the hopes of changing public opinion in the future. [6]

Outcome

The debate resulted in the delegates voting 184 to 84 to neither ratify nor reject the Constitution. One of the major reasons for North Carolina not ratifying the Constitution was its lack of a Bill of Rights. The delegates, however, proposed a series of amendments to personal liberties and urged the new federal Congress to adopt measures to incorporate a bill of rights into the Constitution. [7] North Carolina would not join the Union until after it ratified the Constitution, more than a year later, at the November 1789 Fayetteville Convention. [8] [9] [10] [11]

Delegates

Richard Dobbs Spaight, Craven County delegate NCG-RichardSpaight.jpg
Richard Dobbs Spaight, Craven County delegate
William Richardson Davie, Halifax delegate William Richardson Davie - Charles Willson Peale (full portrait) (frame cropped).jpg
William Richardson Davie, Halifax delegate
later Gov. Benjamin Smith, Brunswick delegate Governor Benjamin Smith.jpg
later Gov. Benjamin Smith, Brunswick delegate
Willie Jones, Halifax delegate WillieJonesNC.jpg
Willie Jones, Halifax delegate
Benjamin Williams, Craven delegate NCG-BenjaminWilliams.jpg
Benjamin Williams, Craven delegate
William Lenoir, Wilkes delegate William-lenoir-by-oertel.jpg
William Lenoir, Wilkes delegate
Joseph Graham, Mecklenburg delegate General Joseph Graham.jpg
Joseph Graham, Mecklenburg delegate
James Kenan, Duplin delegate James Kenan.jpg
James Kenan, Duplin delegate
Joseph McDowell, Jr, Burke delegate JosephMcDowellJr.jpg
Joseph McDowell, Jr, Burke delegate
Richard Caswell, Dobbs delegate Richard Caswell (governor).jpg
Richard Caswell, Dobbs delegate
James Iredell, Edenton delegate JamesIredell.jpg
James Iredell, Edenton delegate

There were 294 known delegates from the 59 counties and seven boroughs of North Carolina. Some counties (Greene, Sullivan, Sumner, Tennessee, Washington) later became part of the state of Tennessee in 1796. [12] [13] The election of delegates from Dobbs County was declared invalid because of violence that led to the loss of the ballot box. [14] [15]

Governor Samuel Johnston was the President of the Convention. While his home was in Chowan County, he represented Perquimans County in the Convention. John Hunt was the secretary and James Taylor was the assistant secretary of the Convention. The doorkeepers of the convention were William Murfree, Peter Gooding, Nicholas Murfree, and James Mulloy. [15]

OrderCounty or BoroughDelegateYeasNays
1Perquimans Johnston, Samuel, Esq., Presidentx
2Borough of Edenton Iredell, James x
3Borough of Wilmington Maclaine, Archibald x
4 Beaufort Keais, Nathan x
5Beaufort Blount, John G. x
6Beaufort Alderson, Thomas x
7 Bertie Johnston, John x
8Bertie Oliver, Andrew x
9Bladen Elleston, Goodwin x
10 Burke McDowell, Charles x
11 Craven Spaight, Richard Dobbs x
12Bertie Dawson, William Johnston x
13Cumberland Porterfield, James x
14 Cumberland Grove, William Barry x
15Cumberland Elliott, George x
16Carteret Styron, Willis x
17 Carteret Shepperd, William x
18Currituck Phillips, James x
19 Currituck Humphries, John x
20Chowan Payne, Michael x
21Chowan Johnson, Charles x
22Chowan Cabarrus, Stephen x
23Chowan Blount, Edmund x
24 Camden Abbot, Henry x
25Camden Gregory, Isaac x
26Camden Dauge, Peter x
27Camden Grandy, Charles x
28Camden Sawyer, Enoch x
29Chatham Lucas, George x
30 Robeson Willis, John x
31Robeson Cade, John x
32Robeson Barnes, Elias x
33Robeson Brown, Neil x
34 Sumner Winchester, James x
35Sumner Stokes, William x
36Tyrrell Stuart, Thomas (sometimes Stewart)x
37Tyrrell Collins, Josiah x
38 Wake Hines, Thomas x
39Wake Jones, Nathaniel x
40Borough of Salisbury Steele, John x
41Borough of Halifax Davie, William Richardson x
42Gates Riddick, Joseph x
43Gates Gregory, James x
44 Gates Hunter, Thomas x
45Hertford Wyns, Thomas x
46Hyde Jones, Abraham x
47 Hyde Eborne, John x
48Hyde Jasper, James x
49Hyde Foreman, Caleb x
50Hyde Hovey, Seth (Harvey)x
51 Lincoln Sloan, John x
52Lincoln Moore, John x
53Lincoln Maclaine, William x
54 Martin Mayo, Nathan x
55Martin Slade, William x
56Martin McKenzie, William x
57 Mecklenburg Irwin, Robert x
58Pasquotank Lane, John x
59Pasquotank Reading, Thomas x
60 Pasquotank Everegain, Edward x
61Pasquotank Relfe, Enoch x
62Pasquotank Davis, Devotion x
63 Perquimans Skinner, William x
64Perquimans Skinner, Joshua x
65Perquimans Harvey, Thomas x
66Perquimans Skinner, John x
67Hertford Harrel, Samuel x
68Craven Leech, Joseph x
69Johnston Bridges, William (Bridger)x
70Carteret Burden, William x
71 Tyrrell Blount, Edmund x
72Tyrrell Spruill, Simeon x
73Bertie Turner, David [15] [16] x
74Martin Hill, Whitmell x
75 Brunswick Smith, Benjamin x
76Borough of New Bern Sitgreaves, John x
77Chowan Allen, Nathaniel x
78 Bladen Owen, Thomas x
79 Hertford Wyns, George x
80 Pitt Perkins, David x
81Currituck Ferebee, Joseph x
82Currituck Ferebee, William x
83Gates Baker, William x
84Craven Neale, Abner x
85Halifax Jones, Willie x
86 Anson Spencer, Samuel x
87Anson Lanier, Lewis x
88Anson Wade, Thomas x
89Anson Gould, Daniel x
90Beaufort Bonner, James x
91Brunswick Forster, Alexius M. x
92Brunswick Dupree, Lewis x
93Bladen Brown, Thomas x
94Burke Greenlee, James x
95Burke McDowell, Joseph "Pleasant Gardens" x
96Burke Miller, Robert x
97Craven Williams, Benjamin x
98Craven Nixon, Richard x
99Cumberland Armstrong, Thomas x
100Cumberland McAllister, Alexander (McCallister)x
101 Caswell Dickins, Robert x
102Caswell Roberts, George x
103Caswell Womack, John x
104Chatham Ramsey, Ambrose x
105 Chatham Anderson, James x
106Chatham Stewart, Joseph x
107Chatham Vestal, William x
108 Davidson Evans, Thomas x
109Davidson Hardiman, Thomas x
110Davidson Weakley, Robert x
111Davidson Donaldson, William x
112Davidson Dobins, William (Dobbin)x
113Edgecombe Digges, Robert x
114Edgecombe Bell, Bythel x
115Edgecombe Battle, Elisha x
116Edgecombe Fort, William x
117 Edgecombe Gray, Ethelred x
118 Franklin Lancaster, William x
119Franklin Sherrod, Thomas x
120Franklin Norwood, John x
121Pitt Dupree, Sterling x
122Pitt Williams, Robert x
123Pitt Moye, Richard x
124Pitt Forbes, Arthur x
125Guilford Caldwell, David x
126Guilford Goudy, William (Gowdy)x
127 Guilford Gillespie, Daniel x
128Guilford Anderson, John x
129Guilford Hamilton, John x
130 Granville Person, Thomas x
131Granville Taylor, Joseph x
132Granville Yancey, Thornton x
133Granville Lewis, Howell, Jun. x
134Granville Mitchell, Elijah x
135Rutherford Moore, George x
136Rutherford Ledbetter, George x
137 Rutherford Porter, William x
138 Randolph Wood, Zebedee x
139Randolph Waddill, Edmund x
140 Rockingham Galloway, James x
141Robeson Regan, John x
142 Surry Winston, Joseph x
143Surry Gains, James x
144Surry McAnnelly, Charles x
145Surry Bostick, Absalom (Bostwick)x
146 Sullivan Scott, John x
147Sullivan Dunkin, John x
148Sampson Dodd, David x
149Sampson Ivey, Curtis x
150Sampson Holmes, Lewis x
151 Sampson Clinton, Richard x
152Sampson Holmes, Hardy x
153Washington Alison, Robert (Alison)x
154Washington Stuart, James (Stewart)x
155Washington Tipton, John x
156 Warren Macon, John x
157Warren Christmass, Thomas x
158Warren Montfort/Montford, Henry x
159 Wayne Taylor, William x
160Wayne Handley, James x
161Wake Saunders, Brittain (Sanders) [15] x
162 Wilkes Lenoir, William x
163Wilkes Allen, Richard x
164Wilkes Brown, John x
165Wilkes Herndon, Joseph x
166Wilkes Fletcher, James x
167Hertford Burkit, Lemuel x
168Hertford Little, William x
169 Hawkins King, Thomas x
170Jones Bryan, Nathan x
171Jones Bryan, John Hill x
172 Jones Whitty, Edward x
173Lincoln Alexander, Robert x
174Lincoln Johnson, James x
175Moore Cox, John x
176Moore Carrel, John x
177 Moore Doud, Cornelius x
178Moore Tyson, Thomas x
179Moore Martin, William x
180 Martin Hunter, Thomas x
181Mecklenburg Graham, Joseph (John?)x
182Montgomery Loftin, William x
183 Montgomery Kindall, William x
184Montgomery Ussory, Thomas x
185Montgomery Butler, Thomas x
186Northampton Bendford, John (Bentford)x
187 Northampton Vaughan, James x
188Northampton Peebles, Robert x
189Northampton Vinson, James x
190 Nash Marnes, William S. x
191Nash Ellin, Howell x
192Nash Bunn, Redman x
193Nash Bonds, John x
194Nash Pridgen, David x
195 Onslow Yates, Daniel x
196Onslow Johnston, Thomas x
197Onslow Spicer, John, Jr.x
198Borough of Hillsboro Tatom, Abasalom x
199Orange Mebane, Alexander x
200Orange Mebane, William x
201Orange McCauley, William x
202 Orange Shepperd, William x
203Orange Lindley, Jonathan x
204Warren Hawkins, Wyatt x
205Warren Payne, James x
206Caswell Graves, John x
207 Washington Blair, John x
208Washington Tipton, Joseph x
209Rockingham Bethell, William x
210Rockingham Phillips, Abraham x
211Rockingham May, John x
212Rockingham Galloway, Charles x
213Caswell Bowell, James x
214Richmond McAllister, John (McAllastar)x
215Sullivan Looney, David x
216Sullivan Sharpe, John x
217Bladen Gaitier, Joseph x
218New Hanover Campbell, John A. x
219New Hanover Williams, John Pugh x
220Hawkins Marshall, William x
221Richmond Robinson, Charles x
222Duplin Gillespie, James x
223Duplin Ward, Charles x
224Jones Randal, William x
225Jones Hargett, Frederick x
226Wayne McKinnie, Richard x
227Brunswick Cains/Caims, John x
228Brunswick Leonard, Jacob x
229Rowan Carson, Thomas x
230Rutherford Singleton, Richard x
231Rutherford Whiteside, James x
232Mecklenburg Phifer, Caleb x
233Mecklenburg Wilson, Zachias x
234Mecklenburg Douglas, Joseph x
235Randolph Dougan, Thomas x
236Duplin Kenan, James x
237Halifax Jones, John x
238Halifax Haywood, Egbert x
239Halifax Wooten, William x
240Halifax Branch, John x
241Franklin Hill, Henry x
242Wayne Bass, Andrew x
243Johnston Boon, Joseph x
244Johnston Farmer, William x
245Johnston Bryan, John x
246 Richmond Williams, Edward x
247Duplin Oliver, Francis x
248Surry Brooks, Matthew x
249Rowan Rutherford, Griffith x
250Rowan Barringer, George Henry x
251New Hanover Bloodworth, Timothy x
252Johnston Pearce, Everet x
253 Greene Rawlings, Asabel x
254Greene Wilson, James x
255Greene Roddy, James x
256Bladen Cain, Samuel x
257Richmond Covington, Benjamin x
258Burke McDowall, Joseph, Jr. x
259Franklin Hall, Durham x
260New Hanover Bloodworth, James x
261Wake Lane, Joel x
262Wake Hinton, James x
263New Hanover Devane, Thomas x
264Rowan Brandon, James (Brannon)x
265Duplin Dickson, William x
266Wayne Mooring, Burwell x
267Rowan Locke, Matthew (Lock)x
268Hawkins Donelson, Stokely x
269Anson Wood, Frame [15]
270Carteret Wallace, David [15]
271Carteret Borden, Thomas, Jr. [15]
272Borough of Fayetteville Ingram, John [15]
273 Dobbs Caswell, Richard [15]
274Dobbs Glasgow, James [15]
275Dobbs Caswell, Winston [15]
276Dobbs Sheppard, Bennett [15]
277Dobbs Lassiter, Nathan (Lasseter) [15]
278Montgomery McDondald, James [15]
279New Hannover Huske, John [15]
280Northampton Peterson, John [15]
281Onslow Snead, Robert W. (Sneed) [15]
282Onslow Starkey, Edward [15]
283Randolph Hanley, Jeff [15]
284Randolph Bowdon, William [15]
285Sullivan Martin, Joseph [15]
286Sumner Smith, Daniel [15]
287Sumner Wilson, David [15]
288Sumner Douglass, Edward [15]
289 Tennessee Montgomery, John [15]
290Tennessee Drew, John [15]
291Tennessee Johnston, Thomas [15]
292Tennessee Blount, William [15]
293Tennessee Menees, Benjamin [15]
294Tyrrell Spruill, Hezekiah [15]

See also

Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States, signing is Richard Dobbs Spaight, behind him is William Blount and Hugh Williamson Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States.jpg
Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States , signing is Richard Dobbs Spaight, behind him is William Blount and Hugh Williamson

References

  1. Cavanagh, John C. (2006). "Convention of 1788". NCpedia. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  2. "Hillsborough Convention of 1788". NorthCarolinahistory.org An Online Encyclopedia. North Carolina History Project. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  3. "Church History". Hillsborough Presbyterian Church. Hillsborough, North Carolina. Retrieved December 3, 2015.
  4. "New Plaque Honors NC Leaders Who Did Not Sign Constitution Until Bill Of Rights Added". WUNC91.5. November 17, 2014.
  5. "Marker G-131, Constitutional Convention 1788". NCMarkers.com. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  6. "July 21, 2013: Hillsborough Convention Fails to Ratify Constitution". This Day in North Carolina History. North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  7. Watson, Alan (2011). General Benjamin Smith: A Biography of the North Carolina Governor. McFarland. p. 52. ISBN   978-0786461561.
  8. "Fayette Convention of 1789". NorthCarolinaHistory.org. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
  9. John C. Cavanaugh, Decision at Fayetteville (Raleigh, 1989)
  10. William Price, Jr., "’There Ought to Be a Bill of Rights’: North Carolina Enters a New Nation," in The Bill of Rights and the States, ed. Patrick T. Conley and John Kaminski (Lanham, Maryland, 1992)
  11. Louise Irby Trenholme, The Ratification of the Federal Constitution in North Carolina (Columbia, Missouri, 1932)
  12. "Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of North-Carolina, Convened at Hillsborough, on Monday the 21st Day of July, 1788, for the Purpose of Deliberating and Determining on the Constitution Recommended by the General Convention at Philadelphia, the 17th Day of September, 1787: To Which is Prefixed the Said Constitution". 1788. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  13. Counties were not listed for the delegates in the minutes, so the 1904 Manual was used.
  14. Connor, Henry Grove (August 1904). "The Convention of 1788‑'89 and the Federal Constitution — Hillsborough and Fayetteville" . Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Connor, R.D.D. (1913). A Manual of North Carolina (PDF). Raleigh: North Carolina Historical Commission. p. 863-. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
  16. Minutes say Tanner vice Turner as in Manual

Additional sourcing: