1 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:06,720 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. Today's Saturday Classic is on the Regulator War, 2 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:10,480 Speaker 1: also called the Regulator Movement. It was inspired by the 3 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:13,200 Speaker 1: TV show Outlander, although I did not choose it as 4 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: Today's Saturday Classic to align with last night's Outlander series finale. 5 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:21,320 Speaker 1: It is because today is the two hundred and fifty 6 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: fifth anniversary of the Battle of Alimance, which took place 7 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:28,800 Speaker 1: on May sixteenth, seventeen seventy one, and was the Regulator 8 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:33,559 Speaker 1: War's final and by some descriptions, only battle, because some 9 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:36,640 Speaker 1: people want to draw a distinction between battles and skirmishes. 10 00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:40,959 Speaker 1: This originally came out on January twenty eighth, twenty nineteen. 11 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:47,080 Speaker 1: Enjoy Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a 12 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 13 00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:00,280 Speaker 1: Tracy B. Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. And if you 14 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:04,319 Speaker 1: have been watching the fourth season of the TV show Outlander, 15 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 1: one of the things that keeps coming up is that 16 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:11,680 Speaker 1: there are some rebellious people in colonial North Carolina who 17 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:15,200 Speaker 1: are called the Regulators, and that they're mad about something 18 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:19,039 Speaker 1: about unfair taxes and corruption. The show doesn't really make 19 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 1: it all that clear. This season of Outlander was roughly 20 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:25,679 Speaker 1: based on the novel Drums of Autumn, which, to be clear, 21 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:28,760 Speaker 1: I haven't read. I also haven't read the next novel 22 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:31,200 Speaker 1: after that one, which is called The Fiery Cross. And 23 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:34,959 Speaker 1: this episode is being recorded before the last episode of 24 00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:36,640 Speaker 1: this season of the TV show, but it's gonna come 25 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:39,319 Speaker 1: out after, so I don't have any idea what's happening 26 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:43,640 Speaker 1: in the season finale. But it seemed like with all 27 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:46,560 Speaker 1: of this it would be a good time to do 28 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: an episode on the Regulator War also known as the 29 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: War of the Regulation, also known as the Regulator Movement, 30 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:55,600 Speaker 1: which is something that people started asking us to do 31 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: all the way back during the last time we did 32 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:01,600 Speaker 1: an Outlander themed episode, and that was twenty sixteen, with 33 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:06,440 Speaker 1: our installment on the Jacobite Rising of seventeen forty five. Yeah, 34 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:08,520 Speaker 1: I'll confess that part of me wanted this to be 35 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:13,240 Speaker 1: some very weird steam punky because it does. The name 36 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:16,800 Speaker 1: sounds so good. It does, and one of the things 37 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:19,359 Speaker 1: that currently is a bit of a challenge this will 38 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:21,959 Speaker 1: all be sorted out by the time this episode comes out, 39 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: is finding the artwork to go with it on our website, 40 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:30,520 Speaker 1: because I keep getting these strange I mean, they're beautiful, 41 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:34,200 Speaker 1: some of them, but they're definitely steampunk inspired watches and 42 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:38,720 Speaker 1: not not anything to do with the actual historical event. No, 43 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:40,960 Speaker 1: and I also do I do want to say right 44 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:43,519 Speaker 1: up here at the top, there is really a lot 45 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:46,920 Speaker 1: to unpack with this season of Outlander in terms of 46 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:50,400 Speaker 1: its representation of a number of people's and that is 47 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:54,079 Speaker 1: not what today's episode is about at all, But there's 48 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:56,200 Speaker 1: a lot there, so I just wanted to acknowledge that 49 00:02:56,240 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 1: it exists. I have not been watching, so I have 50 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: no idea. But to make sense of this whole series 51 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:05,280 Speaker 1: of events we're talking about, we first need to get 52 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:09,560 Speaker 1: into some North Carolina geography. North Carolina is divided into 53 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:13,119 Speaker 1: three geographical regions from west to east. They are the Mountains, 54 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:17,240 Speaker 1: the Piedmont, and the coastal Plain. Sometimes the coastal Plain 55 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:20,240 Speaker 1: is even further divided into the inner coastal Plain and 56 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:24,840 Speaker 1: the Tidewater. Naturally, when Europeans started colonizing this part of 57 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:27,680 Speaker 1: North America, they started out along the coastal plain, and 58 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:31,119 Speaker 1: it's not just because that's where they landed. Aside from 59 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:34,720 Speaker 1: the swampy bits, the coastal plains soil is really soft 60 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:38,680 Speaker 1: and flat and rich. It's not particularly rocky. This part 61 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:42,160 Speaker 1: of the continent has navigable rivers that are really good 62 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: for carrying things back and forth to the ocean. And 63 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:47,800 Speaker 1: overall this was a lot of what would become North 64 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:51,200 Speaker 1: Carolina's best farmland, and it was a place where wealthy 65 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:56,320 Speaker 1: planters started establishing big plantations with enslaved workforces. The Coastal 66 00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: Plain is separated from the adjacent Piedmont by a geological 67 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:03,160 Speaker 1: boundary known as the fall line. This is basically a 68 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: dividing line between the harder, rockier, more clay like Piedmont 69 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: and the softer, sandy or coastal Plain. In addition to 70 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:13,240 Speaker 1: the differences in the soil and farming conditions on either 71 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:16,400 Speaker 1: side of the line, rivers crossing the line descend through 72 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:20,520 Speaker 1: waterfalls and rapids, making them impractical to impossible to use 73 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: to transport people and goods. There are, of course fall 74 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:26,240 Speaker 1: lines all over the world, and in terms of the 75 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:30,560 Speaker 1: Atlantic Seaboard fall line, it runs from New York to Georgia. Yeah, 76 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:33,440 Speaker 1: you could still certainly grow things in the Piedmont, but 77 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: it was harder, and then it was harder to get 78 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:38,440 Speaker 1: them anywhere. It's a little bit of a disadvantage. It 79 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 1: makes me think of the various stories we've done on 80 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:44,240 Speaker 1: things like I think Brook Farm had this problem the 81 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:45,920 Speaker 1: Brock Farm community where they were like, we're going to 82 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:48,360 Speaker 1: go start a thing where no one else is doing stuff, 83 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:50,039 Speaker 1: and we're going to farm here, and it's like no 84 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:53,600 Speaker 1: one else is farming here for a reason. It is 85 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:58,159 Speaker 1: made of rocks. Also, just to clear up a little 86 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:02,159 Speaker 1: geographical confusion or Outlander viewers who might be trying to 87 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:04,520 Speaker 1: imagine where all of this is happening in relation to 88 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: the TV show, the fictional Fraser's Ridge is in the 89 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,560 Speaker 1: Blue Ridge Mountains in northwest North Carolina, somewhere near the 90 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:14,880 Speaker 1: real places of Boone and Blowing Rock, and that is 91 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:18,920 Speaker 1: on the opposite end of the state from Wilmington, which 92 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,040 Speaker 1: is out on the southeastern coast, roughly three hundred miles 93 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:25,640 Speaker 1: or four hundred and eighty kilometers away. Fraser's Ridge also 94 00:05:25,839 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 1: would not be very close to Cross Creek or the 95 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:31,120 Speaker 1: Cape Beer River, which is home to the show's fictional 96 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:34,800 Speaker 1: plantation of River Run. That is roughly two hundred miles 97 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:37,920 Speaker 1: or three hundred twenty kilometers Today, you would measure it 98 00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:41,560 Speaker 1: from roughly Boon to Fayetteville, which is what Cross Creek 99 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:43,920 Speaker 1: is known as today. The show kind of makes it 100 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:46,159 Speaker 1: look like these places are all next door to each other. 101 00:05:46,839 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 1: They are not. This geography might seem like a weird 102 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:53,479 Speaker 1: thing to be spending all this much time on, but 103 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 1: in colonial North Carolina, the division between the Piedmont and 104 00:05:57,279 --> 00:06:01,200 Speaker 1: the coastal plain contributed to huge divisions among the colonists 105 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:05,440 Speaker 1: and between the colonists and the government. At first, the 106 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:08,560 Speaker 1: vast majority of colonial activity was happening out on the 107 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:12,560 Speaker 1: coastal plain, with mostly English colonists, and they were arriving 108 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:15,760 Speaker 1: by boat, either from Europe or from other colonies. But 109 00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:18,760 Speaker 1: in the seventeen hundreds that really started to change. The 110 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:23,000 Speaker 1: western part of the colony experienced a huge population boom. 111 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:26,760 Speaker 1: Newcomers were arriving in the mountains and the Piedmont along 112 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:30,040 Speaker 1: the Great Wagon Road also known as the Great Philadelphia 113 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 1: Wagon Road. This had started out as a trading route 114 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:36,360 Speaker 1: that was being used by eastern North America's native peoples, 115 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:39,039 Speaker 1: and it ran from Philadelphia down to Georgia. By the 116 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:42,680 Speaker 1: eighteenth century, it had been widened to accommodate wagons, and 117 00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:45,359 Speaker 1: some places it had been shifted to Cross rivers and 118 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 1: to get around obstacles more easily. Many of these new 119 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 1: arrivals were Scot's, Irish or German, and while most of 120 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:55,240 Speaker 1: the English colonists out on the coast were Anglican, the Scots, 121 00:06:55,279 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: Irish and German people arriving in North Carolina included a 122 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:04,040 Speaker 1: lot more Baptists, Byterians, Quakers, and Moravians. So from settlement 123 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:07,559 Speaker 1: to settlement, or even within settlements, people often didn't speak 124 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 1: the same language or follow the same religious practices and observances, 125 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:14,680 Speaker 1: and as a general trend, the Piedmont was much poorer 126 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:17,480 Speaker 1: than the coast, with most people scratching out a living 127 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:22,720 Speaker 1: as subsistence farmers rather than running large plantations. This influx 128 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:27,200 Speaker 1: of Europeans to the Piedmont was huge. North Carolina's population 129 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:30,840 Speaker 1: more than doubled between seventeen thirty and seventeen fifty, and 130 00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:34,400 Speaker 1: then nearly tripled in the twenty years after that. Most 131 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:37,000 Speaker 1: of these new arrivals were settling in what was known 132 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 1: then as the back counties that was the Piedmont, which 133 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:43,440 Speaker 1: is at the time considered the North Carolina Frontier. This 134 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:48,840 Speaker 1: combination of geography and demographics led to many problems people 135 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:51,560 Speaker 1: in the Piedmont and the mountains, but our focus for 136 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:54,720 Speaker 1: this is really the Piedmont in this episode thought that 137 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:58,200 Speaker 1: they were being unfairly taxed because various taxes were levied 138 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:00,440 Speaker 1: at the same rate there as they were out on 139 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 1: the coast, where people had more money. Settlers in the 140 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:07,440 Speaker 1: Piedmont were also represented in the Assembly, but those Assembly 141 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:11,120 Speaker 1: seats had not been reapportioned in light of the population boom, 142 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:14,400 Speaker 1: so the Piedmont settlers also felt that they weren't really 143 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:18,080 Speaker 1: being fairly represented in the Assembly either. A lot of 144 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:22,520 Speaker 1: local political and court offices were being filled by appointment, 145 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:25,240 Speaker 1: either by the monarch or by the governor or by 146 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:28,640 Speaker 1: the Assembly. A lot of these appointees were wealthy and 147 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:32,280 Speaker 1: powerful people from the coast or friends of theirs, so 148 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:34,840 Speaker 1: together with the tax issues, this really led to a 149 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:37,960 Speaker 1: perception that the Piedmont did not matter to the Assembly 150 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:40,680 Speaker 1: or to the governor except when it came to being taxed, 151 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:44,000 Speaker 1: and even when there was some local control over who 152 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:48,679 Speaker 1: was in charge. The government and courts were very cliquish. Technically, 153 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:51,360 Speaker 1: most officials were appointed by the governor, but in many 154 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:54,960 Speaker 1: cases the governor made these appointments based on the recommendations 155 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:59,400 Speaker 1: of the court itself, so those officers would recommend themselves 156 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:03,040 Speaker 1: and their friends, ultimately creating a courthouse ring where the 157 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:06,640 Speaker 1: same powerful people were always in control of local politics 158 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:10,640 Speaker 1: and the legal system. The existence of these courthouse rings 159 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:14,200 Speaker 1: wasn't necessarily the biggest problem in people's minds. A bigger 160 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: issue in the Piedmont was that those legal and political 161 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:20,720 Speaker 1: positions went from being held by farmers and planters to 162 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 1: being held by lawyers and merchants. So it seemed like 163 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:28,359 Speaker 1: all the political power had increasingly moved toward these wealthy outsiders, 164 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:30,920 Speaker 1: a lot of them either from the coast or connected 165 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:33,079 Speaker 1: to people from the coast, and all of them in 166 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:36,160 Speaker 1: cahoots to stay in power, And it also seemed like 167 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 1: they were in cahoots to take advantage of people. There 168 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:42,480 Speaker 1: were laws meant to keep officials from abusing their positions, 169 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:45,760 Speaker 1: but they were not consistently enforced, and people had to 170 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:48,640 Speaker 1: handle a lot of matters through the court, everything from 171 00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:53,240 Speaker 1: filing deeds to trying to collect debts. The widespread perception 172 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 1: was that everyone from lawyers to clerks, was making things 173 00:09:56,640 --> 00:09:59,040 Speaker 1: take longer and running up fees just to line their 174 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:02,160 Speaker 1: own pockets. For example, if you were trying to file 175 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:05,160 Speaker 1: something with the Register of deeds, he might tax you 176 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:08,680 Speaker 1: three times, once for each of the forms necessary to 177 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:12,319 Speaker 1: finish the transaction, rather than just once for the whole 178 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:15,400 Speaker 1: transaction you were trying to do. As another example of 179 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:18,520 Speaker 1: all this, people did not trust the sheriffs at all. 180 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:21,760 Speaker 1: One of the sheriff's duties was to collect the taxes, 181 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:25,959 Speaker 1: and here's how people thought this process generally went down. 182 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:29,720 Speaker 1: It's clear that sometimes the process did go down this way, 183 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:31,920 Speaker 1: not clear whether it happened every time, but this was 184 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:34,319 Speaker 1: how when somebody said the sheriff's coming to collect the tax, 185 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:36,160 Speaker 1: people just sort of thought, Okay, this is how this 186 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 1: is going to happen. The sheriff would show up and 187 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:41,600 Speaker 1: demand the tax, but the taxpayer would not have the 188 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:44,400 Speaker 1: cash on hand to actually pay it, because people didn't 189 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:46,920 Speaker 1: have a lot of need to carry cash, and there 190 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:50,960 Speaker 1: was also a serious shortage of actual physical currency to 191 00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:54,160 Speaker 1: pay things with. But most communities did have somebody who 192 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:57,040 Speaker 1: would keep cash and basically acted like a banker. So 193 00:10:57,160 --> 00:11:00,160 Speaker 1: the taxpayer would ask to go see that person to 194 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:03,600 Speaker 1: get some money, and the sheriff would refuse and seize 195 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:06,840 Speaker 1: some of their property instead. I love that people just 196 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:09,120 Speaker 1: presume this is how the process works, like there's a 197 00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:14,120 Speaker 1: horrible flow chart that ends with property seized. People though, 198 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:17,760 Speaker 1: did not want to pay their taxes in property arbitrarily 199 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:20,319 Speaker 1: seized by the sheriff. If it had to be paid, 200 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:22,640 Speaker 1: they wanted to pay it with something of known value, 201 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:26,280 Speaker 1: like money. So then taxpayers would try to negotiate, asking 202 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:28,320 Speaker 1: if they could get their property back if they went 203 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:30,440 Speaker 1: and got some money and then caught up to the 204 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:33,640 Speaker 1: sheriff down the road, and the sheriff might even agree 205 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:37,439 Speaker 1: to this, but then disappear. Later on, the taxpayer might 206 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 1: hear that his property had been sold off for much 207 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:42,880 Speaker 1: less than it was worth, so he would still owe money. 208 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:45,800 Speaker 1: But it was not just the taxpayers who thought that 209 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:48,600 Speaker 1: they were being ripped off by crooked sheriffs. And all this. 210 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:53,160 Speaker 1: In seventeen sixty seven, North Carolina Governor William Tryon said 211 00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:56,360 Speaker 1: that he thought the sheriffs had embezzled half of the 212 00:11:56,480 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 1: money that they had been charged with collecting. Another thing, 213 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:04,360 Speaker 1: Piedmont settlers were unhappy with Governor Tryon, And we're going 214 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:06,160 Speaker 1: to get to that after we first paused for a 215 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:18,920 Speaker 1: little sponsor break. So before the break, we talked about 216 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:21,480 Speaker 1: a lot of stresses happening in North Carolina. We did 217 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:26,120 Speaker 1: not even get into the tensions between the colonists and 218 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:29,760 Speaker 1: the native people already living there, or the tensions with 219 00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:33,040 Speaker 1: the enslaved people that were also in North Carolina. Like 220 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:35,160 Speaker 1: there was really a lot going on. One of the 221 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:37,760 Speaker 1: biggest things, though, in the minds of the regulators, was 222 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:41,800 Speaker 1: the Governor William Tryon. He had been appointed Lieutenant Governor 223 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:45,560 Speaker 1: of North Carolina in seventeen sixty four under Governor Arthur Dobbs, 224 00:12:45,559 --> 00:12:48,560 Speaker 1: but Dobbs retired really soon after that and then died 225 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:52,920 Speaker 1: in seventeen sixty five. When Tryon became governor, he represented 226 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:55,880 Speaker 1: the royal prerogative in the colony of North Carolina, and 227 00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:00,600 Speaker 1: soon he established North Carolina's first permanent capital in Newbern, 228 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:03,480 Speaker 1: which is near the coast and connected to the Atlantic 229 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:07,640 Speaker 1: by the NEOs River. Tryon planned to build an extravagant 230 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:11,320 Speaker 1: seat of the government and governor's residence in Newbern. To 231 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:14,480 Speaker 1: that end, even before leaving England to become Lieutenant governor, 232 00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:18,439 Speaker 1: he had convinced architect John Hawks to join him. Tryon 233 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:21,560 Speaker 1: made his first request for funding for this project, nicknamed 234 00:13:21,679 --> 00:13:26,440 Speaker 1: Tryon's Palace, on November eight, seventeen sixty six, not long 235 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:29,880 Speaker 1: after the Assembly allotted five thousand pounds to both buy 236 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:32,760 Speaker 1: the land and get started on the building. A lot 237 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:36,120 Speaker 1: of people in the Piedmont thought this was extravagant, and then, 238 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:38,640 Speaker 1: to make things worse than just the fact that it 239 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:41,760 Speaker 1: was five thousand pounds to build something that was nicknamed 240 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:45,160 Speaker 1: a palace, the money to do it was taken from 241 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:48,680 Speaker 1: a fund that had been established for public schools, and 242 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:51,280 Speaker 1: then to restore the money back to that fund, the 243 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:54,880 Speaker 1: Assembly imposed a poll tax and, more importantly, in the 244 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:59,079 Speaker 1: minds of some people, a levy on alcoholic beverages. That 245 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:04,160 Speaker 1: was just the beginning, though another ten thousand pounds was 246 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:07,400 Speaker 1: earmarked for the project two years later, and then when 247 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:10,600 Speaker 1: it was finally time to open the palace in seventeen seventy, 248 00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:15,720 Speaker 1: Governor Tryon planned a huge gala to celebrate. Tryon's palace 249 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:19,800 Speaker 1: wasn't the governor's only extravagance. In seventeen sixty seven, he 250 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:24,480 Speaker 1: mounted an expensive expedition that he personally went on to 251 00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:28,240 Speaker 1: survey and negotiate a new border between North Carolina and 252 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:32,160 Speaker 1: the Cherokee Nation, and as had happened with Tryon's palace 253 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:35,160 Speaker 1: taxes were used to pay for this. Settlers who were 254 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:37,520 Speaker 1: on the wrong side of the line were required to 255 00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:41,840 Speaker 1: move the following January, and the general perception among the 256 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:45,200 Speaker 1: people of the Piedmont was that Tryon had made this 257 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:49,960 Speaker 1: a whole lavish production just to draw attention to himself. 258 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:53,680 Speaker 1: It was described as quote making a splendid exhibition of 259 00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:57,480 Speaker 1: himself to the Indians. The regulators also had a particular 260 00:14:57,520 --> 00:15:01,800 Speaker 1: problem with one of the governor's friends. Edmund Fanning, was 261 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:04,120 Speaker 1: a great example of the way a small group of 262 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:06,760 Speaker 1: people were holding a huge amount of power, which we 263 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:10,160 Speaker 1: touched on before we had our commercial break. And born 264 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:12,840 Speaker 1: in New York, he was a lawyer, an assemblyman, the 265 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:15,600 Speaker 1: Register of Deeds of Orange County, and a colonel in 266 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:18,840 Speaker 1: the militia. He was not at all the only person 267 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:22,240 Speaker 1: who had multiple titles like this. That crossover among the 268 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:25,120 Speaker 1: Assembly and the courts and the militia was huge and 269 00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:28,280 Speaker 1: was contributing to the perception that the Piedmont was being 270 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:32,040 Speaker 1: controlled by a few wealthy people. Fanning was just the 271 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:34,800 Speaker 1: one who raised the most iyro. There was even a 272 00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:37,480 Speaker 1: song about him, more than one. This is the one 273 00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:40,800 Speaker 1: we're going to read when fanning first to Orange came 274 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:44,040 Speaker 1: he looked both pale and wan, an old patched coat 275 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:47,360 Speaker 1: upon his back, an old mare, he wrote on Both 276 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:50,320 Speaker 1: man and mayor want worth five pounds, as I've been 277 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:54,480 Speaker 1: often told, but by his civil robberies, he's laced his 278 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:58,360 Speaker 1: coat with gold. On top of all of this, the 279 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:01,760 Speaker 1: geography and the taxes, and the representation, and the governor 280 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:05,320 Speaker 1: and the governor's friend, the colonists and settlers of North 281 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:09,600 Speaker 1: Carolina were just fractious. The colony went through numerous uprisings 282 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:12,520 Speaker 1: and rebellions in the decades leading up to this. In 283 00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:16,720 Speaker 1: sixteen seventy seven, Culpeper's Rebellion was an armed uprising, largely 284 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:21,280 Speaker 1: in response to the Navigation Acts that restricted colonial trade. 285 00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:25,400 Speaker 1: In sixteen eighty nine, colonists arrested corrupt Governor Cess Sothel, 286 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:28,280 Speaker 1: who was then put on trial and banished by the Assembly. 287 00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:32,720 Speaker 1: The next year, John Gibbs, who replaced Governor Sothel, led 288 00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:36,000 Speaker 1: an armed uprising against his successor and vowed to fight 289 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:39,160 Speaker 1: him to the death. Then there was Carrie's Rebellion in 290 00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:41,600 Speaker 1: seventeen eleven, which is a lot harder to sum up 291 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:45,520 Speaker 1: in one sentence. It is named for former Governor Thomas Carey, 292 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:48,680 Speaker 1: who led an armed rebellion against his successor that was 293 00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:52,640 Speaker 1: rooted in both religion and politics. The first seeds of 294 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:56,640 Speaker 1: the Regulator movement had started back before Governor Tryon asked 295 00:16:56,680 --> 00:16:59,480 Speaker 1: for that five thousand pounds for his palace. It was 296 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:03,640 Speaker 1: August seventeen sixty six a group of Quakers met in 297 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:06,959 Speaker 1: Orange County to talk about all their various grievances, all 298 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:10,800 Speaker 1: those issues that were connected to taxation and corruption. One 299 00:17:10,840 --> 00:17:13,600 Speaker 1: of them was a man named Hermann husband who's often 300 00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:16,399 Speaker 1: described as one of the leaders of the Regulator movement, 301 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:19,760 Speaker 1: but it's a little more complicated than that. As a Quaker, 302 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:22,240 Speaker 1: he could not get behind some of the more violent 303 00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:25,280 Speaker 1: acts that they took, and he really distanced himself from 304 00:17:25,359 --> 00:17:28,359 Speaker 1: the movement as it became more violent. The people that 305 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:31,320 Speaker 1: met in August of seventeen sixty six called themselves the 306 00:17:31,359 --> 00:17:34,919 Speaker 1: Sandy Creek Association, and they planned to go through the 307 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:38,680 Speaker 1: more typical, non violent means of trying to get things changed. 308 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:41,280 Speaker 1: They were going to file petitions, they were going to 309 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:44,600 Speaker 1: try to get representation in the Assembly, things like that. 310 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:48,080 Speaker 1: The Sandy Creek Association didn't make a lot of headway 311 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:52,399 Speaker 1: and escalated to things like refusing to pay taxes. And 312 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:54,960 Speaker 1: then a law was passed in seventeen sixty eight that 313 00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:59,200 Speaker 1: required sheriffs to be at specific places on specific days 314 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:02,879 Speaker 1: to collect taxes is rather than just showing up in 315 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:07,120 Speaker 1: the Piedmont. This made things worse instead of better. Taxpayers 316 00:18:07,119 --> 00:18:09,560 Speaker 1: felt like now the burden was on them to travel 317 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:12,880 Speaker 1: somewhere to pay taxes, and because the counties then were 318 00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:15,320 Speaker 1: much larger than they are now, this could be a 319 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:19,800 Speaker 1: very time consuming and expensive inconvenience. The new law also 320 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:23,240 Speaker 1: didn't do anything to address the many other concerns with 321 00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:27,919 Speaker 1: embezzlement and corruption. Yeah, it seems like having a person 322 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:30,520 Speaker 1: take their taxes to the sheriff at a specific time 323 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:33,040 Speaker 1: and place rather than having the sheriff show up and 324 00:18:33,080 --> 00:18:34,919 Speaker 1: demand money, Like it seems like that would be an 325 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:39,359 Speaker 1: improvement was not really read as an improvement. In the 326 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:43,080 Speaker 1: early spring of seventeen sixty eight, the Orange County sheriff 327 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:45,160 Speaker 1: posted a list of all the places that he would 328 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:48,040 Speaker 1: be to collect the tax along with a fine for 329 00:18:48,119 --> 00:18:50,360 Speaker 1: the people who did not make it to those places 330 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:53,320 Speaker 1: at the right time, and taxpayers were really angry about this, 331 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:56,240 Speaker 1: and they thought it might be illegal. By this point 332 00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:59,280 Speaker 1: they had also heard about that additional money that had 333 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:02,760 Speaker 1: been allotted to build Triumphs Palace. So a group of 334 00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:06,720 Speaker 1: Orange County residents got together. They drafted a letter which 335 00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:10,160 Speaker 1: they sent to all of their various officials. And here 336 00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:13,840 Speaker 1: is what it said. Whereas the taxes in the county 337 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:17,840 Speaker 1: are larger according to the number of taxables than adjacent counties, 338 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:21,200 Speaker 1: and continue so year after year, and as the jealousy 339 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:24,399 Speaker 1: still prevails among us that we are wronged, and having 340 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:26,440 Speaker 1: the more reason to think so, as we have been 341 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:29,359 Speaker 1: at the trouble of choosing men and sending them after 342 00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:31,760 Speaker 1: the civilist manner, that we could to know what we 343 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:36,000 Speaker 1: paid our levee for, but could receive no satisfaction, we 344 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:39,320 Speaker 1: are obliged to seek redress by denying paying any more 345 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:42,160 Speaker 1: until we have a full settlement for what is passed 346 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:45,320 Speaker 1: and have a true regulation with our officers. As our 347 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:48,400 Speaker 1: grievances are too many to notify in a small piece 348 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:52,800 Speaker 1: of writing, we desire that you are assemblymen and vestrymen, 349 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:56,359 Speaker 1: may appoint a time before next court at the courthouse, 350 00:19:56,400 --> 00:19:58,560 Speaker 1: and let us know by the bearer, and we will 351 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:01,840 Speaker 1: choose men to act for us. We desire that the 352 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:04,439 Speaker 1: sheriffs will not come this way to collect the levee, 353 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:07,000 Speaker 1: for we will pay none before there is a settlement 354 00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:10,480 Speaker 1: to our satisfaction. And as the nature of an officer 355 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:13,119 Speaker 1: is a servant to the public, we are determined to 356 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:16,119 Speaker 1: have the officers of this county under a better and 357 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:19,320 Speaker 1: honester regulation than they have been for some time past. 358 00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:22,800 Speaker 1: Think not to frighten us with rebellion in this case, 359 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:25,760 Speaker 1: For if the inhabitants of this province have not as 360 00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:27,959 Speaker 1: good a right to inquire into the nature of our 361 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:31,679 Speaker 1: constitution and disbursement of our funds as those of our 362 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:35,080 Speaker 1: mother country, we think it is by arbitrary proceedings that 363 00:20:35,119 --> 00:20:38,200 Speaker 1: we are debarred of that right. Therefore, to be plain 364 00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:40,640 Speaker 1: with you, it is our intent to have a full 365 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:44,119 Speaker 1: settlement of yawn in every particular point that is matter 366 00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:46,760 Speaker 1: of doubt with us. So fail not to send an 367 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:50,160 Speaker 1: answer by the bearer. They're basically refusing to pay any 368 00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:55,040 Speaker 1: taxes until these things are settled. Some cooler headed people 369 00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:58,480 Speaker 1: decided that the language in this initial letter was much 370 00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:01,399 Speaker 1: too aggressive, so they are to have a second meeting, 371 00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:05,399 Speaker 1: And at that second meeting they adopted this set of 372 00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:10,639 Speaker 1: articles that I find to just be delightfully conciliatory. Here's 373 00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:15,480 Speaker 1: what it says. We, the subscribers, do voluntarily agree to 374 00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:20,200 Speaker 1: form ourselves into an association to assemble ourselves for conference 375 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:24,240 Speaker 1: for regulating public a grievances and abuses of power in 376 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:27,439 Speaker 1: the following particulars, with others of a like nature that 377 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:30,920 Speaker 1: may occur. One we will pay no more taxes until 378 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:33,600 Speaker 1: we are satisfied that they are agreeable to law and 379 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:37,280 Speaker 1: applied to the purposes therein mentioned, unless we cannot help 380 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:41,640 Speaker 1: it or are forced. Two we will pay no officer 381 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:44,920 Speaker 1: any more fees than the law allows, unless we are 382 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:48,200 Speaker 1: obliged to do it, and then to show our dislike 383 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:52,840 Speaker 1: and bear open testimony against it. Three we will attend 384 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:56,560 Speaker 1: all our meetings of conferences as often as we conveniently can, 385 00:21:56,800 --> 00:22:01,200 Speaker 1: et cetera. Four we will contribute to collecs for defraying 386 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:05,840 Speaker 1: necessary expenses attending the work according to our abilities. Five 387 00:22:06,119 --> 00:22:08,760 Speaker 1: in case of the difference in judgment, we will submit 388 00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:12,000 Speaker 1: to the judgment of the majority of our body. So 389 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:13,680 Speaker 1: this is a lot more like we're not going to 390 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:16,560 Speaker 1: pay our taxes unless we have to, but then we 391 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:21,480 Speaker 1: will complain about it. Both of these documents talked about regulating, 392 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:25,040 Speaker 1: but the term regulators, as these men came to be known, 393 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:27,800 Speaker 1: was likely picked up from a similar movement in South 394 00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:31,960 Speaker 1: Carolina that started the year before, although that particular movement 395 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:36,080 Speaker 1: was more about combating lawlessness than tax reform and government corruption. 396 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:39,360 Speaker 1: Even though the regulators had tried to walk back that 397 00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:43,080 Speaker 1: first more aggressive statement, it was really too late. That 398 00:22:43,119 --> 00:22:46,200 Speaker 1: statement had already been sent to Orange County's officers, who 399 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:50,600 Speaker 1: were affronted. But soon things really started to escalate, and 400 00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:53,439 Speaker 1: we will get to that. After another quick sponsor break 401 00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:06,159 Speaker 1: on April fourth, seventeen sixty eight, the regulators called for 402 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:09,720 Speaker 1: another meeting, this time to ask the sheriff to meet 403 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:12,520 Speaker 1: with the committee to talk about their grievances. But before 404 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:15,400 Speaker 1: that meeting could actually happen, one of the regulators Saddle 405 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:18,680 Speaker 1: and Bridle were seized to pay off a levy. A 406 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:21,200 Speaker 1: group of regulators went to try to get them back. 407 00:23:21,359 --> 00:23:25,240 Speaker 1: That led to weapons being drawn, but apparently no physical violence. 408 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:29,720 Speaker 1: Authorities tried to deploy a militia to re seize the 409 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:33,480 Speaker 1: reclaimed Saddle and Bridle, but not enough people reported for 410 00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:36,360 Speaker 1: duty to go and do this, presumably because they were 411 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:38,959 Speaker 1: sympathetic to the regulators and didn't want to go take 412 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:42,280 Speaker 1: up arms against them. Edmund Fanning, having read only that 413 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:45,760 Speaker 1: first Angrier document, wrote to the governor saying that these 414 00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:48,520 Speaker 1: regulators were going to burn down the Orange County seat 415 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:52,800 Speaker 1: of Hillsborough. At first, the governor was at least somewhat conciliatory, 416 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:56,919 Speaker 1: and on April thirtieth, the regulators selected thirteen delegates to 417 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:00,439 Speaker 1: attend a meeting to discuss their grievances. But before that 418 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:03,800 Speaker 1: meeting could happen, Fanning had herman husband and a regulator 419 00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:07,919 Speaker 1: named William Butler arrested and jailed, and this just inflamed 420 00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:12,320 Speaker 1: tensions even further. What followed was months and a lot 421 00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:16,440 Speaker 1: of confusion and miscommunication, which is not really surprising considering 422 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:18,520 Speaker 1: that now there have been two meetings that were thwarted 423 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:22,480 Speaker 1: by some other action. Local authorities were trying to prosecute 424 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:25,760 Speaker 1: the regulators, and the regulators were refusing to pay taxes 425 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:29,360 Speaker 1: and also trying to bring charges against the officials who 426 00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:33,440 Speaker 1: they thought were corrupt. In July, Husband and Butler were 427 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:38,080 Speaker 1: tried and acquitted for inciting the populace to rebellion. In 428 00:24:38,119 --> 00:24:42,960 Speaker 1: that same court session, Fanning was indicted for taking excessive fees. 429 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:47,160 Speaker 1: Tryon also traveled to Hillsborough himself during all this, hoping 430 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:50,119 Speaker 1: that his presence would calm things down, and one of 431 00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:52,879 Speaker 1: the things he had to do was to dispel rumors 432 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:56,159 Speaker 1: that he was recruiting a Native American fighting force to 433 00:24:56,200 --> 00:25:00,119 Speaker 1: go after the regulators. By August, a new sheriff had 434 00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:03,040 Speaker 1: been appointed in Orange County, and he came bearing a 435 00:25:03,119 --> 00:25:06,120 Speaker 1: letter from the governor condemning the regulators and calling their 436 00:25:06,119 --> 00:25:10,680 Speaker 1: actions illegal. The next month, thirty seven hundred regulators, all 437 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:13,879 Speaker 1: of them farmers, sent a proposal to the governor. Quote 438 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:17,160 Speaker 1: desiring to know the terms on which their submission would 439 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:20,680 Speaker 1: be accepted, they were told that if they surrendered nine 440 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:23,919 Speaker 1: of their leaders from three counties, laid down their arms, 441 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:28,200 Speaker 1: and paid all their taxes, they would be pardoned. Only 442 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:32,000 Speaker 1: about thirty people accepted this agreement, and Tryon sent troops 443 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:34,200 Speaker 1: to try to track down and arrest some of the 444 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:37,719 Speaker 1: biggest ring leaders. After all of this, several people were 445 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:40,680 Speaker 1: put on trial for their involvement with the regulators, and 446 00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:43,440 Speaker 1: those who were convicted paid fines and spent some time 447 00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:46,600 Speaker 1: in prison. But later on the governor pardoned everybody who 448 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:50,280 Speaker 1: had been found guilty. That summer, he also dissolved the 449 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:53,760 Speaker 1: assembly and called for a new election with new representatives, 450 00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:56,920 Speaker 1: at which point several men who had sympathies to the 451 00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:59,719 Speaker 1: regulators or had been really involved in the movement were 452 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:04,000 Speaker 1: all to the assembly. The regulators had little success bringing 453 00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:08,160 Speaker 1: corrupt officials to trial, though Edmund Fanning and another official 454 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:12,040 Speaker 1: named Francis Nash were both charged with taking illegal fees. 455 00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:16,679 Speaker 1: Nash was ultimately acquitted, while Fanning was convicted but fined 456 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:19,840 Speaker 1: only one penny for each of the five offenses and 457 00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:23,600 Speaker 1: resigned his post as register of deeds. That Register of 458 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:25,760 Speaker 1: deeds example we gave earlier in the show where he 459 00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:29,520 Speaker 1: was collecting multiple fees on one transaction, was essentially what 460 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:34,199 Speaker 1: he was convicted of doing. Convicted, not really punished in 461 00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:39,879 Speaker 1: a very meaningful way. Why penny Yeah, His argument was 462 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:43,520 Speaker 1: was misconstruction of the law, basically that he had misunderstood 463 00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:48,399 Speaker 1: that this was not allowed, and for punishment he can 464 00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:52,159 Speaker 1: join the Columbia Records Club. That one penny thing is 465 00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:57,720 Speaker 1: a little too much. In November of seventeen sixty nine, 466 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:02,359 Speaker 1: regulators from multiple counties brought petitions before the Assembly in 467 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:06,399 Speaker 1: New bern A petition from Anson County called for changes 468 00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:09,679 Speaker 1: to voting rights and taxation, for paper money to be 469 00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:13,119 Speaker 1: issued and loaned on land, or the ability to sue 470 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:16,719 Speaker 1: for small debts without involving a lawyer. That was important 471 00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:19,320 Speaker 1: to that whole idea that the courts were running up fees. 472 00:27:19,359 --> 00:27:21,320 Speaker 1: If you could just handle small debts without getting a 473 00:27:21,359 --> 00:27:24,840 Speaker 1: lawyer involved, there would be less of that. Reportedly, also 474 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:28,600 Speaker 1: some changes to how court officials were paid, in particular 475 00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:32,119 Speaker 1: paying them salaries rather than having them paid out of 476 00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:36,159 Speaker 1: the fees. This petition also called for all of the 477 00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:40,240 Speaker 1: religious denominations to have the rights to conduct legal marriages. 478 00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:43,880 Speaker 1: For a long time, only Anglican clergy had been able 479 00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:47,880 Speaker 1: to legally perform marriages in North Carolina, and once Presbyterians 480 00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:50,159 Speaker 1: were also allowed to do it, part of their fees 481 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:53,399 Speaker 1: were still going to the Anglican Church. The Anson County 482 00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:57,400 Speaker 1: regulators also called for Benjamin Franklin or some other patriot 483 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:01,440 Speaker 1: to act as the colony's representative in life. London. Regulators 484 00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:05,000 Speaker 1: from Orange and Rowan Counties submitted a very similar petition 485 00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:07,800 Speaker 1: asking for a lot of the same reforms, along with 486 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:11,240 Speaker 1: calling for the assemblies yea and nay votes to be recorded. 487 00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:15,560 Speaker 1: In response, the Assembly introduced a number of bills meant 488 00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:18,840 Speaker 1: to do several of these very things, although the lower 489 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:21,919 Speaker 1: House did also pass a resolution that anyone who didn't 490 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:25,000 Speaker 1: pay taxes was an enemy of the country. But on 491 00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:28,720 Speaker 1: November sixth, seventeen sixty nine, Governor Tryon got back to 492 00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:31,679 Speaker 1: the Assembly after having been ill, he saw these bills 493 00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:35,119 Speaker 1: that had been introduced. He dissolved the Assembly again and 494 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:39,880 Speaker 1: called for another new election. Once again, though several pro 495 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:44,680 Speaker 1: regulator people were either elected or reelected. This included Herman 496 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:48,280 Speaker 1: husband and John Pryor. But back in the Piedmont, many 497 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:52,160 Speaker 1: of the regulators were incredibly frustrated by this point. They 498 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:55,200 Speaker 1: had been trying to get issues with taxation and corruption 499 00:28:55,320 --> 00:28:59,520 Speaker 1: resolved for roughly four years. They had no confidence that 500 00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:02,400 Speaker 1: the Assembly was actually going to get new laws passed, 501 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:04,240 Speaker 1: and it felt like everything that they had tried to 502 00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:08,680 Speaker 1: accomplish so far had been thwarted. So on Saturday September twentieth, 503 00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:12,280 Speaker 1: seventeen seventy, a group of regulators took a petition to 504 00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:16,040 Speaker 1: the Superior Court in Hillsborough. They felt that the juries 505 00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:19,960 Speaker 1: were prejudiced. They wanted the corrupt officers fairly tried, and 506 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:22,880 Speaker 1: they wanted all these ongoing tax issues to be cleared 507 00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:25,960 Speaker 1: up and fairly settled. They were told to come back 508 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:28,160 Speaker 1: on Monday, and when they did it was with one 509 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:32,720 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty regulators armed with switches and sticks. They 510 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:35,680 Speaker 1: took over the courtroom and disrupted the court proceedings, and 511 00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:39,080 Speaker 1: then they surrounded the courthouse, whipping a lawyer in the 512 00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:41,840 Speaker 1: assistant district attorney when they tried to enter the building. 513 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:45,960 Speaker 1: Then they whipped Edmund Fanning until he finally convinced them 514 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:48,040 Speaker 1: to let him go home if he promised to come 515 00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:50,680 Speaker 1: back in the morning. He did return in the morning, 516 00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:53,600 Speaker 1: and the regulators ran him out of town and then 517 00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:56,920 Speaker 1: tore down his house. But the judge did not return 518 00:29:56,960 --> 00:29:59,320 Speaker 1: to the courthouse, having fled in the middle of the night. 519 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,880 Speaker 1: So the regulators broke into the courtroom and started trying 520 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:06,440 Speaker 1: cases on the docket themselves. In the words of John 521 00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:08,760 Speaker 1: Spencer Bassett, who wrote a history of all of this 522 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:12,640 Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety five, quote, whatever we may think of 523 00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:15,360 Speaker 1: the justness of the cause of the regulators, we must 524 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:19,040 Speaker 1: readily agree that their conduct on this occasion was illegal. 525 00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:24,880 Speaker 1: After these incidents in Hillsborough, Governor Tryon became understandably alarmed 526 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:28,760 Speaker 1: He asked whether the regulator's actions constituted treason and was 527 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:31,560 Speaker 1: told that no, they had not. Even so he started 528 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:34,719 Speaker 1: considering whether he could raise a militia to fight them. Then, 529 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:38,560 Speaker 1: on November twelfth, Judge Richard Henderson's barn was burned down, 530 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:43,320 Speaker 1: presumably by regulators. Governor Tryon convened the Assembly to determine 531 00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:47,520 Speaker 1: a course of action. The Assembly expelled herman husband from 532 00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:49,560 Speaker 1: his seat in the Assembly, and he was then put 533 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:52,440 Speaker 1: in jail. Even though he claimed he had no involvement 534 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:55,280 Speaker 1: with the regulators at this point and disabout all their actions. 535 00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:59,120 Speaker 1: Regulators in the Piedmont started planning a march to New 536 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:03,440 Speaker 1: Bern Soon. Johnston's Riot Act was introduced to the Assembly 537 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:08,000 Speaker 1: and it passed on January fifteenth, seventeen seventy one. It 538 00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:12,360 Speaker 1: was an act for preventing tumultuous and riotous assemblies, and 539 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:15,719 Speaker 1: for the more speedy and effectually punishing the rioters, and 540 00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:18,960 Speaker 1: for restoring and preserving the public peace of this province. 541 00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:22,800 Speaker 1: It made rioting a felony punishable by death, and it 542 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:26,120 Speaker 1: authorized the governor to raise a militia to deal with it. 543 00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:29,440 Speaker 1: At the same time, the Assembly also passed several other 544 00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:33,719 Speaker 1: bills relating to things like sheriff's appointments and attorney fees, 545 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:37,920 Speaker 1: and faster collections of small debts and salaries for the 546 00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:42,720 Speaker 1: Chief Justice. They also divided several of the counties into smaller, 547 00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:46,200 Speaker 1: more manageable ones. All of these reforms related to the 548 00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:49,480 Speaker 1: things that the regulators had been advocating for for so long, 549 00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:52,840 Speaker 1: but rather than waiting to see whether they resolved the situation, 550 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:56,400 Speaker 1: Governor Tryon took advantage of the Johnson's Riot Act and 551 00:31:56,480 --> 00:32:00,640 Speaker 1: raised a militia. The regulators were outraged at this. The 552 00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:04,360 Speaker 1: existence of the Johnston Riot Act had inflamed tensions even further, 553 00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:06,920 Speaker 1: and the idea that the governor was actually raising a 554 00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:10,720 Speaker 1: militia to come after them raised numerous questions about civil 555 00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:13,600 Speaker 1: liberties and whether the governor was just going to resort 556 00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:17,720 Speaker 1: to violence anytime someone disagreed with them. This militia left 557 00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:21,400 Speaker 1: Newborn in April of seventeen seventy one and arrived in 558 00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:24,760 Speaker 1: Hillsboro on May ninth to find that it was vastly 559 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:29,680 Speaker 1: outnumbered by the regulators. The militia was also short on ammunition. 560 00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:33,000 Speaker 1: After a powder raid that had been undertaken by nine 561 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:37,000 Speaker 1: young men dressed as Native Americans. They were later nicknamed 562 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:41,800 Speaker 1: the Black Boys of Cabaris. Reinforcements arrived on May eleventh, 563 00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:44,880 Speaker 1: which gave the militia a force of about one thousand men. 564 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:48,400 Speaker 1: They were still outnumbered by the regulators two to one, 565 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:52,280 Speaker 1: but the militia were much better trained and also better armed. 566 00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:55,880 Speaker 1: On May sixteenth, the regulators were told to disarm themselves 567 00:32:55,920 --> 00:32:59,440 Speaker 1: near Alamance Creek, but before the deadline given to do so, 568 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:03,160 Speaker 1: the Governor's militia opened fire. This came to be known 569 00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:05,520 Speaker 1: as the Battle of Alimance, and it lasted a couple 570 00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:09,480 Speaker 1: of hours before the regulators ran out of ammunition. Nine 571 00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:12,640 Speaker 1: were killed on each side, although many more regulators were 572 00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:17,520 Speaker 1: wounded than militiamen. This effectively ended the regulator movement, although 573 00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:21,720 Speaker 1: Tryon's militia continued moving through the Piedmont rounding people up 574 00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:26,280 Speaker 1: for some time afterward. One regulator named James Few was 575 00:33:26,400 --> 00:33:29,440 Speaker 1: executed on the spot at the Battle of Alimance to 576 00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:33,360 Speaker 1: set an example, twelve more people were arrested and put 577 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:36,640 Speaker 1: on trial. The six who were convicted were executed for 578 00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:40,800 Speaker 1: treason on June nineteenth, seventeen seventy one. Here is the 579 00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:44,520 Speaker 1: sentencing of one of them. A man named Benjamin Merrill. Quote. 580 00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:47,800 Speaker 1: I must now close by afflicting duty by pronouncing upon 581 00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:50,320 Speaker 1: you the awful sentence of law, which is that you, 582 00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:53,720 Speaker 1: Benjamin Merrill, be carried to the place from whence you came. 583 00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:56,840 Speaker 1: That you be drawn from thence to the place of execution, 584 00:33:57,000 --> 00:33:59,239 Speaker 1: where you are to be hanged by the neck. That 585 00:33:59,320 --> 00:34:02,600 Speaker 1: you be cut down, while yet alive, That your bowels 586 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:05,600 Speaker 1: be taken out and burnt before your face, That your 587 00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:08,439 Speaker 1: head be cut off, that your body be divided into 588 00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:11,600 Speaker 1: four quarters. And this to be at His Majesty's disposal. 589 00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:15,160 Speaker 1: And the Lord have mercy on your soul. After all this, 590 00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:19,239 Speaker 1: nearly sixty five hundred settlers in the Piedmont were made 591 00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:22,560 Speaker 1: to swear allegiance to the government. This was about three 592 00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:24,960 Speaker 1: quarters of the white men in the more remote parts 593 00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:29,560 Speaker 1: of the colony, and afterward many former regulators left North Carolina, 594 00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:32,440 Speaker 1: many of them settling near the Watauga River in what 595 00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:36,239 Speaker 1: would become East Tennessee. Tryon got back to newbern in 596 00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:39,239 Speaker 1: June of seventeen seventy one, but then he left the 597 00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:42,440 Speaker 1: colony not long after that to become Governor of New York. 598 00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:46,480 Speaker 1: Fanning went with him to be his personal secretary. Both 599 00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:49,640 Speaker 1: Tryon and Fanning were on the Loyalist side in the 600 00:34:49,640 --> 00:34:53,839 Speaker 1: Revolutionary War. Tryon died in London in seventeen eighty eight, 601 00:34:53,920 --> 00:34:59,040 Speaker 1: and Fanning died in eighteen eighteen. Herman husband fled to Pennsylvania, 602 00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:01,319 Speaker 1: where he was part of the Wor Whiskey Rebellion, for 603 00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:04,239 Speaker 1: which he was convicted and condemned to death, but then 604 00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:08,360 Speaker 1: later freed. He died in seventeen ninety five. As for 605 00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:13,560 Speaker 1: Tryon's palace, his successor, Josiah Martin, furnished it really extravagantly, 606 00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:16,080 Speaker 1: but then he fled the capitol in May of seventeen 607 00:35:16,120 --> 00:35:19,360 Speaker 1: seventy six out of fear of the Revolutionary War. The 608 00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:22,600 Speaker 1: state government took control of the building in seventeen seventy seven, 609 00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:25,680 Speaker 1: although it was again abandoned as the war went on. 610 00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:30,240 Speaker 1: The building was also damaged when large amounts of lead 611 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:32,640 Speaker 1: that had been used in its construction were torn out 612 00:35:32,719 --> 00:35:35,520 Speaker 1: of it and made it to musket balls. The state 613 00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:38,799 Speaker 1: capitol was moved to Raleigh in seventeen ninety two, at 614 00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:42,400 Speaker 1: which point Tryon's Palace had been damaged by vandals and squatters. 615 00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:46,919 Speaker 1: It burned down on February twenty seventh, seventeen ninety eight. 616 00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:50,360 Speaker 1: It was restored and rebuilt in the nineteen fifties and 617 00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:53,520 Speaker 1: is now just known as Tryon Palace without the s. 618 00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:57,520 Speaker 1: Some historians argue that the regulator movement was a precursor 619 00:35:57,600 --> 00:36:00,680 Speaker 1: to the Revolutionary War, especially given in how much of 620 00:36:00,719 --> 00:36:04,320 Speaker 1: the dispute was between ordinary farmers and the royal governor, 621 00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:07,279 Speaker 1: and how many of the same or similar grievances were 622 00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:11,239 Speaker 1: shared between the regulators and the patriots. In addition to 623 00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:15,640 Speaker 1: taxation and representation and other issues that we discussed, Tryon 624 00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:18,280 Speaker 1: supported the British government when it came to the Stamp 625 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:21,600 Speaker 1: Act of seventeen sixty five, and had refused to allow 626 00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:25,160 Speaker 1: a delegation from North Carolina to attend the Stamp Act 627 00:36:25,239 --> 00:36:28,920 Speaker 1: Congress that October. And this whole incident does seem to 628 00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:32,520 Speaker 1: have inspired some of the patriots in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, 629 00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:35,480 Speaker 1: but it does not appear that most of the regulators 630 00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:39,080 Speaker 1: became involved in the revolution themselves. None of this is 631 00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:43,160 Speaker 1: anything that I would have gleaned from watching Outlander, because 632 00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:46,680 Speaker 1: as we all know, Outlander is not really a source 633 00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:58,759 Speaker 1: of historical accuracy. That is not its mission. Thanks so 634 00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:01,719 Speaker 1: much for joining us on this Saturday if you'd like 635 00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:04,799 Speaker 1: to send us a note, Our email addresses History Podcast 636 00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:08,560 Speaker 1: at iHeartRadio dot com, and you can subscribe to the 637 00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:11,960 Speaker 1: show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 638 00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:13,520 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.