in the Philadelphia Convention her delegates gave the most important casting votes that secured the adoption of the most admirable features of the Constitution; while the position taken by the State at the Hillsboro Convention tended to secure the very important amendments that remedied some of the defects of the original instrument.

The Hillsboro Convention was also empowered to select a place for the permanent seat of government for the State; and the steps then taken led to the selection of a site for the capital city near Bloomsbury, as Wake Court House was called.

Population had largely increased across the mountains; and in the fall and winter of 1786, a land office having been opened by the Franklin Government within the territory occupied by the Indians, the savages became very hostile. Troops were being raised in February, 1787, to go to the assistance of the settlers, and a road was to be cut beyond the mountains to expedite transportation. By April it was expected that these troops under Major Thomas Evans would reach the lower part of the Clinch river, and would begin the road through the wilderness. But there was the usual delays, and an expedition under Major Logan, from Holston, having penetrated into the Indian country, the savages rose and cut off quite a number of whites. It would seem that the settlers had enough to occupy them. Determined not to submit to the State of North Carolina, they were preparing to maintain their separate government, although the population was divided in their opinions. Some adhered to the parent State while the bulk of the people proposed to set up for themselves at every cost. Governor Caswell very adroitly sought to pacify them, and induce a submission to established authority, declaring that their separation would not be long delayed, when they should become able to support a government: but for a time all his arts failed, and at this time there was in operation a dual government out in that wilderness, one under the authority of North Carolina, the other upholding the State of Franklin.

By August, Major Evans, with seventy-six men, had gotten well into the wilderness, but was delayed by the necessity of cutting the road. On November 10th he wrote that without any money and with little stores, he had performed a march of four hundred miles through a wilderness and in a strange country, where no supplies could be had either on public or private credit. He had marched to Kentucky, and there he furloughed his men-so that they might work for sustenance-but, agreeably to his orders, they had all reported to him at Nashville.

It was understood that Spanish and French influences, for Spain and France held dominion along the Mississippi to the Great Lakes, were exciting the Indians of the interior to check the advance of the English-speaking people to the westward, and were supplying the hostile savages with arms and ammunition. And the aggressions of the settlers on the Tennessee and French Broad met with swift retribution from the tomahawk. In the turmoil arising from this border conflict, the division of the people in regard to their home government was an element of weakness, and the leaders eventually entered into an agreement that seemed to recognize the validity of both governments and opened the way for a complete restoration of the authority of North Carolina across the mountains.

Walter Park

OF

NORTH CAROLINA.

1785.

JOURNAL OF THE SENATE COMMENCING THE 19TH NOVEMBER, 1785.

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA,

IN THE SENATE, 19 NOVEMBER, 1785.

At a General Assembly begun and held at New Bern on the nineteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five, and of the Sovereignty and Independence of the United States of America the Tenth, it being the first session of this Assembly.

The returning officers for several of the Counties within the State certified that the following persons were duly elected to represent such Counties in the Senate, vizt.:

For Anson,

Beaufort,
Bertie,

Brunswick,

Bladen,

Burke,

Craven, James Coor;

Chowan,

Currituck, Willis Etheridge;

Carteret, John Easton;

Chatham, Ambrose Ramsey;

Cumberland, Thomas Armstrong;

Camden, Isaac Gregory;

Caswell, Dempsey Moore;

Dobbs, John Herritage;
Duplin, James Gillespie;
Davidson, Anthony Bledsoe;

Edgecombe,

Franklin,

Guilford, Alexander Martin;

Granville, Howell Lewis;

Gates, Joseph Riddick;

Greene,

Halifax,

Hertford,

Hyde, Abram Jones;

Johnston, Arthur Bryan;

Jones, Frederick Hargett;

Lincoln, Robert Alexander;

Mecklenburgh,

Martin,

Montgomery, Samuel Parsons;

Moore,

Northampton,

New Hanover,

Nash, Hardy Griffin;

Onslow,

Orange, William McCawley;

Pasquotank, Thomas Relfe;

Perquimans,

Pitt, John Williams;

Rowan,

Randolph, Edward Sharpe;

Richmond,

Rutherford, James Miller;

Surry, John Armstrong;

Sullivan,

Sampson, Richard Clinton;

Tyrrell, John Warrington;

Wake,

Warren,

Wilkes, Benjamin Herndon;

Washington,

Wayne, Burwell Moring.

Pursuant to which the following gentlemen, to-wit: The Hon