School History of North Carolina : from 1584 to the present time

by John W. Moore

5. The Legislature of North Carolina selected Governor Richard
Caswell, Colonel W. R. Davie, ex-Governor Alexander Martin,
Willie Jones and Richard Dobbs Spaight as delegates to that body.
Governor Caswell and Willie Jones declined the honor, and Dr.
Hugh Williamson and William Mount were appointed in their places.

1788.

6. General Washington was chosen as President of the Convention, and in 1788 the result of their deliberations was submitted for the ratification of the several States. It was provided by the Convention framing the Constitution that nine States should ratify the new Constitution before it should go into operation, and that it should then be binding only upon those thus acceding to it.

7. A Convention for North Carolina was called and met at Hillsboro, July 21st, 1788, to consider the proposed Constitution. Samuel Johnston, who had been Moderator of several Provincial Congresses, and who had also succeeded Governor Caswell as Chief-Magistrate of the State, was chosen to preside. He and Judge James Iredell, Colonel Davie and Archibald Maclaine were earnest advocates of instant and unconditional ratification on the part of North Carolina.

8. Willie Jones, of Halifax, who had so long controlled much of the legislation and government of the State, was the leader of those who opposed such action. They favored the addition of numerous amendments before committing the fortunes of North Carolina to such control. They insisted that without further specification, the powers reserved to the several States would not be sufficiently guarded; and the Convention, by a great majority, took the same view of the matter. The result was that while declining to ratify absolutely the Constitution as it then stood, the hope was held out that upon the adoption of proper amendments it would be ratified.

9. There was great excitement in the State upon North Carolina's thus failing to join the new government. Political animosities ran high, and renewed efforts were made to overcome the popular objections. The people became restless at the position they were occupying, being thus, with New York and Rhode Island, strangers to the great compact of their sister States.

1789.

10. The new government of the United States went into operation in the Spring of 1789, and General Washington took the oaths of office on March 4th as the first President of the Republic. In November the Legislature and a new Convention both met at Fayetteville, and on the 21st the Constitution of the United States was speedily ratified, and North Carolina was enrolled as a member of the new confederacy, which was to astonish all nations by the vigor of its rule and the splendor and rapidity of its growth as a nation. Before this, however, the first ten amendments to the Constitution had been proposed to the Legislatures of the several States for ratification, thereby allaying the apprehensions that had been felt at Hillsboro the year before.

1790.

11. Two important matters were also settled at this period. The Convention at Hillsboro limited the seat of the State government to some point in Wake county. The capital had been migrating from town to town for nearly the whole period of North Carolina's existence. The Legislature also passed a bill creating the University of North Carolina, and the terms of the Halifax Constitution, as to popular education, were thus first put into some shape of accomplishment. Both of these measures were highly needed.