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

by John W. Moore

5. In 1793 the cornerstone of the East Building was laid for the University at Chapel Hill. Colonel Davie, as Grand Master of the Masons in the State, officiated; as did also Rev. Dr. McCorkle, who delivered an eloquent address to the citizens who had assembled from all parts of the State to do honor to the occasion.

1795.

6. In 1795, the buildings and faculty having been made ready, the institution was regularly opened for the reception of students. The Rev. David Kerr and Samuel A. Holmes constituted the faculty, and Hinton James, of Wilmington, was the first student to arrive. Thus began an institution of learning in which distinguished men were to be prepared for usefulness in almost every honorable employment among civilized men.

7. Tennessee had been conveyed to the general government soon after the ratification of the United States Constitution, North Carolina reserving to herself the right to locate land warrants in a certain portion. During the administration of Governor Ashe, who had succeeded Alexander Martin, many and extensive frauds in land warrants were concocted by James Glasgow, Secretary of State, Martin Armstrong, John Armstrong and Stokeley Donnelson.

1797.

8. Immense tracts of land were located under fictitious boundaries, and not only the Continental soldiers, but also the States and the United States were thus swindled by these officers, who had been long honored and trusted in North Carolina.

9. Courts were ordered to be held by the General Assembly for the trial of these distinguished culprits; and in 1799 they were convicted and punished by heavy fines and the loss of their offices. Judge John Haywood resigned his place on the bench, and instead of trying, defended the malefactors, one of whom paid him one thousand dollars as a fee for his services. * A few years before a similar scene had occurred when Benjamin McCulloh was convicted at Warrenton and punished for like offences.

*North Carolina had honored James Glasgow by giving his name to one of the counties of the State, but in consequence of his disgrace the name of Glasgow county was stricken from the list, and the county named in honor of General Nathaniel Greene.

10. The excitement between Republicans and Federalists grew in intensity. John Adams had succeeded General Washington as President, and he was one of the most violent of the Federal party. French agents and apologists became more offensive in their demands for American aid. President Adams procured the passage of laws by Congress that startled and confounded many good citizens.

11. These "Alien and Sedition Acts" armed Federal authorities with the power to seize and send out of the country, without trial, any foreigner who might, become offensive to them; also to indict in the District or Circuit Courts of the United States any writer or publisher whom the grand juries might charge with libel.