10. What sentiment animates the people of North Carolina?
CHAPTER LXXI.
PROGRESS OF MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT.
A. D. 1876 TO 1878.
1876.
In this state of advancement as to her material interests, North Carolina again became excited in 1876 over the choice of new men for Chief-Magistrates, both of the Republic and of the State.
2. After eight years of service as President of the United States, General Grant was retired to private life, and Governor Brogden, who had succeeded Governor Caldwell upon the death of the latter in 1874, was also near the end of his service as Governor of North Carolina. No Gubernatorial election was ever more exciting to the State. It resulted in the choice of ex- Governor Z. B. Vance over Judge Thomas Settle of the Supreme Court.
1877.
3. In the complications which resulted in the seating of Governor Hayes as President of the United States, there was such a change effected that the Federal army was no longer employed to uphold the reconstructed officials in Louisiana and South Carolina, and the people of those States, at last, were left to the management of their own affairs. With this consummation, so long and devoutly wished, came that peace and contentment to all sections which had been unknown since 1861.
4. The enormous increase in the amount and quality of cotton grown in North Carolina since the late war has been dependent upon the use of various fertilizers and other appliances of a better cultivation of the soil. The old habit of educated men, in committing their plantations and slaves to the management of overseers, has been almost wholly abandoned. Many individuals of the largest culture are now devoting their time and skill to the discovery of improved methods in agriculture, and North Carolina is reaping a golden harvest thereby.