North Carolina’s Revolutionary Founders ed. by Jeff Broadwater and Troy L. Kickler

Abstract

Reviewed by: North Carolina’s Revolutionary Founders ed. by Jeff Broadwater and Troy L. Kickler Kimberly B. Sherman North Carolina’s Revolutionary Founders. Edited by Jeff Broadwater and Troy L. Kickler. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2019. Pp. [viii], 312. Paper, $29.95, ISBN 978-1-4696-5120-0; cloth, $90.00, ISBN 978-1-4696-5119-4.) In North Carolina’s Revolutionary Founders, Jeff Broadwater and Troy L. Kickler have assembled an impressive collection of essays that reflect the variety of approaches taken and attitudes held by North Carolina’s Revolutionary generation. While much historiographical attention has centered on the well-known names of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, and others, this volume looks to their lesser-known contemporaries to unpack the lives and careers of North Carolina’s “‘ordinary founders’” (p. 1). Against the historical backdrop of federalism, the contributors have brought to life a diverse group, from the women of the 1774 Edenton Tea Party, the leaders of the Catawba and Cherokee Nations, and the free black preacher John Chavis to the more recognizable names of William Hooper, James Iredell, and Richard Dobbs Spaight Sr. While not a “comprehensive” history of Revolutionary North Carolina, the volume highlights the contributions of those who were active in the Revolution [End Page 456] or in the crafting of the Constitution (p. 17). The resulting essays reveal a wide range of opinions among the founding generation, who sought to balance the pragmatic needs and interests of nascent national and state governments with the principles of republicanism. But why North Carolina? Broadwater and Kickler point to the state’s “unique history and distinctive political culture,” which “bred in many North Carolinians an intense localism and a distrust of government in general” (p. 2). All these essays are written to better understand the types of political orders that North Carolina’s founding generation had in mind for the future of their state and nation. The first essays focus on North Carolina’s Revolutionaries. Maggie Hartley Mitchell looks at the influence of the fifty-one women who signed a petition at a gathering known as the Edenton Tea Party, situating the women’s actions against the economic backdrop of Edenton, North Carolina, and the transgression of traditional gender roles through intentional political activism. Broadwater’s essay on William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, and John Penn highlights the lack of consensus among the men who signed the Declaration of Independence and their diverse visions for the founding of a new nation. Contributions from James MacDonald and Michael Toomey look to the west. MacDonald’s work on the Catawbas and Cherokees shows how Revolutionaries attempted to woo Native Americans to support their cause against the British. The Catawbas and Cherokees weighed their options; the Catawbas chose to support the American cause in hopes of survival, while the Cherokees descended into war as a result of the generational and political split in their communities. As the Revolution came to a close, many white Americans looked westward. There, John Sevier envisioned a “‘common country’” where, according to Toomey, western landownership was the realization of the pursuit of happiness and American liberty despite the resulting loss of independence for Native Americans (p. 89). The next set of essays focus on North Carolina’s Federalist leadership at the Constitutional Convention and in the debates leading up to ratification. Jennifer Davis-Doyle investigates North Carolina’s own “Renaissance man,” Hugh Williamson, who promoted education and a strong central government (p. 114). Spaight is the subject of Karl Rodabaugh’s research, which concludes that, while Spaight’s ideas on the federal government were nothing remarkable or unique, Spaight played a key role in the founding generation. Lloyd Johnson examines Revolutionary military hero and two-time North Carolina governor Richard Caswell, whose influence led to important court reforms in the colony before the Revolution and the provision of deerskins to the Continental army during the war. Finally, Willis P. Whichard analyzes Iredell’s influential career in the era after the ratification of the Constitution and during his service on the United States Supreme Court. The strength of Anti-Federalism in North Carolina is explored in Jason Stroud’s essay on Samuel...