Between 1766 and 1771 a movement of “honest farmers and tradesmen” resulted in anti-government action in North Carolina, culminating with Royal Governor Tryon’s victory over the insurrectionists at the Battle of Alamance. The North Carolina “Regulators” were led, in part, by Harmon Husbands who, in later years recorded that the people “appeared against…the most flagrant breaches of all law…” Regulators opposed unfair taxes, the perceived injustice of the courts, and the disdain of local elites that, according to Howard Zinn, had purchased most of the best farming acreage in the eastern part of the colony.
Causes of the Regulator Movement in North Carolina
Views of North Carolina’s Regulator movement vary among historians and researchers. Some see the movement as a precursor to the Revolution. Louise Overton, describing the hanging of Captain Benjamin Morrell in 1771 following the Battle of Alamance, compares him to Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson in “striking a blow for freedom.” Other views point to the colonial perception that North Carolina represented a haven for those escaping justice or debts, establishing residences along the coast.
Zinn writes that, “They resented the tax system, which was especially burdensome on the poor, and the combination of merchants and lawyers who worked in the courts to collect debts from the harassed farmers.” Husbands, writing about the movement he helped lead, referred to “Pettyfogging Lawyers" and inability of poor farmers to “obtain relief.”
The August 15, 1771 Virginia Gazette predicted that, “people will leave this province, before they will live under the intolerable oppression and slavery…” The Gazette also stated that North Carolinians were “abused” and had stopped paying taxes “but what were agreeable to law…”
Husbands’ account adds that the courts were unfair and that Governor Tryon and his cronies fleeced the people. In a September 14, 1769 account of a riot in Orange County, Joshua Teague (and four other signatories) referred to the judges and other colonial officials as “crafty and cruel oppressors.” The movement resorted to violent responses, ultimately raising arms against the colonial government at the 1771 Battle of Alamance.
Was the Regulator Movement Typical?
The Regulator movement was one of several similar responses to perceived injustice in the pre-Revolutionary colonies. Although Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676 Virginia had different causes, it attracted many followers that felt disenfranchised. Zinn, often criticized for his “class struggle” approach to American history, notes that similar responses in the years leading up to the Revolution took place in New York among tenant farmers in the Hudson River valley. Additionally, he compares the colonial assemblies in North Carolina and Virginia, both of which were dominated by the wealthiest families.
Other researchers conclude that the movement, including the Battle of Alamance, may have been minimized in past historical treatments chiefly because of attempts to correlate the Regulators to the Revolution. These observers note that the movement should be understood as an event defined by particular colonial policies and the prevailing corruption in North Carolina government rather than a larger movement in the colonies opposed to growing English control.
Supporters and participants of the Regulars were identified with the free farmers that moved into central North Carolina and felt disconnected from royal control in the eastern part of the colony. Their reaction was against the wealthy landowners in the east that were allied with Governor Tryon. Many of these eastern families grew wealthy out of land speculation that began following the Restoration of the monarchy in England under Charles II. The Regulator movement was specific to North Carolina, although drawing ideological strength from a rising sense of Americanism.
Evaluation of the Regulators
Regulators resorted to arms only after all other attempts to obtain relief had been exhausted. The 1769 “mob” that wrecked havoc in Orange County and assaulted numerous people cannot be legitimately excused on the basis of contemporary standards. In the eighteenth-century, however, their actions paralleled similar reactions in the other colonies. Their goals included judicial relief and fair juries, similar to the objectives of Shays’ Rebellion in 1787-1787 in Massachusetts, taking place after the Revolution. In both cases, impoverished farmers facing foreclosure felt powerless against the prevailing legal and governmental system.
References:
- William A. Link and Marjorie Spruill Wheeler, editors. The South In The History of the Nation, Volume One: Through Reconstruction. Documents on the Regulator movement (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1999)
- Louise Overton, “Regulator Movement,” Colonial Records from North Carolina archives.
- Wallace L. McKeehan, “The Regulators,” Texas A&M University, (detailed summary of events, participants, and primary sources)
- Carole Troxler, Farming Dissenters: The Regulator Movement in Piedmont, North Carolina (North Carolina Office of Archives and History, 2011)
- Virginia Gazette, May 23, 1771 and August 15, 1771, Colonial Williamsburg digital archives, retrieved October 8, 2011.
- Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (Harper Perennial, 2010) also available in an on-line edition.
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