'Poor Carolina': Politics and Society in Colonial North Carolina, 1729-1776

Ekrich examines the reasons for eighteenth-century North Carolina’s political factionalism, social violence, and governmental paralysis. Especially disruptive were the opening of new areas of settlement and the influx of migrant groups with high material hopes, particularly since the colony’s economy remained underdeveloped during much of the century. Fresh analyses are drawn of Governor Burrington’s fiery administration, the Granville district turmoil of the 1760s, and Regular Riots.

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