Governor of North Carolina

“ 'Do you know,' asked Michael, 'what the Governor of South Carolina said to the Governor of North Carolina? ”

“ Furthermore, in North Carolina the governor has no veto power. In addition to the executive officials mentioned above there are a lieutenant-governor, an attorney-general, a Bureau of Labor Statistics, established in 1887, and a Corporation Commission, which in 1899 superseded the Railroad Commission, established in 1891. The governor and the lieutenant-governor must at the time of their election be at least thirty years of age, and must have been citizens of the United States for five years and residents of the state for two years. ”

“ Whereupon, the Governor, by advice of his council, dissolved the Assembly, by proclamation, after a session of four days.
Thus ceased forever all legislative action and intercourse under the Royal government. Indeed, from the organization of the first Provincial Congress or Convention, in Newbern (Aug. 25th, 1774) composed of delegates "fresh from the people" the pioneers in our glorious revolution, until Governor Martin's expulsion, North Carolina was enjoying and exercising an almost unlimited control of separate governmental independence. ”

“ Ballywinkle, it is perfectly clear that this government can’t recognize anything that it can’t create, for that would be foolish. As I, the governor of North Carolina, can’t make a duke, I can’t see one. You are therefore wholly illegal; it’s against the most sacred law of the land for you to be here at all ”

“ Time, that unerring test of principles and truth, has proved that the spirit of liberty which animated the Regulators, was the true spirit which subsequently led to our freedom from foreign oppression.
On the 24th of May, Tryon, after committing acts of revenge, cruelty and barbarity succeeding the Alamance battle, returned to his palace at Newbern, and on the 30th took shipping for New York, over which State he had been appointed Governor. Josiah Martin was appointed by the crown, Tryon's successor as Governor of North Carolina. ”

“ No man ever had so great an opportunity for fixing himself in the esteem and affection of the people as Governor Holden had during his administration as Provisional Governor, and no man ever so completely threw golden opportunities away. Had he risen to the full height of a patriot, his name would today be a loving household word in every section of the State. ”

“ King George selected Major Arthur Dobbs, as Governor of North Carolina; and at New Bern, on November 1, 1754, he entered upon the discharge of his duties. He was a man of high temper, and very obstinate in support of his views, but devoted to whatever he believed his duty demanded. His greatest fault was filling public offices with members of his own family and a disposition to make jobs for his own benefit.
2. Governor Dobbs soon visited the new county of Rowan, which was established in 1753, and included in its area most of the western portion of North Carolina and a part of Tennessee. ”

“ I need not say to gentlemen of your intelligence that a lost governor is ripe fruit in my business, and I have reason to believe that for some purpose of his own the governor of North Carolina is hiding in this very neighbourhood.”
Cooke glanced at Ardmore for instructions, but the master of Ardsley preferred to keep the matter in his own hands.
“So you want to find the governor of North Carolina, do you? Well, you shall not be disappointed. You are too able and zealous to be wasted on journalism. I have a feeling that you are destined to higher things. ”

“ As the price of their subservience, Eastchurch was appointed Governor of Albemarle and Miller was made Secretary of State. The authorities in London were fully resolved that the New England vessels should be excluded from Carolina waters and that the Fundamental Constitutions should be accepted as the system of government. ”

“ Wher’s the guvner of North Carolina?
“That’s a new one on me,” laughed Cooke. “You see, they know everything. Mind-reading isn’t in it with them. They know who we are and what we have come for. What’s the point about the governor?”
“Oh, the governor’s all right,” replied Ardmore carelessly. “He wouldn’t bother his head about a little matter like this. The powers reserved to the states by the constitution give a governor plenty of work without acting as policeman of the jungle. That’s the reason I said to Governor Dangerfield, ‘Governor,’ I said, ‘don’t worry about this Appleweight business. ”

“ One hundred and twenty members constituted this body, while the Senators were limited to fifty. The upper House was to represent taxation; and the lower, population.
9. These organic changes were ratified by a popular majority of more than five thousand votes. This change of Constitution was soon followed by the first popular election for Governor. Governors Miller, Burton, Owen and Swain had successively occupied the Executive Office in North Carolina, until the Legislature, in 1835, for the last time, selected a Governor in the person of Richard Dobbs Spaight, of Craven. ”

“ Thereafter, until the six o’clock supper was ready, he kept the operator occupied. He sent to the Palladium a thoroughly plausible story, giving prominence to the Appleweight case and laying stress on Governor Dangerfield’s vigorous personality and high sense of official responsibility. He sent queries to leading journals everywhere, offering exclusive news of the rumoured disappearance of North Carolina’s governor. ”

“ The Executive Department shall consist of a Governor, in whom shall be vested the supreme executive power of the State, a Lieutenant-Governor, a Secretary of State, an Auditor, a Treasurer, a Superintendent of Public Instruction, and an Attorney-General, who shall be elected for a term of four years by the qualified electors of the State, at the same time and places and in the same manner as members of the General Assembly are elected. ”

“ In April, President Lincoln, in consequence of the attack upon and capture of Fort Sumter, required of Governor Ellis North Carolina's proportion of an army of seventy five thousand men, which was to be used in the coercion of the seceded States. This demand Governor Ellis promptly refused; and he at once convened the Legislature in special session, declaring in his proclamation that the time for action had come, and, upon his recommendation, twenty thousand volunteers were called for by the General Assembly to sustain North Carolina in her course. ”

“ No man knew better than Governor Holden that on our side the war was entirely at an end when the troops laid down their arms, and that when the people of North Carolina renewed their allegiance to the Federal government, they intended to stand to it honestly and faithfully. ”

“ Through all his life as a public man he was intensely devoted to the interest of the colony; and though warmly attached to the English or Episcopal Church, was resolute in his advocacy of complete religious liberty. He formed a strong party of men, who regarded the Governor as simply the agent of the Lords Proprietors; and therefore, to be vigilantly watched and checked in any innovation upon established privileges.
6. There had been, for years, many crimes committed by pirates upon the ocean just along the North Carolina Coast. ”

“ In 1764 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of North Carolina, upon Arthur Dobbs’s death in 1765 became governor pro tem., and in December of the same year received his commission as governor. Like many other pre-Revolutionary officials in America, he has generally been pictured by American writers as a tyrant. ”

“ Governor Vance was soon arrested and imprisoned in the "old capitol" at Washington. President Davis was also captured and imprisoned. Mr. Johnson appointed Vance's late political antagonist, W. W. Holden, Provisional Governor, and, at the same time, removed from office every State and county official in North Carolina. For some weeks no officer with civil powers was to be seen, and to the commanders of the many Federal posts alone could the peaceful have looked for protection against violence and fraud. ”

“ The General Assembly shall provide, by proper legislation, for giving to mechanics and laborers an adequate lien on the subject matter of their labor.
SEC. 5. In the absence of any contrary provision, all officers of this State, whether heretofore elected or appointed by the Governor, shall hold their positions only until other appointments are made by the Governor, or if the officers are elective, until their successors shall have been chosen and duly qualified according to the provisions of this Constitution.
SEC. 6. The seat of government of this State shall remain at the City of Raleigh. ”

“ Every white man having an estate of inheritance, or for life, in fifty acres of land, was a freeholder. Perfect religious liberty was allowed, and there was no check at that day upon the government, provided it preserved its fealty to the King and the Lords Proprietors.
3. A wide margin was left to the Grand Assembly of Albemarle for the display of its power. Neither the Legislature nor the Governor had any capital city for the transaction of business. The Governor lived on any farm he pleased, and the General Assembly met at such place as it deemed most convenient. ”

“ The conspiracy against the Constitution, the laws and the liberties of the people developed rapidly, now that the highest judges in the State had declared the courts of the State to be impotent. The military tribunals that the Governor failed to get from Congress in March, he now proceeded to organize under the Shoffner act. The court was to consist of thirteen members, seven of whom Governor Holden selected from among his own partisans in the militia and six he left to Kirke to select from the officers of his command. ”

“ Beneficent provisions for the poor, the unfortunate and orphan being one of the first duties of a civilized and Christian State, the General Assembly shall, at its first session, appoint and define the duties of a Board of Public Charities, to whom shall be entrusted the supervision of all charitable and penal State institutions, and who shall annually report to the Governor upon their condition, with suggestions for their improvement. ”

“ No braver or wiser man has ever borne a part in the conduct of affairs in North Carolina.
11. Apprehensive for his own safety and that of his family, Governor Martin at once made preparations for leaving New Bern. He sent his family to New York by sea, but went himself by land to Fort Johnston, at the mouth of the Cape Fear. * But even Fort Johnston proved unsafe as a place of refuge, and in July the Governor left it and went on board the war sloop Cruiser, then lying in the river before the fort. On the same day Colonel Ashe, with five hundred men, burned the fort to the ground. ”