Slaveholders had
the most pull in the state, and when Lincoln
was elected president in 1860, most citizens
of North Carolina became alarmed. When South
Carolina became the first state to secede from
the Union, a wave of secession fervor swept
through North Carolina. As other states seceded,
North Carolina decided to remain in the Union
for the time being, hoping that the conflict
would be resolved peacefully. After the firing
at Fort Sumter, North Carolina made the decision
to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy.
North Carolina
was very active during the Civil War, and furnished
140,000 Confederate soldiers to the effort.
Many of State's men died in the war. 11,000
North Carolina soliders were killed in battle,
24,000 died of disease, and another 30,000 were
wounded.
Figure 3 Civil War Battle Sites
Reconstruction
After the war,
North Carolina returned to the Union under military
rule, and the state and local government was
under Republican control. Carpetbaggers, Scalawags,
and African Americans were elected into office,
to the despair of many citizens. Carpetbaggers
were northerners who either stayed in the South
after the war, or came to the South looking
for new opportunities. Some of these carpetbaggers
were part of tthe Freedmen's Bureau. Their northern
roots and Republican politics brought them much
disdain from the natives of the South. Scalawags
were no more welcome in the South. Scalawags
were native-born whites who joined the southern
Republican Party. It is easy to understand why
Carpetbaggers and Scalawags were undesired by
southerners. During the war many of the South's
schools declined and closed, but were revived
during Reconstruction, a time of increased industrialization
and urbanization.
Despite other
economic gains, agriculture continued to decline.
Farmers organizations formed during this period
to provide relief for farmers. Many farmers
joined the Patrons of Husbandry, also known
as the Grange. Over 500 lodges were formed in
North Carolina. These lodges evolved into the
North Carolina Farmers Associations, which later
became the basis for the Farmers Alliance and
the Populist Party. The farmers found some success
in joining these organizations, and many were
elected into governmental positions.
Discrimination
was a regrettable outcome of Reconstruction
because of the freedoms allowed to former slaves.
The Ku Klux Klan terrorized blacks in North
Carolina, bullying them into changing their
votes and scaring them away from the poles.
They also displayed much violence towards blacks,
leading to 68 lynchings in North Carolina between
1889 and 1936. Blacks were forced to pay poll
taxes and pass literacy tests before they were
allowed to vote. The backlash from infuriated
whites created discrimination that culminated
into the Black Codes and segregation.
Immigration
The mass migration
of German, Irish, Scandinavians, and Dutch that
characterized the first half of the 19th century's
immigration history did not affect North Carolina.
Only a few of these immigrants settled in North
Carolina towns. The same can be said for the
immigration of southern and eastern Europeans
to America during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
These immigrants settled in large industrial
cities, mainly in the north. North Carolina
derived most of her population from domestic
migration.
Labor
Industrialization
began to take hold in North Carolina during
the later part of the 19th century, particularly
in teh textile trades. Workers complained about
low wages, long hours, and unhealthy working
conditions. This eventually led to the formation
of labor unions. In 1884, The Knights of Labor
organized a branch in Raleigh, but only included
skilled laborers, not textile workers. The union
movement was weak in North Carolina because
of the scattered locations of mills and factories.
Child labor was also a heartbreaking reality
of textile work. About 24 percent of North Carolina's
textile workers were children, and it wasn't
until 1913 that a child labor law was enacted.
