Chapter 6
A Fledgling State in a New Nation
Section 1
The State in the Confederation
• Articles of Confederation
– Country’s first constitution
– Created a one-house national legislature
(Congress)
– Each state had only one vote
– No president and no court system
– Simply called the Confederation
Success and Failures
• Successes
– Signing a Peace
Treaty with Britain
– Secured new lands
west of Appalachian
Mountains.
• Failures
– Lacked money and
resources
– Confederation had no
way to tax the states.
– Each state had one
vote
– No judiciary or
executive branch.
North Carolina after the War
• NC was slow to recover after the American
rev. War.
• Disorganized which led to Generally
Assembly moving from place to place.
– Host towns
• Tarboro
• Smithfield
• Wake Court House
Treaty of Paris
• Treaty of Paris protected Tories property
• Many Tories sued to recover their lost
lands and possessions.
• However, generally Assembly passes law,
saying, you could not sue that way.
• Results, Most important court case in state
history!
Mrs. Elizabeth Bayard
•
•
•
•
Resident of England
Challenged the new law
Took her case to the state supreme court
Wanted property willed to her by her
father.
• Spyers Singleton bought the land after the
state confiscated it.
• 1787, the best lawyers in the state
gathered in the courthouse in New Bern to
take part in this landmark case.
• Among them were
– William R. Davie
– James Iredell
Singletons defense
• His lawyers asked for the case to be
dismissed based on what the law clearly
stated. (Suing was not permitted)
• State court refused
The Court
• Chief Justice Samuel Ashe
– Argued the Declaration of Rights in the state
constitution guaranteed a trial by jury.
– State legislature had no right to take that
away.
• Thus the Confiscation Act was unconstitutional.
• It violated one of the rights that protected every
North Carolinian.
However…
• Justices decided that since Mrs. Bayard
was a British Citizen and her father was
dead, she was not entitled to the same
right.
• Her case was dismissed as well as 27
similar ones.
Bayard v. Singleton
• Became important legal precedent.
• Precedent – a case used later as a guide to
judge other disputes.
• This case was the first time the courts
challenged so strongly what the legislature had
done.
• The idea of Judicial review became part of the
checks-and-balances approach to government
in the US.
• Judicial review – court could judge the
constitutionality of the law.
State of Franklin
• Residents west of Blue Ridge Mountains wanted
more control over their own rights.
• Most of settlers lived in tributaries of the
Tennessee River like the Holston or the
Watauga.
• NC General Assembly in 1784 ceded its western
lands to the Confederation government, the
leaders of the Watauga area petitioned
Congress to set up a new state.
• This new state was to be called, Franklin
• Franklin was to be named after Benjamin
Franklin.
• NC decided to take back the land, however,
Franklin went ahead anyway.
• 1784, they met in Jonesborough, wrote a
constitution and elected John Sevier, as their
governor.
• The state of Franklin was controversial like many
events in NC.
• The new states was not ever recognized by
Congress or NC General Assembly.
• State of Franklin ceased to exist by 1787.
Creation of new state
• The fight over Franklin did help create the
state of Tennessee.
• The territory of Tennessee was set up in
1794 and by 1796 statehood was granted.