Introducing the Semiquincentennial Series: Why Local History Matters
Here at the Triangle Trumpet, we're celebrating the 250th anniversary of 1776 with a year-long series on the local Revolutionary history of our beat
In the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy six, the original thirteen colonies collectively declared independence from the State of Great Britain.
Several months later, North Carolina adopted a Declaration of Rights and its first state Constitution, marking the formal transition from a colony to an independent state.
Thirteen years and one war later, the United States of America was brought into being with the ratification of the new federal Constitution by eleven of those independent states, with the holdouts of North Carolina and Rhode Island joining shortly thereafter.
Why Remember Our Local History?
When we remember our history, it is not merely as a set of interesting factoids or even as lessons instructing us on how to or not to behave.
Our history is the foundation on which our nation is built, a common element which brings us together as a nation. As Vice President JD Vance put it in his nomination speech at the Republican National Convention, “America is not just an idea: it is a group of people with a shared history and a common future.”
Over the past sixty years, we have experienced a significant demographic and cultural shakeup with unprecedented levels of international migration to the United States as well as domestic migration to North Carolina. (As of the 2023 census estimates, only 46.6% of adult residents of North Carolina were born in our state, with an even lower concentration in metropolitan areas like Raleigh and Durham).
Just as becoming American means adopting American history as your history and America’s forefathers as your forefathers, the same principle can be applied on a smaller scale to North Carolina or any other constituent community.
Thus, the celebration of the Semiquincentennial by the Triangle Trumpet will not take the form of grand treatises on liberty or a study of the most important events of the Revolution, but will rather reflect the nature of this publication by bringing your attention to the somewhat more parochial but no less important elements of that history which have a direct local tie to the eleven counties of our beat.
A Roadmap
To begin, we roll back to the clock to the historical geography, demographics, and political boundaries of the area, which differ significantly from counties, cities, and towns found on the map today.
Then, we will move on to the history of the Regulation, a proto-Revolutionary uprising centered around Orange County which was put down by the colonial government just five years before the Declaration of Independence.
Although the heaviest of the fighting occurred elsewhere, the area saw combat involving militia groups as well as skirmishing during the 1781 campaign between generals Nathanael Greene and Lord Cornwallis, which involved maneuvering through the area both before and after the Battle of Guilford Court House to the west.
In the wake Revolution, we will cover the Hillsborough Convention, and why the anti-federalist founding fathers of North Carolina declined to ratify the Constitution which would bring the United States of America into existence.
Finally, we will feature vignettes of the life and deeds of two groups of Revolutionary War figures, both notable local patriots as well as those from further afield who were nonetheless honored as the namesakes of several of our counties and towns, such as Benjamin Franklin or Brigadier General John Alexander Lillington.
If learning about the local history of the Triangle appeals to you, be sure you’re subscribed to the Triangle Trumpet and share it with your friends and neighbors!
You quote JD Vance: "America is not just an idea: it is a group of people with a shared history and a common future.”
Vance i mistaken, and mistaken in a way that you yourself point out. What we should say is “America is not just an idea: it is a group of people with a shared VALUES and a common future.” Phrased this way it agrees with what you say: "... becoming American means ADOPTING American history as your history and America’s forefathers as your forefathers".