Notes

Refugees from Virginia, involved in Bacon's rebellion (sea BACON, NATHANIEL), fostered a spirit of liberty among the inhabitants of North Carolina, and successful oppression was made difficult, if not impossible. They carried on a feeble trade in Indian corn, tobacco, and fat cattle with New England, whose little coasting-vessels brought in exchange those articles of foreign production which the settlers could not otherwise procure. The English navigation laws interfered with this commerce. In 1677 agents of the government appeared, who demanded a penny on every pound of tobacco sent to New England. The colonists resisted the levy. The tax-gatherer was rude and had frequent personal collisions with the people. Finally, the people, led by John Culpeper, a refugee from South Carolina, seized the governor and the public funds, imprisoned him and six of his councillors, called a new representative Assembly, and appointed a new chief magistrate and judges. For two years the colony was thus free from foreign control.