Governor Josiah Martin: Instructions from Martin as to Prayer, 1772

Return to list

Title

Governor Josiah Martin: Instructions from Martin as to Prayer, 1772

Date

1772

Creator

["Martin, Josiah, 1737-1786."]

Place

["North Carolina, United States"]

Local Call Number

C.G.P. 8

MARS ID

308.11

Document Details
Image Details

Document Details

Title

Governor Josiah Martin: Instructions from Martin as to Prayer, 1772

Date

1772

Creator

["Martin, Josiah, 1737-1786."]

Rights

This item is provided courtesy of the State Archives of North Carolina and is a public record according to G.S.132.

Description

Josiah Martin (1737-1786), the last royal governor of North Carolina, aroused sentiment for independence in North Carolina through his inflexible loyalty to the crown. North Carolina's governor, William Tryon, transferred to New York to assume its governorship. Josiah Martin, at age thirty-four, was named to succeed Tryon in December 1770. He did not receive the notification, however, until March 1771. By that time he was undergoing medical treatment in New York. It would be several months before he could move south. Martin inherited several problems from Tryon, among them the fallout from the War of the Regulation, an ongoing boundary dispute with South Carolina, and a controversy over the colonists's rights over non-resident debtors. His term initially showed promise, as he was able to calm discordant feelings resulting from the War of the Regulation. The assembly in 1773 tacked onto the court law bill a foreign attachment clause, permitting colonists to recover debts owed by non-residents who owned property in North Carolina. Martin vetoed the bill because the attachment clause was unfavorable to the crown. The veto left the colony without a court system. For this the colonists blamed royal authority. North Carolinians, holding Martin in contempt, convened the First Provincial Congress in New Bern in 1774. This convention recommended that counties form committees of safety, a move to supplant royal authority. Within the year, Martin sent his family to New York, fearing for their safety. He fled from New Bern to Fort Johnston, in present-day Southport. There he stayed until, hearing of a plot to take the fort, he moved headquarters offshore to the war sloop Cruizer. Martin stayed with his family in New York from 1776 to 1779, during which time his wife died and all of his property in North Carolina was sold by order of the assembly. Late in the war, still hopeful that he could regain his post, he joined Lord Charles Cornwallis to try to rally loyalist troops in North Carolina. Citing health reasons, Martin left for England in 1781 with all but one of his children.

Subject

["Prayer","Martin, Josiah, 1737-1786","United States--History","United States--Politics and government","Governors--North Carolina--Correspondence","Governors--North Carolina","North Carolina--Politics and government--To 1775--Sources","North Carolina--Politics and government","North Carolina--History","Martin, Josiah, 1737-1786--Correspondence"]

Local Call Number

C.G.P. 8

MARS ID

308.11

Place

["North Carolina, United States"]

Time Period

["(1763-1789) American Revolution"]

Digital Collections

["Governors Papers, Historical"]

Source Collections

["Colonial Governors' Papers Records. State Archives of North Carolina"]

Physical Characteristics

1 letter

Format

["Letters (Correspondence)"]

Hosted By

["State Archives of North Carolina"]

Identifier

CGP_Martin_Josiah_Folder37

Search Results

Showing full text and metadata result(s) in this document for .

Total image hit(s) = 0

Total section hit(s) = 0

No results found

Return to list