John Harvey; Colonial Leader
lie did more (hail any other man in \orlh
Carolina to bring on tlie Revolution, anil
had he lived, he undoubtedly would have
been the first Governor of the State.
“4"0 the memory of the man who
I was first in war, first in peace
1 and first in the hearts of his
countrymen.” Henry Lee's Eulogy
on Washington.
John Harvey did more than any
other man to bring on the Revolu¬
tion in North Carolina; and had
he not died in 1776, there is no
question but that he, and not Rich¬
ard Caswell would have been the
first Governor of the State after
its organization as an independent
commonwealth.
Harvey is a famous name in
Perquimans County, where the
Colonial family lived on a large
plantation in what is known even
to the present day as "Harvey's
Neck." There were four of the
brothers and all of them were
leaders in the public life of their
у
far the most famous of the
four brothers was John, who was
born in 1725. Little that is au¬
thentic is known of his early life,
but so soon as he entered public
life as a member of the Assembly,
his name began to be indelibly
inscribed upon the pages of our
Colonial history.
He entered the Assembly the
year he attained his
majority, and there¬
after his member¬
ship was continuous
until his death.
When he began his
first term in 1746,
it was just in time
to become involved
in one of the most
bitter quarrels in
the history of the
Colony. The early
charters of the Col¬
ony privided that
the "northern"
counties of Chowan,
Perquimans. Pas¬
quotank, Currituck,
Bertie and Tyrrell,
should have the
privilege of sending
five members each
to the Assembly,
while all the other
counties were al¬
lowed only two
By R. C. LAWRENCE
members. This naturally gave the
so-called "northern" counties a
majority in the membership of the
Assembly and allowed them to
dominate legislation, a fact which
was bitterly resented by the "south¬
ern” counties, of which New Han¬
over and Craven may be taken
as types. The Royal Governor.
Gabriel Johnston, threw himself
into this controversy on the side
of the southern counties. He called
a meeting of the Assembly to be
held at Wilmington, and the north¬
ern counties, sensing his attitude,
refused to attend this meeting,
thinking none could be held in
their absence for lack of a quorum.
But the delegates from the south¬
ern counties attended, and while
no quorum was present, the Gov¬
ernor instructed the Assembly to
proceed with business, and two
bills were duly passed: one fixing
the Colonial capital at Newbern
(a southern town i ; the other limit¬
ing the "northern" counties to two
members each in the Assembly.
The northern counties refused
to heed these acts, but held elec¬
tions for five delegates as usual.
John Harvey was one of the dele¬
gates chosen from Perquimans.
The Governor declared these elec¬
tions void, and the northern coun¬
ties appealed to the King. Eight
long years were to pass before the
Board of Trade finally filed its re¬
port with the King, which was in
favor of the contention of the
northern counties.
Governor Johnston died before
the controversy was settled, and
his successor, Governor Dobbs,
brought with him instructions to
hold a new Assembly, with the
northern counties returning five
members each. This Assembly
met at Newbern in 1752, with
Harvey as a member. By 1756,
Harvey had become the recognized
head of the northern party or fac¬
tion, and in that year his name was
put forward for the Speakership.
He would have been elected but
for the fact that some of the north¬
ern members did not arrive in
time to participate in the election,
thus giving the southern faction
or party a majority for the time
being, which enabled them to elect
Samuel Swann of
Wilmington.
It was during the
administration of
Governor Dobbs
that the first sharp
controversy devel¬
oped over the ques¬
tion of taxation. The
Governor wished
to levy certain taxes
to support the In¬
dian wars, and it
was his contention
that the Crown
could levy taxes at
will. Harvey took
the leadership of the
party which con¬
tended that there
was no one author¬
ized to levy taxes
but the Assembly.
Herein lay the germ
(Cont. on page 19)
»
Ashland, locatel on Harvey's Point, Perquimans County. It was
built before the Revolutionary War and was long the seat of the
distinguished Harvey family.
THE STATE. November 1. 1047
