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The struggles of a tenant farmer

In North Carolina in the New South, page 1.6

Copy of a mortgage and accounts of a tenant farmer in late nineteenth-century North Carolina, showing his struggles in paying off his debts. Includes historical background and activity questions.

Format: activity

How much is that cupcake really worth?!

Use this as an introductory lesson to supply & demand for Economic, Legal and Political Systems students.

Format: lesson plan (grade 10 Social Studies)

By Joy Walker.

4-H and Home Demonstration during the Great Depression

During the first few years of the Great Depression, North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service agents focused on emergency relief for adult farmers rather than the 4-H program. By 1933 club enrollment fell to its lowest levels since 1925, and the summer...

Format: article

By Amy Manor.

North Carolina's leaders speak out on emigration

In North Carolina in the New Nation, page 4.3

Excerpts from a speech by Governor William Miller, 1816, and from an 1833 legislative committee report, both bemoaning the lack of economic opportunities for North Carolina's citizens. Includes historical commentary.

Format: speech

"We have unexpectedly become civilized"

In North Carolina in the New Nation, page 10.4

Letter from citizens of Turkey Town in the Cherokee Phoenix and Indians' Advocate, 1829, opposing relocation. The authors pointed out the irony that even after becoming "civilized" as white people had claimed to want, they were nevertheless being pushed off their land. Includes historical commentary.

Format: newspaper

Commentary and sidebar notes by David Walbert and L. Maren Wood.

Small-town businesses, 1903

In North Carolina in the New South, page 2.11

Excerpts from The North Carolina Year Book and Business Directory, 1903, for the towns of Jefferson and Washington. Includes historical commentary.

Format: book

Commentary and sidebar notes by L. Maren Wood.

A slave auction at Wilmington

In North Carolina in the New Nation, page 2.7

Letter from a German traveler describing a slave auction in the 1780s. Includes historical commentary.

Format: book

Commentary and sidebar notes by L. Maren Wood.

Thomas Jefferson on manufacturing and commerce

In North Carolina in the New Nation, page 2.2

Excerpt from Thomas Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia (1781) in which he argues that the United States should remain an agricultural nation. Includes historical commentary.

Format: book

Small arms in the Civil War

In North Carolina in the Civil War and Reconstruction, page 5.2

Article describes the weapons carried by infantry and cavalry soldiers during the U.S. Civil War. Includes video of a Civil War reenactment.

Format: article

Christoph von Graffenried's account of the Tuscarora War

In Colonial North Carolina, page 3.7

Account of the beginnings of the Tuscarora War in North Carolina between settlers and Indians. Primary source includes historical commentary.

Format: book

Commentary and sidebar notes by David Walbert.

Dorothea Dix pleads for a state mental hospital

In North Carolina in the New Nation, page 11.8

In this excerpt from her "memorial" to the North Carolina General Assembly, New England reformer Dorothea Dix lays out her arguments for building a state hospital for the mentally ill. Includes historical commentary.

Format: report

Commentary and sidebar notes by L. Maren Wood.

The Cherokee and the Trail of Tears

In North Carolina in the New Nation, page 10.1

In 1836, years of increasing tension between Cherokees in the southeastern U.S. and white settlers eager to encroach on Cherokee land culminated in the Treaty of New Echota, which called for the forcible removal of Cherokees to the western Indian Territory. Two years later, federal troops and state militias enforced the treaty, sending large groups of Indians west with inadequate supplies. Many died along the way. The forced removal of the Indians from their land has become known as the Trail of Tears.

Format: article

Leonidas Polk and the Farmers' Alliance

In North Carolina in the New South, page 7.3

Speech given by Leonidas L. Polk before the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, 1890. Polk provided data showing the decline in farmers' wealth since the Civil War, argued that this decline was not the farmers' fault, and asked the Senate to enact laws that would help farmers. Includes historical commentary and explanations of some of the economic principles discussed (including supply and demand).

Format: speech

Commentary and sidebar notes by David Walbert.

Resources on the web

North Carolina Rail-Trails

Save the old railroads? Why? Find out all about the preservation of North Carolina's rail system for greenbelts, infrastructure, conservation, tourism, transportation, and recreation. (Learn more)

Format: website/general

Provided by: North Carolina Rail-Trails