A North Carolina History Online Resource. “Primary Source: Backcountry Residents Proclaim Their Loyalty”. Ncpedia.Org, Last modified 2018. Web.
Like every other American colony, North Carolina supported the British during the American Revolution. The settlements in North Carolina were considered significant parts of the frontier, or backcountry, and became formally included in modern Mountain and Piedmont regions. The representatives of the areas expressed their political petitions and statements, which were recorded and incorporated into the political views and sentiments that preserved the colonial government.
Semanchik, Elizabeth. “Albion’s Seed Grows in The Cumberlandgap.” Xroads.Virginia.Edu, Last modified 1997. Web.
In Kentucky’s Cumberland Gap, the Gap served as a transience where the people traveled through the western frontiers. Compared to other ethnic groups, including the scattered West Indians, Welsh Baptists, Swiss Protestants, and the French Huguenots, Virginia’s Augusta was primarily occupied by the Scottish, the Irish, or the English. The occupied area later became the southern highlands seed settlements.
Virginia Humanities. “Backcountry Frontier Of Colonial Virginia – Encyclopedia Virginia”. Encyclopedia Virginia, Last modified 2020. Web.
Between the 1720s and 1730s, the colonial and British authorities encouraged backcountry settlements, particularly by non-English Protestant immigrants. The settlements were critical to the authorities since they acted as a buffer against the French expansion and the Indian attacks. The significant distinction in the settlers’ economic, cultural, social, and political roles contributed to Virginia’s eighteenth-century history about Virginia’s colonial period’s influence on the nation’s state.
Powell, William S. “Scottish Settlers | Ncpedia.”Ncpedia.Org, Last modified 2006. Web.
The migration of the Irish-Scottish settlers into America started in the 1680s but became severe in the 1720s. During the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century, these settlers were the largest group among the pioneers that crossed the Allegheny and Blue Ridge to settle in southwestern North Carolina. They brought significant changes in the region’s economic landscape and gained prominence in North Carolina’s colony.
Digital History. “The Road to Revolution.” Digitalhistory.Uh.Edu, Last modified 2021. Web.
The diversity between the English and the Scottish settlers’ religious and ethnic cultures in New England proved critical in the emerging elements of the American identity. The trends, conditions, and experiences among most colonists began to conceive those of the republican society in America. The accessible nature of the Scottish-Irish settlers in the development of the American government emphasized public virtue, personal independence, and concentrated power suspicion.
Medlin, Eric. “Backcountry Loyalists In North Carolina.”Ncpedia.Org, Last modified 2022. Web.
Many factors in North Carolina contributed to the patriotic cause supporting independence. For example, in New England, the support of the patriot became the cause of the conflict between the loyalists and the patriots resulting in significant battles against state residents. The conflicts were attributed to the tribal affiliations and the enslaver-enslaved relationship, which caused strife between backcountry loyalists and the authorities.
Wise, Larry Anthony, “A sufficient Competence to make them Independent: Attitudes towards Authority, Improvement, and Independence in the Carolina-Virginia Backcountry, 1760-1800. “Ph.D. diss., University of Tennessee, 1997. Web.
One of the critical yet neglected themes associated with the latter part of South Carolina’s eighteenth century was the integration process. The cultural and social ways of the southern people allowed for a significant loss of distinct characteristics. The integration process and ordering fostered more apparent Southern and American values at large by the start of the nineteenth century.
Russell, David. “Life In the Southern Colonies (Part 3 Of 3) – Journal of The American Revolution”. Journal Of the American Revolution, Web.
The economic state of the southern cities in America, Charles Town, Tidewater, and Chesapeake, for example, was allowed by the colonial artisans who were entrepreneurial workers and, most importantly, independently self-employed. The contributions of these workers led to economic growth in states like Georgia, Virginia, and New York. The significance of the business-driven colonies’ societies contributed to the American identity.
Pruitt, Steven C. “Settlement of South Carolina’s Colonial Backcountry: From Conflict to Prosperity,” Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History: 2016. Vol. 1: Iss. 2, Article 2. Web.
The Carolina Colony became the first British foothold in lower North America south. However, the fear of the slave revolt resulting from an increasing black majority led to the initiation of the 1730s coastal government to systematically settle a new backcountry. The allowance of the coastal elites in the staple-based economy led to the intimate intertwining of the northern and southern regions by the turn of the nineteenth century, both culturally and economically.
James, Lauren C., “The American Canaan”: Eighteenth-century Trans-Appalachian migration” (2012). Masters Theses. 242. Web.
The land was a tangible embodiment of what the republicans identified as liberty. Therefore, it became the primary motivation source among the backcountry settlers in the latter part of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. However, other significant circumstances led to the migration of several hundred, even thousands, of people that crossed through the Appalachian Mountains into North Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.