Introduction

This exhibit will look at the dismissal of Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick, from his position as the agricultural chemistry professor at University of North Carolina, due to his open support for the 1856 anti-slavery Republican Presidential nominee, John C. Fremont. Hedrick’s experience will be used as a lens for analyzing the political landscape of the nation and North Carolina prior to the secession crisis. This exhibit will detail the political environment of the United States in the 1840s and 1850s, which will help explain why one man’s support for the Republican nominee turned North Carolina on its head.