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How Can You Use Political Cartoons as Primary Sources?

Political cartoons  appear in newspapers across the country everyday, but they cannot be "read" in the same way as editorials and other articles. If you know how to examine them, however, there is much they can tell you about the world in which they were created. This tutorial will provide you with some basic information which should help you as you learn to "read" non-textual sources. Although it focuses specifically on political cartoons, some of the concepts it examines could be applied to other non-textual sources as well. Warning: This tutorial includes a political cartoon from the late nineteenth century that contains racially insenstive images and ideas.

How to Use Legal Documents as Primary Sources

Legal documents, such as statutory laws and court cases, provide historians with a rich primary source base upon which they can draw well documented information for the purposes of reconstructing the past.  But legal decisions do not take place in a vacuum; placing legal documents in their historical context can shed light on the political mood of a particular time and place.  This tutorial walks historians through the processes of reading and interpreting legal documents and extracting from them broader historical context.

In the Face of Reconstruction, North Carolina Newspapers Shaped Public Opinion through Political and Cultural Misconceptions

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This exhibit examines multiple North Carolina newspapers during the first six years of Reconstruction, mainly focused on the three federal Reconstruction Amendments. While North Carolina and other southern states pursued readmission to the Union, racial and economic problems riddled the South. Newspapers actively reported the news that would improve the image of North Carolina.  During Reconstruction, many North Carolinians remained loyal to the Union, but were swayed by the newspapers' misportrayal of federal power, ultimately rendering the reconstruction of the South ineffective.

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James Rumley and the Union Occupation of Eastern North Carolina

During the initial phase of the Civil War and the debates over secession, North Carolina was widely regarded as a moderately unionist state. Many in the region feared secession would ensure the destruction of their cultural and social norms much more so then making concessions with the Union. Many northern political officials would hint that the populace in the region was loyal to the Union, but ideologically oppressed under a radical regime. Initial reports from the occupying forces suggest that there was indeed a sense of Union allegiance, but as Rumley’s diary suggest people were going to do whatever provided the most opportunity. The diary also suggest continuance of southern allegiance, which is quieted by the intimidating mass of Union soldiers. James Rumley was vehement in his Confederate ideology but knew not to step too far out of line. The Union during occupation exerted control over state laws and imposed and enforced Federal political policies. Due to this, the occupying force saw a transition within those “loyal” to the Union, and the people would voice their strong distaste towards the imposing force, Rumley. Furthermore, during a time of great change and turmoil, the same Federal force that sways public opinion in the region is the same force that ensures African American advancement in occupied eastern North Carolina.

Journalistic Coverage of Wilmington Riot

A look at two newspapers the Raleigh News and Observer and the Richmond Planet and their treatment of the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898. This paper examines the bias of each paper regarding to the event.

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Kirk-Holden War: Desperate Diseases Require Desperate Remedies

In 1870 Governor William Woods Holden of North Carolina put the Shoffner Act into effect which gave him the ability to use military power in select counties under states of insurrection.  The governor was given the authority to decide when these counties would be in states of insurrection, which implied that civil authority was not strong enough to keep the peace and had therefore failed.  This paper will discuss how the violence in several counties across North Carolina escalated to the point that called for the Schoffner Act to be put into place and how necessary it was to implement. 

Newspaper Accounts of Desertion, 1862

This activity explores newspaper accounts from the Weekly Raleigh Register and the Raleigh Standard on desertion from the Confederate army in 1862. The first section presents two articles from each newspaper regarding the punishment of deserters in late 1862 and a brief comparison and analysis of the two. The second section presents two additional articles from each newspaper along with a list of questions to consider for comparative analysis.

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North Carolina and Republican Divisions During Reconstruction

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After the Civil War, during Reconstruction, Republicans were divided on what to do with North Carolina, particularly when it came to the issue of suffrage. Some Republicans believed the party should uphold the ideals of the Union and give all African Americans the chance to vote. More conservative Republicans were more interested in measures that would expand the power of the party. They were fearful of alienating poor whites in North Carolina, a group they believed had the potential to vote Republican. The issues of enfranchisement and disfranchisement split the Republican Party between those who believed the party should protect the ideals of the Union, no matter the consequences, and those who believed in treading carefully to expand the power of the party nationally.

North Carolina and The Nat Turner Slave Rebellion: Whites and their Beloved Enemies

A common defense of slavery in the United States prior to the Civil War was a “patriarchal” one. Slave holders argued that slaves were simply part of the family, and that slavery was a system of both love and honor for both the master and the slave. Slave rebellions in the United States created a large divide between the reality of slavery and the logic behind the patriarchal argument. The reaction to Nat Turner’s rebellion in North Carolina demonstrates the contrasting ideology held by a majority of whites across the South. After the Nat Turner rebellion, residents of North Carolina demonstrated that slaves were not beloved members of the family, but instead were seen as enemies that could strike at any minute.

North Carolina Constitutions and Western Unionism

In this exhibit, I will argue that the division within North Carolina did not begin with secession or the Civil War. That the continuous inequalities legalized through the North Carolina state constitutions of 1776 and 1835 were to blame for the rift between the Western and Eastern regions and that that rift continued to grow during the Civil War, resulting in the widespread Union loyalty in the West. I have broken the exhibit into two main sections. The first section will discuss the NC constitutions and their role in creating union loyalty in western NC. The second section will highlight examples of Unionism in Watauga County through examining Southern Claims.