Province of North Carolina

The Province of North Carolina was a British colony in North America that existed from 1712 to 1776 and became one of the thirteen original states. It originated in the Province of Carolina, granted by Charles II in 1663 to eight lords proprietor. Because the northern and southern settlements were separated by distance and poor communications, a deputy governor was appointed for the north in 1691, and the formal partition into North and South Carolina was completed in 1710. The first provincial governor was Edward Hyde. Bath served as the first capital from 1712 to 1722, followed by Edenton, Brunswick and, from 1770, New Bern. The lords proprietor continued to appoint governors until 1729, when the Crown bought out seven of the eight shares and North Carolina became a royal colony. Settlement expanded westward, producing tensions over land, taxes and local government that erupted in the Regulator Movement of the 1760s and early 1770s. The colony sent delegates to the Continental Congress, and the Halifax Resolves of April 1776 endorsed independence before the Declaration of July. A state constitution was adopted in December 1776, ending British rule, and North Carolina entered the union as one of the original thirteen states.