The

North Carolina General Assembly The North Carolina General Assembly is the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Government of North Carolina, State government of North Carolina. The legislature consists of two chambers: the North Carolina Senate, Senate and the North Ca ...

of 1785 met in

New Bern New Bern, formerly called Newbern, is a city in Craven County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 29,524, which had risen to an estimated 29,994 as of 2019. It is the county seat of Craven County and t ...

from November 18, 1785, to December 29, 1785. The assembly consisted of the 114 members of the

North Carolina House of Commons The North Carolina House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House is a 120-member body led by a Speaker of the House, who holds powers similar to those of the President pro-tem in the North Ca ...

and 54 senators of

North Carolina Senate The North Carolina Senate is the upper chamber of the North Carolina General Assembly, which along with the North Carolina House of Representatives—the lower chamber—comprises the state legislature of North Carolina. The term of office for e ...

elected by the voters on August 19, 1785. During the 1785 session, the legislature created Rockingham County. As prescribed by the 1776

Constitution of North Carolina The Constitution of the State of North Carolina governs the structure and function of the state government of North Carolina, one of the United States; it is the highest legal document for the state and subjugates North Carolina law. All U.S. st ...

the General Assembly elected

Richard Caswell Richard Caswell (August 3, 1729November 10, 1789) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the first and fifth governor of the state of North Carolina from 1776 to 1780 and from 1785 to 1787. He also served as a senior officer of mil ...

to continue as

Governor of North Carolina The governor of North Carolina is the head of government of the U.S. state of North Carolina. The governor directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander in chief of the military forces of the state. The current governor, ...

and members of the Council of State.

Councilors of State

As prescribed by the 1776

, the General Assembly elected

as governor on December 9, 1785, and the following members of the

North Carolina Council of State The North Carolina Council of State is the collective body of ten elective executive offices in the state government of North Carolina, all of which are established by the state constitution. The Council of State includes the Governor, Lieut ...

: * Joseph Leech, Craven County, President, elected on December 10, 1785, * James Gillespie, Duplin County, elected on December 10, 1785 * Winston Caswell, Dobbs County, ClerkWinston Caswell was the son of

. * John Hawks, Craven County, elected on December 10, 1785 *

William McClure William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, Craven County, elected on December 10, 1785 * John Spicer, Onslow County, elected on December 10, 1785 * Green Hill, Franklin County, elected on December 12, 1785 * Miles King, Richmond County, elected on December 28, 1785

James Glasgow James Glasgow (c. 1735 – November 17, 1819) served as the first North Carolina Secretary of State, from 1777 to 1798. Biography Early life James Glasgow, the son of a Scottish minister, Reverend James Patrick Glasgow and his wife, Marth ...

continued as

North Carolina Secretary of State The North Carolina Secretary of State is an elected constitutional officer in the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of North Carolina, and is fourth in the line of succession to the office of Governor of North Carolina. The se ...

Assembly membership

House of Commons members

There were 114 positions authorized for the House of Commons in this assembly, including one representative from each of six districts and 54 counties. Only 105 delegates are known to have attended this House of Commons assembly. Fayette County, which was formed in July 1784 from the eastern part of Cumberland County, reverted to Cumberland County three months later, so does not appear in this assembly. Greene, Sullivan and Washington Counties had formed the

State of Franklin The State of Franklin (also the Free Republic of Franklin or the State of Frankland)Landrum, refers to the proposed state as "the proposed republic of Franklin; while Wheeler has it as ''Frankland''." In ''That's Not in My American History Boo ...

in an attempt to create a new state. They did not send representatives to this assembly.Arthur, John Preston (1914); "History of Western North Carolina – Chapter VI – The State of Franklin"; John Preston Arthur; 1914; (HTML by Jeffrey C. Weaver); October 1998. Retrieved fro
New River
Anson, Bladen, and Gates County only sent one elected official to the House of Commons. The House of Commons delegates elected a Speaker (Richard Dobbs Spaight), Clerk (John Hunt), Assistant Clerk (John Haywood), Doorkeeper (Peter Gooding), and Assistant Doorkeeper (James Malloy). The following delegates to the House of Commons were elected by the voters of North Carolina to represent each county and district:

Senate members

The Senators elected a President (Alexander Martin), Clerk (John Haywood), Assistant Clerk (Sherwood Haywood), Doorkeeper (William Murphy), and Assistant Doorkeeper (Nicholas Murphy). The following Senators were elected by the voters of North Carolina to represent each county:

Legislation

The assembly passed the acts concerning: * establishing a post-war militia * jurisdictions of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions,

North Carolina justice of the peace The justice of the peace was a court official that existed at the county or district level in from the colonial period of the Province of North Carolina until 1968 in the U.S. State of North Carolina. Originally, the Justices of the Peace had autho ...

and other courts * regulation of commerce and imports * collection of public debt * emitting paper currency * regulating the towns of Wilmington, Edenton, and Fayetteville; regulating and restraining the conduct of

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

and others in these towns * securing and quieting forfeited estates * raising revenues and suppressing excessive gambling * levying taxes and redemption of Continental money * opening land offices * dealing with traitors and loyalists * registration of marriage contracts * liquidating accounts of officers and soldiers of the

continental line The Continental Line ( sv, Kontinentalbanan) is a long railway between Malmö and Trelleborg in Sweden. At Trelleborg the railway terminates at a railway ferry quay allowing rail cars to be ferried to Sassnitz in Germany. A part of the railway i ...

and reviving district board of auditors for a limited time * relief of disabled veterans of the late war * recovering artillery belonging to the state that was thrown into the river at Edenton * settling accounts between the United States and the state of North Carolina * making provision for the poor, including building houses for them * regulation of the town of Tarborough * resolving disputes regarding building mills in certain counties * relief of children and widows of soldiers that died in the service of the United States * creating Rockingham County from Guilford County and selecting board of trustees for Salisbury Academy in Salisbury District * annexing part of Pitt County to Beaufort County * preventing blocking or obstructing of ways leading to houses of public worship * empowering County Courts of Pleas and Quarter Session to deal with public roads, ferries and bridges * securing literary property * duties and salaries of public printer * destruction of wolves, wildcats, panthers, bears, crows, and squirrels in several counties * promoting learning in Davidson County at Davidson Academy * establishing Grove Academy in Duplin County * conveying common land to Smith Academy in Edenton * establishing Kinston Academy in Dobbs County * repairing jails and court houses, establishing a gaol in Edenton District * changing the location of the county court in Beaufort County from Bath to Washington * acts dealing with personal estates * pardoning the citizens of Washington, Sullivan and Green counties if they return to allegiance to North Carolina * establishing a Superior Court in Davidson County * temporarily preventing distillation of spirituous liquors in Davidson County * appointing tobacco inspectors in some counties * establishing towns: on the land of Whitmell Hill in Martin County on the Roanoke River; on the lands of Luke Mizell and William MacKay in Martin County; on the land of Mial Scurlock in Chatham, County; on the land of Jessee Peacock in Sampson County; in Lincoln County; at Guilford Courthouse named Martinville; in the fork of the Cumberland and Red River on the east side of the Red River in Davidson County; Morgan in Morgan District For additional details on minutes of the assembly and laws, se
Legislative Documents

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:North Carolina General Assembly of 1785 1785

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

1785 1785