NC BITTER-ENDERS continued NC BITTER-ENDERS con't next column Some friends, with varying educational experiences, share thoughts about going Back to School: •Mary Ellen Cox. Public School for me and my kids. Back to school always signaled the end of summer. As a child it was new shoes, and for my kids was always new crayons, notebooks, and all kinds of potential! You could do anything and be anyone! •Crystal Horner. Public School. James, who has special needs, started middle school this year, and for James, school means happiness! School brings different challenges for James, with new kids, new teachers, changes in routine; this year brings a locker and more “special classes” in music, media, and gym, which helps him to grow as a person bringing ultimate growth in the end. Everyday is different, but it challenges him—just as the real world challenges everyone. We are thankful he enjoys school so much! •Jackie Boone. Private School. Hailey going back to school? I cry everyday. Because I’m so happy I finally get some free time! I love my little boogers! She is so cute and sweet and loving and hyper and smart and... Funny like her Mama! :) •Heather Hinson. Homeschool Mom/ Former Teacher. I’m sad to see the summer go. It’s kind of bittersweet seeing your child enter a rising grade because time seems to fly by. Currently, I’m grateful to have the opportunity to stay home and educate my girls. It’s an opportunity to mold young minds, see them achieve tremendous things, and make huge strides. Anything is possible! •Brandi Marion. Private school. I have a love/hate relationship with school days! The love part comes from watching my kids learn new things and make friends—the hate of school days is the schedule! The early bedtimes, the early mornings, the homework! We are a very non-schedule type of family in the summer months. Summertime means my kids can sleep in late and enjoy the beach until sunset. My kids really enjoy school. I think children need some structure, and school is a great way to break up the monotony of the lazy summer days! •Danielle Gibbons. Homeschool Mom. Homeschooling is a responsibility, sometimes— often times (if I’m being honest), a burden, a duty in this season of life, and most importantly, a gift. It is frustrating on the bad days and oh so rewarding on the good days. It’s reading on the swing when the weather is cool; bringing the kids in to cook and make messes; it’s working through a difficult concept or walking away when we need to take a break. It’s asking every homeschool mom I meet what she does and what she’s learned. It's something I said I would NEVER do, but God had other plans. It’s a reminder that He can take what is weak, and through His strength, accomplish the task at hand. It’s a chance to spend fleeting time with my precious children. •Tammy Thomas. Teacher, Private Christian School. Back to school means a fresh start with new eager minds ready to plunge into the excitement of learning. I love decorating my classroom, opening boxes of new reading books, collating (not really) workbook pages, finding the perfect colored folders, & browsing the aisles at the teacher store. First graders love homework, seat work, markers, RECESS, and show & tell! The excitement of Back to School is never boring; the rewards are priceless; I love it! •Bobbi McMillin. Homeschool Mom. Back to school means that the parks are quiet and peaceful; we have the playground to ourselves. �� NC “bitter-enders” won our Bill of Rights ? by Bill Price II In “The Anti-federalists: North Carolina’s Other Founders,” Jeff Broadwater observes, “North Carolina’s Anti-Federalists have been too easily dismissed. One Federalist described them as a ‘blind, stupid set that wish Damnation to their Country.’ They were among the most bitter of the bitter-enders, blocking ratification of the U.S. Constitution at the Hillsborough Convention of July 1788, even after the document had been approved by eleven other states.”(1) So why were the Anti-federalists in North Carolina so opposed to ratification of the US Constitution? It would appear that North Carolina’s opposition to signing the Constitution, centered around the absence of a Bill of Rights in the document. But why? Between 1766 and 1771, people streamed into the back country of the North Carolina colony but many were “dissatisfied by the ill distribution of wealth and power.”(2) A group of colonists, loosely organized as “Regulators,” were particularly disturbed with the taxation and legal inequities of the new Tryon administration as enforced by the Royal Court in Hillsborough, which dissatisfaction, “culminated in one of the largest armed rebellions to occur in pre- Revolutionary America at the Battle of Alamance in May 1771.” William S. Price observed further, “Despite their defeat at Alamance, and execution of seven of their leaders, many regulators saw their concerns over legal rights become part of the constitutional debate that ensued during the Revolution and its aftermath.” In November 1776, officials of Mecklenburg County (a Regulator stronghold) issued instructions to their delegates at the Halifax convention, which was called to write a State constitution. Their fourth instruction read, “That you shall endeavor that the form of Government shall set forth a bill of rights containing the rights of the people and of individuals which shall never be infringed in any future time by law-making power or other derived powers in the State.” (3) At that Convention, a first document a “Declaration of Rights,” was adopted, followed the next day by a new NC Constitution declaring in Section XLIV: That the Declaration of Rights is hereby declared to be part of the Constitution of this State and ought never to be violated on any pretense whatever.” (4) Twelve years later at the July 1788 Hillsborough Convention, Samuel Spencer of Anson County remarked, “We the people of the United States ‘shews that this government is intended for individuals; there ought to be a bill of rights.’ I know it is understood that what is not given up to the United States will be retained by the individual states.” And then observed, “I know it ought to be so, and should be understood, but sir, it is not declared to be so.” (5) s s s e m,g t,d ys y e e d er / er d y.y n m e e e n s,er p s e p enders Carolina’s been easily described themas stupid were among bitter ratifification the Convention July document had approved So ratifification US centered Bill the But into the the North colony dissatisfififified by wealth and of were as culminated in of seven regulators It would seem clear that the good, independent minded folks of North Carolina, after having directly experienced the retribution, the harsh, barbaric acts of Governor Lord Tryon following the Battle of Alamance (6), saw no reason to exchange one despotic ruler (England), for another (potential) despotic ruler, a new United States Government, no matter how well-intentioned. And thence, did the people of North Carolina object to ratification of the US Constitution until a Bill of Rights, assuring the rights of the individual citizens of the new United States of America, was agreed, by the Congress, to be guaranteed. Whereas the geographical location of North Carolina logistically separated the ten northern colonies from South Carolina and Georgia, surely the new US government realized this unity, and connection was strategically critical to the future survival of the Union of the States. Even President Washington, encouraging the good will of the people of the state, characterized “North Carolinians as ... the heros of the Revolution.” (7) Notwithstanding, not until the following year in the Fayetteville Convention of November 1789, being after the US Congress had agreed to include a Bill of Rights as amendments to the US Constitution, and “after George Washington had been President for seven months, did North Carolina finally join the Union.” (8) Perhaps, to have been brutally impressed with the lessons of the Battle of Alamance, and thence insisting on inclusion of a Bill of Rights for the people of our state and the New Nation, the “bitter enders” of North Carolina should be characterized as the Heroes of American Citizen’s Rights. �� Bill Price II, February 2, 2017, Atlantic, NC. 1.http://northcarolinahistory.org/ commentary/the-antifederalists-northcarolinas other-founders/ Jeff Broadwater. 2.“The Bill of Rights and North Carolina,” William S. Price, page 5. 3.“The Bill of Rights and North Carolina,” William S. Price, page 5. 4.“The Bill of Rights and North Carolina,” William S. Price, page 7. 5.“The Bill of Rights and North Carolina,” William S. Price, page 1. 6.“1771 Alamance” - The Spark, Bill Price II. 7.The Bill of Rights and North Carolina,” William S. Price, page 16. 8.http://northcarolinahistory.org/ commentary/the-antifederalists-northcarolinas other-founders/ Jeff Broadwater. Bill Price II, Contact info: Phone: 336-214-2787 Email: billprice2112@gmail.com Mailing: POB 2112 Morehead City, NC 28557. No. 128 The Pinehurst Gazette, Inc. p.37
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