Charlotte Mecklenburg Library

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Nation: America 1782-1819

1795 - Birth of a President

November 2, 1795 - James Knox Polk is born in Mecklenburg County. He is a descendant of Scottish religious reformer John Knox . As the 11th President of the United States, the country grows in size by half a million square miles with the inclusion of Texas, New Mexico and California.

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1799 - Discovery of Gold

Twelve-year-old Conrad Reed finds a large, glittery rock in a stream 25 miles northeast of Charlotte. His father, John, asks a silversmith to identify the 17-pound stone, but no one knows what it is. The Reed family uses the pretty rock for a doorstop. It will be more than two years before anyone realizes what it contains: gold!

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1800 - City of Churches

From now through the 1840s, Mecklenburg's churches will grow and become firmly established. Not only Presbyterians, but Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, Lutherans and Catholics will form congregations.

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1803 - Gold Fever

French and Spanish explorers who find gold or other riches must give their bounty to the rulers of their home countries. But when Americans find valuables, what they find belongs to the property's owner, not the government. Not far from where Conrad Reed discovered a 17-pound gold nugget four years earlier, other large rocks containing gold are found. They weigh from eight pounds up to 16 -- but the biggest is 28 pounds. Other North Carolinians will become wealthy when they discover gold, and much of the precious metal will come from Mecklenburg County.

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1814 - Mecklenburg County Soldiers

While none of the War of 1812's battles have been fought near their home, Mecklenburg County sends five companies of men to help Andrew Jackson fight the Creek Indians in Alabama. When the men, commanded by Col. Joseph Graham, arrive, they discovered Jackson has already defeated the Creeks.

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1819 - Life in the Backcountry

A new invention called an iron cook stove promises to modernize the American kitchen. But most Mecklenburgers will still use fireplaces to heat their homes and cook, since wood is cheap and plentiful. Kitchen chores are strenuous. There are heavy pots to lift and hang over the fire. Food for winter must be salted, pickled or dried to prevent spoilage. Visitors may bring delicacies such as oranges, chocolates, or spices from Charleston, South Carolina, where goods arrive by ships from foreign countries. But such expensive luxuries are uncommon in Charlotte.

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1800 - A Growing County

The population of Mecklenburg County reaches 19,400. There are more than twice as many people living here now as there were just 14 years ago, even with the loss of the Cabarrus County acreage and population in 1792.

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1790 - Backcountry Hardships

Even after the hardships of the war years, peacetime life is not easy. Food spoils quickly. The only refrigeration comes from springhouses, small buildings cooled by underground springs of water. Doctors know little about the causes of illness. The treatment for fevers, coughs or other ailments is bloodletting: A doctor will drain up to a pint of blood from a person who is ill. It will be many years before physicians will discover that bloodletting does no good and often harms a patient.

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1814 - Star-Spangled Banner

Poet Francis Scott Key watches as British bombs rain down on Baltimore's Fort McHenry. All night long the attack continues, but by dawn's early light, something incredible happens. As the smoke clears, Key can see that the American flag is still flying above the undefeated fort. He scribbles down a poem that will be set to music. The song will become The Star Spangled Banner, the national anthem.

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1804 - Paper Money

The Revolutionary War has been over more than 20 years. But many Americans still buy and sell goods with the British money that was in use before the war. Now, coastal North Carolina banks in New Bern and Cape Fear issue American paper money, or notes, printed on silk paper. Many people don't trust the new money.

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