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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1802 - The Value of Gold

John Reed asks a Fayetteville jeweler to examine the unusual rock that the Reed family has used as a doorstop for two years. The jeweler extracts enough gold from the stone to form a bar nearly eight inches long. Reed accepts $3.50 for the gold. He goes home, not realizing the gold is worth over $3,000.Miners

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1789 - NC Holds Out

March 4, 1789 - Lawmakers gather together for the first meeting of the United States Congress, as provided by the U.S. Constitution. These representatives will discuss the changes that the states have suggested. Still, North Carolina refuses to accept or ratify the Constitution, believing the document gives too much power to a central government.

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1819 - Rosedale Plantation

William Davidson, soon to be elected state senator, moves into an elegant home north of Charlotte, near Sugaw Creek Presbyterian Church. With its formal gardens and ballroom, the home built by Archibald Frew has been called Frew's Folly. The pre-Civil War era plantation house will be preserved in years to come, and will be called Rosedale.

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1790 - Rural Hill

Major John Davidson builds a brick mansion house called Rural Hill in northern Mecklenburg County. He owns 26 slaves. Most of Mecklenburg's farmers have none. Only the owners of large estates, called plantations, can afford to buy, transport, feed and shelter slaves.

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1803 - Louisiana Purchase

All of the land from the mouth of the Mississippi River in Louisiana, north to Canada and west to the Rocky Mountains -- 828,000 acres -- becomes part of the U.S. The Louisiana Purchase will be the largest expansion to the country's boundaries at a cost of $15 million, or about 3¢ per acre.

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1791 - Washington's Visit

May 28, 1791 - George Washington, who has promised to visit all of the states, arrives in Charlotte. People have lined up for hours to catch a glimpse of our nation's first president. Washington dines with Thomas Polk, and calls on prominent citizens. While staying at Cook's Inn, he leaves behind a powder box, which contains the white powder used to adorn the wigs worn by both men and women. But he is most remembered for describing Charlotte as a trifling place.

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1819 - Economic Depression

North Carolina is in financial trouble. Many people do not like the paper money, called bank notes. Citizens demand that banks give them instead the gold or silver that the money represents. But there is not enough of the gold and silver to give everyone. Instead of spending their money, people hoard it. North Carolina slumps into an economic downturn, called a depression.

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1792 - Cabarrus County

December 29, 1792 -  Cabarrus County is formed, created from the north-western section of Mecklenburg. No one yet suspects that in just a few years, the new county will draw everyone's attention when an important discovery is made there. The land in Cabarrus County contains gold.

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