Charlotte Mecklenburg Library

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Nation: America 1782-1819

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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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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