West and southwest of Mecklenburg County live the Cherokee Indians. During the Revolutionary War, many Cherokees helped fight for the British. Catawba Indians closer to Charlotte often fought for the Americans.Sequoyah (Cherokee)
Decades after the end of the Revolutionary War, Britain still tries to control U.S. trade. Indians are attacking settlers in the Northwest Territory, and some Americans believe the British are giving weapons to the Indians. While the Revolutionary War was fought to win freedom from British rule, the War of 1812 will earn the U.S. its economic place in the world.
The Charlotte Female Academy opens. Miss Leavenworth teaches young ladies not only academic, or literal, subjects, but those such as needlework, called ornamental subjects. Tuition is $6 to $11 per term.
With the Revolutionary War now over, citizens work hard for a better life in the growing Charlotte- Mecklenburg communities. Schools are established in Sugaw Creek, Rocky River, Poplar Tent, Steele Creek, Hopewell, Beatties Ford, Providence, Clear Creek and Charlottetown communities.Old-Field Schools
March 1, 1837 - Davidson College models its curriculum after Princeton University. When the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill closes due to lack of funds in the years after the Civil War, Davidson will remain open. In 1874, Woodrow Wilson will attend the school for his freshman year, and will go on to become the nation's 28th president.
August 21, 1831 - Near North Carolina's border with Virginia, plantation slave Nat Turner leads an armed revolt of his fellow slaves. In this uprising, 50 whites and an untold number of blacks die at each other's hands. Turner and others are captured and put to death. North Carolina will now pass laws to exert more control over slaves. Under the new laws, a slave cannot defend himself, even if his master tries to kill him.
There are 678 slave-holders in North Carolina, owning 2,713 slaves. Most owners have fewer than five. On the coastal rice and cotton plantations, affluent landowners need many household and farm-hands. But it is different in the hilly piedmont of Mecklenburg County, where most settlers work their own farmland.Tobacco Harvest
Doctors and lawyers, printers and teachers, miners and tradesmen all make their homes in Charlotte. In the surrounding Mecklenburg county, flour and grain are milled and gold is mined. Taverns welcome travelers, and a weekly newspaper keeps citizens informed. There are now more than 11,000 white and 6,800 black residents of the county.