The North Carolina Colonial Bar PDF Download

The overriding purpose of this investigation is to trace the origins of a professional bar in North Carolina and to identify what role this critical new element played in the rapidly changing colonial society. A broad-based, collective biography of North Carolina lawyers from 1746-1776 was undertaken with specific questions in mind. How did settlement patterns relate to the emergence of the bar? What effect did trade and the court system have on the bar? What were the popular perceptions of lawyers? How did attorneys view their own social circle and ordinary North Carolinians? What influence, if any, did ethnicity or religion have on how lawyers were viewed? What offices and business interests did lawyers pursue? What role did attorneys have in provincial politics? How did the bar respond to the approaching Revolution? In fine, what were the ties that bound lawyers to North Carolina society? From roughly 1746 to 1776, a steady influx of settlers, an expanding and complex trade, and a crystallized court structure provided professional lawyers with the clientele and vehicle for practicing their craft in heretofore backward North Carolina. Newcomers and a small number of native sons grasped the opportunity to join the ranks of the Carolina gentry, where the lawyers' training, bearing, initiative, and success overcame most lingering anti-professional bias. Guided by the same world view, attorneys reached the pinnacle of this tight-knit, gradually constricting social pyramid. The evidence suggests that self-interest, frequently deduced from fear or ignorance, and past experience with the courts were the principle factors in determining the individual’s relationship with the bar. Attorneys equated with dissension, with abusing clients, with obstructing justice, or with consuming greed, were anathema to North Carolinians, particularly to the vulnerable settlers in the backcountry. Conversely, lawyers perceived as promoters of order, as intelligent, articulate spokesmen, or as just, victorious counsels, were welcomed by the community. By 1776 attorneys were indivisible from the economic and political leadership of North Carolina. From this vantage of power, lawyers exercised a considerable influence over the course of the Revolution in Carolina.