1835+Constitution

The Constitutional Convention of 1835
When NC voted on whether to have a constitutional convention in order to fix some problems with the state, it was literally split in half by the responses. Basically, the east did not want the convention and the west did. In the end, the convention was held. One of the most important problems was that representation was not really fair in NC. Before, representation was based on the number of counties and, therefore, the east had greater representation. The west did not have as many counties, but had more people. The decision was that there would still be at least 1 representative per county in the house, but counties with higher populations would have more. This was good for the more densly populated west. Also, it was decided that the more wealthy a county was, the more senators it got. This was good for the east, because they had more expensive land. Now the power was finally balanced throughout the state. Another decision was that the governer would be elected directly from the voters instead of the legislature choosing him. It was also decided in the 1835 amendments that no free black men or Native Americans could vote. There were changes to political leadership, too. Before, only Protestant Christians could run for office. Now Catholics could as well. Both atheists and Jews were still not allowed to hold office. All of these amendments were approved (most votes coming from the west), giving NC a new kind of government.



Kit Carson
Kit Carson was one of the greatest and most famous explorers of the US. It is said that he was born on Christmas Eve, 1809 in NC, while the Carson family was visiting relatives. Although Kit (Christopher ) Carson was technically born in NC, his parents were living in Kentucky at the time. Kit did not have a great childhood, being orphaned and made to work as a saddle maker. He worked on the Santa Fe Trail after he ran away from his former life as an orphan. Kit became great at hunting and trapping and was put into the same category as Daniel Boone and Davie Crockett. He was a man of his word, with a gentle nature. Carson had three marriages, but the first two ended with the tragic death of each of his wives. His third wife was a hispanic woman who he married after serving in the Mexican War. The two lived in a town called Taos in the New Mexico Territory. Kit was usually a good friend to the Native Americans but he ended his carrer with a horrible act against the Navaho. He forced them to move from their homeland to a reservation. He died on May 23, 1868.