The Rip Van Winkle State North Carolina in the Early 1800’s

Who was Rip Van Winkle? "Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by the American author Washington Irving, published in 1819. The story of Rip Van Winkle is set in the years before and after the American Revolutionary War. Rip Van Winkle, a villager of Dutch-American descent, lives in a nice village at the foot of New York's Catskill Mountains. An amiable man whose home and farm suffer from his lazy neglect, he is loved by all but his wife. One autumn day he escapes his nagging wife by wandering up the mountains. After encountering strangely dressed men, rumored to be the ghosts of Henry Hudson's crew, who are playing skittles sport|nine-pins, and after drinking some of their liquor, he settles down under a shady tree and falls asleep. He wakes up twenty years later and returns to his village. Snuffy Smith Cartoon

Economically Socially Politically In the Early 1800’s, North Carolina became known as the Rip Van Winkle State for 3 main reasons. Economically Socially Politically

Economically Coastal Plains = Rich, decent transportation North Carolina fell behind because the state had poor transportation. In the coastal plains, planters grew large cash crops and used the decent roads and the navigable rivers to transport their goods to the markets (usually at the coast)…..there was no problem here! In the piedmont and mountain regions, Farmers and Industry lagged behind because of poor roads and the lack of navigable rivers that prevented them from getting their goods to markets, therefore those regions remained poor. Coastal Plains = Rich, decent transportation Piedmont and Mountains = Poor, bad transportation

Socially There was a big difference between the rich and poor. 1/3 of all white adults in North Carolina were illiterate (in 1820) There were no Public Schools. This was because the North Carolina government collected very little tax money with which to pay for public schools.

Politically Large slaveholding planters in the East (coastal plains) had more representatives in the government. They controlled government decisions. These planters rejected higher taxes for improvements such as public schools or roads and canals for the piedmont. Slaveholding planters in the Coastal Plains controlled the government and did not want taxes raised to make improvements for transportation or public education.