The Provincial Congress of North Carolina 1774-1776 Page: 2
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on the executive. Although intended as a check on the other
departments, the Council was in practice a mere tool of the
Governor and it soon lost the confidence of the people. With
the Council's advice, the Governor convened, prorogued and
dissolved the Assembly. The Governor alone exercised the
power of veto, but an act of the popular House, fortunate
enough to receive the approval of the subservient Council
and escape the veto of the Governor, was still subject to
rejection by the Crown. Thus, within this intricate frame-
work, the voice of the people was effectually stifled.^"
If it were possible to credit one individual with the
demise of royal authority in North Carolina, that man would
be Josiah Martin, who, in August, 1771. became the Province*s
last royal governor. As historian William Saunders observed,
Martin was a man "totally ill calculated to conduct an ad-
ministration successfully, even in ordinary times, and the
times were by no means ordinary.M His life as a soldier
had "dwarfed his mind" and instilled in him an exaggerated
concept of duty to his superior officers, a trait he now
transferred to the King, whom he regarded "literally as a
master." Though doubtless a sincere man, he knew nothing of
"duplicity or diplomacy."^ Having little faith in the
^•Joseph Seawell Jones, A Defense of the Revolutionary
History of the State of Nortli Carolina, Prom the Aspersions
oTH&Fr"JeTfersoh (RaleTgKTTO^). pp. "66=577 "Thereafter cited
as A Defense of""Mofrth Carolina [Revolutionary History.)
2William Saunders, editor. The Colonial Records of North
Carolina, 10 vols. (Raleigh, 1865=18^0J, IX, Prefatory notes,
p. i*v. (Hereafter cited as Colonial Records.)
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McCarty, Jerry L. The Provincial Congress of North Carolina 1774-1776, thesis, January 1970; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc131213/m1/7/?q=green+energy: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .