Chronology

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1. Revolution and early republic · 1775–1799

2. April 15–May 18, 1782
   Appointment, election or service · Hillsborough General Assembly at Hillsborough elects Alexander Martin governor and grants western land to Continental soldiers

   The Assembly met at Hillsborough, heard Governor Thomas Burke's message about his capture, and elected Alexander Martin governor on April 22. Its laws granted land in a western military reservation to officers and soldiers of the Continental line and directed the sale of confiscated Loyalist estates.

3. May 3, 1782
   Appointment, election or service · Hillsborough Assembly at Hillsborough elects Abner Nash and Hugh Williamson delegates to Congress

   On May 3, 1782, a joint ballot of the General Assembly at Hillsborough elected Abner Nash, Hugh Williamson, Benjamin Hawkins and William Blount as the state's delegates to Congress for the year. Nash had been returned to the House for Jones County, and Williamson sat for the town of Edenton.

4. April 18–May 17, 1783
   Law, policy or court · Hillsborough General Assembly at Hillsborough opens the western land office and passes an act of pardon

   Meeting at Hillsborough, the Assembly re-elected Alexander Martin governor and chose Hugh Williamson, Benjamin Hawkins, Abner Nash and Richard Dobbs Spaight as delegates to Congress. Its laws opened a land office for western lands to redeem specie certificates and pay army arrears, and an Act of Pardon and Oblivion covered wartime offenses, with exceptions.

5. April 19–June 3, 1784
   Law, policy or court · Hillsborough General Assembly at Hillsborough cedes the state's western lands to Congress

   The spring 1784 Assembly at Hillsborough passed an act ceding to Congress the state's claim to lands west of the Appalachian Mountains and an act giving Congress power to levy import duties. The House of Commons chose Thomas Benbury as speaker and elected Hugh Williamson and Richard Dobbs Spaight as delegates to Congress.

6. July 1791
   Hillsborough University trustees ask Benjamin Hawkins to gather information on American colleges

   At their July 1791 meeting the university trustees named Senator Benjamin Hawkins, Samuel McCorkle and Hugh Williamson to gather information on the laws, rules and buildings of American colleges, with their income and spending, and to estimate what the university's own buildings would cost.

7. August 4, 1792
   Law, policy or court · Chapel Hill Meeting in Hillsborough, UNC's trustees adopt the ordinance placing the university within fifteen miles of Cyprett's Bridge

   Twenty-five of the university's forty trustees gathered at Hillsborough on August 2, 1792. They balloted for Cyprett's Bridge as the center point on August 3 and on August 4 adopted the ordinance fixing a fifteen-mile radius and naming the site commissioners. In early November a commission chaired by Frederick Hargett toured the area and recommended New Hope Chapel Hill in southern Orange County.

8. December 1792
   Law, policy or court · Chapel Hill A trustee committee under Samuel McCorkle reports the university's first plan of studies

   Named at New Bern on December 4, 1792, the committee proposed teaching languages with English first, history, mathematics, natural philosophy, botany, agriculture and architecture, and buying scientific apparatus. A newspaper notice of December 12 inviting teachers for this course drew no applicants.

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Compiled and maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library from county records, the sources named on each card, and the index’s event pages. Last updated October 3, 2026.