Richard Dobbs Spaight

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 10 dated events in the chronology →

1. April 18–May 17, 1783 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. People: Alexander Martin, Abner Nash, Hugh Williamson, Richard Dobbs Spaight, Richard Caswell, Benjamin HawkinsColonial and State Records of North Carolina: Minutes of the North Carolina Senate, Apr 18 to May 17, 1783 (vol. 19, pp. 129–232)
2. April 19–June 3, 1784 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. People: Alexander Martin, Hugh Williamson, Thomas Benbury, Richard Dobbs SpaightColonial and State Records of North Carolina: Acts of the North Carolina General Assembly, 1784 (Apr 19 to Jun 03, 1784; vol. 24, pp. 543–649)
3. July 21–August 4, 1788 Hillsborough Convention declines to ratify the Constitution Meeting at St. Matthew's Church in Hillsborough, delegates defeated a motion to ratify the Constitution 184 to 84 on August 1, 1788. On August 2 they voted to neither ratify nor reject it until a declaration of rights and amendments went before Congress. People: Samuel Johnston, Richard Dobbs Spaight, Willie Jones, James IredellColonial and State Records of North Carolina, vol. 22, pp. 1-35: Minutes of the North Carolina Constitutional Convention at Hillsborough
4. July 21, 1788 The convention names a select committee to draft its rules of debate On its first day the convention asked William R. Davie, Thomas Person, James Iredell, Elisha Battle, Richard Dobbs Spaight, Samuel Spencer and a member named McDonald to propose rules for its discussion of the Constitution. People: Thomas Person, James Iredell, Richard Dobbs Spaight, William Richardson Davie, Samuel SpencerDocumenting the American South: Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of North-Carolina, Hillsborough, 1788, p. 19
5. July 22, 1788 William Lenoir brings a petition against the Dobbs County election before the convention On Lenoir's motion the convention read the Dobbs County return and a petition from county residents complaining of an illegal election, and sent both to the committee of elections. Richard Dobbs Spaight added the sheriff's deposition and copy of the poll with other depositions, and Stephen Cabarrus two more depositions. People: Richard Dobbs Spaight, William LenoirDocumenting the American South: Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of North-Carolina, Hillsborough, 1788, p. 21
6. July 26, 1788 James Galloway speaks on the slave trade clause at the Hillsborough convention In committee of the whole, Galloway said he wished to see the "abominable trade" in enslaved people ended, objected to a federal tax on all immigrants, and warned that freeing enslaved people would destroy the property of the southern states. He said the state could not be happy if freed people stayed among the white population after manumission. People: James Iredell, Richard Dobbs SpaightSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of North-Carolina, Hillsborough, 1788, p. 124
7. December 1791 The Assembly lends the university trustees 5,000 pounds for its buildings Trustees meeting at New Bern named a committee to seek the loan, and Davie argued for it before the Commons. It passed 57 to 53 in the Commons and 28 to 21 in the Senate. People: Samuel Ashe, John Sitgreaves, Richard Dobbs Spaight, William Richardson Davie, John WilliamsLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 73
8. August 4, 1792 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. People: Alexander Martin, Hugh Williamson, Richard Dobbs SpaightDocumenting the American South: Site Selection for the University of North Carolina
9. January 15, 1795 UNC opens to students The University formally opened at Chapel Hill on a cold, rainy January 15, 1795, with Governor Richard Dobbs Spaight and trustees present, but no students had yet arrived. Hinton James came on February 12, and by March two professors taught 41 students; UNC was the only public university to graduate students in the eighteenth century. People: Hinton James, David Ker, Richard Dobbs SpaightUNC Libraries, NC Miscellany: January 1795: The University of North Carolina (Nicholas Graham, January 1, 2004)
10. July 13, 1795 UNC holds its first public examination, announced by Governor Spaight The University's first public examination took place at Chapel Hill on July 13, 1795, after notice appeared in the newspapers over the signature of Governor Richard Dobbs Spaight. The governor's wife, Mary Spaight, was the only woman present, and about a dozen men attended, including William R. Davie, James Hogg, Alfred Moore and James Glasgow. People: James Hogg, William Richardson Davie, Alfred MooreSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, Vol. 1 (1907)