George Washington’s 1791 Southern Tour Through North Carolina

In the spring of 1791, the first president of the United States rode into North Carolina, a state that had declined to ratify the Constitution in 1788. He was not there to campaign or to fight. He was there to be seen, to ask questions, and to find out whether the new national government had any real standing in a place where many people still distrusted it.

The trip showed both sides of that relationship. Some North Carolinians welcomed George Washington with dinners and public honors. Others, most visibly the powerful planter Willie Jones of Halifax, reportedly refused to greet him as president. The story of that tour is told best through Washington's own diary and through the markers and local records that still mark the route.

A state that had said no

North Carolina's first convention, meeting at Hillsborough in the summer of 1788, adjourned without ratifying the Constitution. Many delegates wanted a bill of rights and more protection against a strong central government. The state did not join the Union until its second convention, meeting at Fayetteville, voted to ratify on November 21, 1789.

By 1791 the state was part of the country, but its politics were still tense. Anti-Federalist leaders had strong local followings, and many people in the state remembered the fight over ratification. Washington knew this. His tour was partly a way to promote national unity after the bitter ratification debates.

Halifax and the snub

Washington entered North Carolina in April 1791 and made Halifax one of his first stops. The town was the seat of Halifax County and had a notable political history. On April 12, 1776, the Fourth Provincial Congress, meeting at Halifax, adopted the Halifax Resolves, which authorized North Carolina's delegates to the Continental Congress to vote for independence.

Willie Jones was among the most influential men in the state. He had opposed ratification and was a leader of the Anti-Federalists in North Carolina. According to the state's historic sites, Jones reportedly said he would welcome Washington as a soldier and a man but would not greet him as president. A Carolina Journal account says Jones agreed to come to dinner with the president, so accounts of his conduct during the visit differ.

From the coast to the Piedmont

From Halifax, Washington traveled south and east toward the coast, reaching Wilmington. Washington's diary records the places he visited, the dinners he attended, and the accommodations, which he found extremely indifferent. Bad roads also marked the journey.

After Wilmington, Washington continued into South Carolina and Georgia, then re-entered North Carolina near Charlotte and traveled northward. His route brought him to Salisbury, the seat of Rowan County, and to Salem, the Moravian town founded in the 1760s. Salem's Moravian community was known for its craftsmen, and Washington took an interest in its workshops and its waterworks. The Moravians had stayed out of the Revolution on pacifist grounds, so their town offered a different picture of North Carolina from the one he had seen at Halifax.

What the tour meant

Washington's visit did not settle North Carolina's politics. The Anti-Federalist opposition that had shaped the state's ratification fight was still present, as the reception at Halifax showed. But the tour gave the federal government a physical presence in a state that had reason to doubt it.

Accounts of the tour, including Mount Vernon's, describe its aim as building national unity. It showed that the president could travel through the South and be received, even if the receptions were uneven. For a government still building its habits and its reputation, that mattered. Washington's diary is a key record of how he saw the trip, and it records both warm and cool receptions.