Governor Morehead shaped modern North Carolina

A few weeks ago in this space, my friend Henry Isaacson and I wrote about how big ideas have attractive merit. It was in the context of how one of my predecessors, Gov. John Motley Morehead, helped shape modern North Carolina with big ideas that continue to this day.

We mentioned a towering achievement — the creation of the North Carolina Railroad — yet barely gave mention to Morehead’s many other achievements that put our state on the map. Our objective was to describe the power of big ideas as a foundation for our advocacy of the Governor Morehead Forum for Economic Development.

One reason my job as governor was easier was because I could stand on the shoulders of Morehead and his legacy in transportation, education, manufacturing, and architecture and preservation. Regretfully, many people just don’t know about this dynamic leader, even though all over the state there are streets, structures, institutions and schools bearing his name.

Morehead was an energetic visionary, intellectual and persuasive 19th-century lawyer, statesman, legislator, farmer, pioneer manufacturer and business administrator with a talent for leadership. For all he did, he rightfully earned the lasting distinction as the “Father of Modern North Carolina.”

How fitting that he was born on the Fourth of July, just 20 years after we declared our independence from England. After graduating from the University of North Carolina in 1817, Morehead began to study law, later practicing in Rockingham and Guilford counties. In 1821, he married Ann Eliza Lindsay, and they had eight children.

Morehead was elected a member of the North Carolina’s House of Representatives on at least three occasions and, after serving as our governor from 1841 to 1845, was elected once to the state Senate.

In 1861, he sought to keep North Carolina out of the Civil War, as a delegate to a Washington peace conference. With the failure of the conference and the secession of North Carolina, Morehead reluctantly served in the Confederate Congress.

As governor, he was the first to campaign across the state, while advocating for a unified statewide transportation system. His vision included a network of roads with a central highway from the Atlantic Ocean to the North Carolina mountains. He worked to deepen and widen rivers and develop inland waterways and coastal ports, all tied to an expanded rail system.

Morehead’s most enduring and significant contribution to the economic development of North Carolina was to charter, fund and construct the North Carolina Railroad. He engineered an amazing public-private partnership that established the 317-mile rail corridor from Charlotte through the Piedmont, passing directly through Greensboro within sight of his beloved home, Blandwood, eventually reaching the port city named in his honor.

If you haven’t been to Blandwood, you need to experience this magnificent house and learn about its history and impact on our state.

At Blandwood, Morehead entertained leaders and personalities of the day. In the west parlor, the political surrender of the state in the Civil War by then-Gov. Zebulon Vance took place. While our state’s military surrender occurred just outside of Durham at Bennett Place, it was Morehead who essentially brokered North Carolina’s political surrender, hosting both sides at his home.

The railroad brought wealth to the state and region, becoming the basis for a mighty infrastructure of rails and roads, positioning Greensboro and the Piedmont to become a transportation and logistics hub of the 21st century.

Morehead advocated for a system of free public schools, and during his tenure as governor the state established its first public school system.

For 38 years, he served as a trustee of UNC, and was also a founder and the first president of the UNC Alumni Association.

Additional accomplishments include:

l The founding of the Edgeworth Female Seminary, a privately owned school for women in Greensboro.

l The establishment of the first cotton mill in Rockingham County.

l The establishment of the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh.

l The introduction and advocacy of legislation to improve the living conditions of slaves and also of a bill granting emancipation to slaves under certain conditions prior to the Civil War.

Morehead was a multi-dimensional leader, and he left a wonderful legacy for our state.

James G. Martin, North Carolina’s governor from 1985 to 1993, is the honorary chairman of the Governor Morehead Forum for Economic Development.

 http://www.news-record.com/opinion/columns/article_e20c352c-a0ca-11e3-9f2b-0017a43b2370.html