The first white explorer of the region was John Lederer and his Native American guide in 1670.

[4] Originally part of colony of Virginia, King Charles of England redrew the colony lines in 1665, so what is now Vance County became part of the Province of Carolina and then the Province of North Carolina in 1725.

The county is named after Zebulon Baird Vance, a Governor of North Carolina (1862–65 & 1877–79) and United States Senator (1879–94).

But by taking from Granville, Franklin and Warren, those sections that were heavily Republican and out of these sections forming the new county of Vance, the Democratic party could lose Vance to the Republicans and save Granville and Franklin for the Democrats.

He took kindly to this move and thanked the [North Carolina] Legislature for honoring him with naming the new county after him.

[9] In 1894 a biracial coalition of Populists and Republicans elected African American George Henry White to the US Congress and gained control of the state house.

"[10] He left the state after his second term expired, setting up a business in Washington, DC.

[10] The Democrats in the North Carolina legislature settled the political competition with the Republicans by following other southern states and passing a law in 1896 making voting more difficult, and a new constitution in 1899 that disfranchised most blacks by poll taxes, literacy tests and grandfather clauses.

Contemporary accounts estimated that 75,000 black male citizens of the state lost the vote.

[13] This situation held until past the mid-20th century and after passage of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Combined with other economic changes, this resulted in the county losing what had been its large African-American majority by the late 20th century.