Vigilantism in the United States

One important exception came in North Carolina, where rapid migration to the frontier established a new western region without a strong local government.

The poor farmers bitterly resented the overpaid corrupt local officials appointed by a distant elite, By 1768 the decentralized movement was highly popular in the backcountry.

When the American Revolution broke out four years later, North Carolina's elite supported the Patriot cause, while the Regulator districts were much more likely to be neutral or pro-British.

The boss-controlled Democratic Party machine was dominant, and used Irish Catholic men to manipulate the precinct vote totals.

The Committee of Vigilance formally relinquished power after three months, but its retired leaders ran the new Republican Party and controlled local politics for the next decade.

It urged farmers to boycott the ATC and refuse to sell at the ruinously low prices being offered in a quasi-monopoly market.