Throughout the 1800s, the Coharie Indians built their community in Sampson County. The Coharie Indians held the right under state law to own and use firearms, and vote in local elections. But, the 1830s brought events that reduced their civil rights. The federal Indian removal policy of the 1830s forced tribes from the east to move west of the Mississippi River. More significantly, following Nat Turner's slave rebellion of 1831, the state passed legislation on 1835 reducing the rights of non White people. They lost their right to vote and bear arms. The Convention of 1868 removed the ban.