page_title: Hillsborough Convention
section_title: Delegates
hierarchical_section_title: Hillsborough Convention / Delegates
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of American General William Lenoir (1751&#8211;1839).
context_page_description: The Hillsborough Convention, was the first of two North Carolina conventions to ratify the United States Constitution. Delegates represented 7 boroughs and 59 counties, including six western counties that became part of Tennessee when it was created in 1796. They met in Hillsborough, North Carolina from July 21 to August 4, 1788 to deliberate and determine whether to ratify the Constitution recommended to the states by the General Convention that had been held in Philadelphia the previous summer. The delegates had won their seats through special elections held in March 1788, as mandated by the North Carolina General Assembly. Governor Samuel Johnston presided over the Convention. The Hillsborough Convention was dominated by anti-Federalists, and North Carolina did not ratify the Constitution until the Fayetteville Convention, which met a year later.
context_section_description: There were 294 known delegates from the 59 counties and seven boroughs of North Carolina.   Some counties (Greene, Sullivan, Sumner, Tennessee, Washington) later became part of the state of Tennessee in 1796. The election of delegates from Dobbs County was declared invalid because of violence that led to the loss of the ballot box.
  Governor Samuel Johnston was the President of the Convention.  While his home was in Chowan County, he represented Perquimans County in the Convention.  John Hunt was the secretary and James Taylor was the assistant secretary of the Convention.  The doorkeepers of the convention were William Murfree, Peter Gooding, Nicholas Murfree, and James Mulloy.
caption: William Lenoir, Wilkes delegate
exif: {}