Whig+Party

Public Education
The Whig's created the state's first public school system in 1839. Each county held an election to decide if it wanted to tax itself to make/build common schools that white girls and boys could attend free. Rockingham County opened the first common school in 1840. At the University of Chapel Hill, Governor David Swain became its president and helped the colleges enrollment triple. He also broadened the curriculum by including the study of law and agricultural chemistry. The universities best-known professor was mathematician Elisha Mitchell, who founded Mt. Mitchell.

Railroads
The terrain of North Carolina was too rough for canals to be built and draining Lake Mattamuskeet and other swampy areas had increasing farmland had no benefit. In the 1830's, however, engineers successfully connected a steam engine to the gears and wheels of a locomotive, an apparatus that could propel itself on a rail. This was the invention of the railroad. It could be built where canals could'nt and was easy to obtain. Railroads were useful, but were also very expensive. The Whig Party used state funds to build more railroads though. The route was to be made from Wilmington to Weldon so it connected with the Virginia line.

