(Resist) The War of Regulation was an uprising fought with the intention of resisting the taxes and corruption present in the colonial government.

The War on Regulation was an uprising in North Carolina that lasted from 1766 to 1771. The uprising was a movement before the start of the American Revolution, the uprising was in response to corruption in their local government, excessive taxes, and illegal fees. The movement laid the foundation for anti-British unity in America during the revolution.
The Piedmont region was considered by some farmers to be promising for economic gain, however the treatment of small farmers in the area could often be described as unfair. The price of land in the area was inflated, along with local officials being corrupt and often exploiting small farmers. The taxes were also unfairly being levied on poorer colonists to benefit the higher income colonists in the area.
The first significant event in the resistance occurred in 1766 in Orange County, North Carolina, with the formation of the Sandy Creek association. The Sandy Creek association presented a petition to the court of Hillsborough to address extortion and corruption Despite the petition having little effect, it was the start of political activism in Piedmont.
In 1768, a new movement formed to finish what the Sandy Creek Association had started. This new group called themselves the Regulators. The Regulators,organized by Herman Husband, formed to directly address corruption and extortion in the colonial government. They would file petitions to address corruption in the local government and send them to the courts in Hillsborough.
However, their methods had little to no response from the courts, which led the Regulators to step up their game. They had sworn to not pay their taxes, take back any lands that had been taken from them due to unpaid debt, and disrupt court proceedings.
In order to get the Regulators to disperse, Governor William Tryon agreed to listen to their petitions. However, Governor Tryon could have cared less about hearing the Regulator's petitions, as he was unsympathetic to their pleas. He and his supporters saw Regulators as a threat to their position and privileges.
In 1769, farmers in the region were able to elect their own representatives to the colonial assembly. Herman Husband was among the elected representatives. However, the assembly only discussed importation agreements. Governor Tryon shut down the assembly when the conversations turned to topics unrelated to importation agreements.
In September of 1770 the situation came to a head when a group of regulators attacked seven members of the local elite. The attack caused the Johnson Riot Act to be passed by the assembly of Hillsborough. The Johnson Riot Act gave Governor Tryon the ability to use military force against the Regulators. This led to a seven day stand off between him and the regulators in May of 1771. Tyron ordered fire on the regulators which resulted in 9 dead within his own men and 9 to 20 deaths among the regulators, in addition to 150 wounded.
Governor Tryon offered a pardon to every regulator who came to his camp to surrender their weapons and take an oath of allegiance to pay taxes and obey the law. Around three quarters of men in Piedmont took the oath. King George III pardoned all Regulators except for Herman Husband, the leader of the movement who fled from the Piedmont region.
At surface value, the war of regulation may seem unimportant since the regulators disbanded and failed to meet their initial end goal but the war served as an early sign that the American revolution was on its way. Both movements revolved around resisting British control in America. The war marked one of the beginning events that directly showed colonial resistance to the British crown. This, in conjunction with other American movements, was the beginning of the colonizers in the modern day United States opposing British control.

Ellie Hendrix