Culpeper's Rebellion: America's First Tax Revolt

About two miles southeast of here, in sixteen seventy-seven, colonists in the Albemarle region pulled off one of the earliest popular uprisings in American history. The target was Thomas Miller, the acting governor, whom the rebels accused of collecting customs duties under the Navigation Acts without proper authority and pocketing fines for personal gain. John Culpeper and George Durant led an armed group that seized Miller, imprisoned him, convened their own legislature, and ran the colony themselves for a time.

Culpeper was later tried in England for his part in the uprising but was acquitted. The rebellion set a precedent: when government oversteps, North Carolina colonists would not simply petition, they would act.