East is East.

Exactly 130 years ago, provincial Gov. William Tryon marched 1,452 militia to the Piedmont, where they whipped 2,000 "Regulators," mostly backcountry farmers riled by abuses of government officials. Most of the officials, like most of the militia, were from Eastern North Carolina. Tryon lost 9 killed and 61 wounded. The Regulators carried off their casualties, but a few were taken prisoner. One was hanged, there on the battlefield or the next morning in camp, to appease the troops. Treason trials sent six more to the gallows.

Some Tar Heels claim these as the first shots fired in the American Revolution -- the date is stitched on the state flag -- but there wasn't a redcoat for hundreds of miles. The Battle of Alamance was just another, albeit the bloodiest, chapter in the sectional conflict that lies at the heart of our history. It stretches back to the very beginning and, as the controversy over the Global TransPark proves, reaches into the future.

For many west of the Fall Line, the TransPark is our Tryon Palace, the public-works project the Regulators railed against being taxed to pay for, knowing it served them no purpose. Some say the West, now grown prosperous, begrudges the East its chance to advance, as if the Piedmont's response to its sister region's economic woes is to...