Caldwell County was created from the counties of Burke and Wilkes in January 1841 from a Bill introduced in the legislature which was previously rejected in 1839 because a faction within the state legislature wished to form two Democratic counties instead of one Whig county. It was named after Dr. Joseph Caldwell, the former President of the University of North Carolina and advocator of a public school system and a railroad system stretching from Morehead City through the questioned county to Tennessee, the bill was ratified and signed on January 11, 1841.
