Although providing state-supported higher education for women in North Carolina had been an occasional topic of discussion among educators, the idea did not appear to be taken seriously until after the Civil War. When the idea was first formally proposed to the state's legislators, all of whom were men, it was overwhelmingly resisted. It was not until Charles Duncan McIver reminded the General Assembly that the state's Constitution asserted "instruction of youth would be provided at low prices and would be encouraged at one or more universities."