NORTH CAROLINA CONVENTION.

The Journal of the Proceedings of the first Provincial Convention of NORTH CAROLINA, held at NEWBERN, on the twenty-fourth day of AUGUST, A. D. 1774.

North Carolina, ss.

At a General Meeting of Deputies of the Inhabitants of this Province, at Newbern, the twenty-fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four: Appeared, for

ANSON County.—Mr. Samuel Spencer, Wm. Thomas.

BEAUFORT.—Roger Ormond, Thomas Respess, Jun.

BLADEN.—William Salter, Walter Gibson.

BUTE.—William Person, Green Hill.

BRUNSWICK.—Robert Howe.

BERTIE.—John Campbell.

CRAVEN.—James Coor, Lemuel Hatch, Joseph Leech, Richard Cogdell.

CARTERET.—William Thompson.

CURRITUCK.—Solo. Perkins, Nathan Poyner, Samuel Jarvis.

CHOW AN.—Samuel Johnston, Thomas Oldham, Thomas Benbury, Thomas Jones, Thomas Hunter.

CUMBERLAND.—Farquard Campbell, Thomas Rutherford.

CHATHAM.—(None.)

DOBBS.—Richard Caswell, William McKinnie, George Miller, Simon Bright.

DUPLIN.—Thomas Gray, Thomas Hicks, James Kenan, William Dickson.

EDGECOMBE.—(None.)

GRANVILLE.—Thomas Person, Memucan Hunt.

GUILFORD.—(None.)

HYDE.—Rothias Latham, Samuel Smith.

HERTFORD.—(None.)

HALIFAX.—Nicholas Long, Willie Jones.

JOHNSTON.—Needham Bryan, Benjamin Williams.

MECKLENBURGH.—Benjamin Patton.

MARTIN.—Edmund Smythwick

NEW-HANOVER.—John Ashe, William Hooper.

NORTHAMPTON.—Allen Jones.

ORANGE.—Thomas Hart.

ONSLOW.—William Cray.

PERQUIMANS.—John Harvey, Benjamin Harvey, Andrew Knox, Thomas Harvey, John Whedbee Jun.

PASQUOTANK.—Joseph Jones, Edward Everigin, Joseph Reading.

PITT.—John Simpson, Edward Salter.

ROWAN.—Wm. Kennon, Moses Winslow, Sam. Young.

SURRY.—(None.)

TRYON.—David Jenkins, Robert Alexander.

TYRREL.—Joseph Spruill, Jeremiah Fraser.

WAKE.—(None.)

NEWBERN.—Abner Nash, Isaac Edwards.

EDENTON.—Joseph Hewes.

WILMINGTON.—Francis Clayton.

The Deputies then proceeded to make choice of a Moderator, when Colonel JOHN HARVEY was unanimously chosen, and Mr. ANDREW KNOX appointed Clerk.

The Meeting then adjourned till eight o'clock to morrow morning.

Friday, August 26, 1774.

The Meeting met according to adjournment:

Mr. Hewes, one of the members of the Committee of Correspondence, presented several Letters from the Committees of Correspondence of the other Colonies in America, and the several Answers thereto; which, on motion, were ordered to be read.

And after the most mature deliberation had thereon: Resolved, That three Delegates be appointed to attend the general Congress, to be held at Philadelphia sometime in September next.

The Meeting adjourned till eight o'clock to morrow morning.

Saturday, August 27, 1774.

The Meeting met according to adjournment; and came to the following Resolutions, to wit:

We, his Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Deputies from the several Counties and Towns of the Province of North Carolina, impressed with the most sacred respect for the British Constitution, and resolved to maintain the succession of the House of Hanover, as by law established, and avowing our inviolable and unshaken fidelity to our Sovereign, and entertaining a sincere regard for our fellow-subjects in Great Britain, viewing with the utmost abhorrence every attempt which may tend to disturb the peace and good order of this Colony, or to shake the fidelity of his Majesty's subjects resident here; but, at the same time conceiving it a duty which we owe to ourselves and posterity, in the present alarming state of British America, when our most essential rights are invaded by powers unwarrantably assumed by the Parliament of Great Britain, to declare our sentiments in the most publick manner, least silence should be construed as acquiescence, and that we patiently submit to the burthen which they have thought fit to impose upon us:

Resolved, That his Majesty George the Third is lawful and rightful King of Great Britain, and the Dominions thereunto belonging, and of this Province, as part thereof, and that we do bear faithful and true allegiance unto him as our lawful Sovereign; that we will to the utmost of our power maintain and defend the succession of the House of Hanover, as by law established, against the open or private attempts of any person or persons whatsoever.

Resolved, That we claim no more than the rights of Englishmen without diminution or abridgment; that it is our indispensable duty and will be our constant endeavour, to maintain those rights to the utmost of our power consistently with the loyalty which we owe Sovereign, and a sacred regard for the British Constitution.

Resolved, It is of the very essence of the British Constitution, that no subject should be taxed, but by his own consent, freely given by himself in person, or by his legal Representatives, and that any other than such a taxation is highly derogatory to the rights of a subject, and a gross violation of the Grand Charter of our liberties.

Resolved, That as the British subjects resident in North America, have not, nor can have, any representation in the Parliament of Great Britain, therefore any Act of Parliament imposing a tax upon them, is illegal and unconstitutional; that our Provincial Assemblies, the King by his Governours constituting one branch thereof, solely and exclusively possess that right.

Resolved, That the duties imposed by several Acts of the British Parliament upon tea and other articles, consumed in America, for the purpose of raising a revenue, are highly illegal and oppressive, and that the late exportation of tea by the East India Company, to different parts of America, was intended to give effect to one of the said Acts, and thereby establish a precedent highly dishonourable to America, and to obtain an implied assent to the powers which Great Britain had unwarrantably assumed, of levying a tax upon us without our consent.

Resolved, That the inhabitants of the Massachusetts Province have distinguished themselves in a manly support of the rights of America in general, and that the cause in which they now suffer is the cause of every honest American who deserves the blessings which the Constitution holds forth to them. That the grievances under which the town of Boston labours at present are the effect of a resentment levelled at them for having stood foremost in an opposition to measures which must eventually have involved all British America in a state of abject dependence and servitude.

The Act of Parliament, commonly called the Boston Port Act, as it tends to shut up the port of Boston, and thereby effectually destroy its trade, and deprive the merchants and manufacturers of a subsistence which they have hitherto procured by an honest industry; as it takes away the wharves, quays, and other property of many individuals by rendering it useless to them; and as the duration of this Act depends upon circumstances founded merely in opinion, and in their nature indeterminate, and thereby may make the miseries it carries with it even perpetual,

Resolved, Therefore, that it is the most cruel infringe-