MECKLENBURGH (NORTH-CAROLINA) RESOLUTIONS.*

Charlottetown, Mecklenburgh County, May 31, 1775.

This day the Committee of this County met, and passed the following Resolves:

Whereas, by an Address presented to His Majesty by both Houses of Parliament in February last, the American Colonies are declared to be in a state of actual rebellion; we conceive that all Laws and Commissions confirmed by, of derived from the authority of the King or Parliament, are annulled and vacated, and the former civil Constitution of these Colonies for the present wholly suspended. To provide in some degree for the exigencies of this County, in the present alarming period, we deem it proper and necessary to pass the following Resolves, viz:

I. That all Commissions, civil and military, heretofore granted by the Crown, to be exercised in these Colonies, are null and void, and the Constitution of each particular Colony wholly suspended.

II. That the Provincial Congress of each Province, under the direction of the great Continental Congress, is invested with all legislative and executive powers within their respective Provinces, and that no other legislative or executive power does, or can exist, at this time, in any of these Colonies.

III. As all former laws are now suspended in this Province, and the Congress have not provided others, we judge it necessary, for the better preservation of good order, to form certain rules and regulations for the internal government of this County, until laws shall be provided for us by the Congress.

*THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE BY THE CITIZENS OF MECKLENBURGH COUNTY, NORTH-CAROLINA, ON THE TWENTIETH DAY OF MAY, 1775, WITH ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTS; PUBLISHED BY THE GOVERNOUR, UNDER THE AUTHORITY AND DIRECTION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF NORTH-CAROLINA.

Report and Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly, at the session of 1830–’31, upon which this publication is predicated.

The Committee to whom it was referred to examine, collate, and arrange in proper order such parts of the Journals of the Provincial Assemblies of North Carolina as relate to the Declaration of American Independence; also such documents as relate to the Declaration of Independence made by the patriotick men of Mecklenburgh in May, 1775; and also such measures as relate to the same cause, adopted by the freemen of Cumberland County, previous to the fourth of July, 1776, in order to the publication and distribution of such documents, having performed the duty assigned them, respectfully report:

That upon an attentive examination of the Journals of the Provincial Assembly of North-Carolina, which met at Halifax in the month of April, 1776, the Committee are of opinion, that no selection could be made from the said Journal to answer the purpose of the House. But as every thing relating to that period must be interesting to those who value the blessing of national independence, the Committee recommend that the whole of the Journal be printed, and receive the same extended distribution which the Resolution of the House contemplates for the proceedings in Mecklenburgh and Cumberland. This course is deemed by the Committee the more proper, because the Journal is now out of print, and it is highly probable that the copy in the possession of the Committee is the only one now extant.

Your Committee, have also examined, collated, and arranged all the documents which have been accessible to them, touching the Declaration of Independence by the citizens of Mecklenburgh, and the proceedings of the freemen of Cumberland.

By the publication of these papers it will be fully verified, that as early as the month of May, 1775, a portion of the people of North Carolina, sensible that their wrongs could no longer be borne, without sacrificing both safety and honour; and that redress, so often sought, so patiently waited for, and so cruelly delayed, was no longer to be expected did, by a publick and solemn act, declare the dissolution of the ties which bound them to the Crown and people of Great Britain, and did establish an independent, though temporary Government, for their own control and direction.

This first claim of independence evinces such high sentiments of valour and patriotism, that we cannot, and ought not lightly to esteem the honour of having made it. The fact of the Declaration should be announced, its language should be published and perpetuated, and the names of the gallant Representatives of Mecklenburgh, with whom it, originated, should be preserved from an oblivion which, should it involve them, would as much dishonour us, as injure them. If the thought of independence did not first occur to them, to them, at least, belongs the proud distinction of having first given language to the thought; and it should be known, and, fortunately, it can still be conclusively established, that the Revolution received its first impulse towards independence, however feeble that impulse might have been, in North-Carolina. The committee are aware that this assertion has elsewhere been received with doubt, and at times met with, denial; and it is, therefore, believed to be more strongly incumbent upon the House to usher to the world the Mecklenburgh Declaration, accompanied with such testimonials of its genuineness, as shall silence incredulity, and with such care for its general diffusion, as shall forever secure it from being forgotten. And in recounting the Causes, the origin, and the progress of our revolutionary struggle, till its final issue in acknowledged independence, whatever the brilliant achievements of other States may have been, lot it never be forgotten, that at a period of darkness and oppression, without, concert: with others, without assurances of support from any quarter, a few gallant North-Carolinians, all fear of consequences lost in a sense of their Country’s wrongs, relying, under Heaven, solely upon themselves, nobly dared to assert, and resolved to maintain that independence, of which, whoever might have thought, none had then spoken; and thus earned for themselves, and for their fellow-citizens of North-Carolina, the honour of giving birth to the first Declaration of Independence.

The Committee respectfully recommend the adoption of the following Resolutions.

All of which is submitted.

Resolved, That his Excellency the Governour be directed to cause to be published in pamphlet form the above Report, and the accompanying documents, in the manner and order following, viz: After the Report, first, the Mecklenburgh Declaration, with the Names of the Delegates composing the meeting; second, the Certificates, testifying to the circumstances attending the Declaration; third, the Proceedings of the Cumberland Association; and that he be further directed to have reprinted in like manner, separate and distinct from the above, the accompanying Journal of the Provincial Assembly, held at Halifax in one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six.

Resolved, further, That after publication, the Governour be instructed to distribute said documents as follows, to wit: Twenty copies of each to the Library of the State; to each of the Libraries at the University, ten copies; to the Library of the Congress of the United States, ten copies; and one copy to each of the Executives of the several States of the Union.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

Abraham Alexander was appointed Chairman, and John McKnitt Alexander Clerk. The following Resolutions were offered, viz:

1. Resolved, That whosoever directly or indirectly abetted, or in any way, form or manner, countenanced the unchartered and dangerous invasion of our rights, as claimed by Great Britain, is an enemy to this Country, to America, and to the inherent and inalienable rights of man.

2. Resolved, That we, the citizens of Mecklenburgh County, do hereby dissolve the political bands which have connected us to the Mother Country, and hereby absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the British Crown, and abjure all political connection, contract, or association with that Nation, who have wantonly trampled on our rights and liberties, and inhumanly shed the blood of American patriots at Lexington.

3. Resolved, That we do hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people; are, and of right ought to be, a sovereign and self-governing Association, under the control of no power other than that of our God and the general government of the Congress; to the maintenance of which independence, we solemnly pledge to each other our mutual co-operation, our lives, our fortunes, and our most sacred honour.

4. Resolved, That as we now acknowledge the existence and control of no law or legal officer, civil or military, within this County, we do hereby ordain and adopt as a rule of life, all, each and every of our former laws; wherein, nevertheless, the Crown of Great Britain never can be considered as holding rights, privileges, immunities, or authority therein.

5. Resolved, That it is further decreed, that all, each, and every military officer in this County, is hereby reinstated in his former command and authority, he acting conformably to these regulation. And that every Member present, of this delegation, shall henceforth be a civil officer, viz: a Justice of the Peace, in the character of a “Committee-man,” to issue process, hear and determine all matters of controversy, according to said adopted laws, and to preserve peace, Union and harmony in said County; and to use every exertion to spread the love of country and fire of freedom throughout America, until a more general and organized Government be established in this Province.

After discussing the foregoing Resolves, and arranging by-laws and regulations for the government of a Standing Committee of Publick Safety, who were selected from these Delegates, the whole proceedings were unanimously adopted and signed. A Select Committee was then appointed to draw a more full and definite statement of grievances, and a more formal declaration of independence. The Delegation than adjourned about two o’clock, A. M., May 20.

A.

FROM THE RALEIGH REGISTER OF APRIL 30, 1819.

It is not probably known to many of our readers, that the citizens of Mecklenburgh County, in this State, made a Declaration of Independence more than a year before Congress made theirs. The following document on the subject has lately come to the hands of the Editor from unquestionable authority, and is published that it may go down to posterity.

NORTH-CAROLINA, MECKLENBURGH COUNTY, May 20, 1775.

In the spring of 1775, the leading characters of Mecklenburgh County, stimulated by that enthusiastick patriotism which elevates the mind above considerations of individual aggrandizement, and scorning to shelter themselves from the impending storm, by submission to lawless power, &c., &c., held several detached meetings, in each of which the individual sentiments were, “that the cause of Boston