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Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence
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The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence is a resolution proclaimed at Charlotte, North Carolina, by the Committee of citizens of Mecklenburg County on May 20, 1775. Proclamations and resolutions, such as the Fincastle Resolutions in the Colony of Virginia, by local groups throughout the American Colonies during 1774 and 1775 were common. No original text exists and no contemporary mention of it was made in North Carolina or in other colonies. The 1819 copy was said to be created from memory. Historians have yet to confirm the original document's existence.
May 20 was the day after news arrived of the battle of Lexington. The seal and flag of North Carolina bear that date. The citizens of Mecklenburg did adopt, on May 31, 1775, strong anti-British resolutions, declaring suspension from office of all crown officials.
On April 30, 1819, the Raleigh Register published the following document, said to have been adopted by the Mecklenburg Committee. The document was allegedly based in part on general recollections of those resolutions over 40 years earlier. Some of its phrases are very similar to parts of the Declaration of Independence (which was signed one year later in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), raising questions as to whether one document may have been based in part on the other, that would have been authored fifteen months earlier. Thomas Jefferson, who was in close contact for many years with North Carolina leaders, said he never heard of it. Phrases, such as "the rights of man," overlap with documents from the French Revolution and were never used anywhere else in 1775.
Thus, the tale of the declaration of May 20 originated merely from the 1819 newspaper story. The story was told in elementary school textbooks and some North Carolinians still believe it, though no professional historians or archivists do. Professor William S. Powell, in his standard history North Carolina: A History (New York: Norton, 1977) does not mention it at all; Professor H.G. Jones, in his North Carolina Illustrated (Chapel Hill: University of N.C. Press, 1983), pointedly places ironic quotation marks around the name of the declaration, and mentions it only because of the controversy stirred in 1905 after another historian, Samuel A. Ashe, had "questioned [the declaration's] authenticity." The Harvard Guide to American History (1954) lists the Mecklenburg Declaration under the heading of "spurious declarations." Allan Nevins says "Legends often become a point of faith. At one time the State of North Carolina made it compulsory for the public schools to teach that Mecklenburg County had adopted a Declaration of Independence on May 20, 1775--to teach what had been clearly demonstrated an untruth." [Nevins, Gateway to History (1938) p 119] R. D. W. Connor asserts, that "North Carolina's Priority in the Demand for Independence rested upon the Halifax Resolves rather than either of the Mecklenburg papers."
Nearby Tryon County, North Carolina adopted a similar declaration known as the Tryon Resolves on August 14, 1775 that is known to be authentic.
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For nearly two hundred years skeptics have doubted the existence of the Mecklenburg Declaration. The first such skeptic was Thomas Jefferson. Throughout the 19th century, historians debated whether or not there was such a document and whether the Mecklenburg Resolves were in fact the “real” MecDec. The basis of the controversy is the fact that no original copy of the MecDec has been discovered.
Despite the fact that no original copy has ever been discovered, there exists substantial evidence that the citizens of Mecklenburg County adopted the MecDec at the Convention of May 20th.
Specifically:
In 1830 - 31, the Legislature of North Carolina appointed a special commission to settle the controversy “once and for all.” That commission reviewed existing records, interviewed eye witnesses and survivors and published a report, under the auspices of Governor Montfort Stokes by authorization of the North Carolina legislature, that contained fourteen affidavits (including one from James Jack) and various certificates vouching for the authenticity of the MecDec.
The second piece of evidence are the numerous deeds for real property executed after 1775. Prior to the revolution, deeds were generally dated as “in the reign of King George III.” After May 20th, numerous deeds are dated with reference to May 20th. Some examples include deeds “made this 13th day of February, 1779, and in the fourth year of our independence” or “made this 28th day of January in the fifth year of our independence.” All these deeds date “independence” in Mecklenburg County from 1775 – not 1776.
Among the surviving records of John McKnitt Alexander are his written records of the May 20th Convention that record in detail the events of the Convention and the text of the MecDec. These survive and are in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. They leave a specific written record in rough draft format and some text of the MecDec and the events during the Convention of May 20th.
Skeptics long pointed to a lack of contemporaneous written evidence of the MecDec. However, in 1903 researchers discovered journals of the Moravians from Salem North Carolina, in which merchant Traugott Bagge wrote:“I cannot leave unmentioned at the end of the 1775th year that already in the summer of that year, that is May, June, or July, the County of Mecklenburg in North Carolina declared itself free and independent of England, and made such arrangements for the administration of the laws among themselves, as later the Continental Congress made for all. This Congress, however, considered the proceedings premature.” Bagge's annals were the first contemporaneous evidence of the MecDec and corroborate the widely held account in all major respects. Also note that Bagge records that Mecklenburg County "declared itself free and independent." Therefore, he must have been speaking of the MecDec, not simply the Mecklenburg Resolves.
Among the citizens of Mecklenburg County at the time, of course, there was no controversy at all and they considered MecDec a fact. One citizen, Adam Brevard, composed a poem in 1775 entitled “The Mecklenburg Censor” which includes the lines: “When Mecklenburg’s fantastic rabble/Renowned for censure, scold and gabble/In Charlotte met in giddy counsel/To lay the constitutions’ ground-sill…Their Independence did declare.” Why would this poem have been written if there were no MecDec?
Similarly, one school boy, James Wallis, in 1809 made the following pronouncements at his graduation: “On May 19, 1775, a day sacredly exulting to all Mecklenburg bosoms … [a Convention] solemnly entered into and published a full and determined Declaration of Independence, renouncing forever all allegiance, dependencies or connection with Great Britain – dissolved and judicial and military establishments from the British crown…May we ever act worthy of such predecessors.” Where did the young James get these facts if they were not common knowledge?
Even Captain Jack's ride to Philadelphia is corroborated by British records. In Governor Martin’s letter to Dartmouth he noted, “A copy of the Resolves, I am informed, were sent off express to the Congress in Philadelphia as soon as they were passed in Committee.” Why would Captain Jack have ridden to Philadelphia to meet with the North Carolina delegates if there were no MecDec?
Finally, the British officials themselves make note of the rebellious Mecklenburgers. Royal Governor Martin records his dismay at “the treasonable proceedings” of “the people of Mecklenburg.” English advisors believed “His Excellency should take every lawful measure in his power to suppress the unnatural rebellion now fomenting in Mecklenburgh.”What were the British referring to if not the May 20th Convention?
Text presented as the "Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence" by the Raleigh Register on April 30, 1819:
- 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 County, to America, and to the inherent and inalienable rights of man.
- 2. Resolved, That we the citizens of Mecklenburg 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 innocent 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 cooperation, our lives, our fortunes, and our most sacred honor.
- 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 - where, nevertheless, the Crown of Great Britain never can be considered as holding rights, privileges, immunities, or authority therein.
- 5. Resolved, That it is also further decreed, that all, each and every military officer in this County, is hereby reinstated to his former command and authority, he acting conformably to these regulations, 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, and 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.
- Richard M. Current, "That Other Declaration: May 20, 1775-May 20, 1975", North Carolina Historical review 54 (1977): 169-91.
- William Henry Hoyt. The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence: A Study of Evidence Showing that the Alleged Early Declaration of Independence...is Spurious (1907) online edition
- May 20th Society - Celebrating the Spirit of Mecklenburg
- F W Thornton article
- Modern History Sourcebook - Mecklenburg Declaration