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 THE SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI was established at the 
 close of the Revolutionary War, in May, 1783, by officers of 
 the American Army, just previous to its disbanding, in the 
 cantonment at Newburgh, on the Hudson River. 
 
 It was designed to be a “Society of friends, to endure as 
 long as they shall endure or any of their eldest male posterity, 
 and in failure thereof, the collateral branches who may be 
 judged worthy of becoming its supporters and members.”’ 
 
 It was founded on certain “immutable principles,” viz., to 
 preserve inviolate the rights and liberties secured by the war, 
 to promote and cherish union and national honor between 
 the States, to render permanent the cordial affection subsist- 
 ing among the officers, and especially to assist such officers, 
 or their families, as might be in need. 
 
 The Society was divided into Thirteen State Societies. 
 
 All officers of the American Army, who had resigned with 
 honor, after three years’ service in the capacity of officers, or 
 who had been deranged by the resolutions of Congress, upon 
 the several reforms of the army, or who had continued to the 
 end of the war, were entitled to become parties to this institu- 
 tion, on subscribing one month’s pay, and signing their names 
 
to the general rules in their respective State Societies; and the 
 “eldest male branches’’ of such officers as had died in the 
 service were also entitled to membership on the same terms 
 as children of actual members. A limited number of honorary 
 members might also be admitted. | 
 
 By virtue of resolutions adopted in 1854 and 1856, each 
 State Society has now the right to regulate the terms and 
 qualifications for the admission of members, “‘provided, that 
 admission be confined to the male descendants of original 
 members (including collateral branches as contemplated by 
 the original constitution); .or to the male descendants of such 
 officers of the army or. navy as may have been entitled to 
 admission, but who failed to avail themselves thereof, within 
 the time limited by the constitution; or to the male descend- 
 ants of such officers of the army or navy of the revolution 
 as may have resigned with honor, or left the service with 
 reputation; or to the male collateral relative of any officer 
 who died in service without leaving issue.”’ 
 
 The North Carolina Society was organized at Hills- 
 borough, October 28, 1783; reorganized at Raleigh, April 4, 
 1896; and incorporated by Act of the General Assembly of 
 North Carolina, February 16, 1899. 
 
July 4th, 1900. 
 
 The By-Laws were-amended as follows:— 
 
 ARTICLE I. 
 SECTION 3. Insert after ‘‘to audit the accounts of the Treasurer,’’ 
 the following: azd to verify the securities in his charge. 
 SECTION 6. Insert after subdivision (2) the following: 
 (3) Election of Members. 
 The present subdivision (3) becoming (4) and so forth. 
 
 ARTICLE II. 
 
 SECTION 4. Add to this section the following: Al/Z life and 
 endowed membership fees, as well as donations, which shall be paid 
 the Society, shall remain forever to the use of the Society as a perma- 
 nent fund, the income only of which may be expended. 
 
 SECTION 7. Add to this section the following: 7he Secretary 
 shall be the custodian of the Seal. 
 
 SECTION 8. Insert after ‘‘the sum of Five Dollars”’ the following: 
 The fee thus paid, shall be for the use of the Soctety and be con- 
 sidered a part of the revenue for the current year. 
 
 Insert the following section, which shall be Section 9 of Article IT, 
 the present Section g becoming Section Io: 
 
 Insignia. 
 
 SECTION 9. The Order of the Society shall be worn at all the 
 meetings by the members, who may obtain it through the Treasurer. 
 
 P 2153 4- 
 
BY LAWS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 NorTH CAROLINA SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 
 
 ARTICLE 1: 
 OFFICERS, COMMITTEES AND MEETINGS. 
 . Officers. 
 
 SecTION I. The Officers of the Society shall consist of a President, 
 a Vice-President, a Secretary, an Assistant Secretary, a Treasurer, an 
 Assistant Treasurer, who shall constitute a Standing Committee, anda 
 Chaplain. 
 
 Election and Term of Officers. 
 
 SECTION 2. The Officers shall be chosen by ballot at the annual 
 meeting, on the Fourth of July of each year, and shall hold office for the 
 term of one year or until their successors are chosen. 
 
 Duties of Officers. 
 
 SECTION 3. The President, or in his absence, the Vice-President, 
 shall preside at all meetings of the Society and of the Standing 
 Committee. 
 
 The Secretary shall keep and have charge of all the records and 
 papers of the Society and of the Standing Committee. He shall call all 
 meetings of the Society and Standing Committee by written notice 
 within a reasonable time of the meetings of the same. The Assistant 
 Secretary shall assist the Secretary in his duties and act in his absence 
 or disability. 
 
 The Treasurer shall have charge of the funds and property of the 
 Society with power, on the approval of the Standing Committee, to in- 
 vest and reinvest the funds and to disburse the income thereof. He shall 
 give bond to the President for the faithful discharge of his trust, which 
 bond must be approved by the Standing Committee. At the annual 
 meeting of the Society the President shall appoint two members to 
 audit the accounts of the Treasurer. The Assistant Treasurer shall 
 assist the Treasurer in his duties and act in his absence or disability. 
 
 The Chaplain shall be an ordained clergyman of a Christian church 
 and shall perform all religious functions connected with the Society. 
 
Duties of Standing Committee. 
 
 SecTIon 4. The Standing Committee shall have charge of the wel- 
 fare and general concerns of the Society, as well as all other matters 
 commiutteed to them by it. They shall hold meetings at such times as 
 they shall determine. They shall consider all applications for admission 
 to the Society and recommend such applicants as they deem to be en- 
 titled and worthy. They shall keep a record of their proceedings, which 
 shall be open to inspection by any member of the Society, and shall be 
 read to the Society at its next following meeting. The assent of a 
 majority of the members of the Standing Committee shall be necessary 
 for any of its acts. Special meetings of the Committee may be called at 
 any time by the direction of the President, and shall be called upon the 
 request, in writing, of three members thereof. 
 
 Meetings. 
 
 cy Secrion 5. The annual meeting of the Society shall be on the 72% 
 FV vor, Fotrth-of Jtty of each year, to be held in such place in the State as may 
 “be determined upon by the Standing Committee. -Fhere-shattalso-be-a- 
 
 -meeting-of the Society-on the Twenty-second-of Februaryof-each-year, 
 —te-beheld-at-Ratetgh. Special meetings may be called at any time, by 
 direction of the President, and such meetings shall be called upon the 
 request, in writing, of ten members, stating the object of the meeting. 
 
 Order of Business. 
 Section 6. The order of business shall be as follows: 
 (1) Prayer, Roll Call and Reading of the Original Institution of 
 the Order. 
 
 (2) Reading of the Minutes of the meetings of the Society and of the 
 Standing Committee, since the last stated meeting of the Society. 
 
 (3) Report of Officers and Committees. 
 (4) Unfinished and New Business. 
 
 (5) Nomination and Election of Officers and Delegates to the Gen- 
 eral Society. 
 (6) Adjournment. 
 
 ARTICLE. 
 MEMBERSHIP. 
 
 Applications. 
 
 Section 1. All applications for admission shall be in writing to the 
 Standing Committee, who shall consider and report upon the same to 
 the Society at its stated meetings. 
 
Liligibslity. 
 
 SECTION 2. No person shall be eligible to membership who shall 
 be under twenty-one years of age. Every applicant to be eligible must 
 have the qualifications stated in the Institution of the Society, or under 
 the Rule of 1854 adopted by the General Society. Among descendants 
 of original members or others who shall be eligible, this Society reserves 
 the absolute right to choose such one as seems to it best fitted to pro- 
 mote the ends of the Society, but it will ordinarily be guided by the 
 following principles : 
 
 I. The succession shall descend in the eldest male line so long as it 
 continues unbroken. 
 
 II. If the eldest male line fails, the next male line shall be taken. 
 
 III. Incaseof the failure of the maleline, the line which descended 
 the greatest number of generations from the original member before a 
 failure of males, shall ordinarily be taken. 
 
 IV. The claims of descendants through female lines shall be deter- 
 mined by the same rules of primogeniture as in case of claims through 
 the male line, so far as applicable. 
 
 V. A waiver by any person shall be regarded only as the renuncia- 
 ion of a claim, not as the transfer of a right. 
 
 VI. No waiver, express or implied, shall be considered as affecting 
 the rights of a minor son,—except for special reasons satisfactory to the 
 Society. 
 
 VII. Where for any reason the Society deviates from the strict 
 rules in electing a member, it shall not be considered as changing per- 
 manently the order of succession, but upon the death of such member, 
 the old order may be restored. 
 
 VIII. As the Society for the support of the principles to which it 
 is pledged may justly require its membership to be kept full, it may upon 
 satisfactory evidence that an eligible person has had knowledge of his 
 claim and neglected to apply within a reasonable time,—treat it as a 
 waiver of the claim. If a vacancy has existed for many years, the 
 Society may admit any descendant of the original member at its 
 discretion. 
 
 Election to Membership. 
 
 Section 3. Applicants whose cases have been favorably reported . 
 upon by the Standing Committee, may be elected to membership in the 
 Society at the stated meetings by ballot. 
 
 Entrance Fees. 
 
 SECTION 4. The amount to be contributed to the permanent fund 
 of the Society, before an applicant can become a member thereof, shall 
 _be as follows: 
 
For a membership endowed in perpetuity by an applicant whose pro- 
 positus was an original member of the Society or who ‘‘Died in the 
 Service,’? One Hundred and Fifty Dollars; by an applicant whose pro- 
 positus comes under the ‘‘ Rule of 1854,’’ Two Hundred and Fifty 
 Dollars. . 
 
 For a life membership by an applicant whose propositus was an 
 original member of the Society or who ‘‘ Died in the Service,’’ Fiity 
 Dollars; by an applicant whose propositus comes under the ‘‘ Rule of 
 1854,’ One Hundred Dollars. 
 
 The payments, however, on life membership, are to be credited to- 
 ward an endowed membership, the cost of which is to be debited against © 
 the member on election. 
 
 bs Honorary Members. 
 
 SECTION 5. The admission df honorary members, for life only, 
 shall be confined to those who shall be eminent lineal descendants or 
 representatives of those who were distinguished by high military or 
 civil virtues and services in the Revolutionary War. An honorary 
 member has no title to any portion of the funds of the Society, and no 
 one shall be admitted to honorary membership, except upon the recom- 
 mendation of the Standing Committee. 
 
 Declaration. 
 
 Section 6. Members of this Society shall subscribe to the follow- 
 ing declaration : 
 
 NortH CAROLINA SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 
 
 eee Re EO ir ten ee: | or ee do declare that I am 
 
 theses! he yo ie Olle ee 2: 5 and having had the honor to 
 be admitted to membership in the North Carolina Society of the Cin- 
 cinnati, I do hereby most solemnly promise and engage that I will be 
 guided and governed by the rules of said Society, which may have been 
 or may hereafter be established, agreeably to the Institution as signed 
 by the original members. 
 
 In testimony whereof I hereunto subscribe my name and pledge my 
 sacred honor. 
 
 Done avp.te. 2 a eee on the.: 3) gee ET ie) Basia he ude 1 Oe 
 Seal, 
 
 SECTION 7. The Society shall have a Seal, two inches in diameter, 
 and which shall comprise thereon the insignia of the Order, viz., An 
 eagle displayed, bearing on its breast the obverse of the medal of the 
 Society with the motto, Omnia religuit servare rempublicam, surround- 
 ing the same; above, thirteen stars in a semicircle; beneath, on a 
 scroll, the motto of the Order, Esto perpetuwa ; around the whole, the 
 legend, North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati, Instituted 
 MDCCLX XXIII. 
 
Diploma, 
 
 SECTION 8. Every member, upon his admission to the Society, 
 shall be entitled to receive a diploma to be signed by the President of 
 the Society and countersigned by the Secretary, for which diploma he 
 shall pay the Treasurer the sum of Five Dollars. The form of the 
 diploma shall be as follows: 
 
 Sem SUA SIG Wil tS Liat eee chon, eee ee ke eee EAR e NUE gy 24 
 is a (oran Honorary) Member of the Society of the CINCINNATI, 
 instituted by the officers of the American Army at the Period of its 
 Dissolution, as well to commemorate the great event which gave Inde- 
 pendence to NORTH AMERICA, as for the laudable purpose of incul- 
 cating the duty of laying down in Peace, Arms assumed for public 
 Defence, and of uniting in Acts of brotherly Affection and Bonds of 
 perpetual Friendship, the Members constituting the same. 
 
 In Testimony whereof, I, the President of the North Carolina 
 
 Society of the Cincinnati, have hereunto set my Hand and the Seal of the 
 
 said Society, at Raleigh, fn the State of North Carolina, this 
 
 oe Ca ic a ee ae in the Year of our Lord, One 
 este ee Hi@peced.. anceeweet c epee ee 
 Mepreremeterriundted and... Je. eke Year 
 of the Independence of the United States. 
 By order, 
 SEAL. 
 
 been 4 Y Secretary. Se ee eae ees President. 
 
 Amendments. 
 
 SECTION 9. These By-Laws may be altered or amended at any 
 meeting of the Society ; the call for which shall state the substance of 
 the alterations or amendments proposed. 
 
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 NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTION