f Yale Universitv Library Iih- [%-¦ •¦ .vt if* ,r-ri.t-.."i.j L pi'/ jr .'ll - j- 'A 4!-4!i.4'., 1. ¦* ¦jht J.-l - ¦ i-A-;— - MS -"¦'"< I* )» >i^ t iff \' , BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE PERKINS FUND 190^' THE TRUE iWClICLJ **Declaratioii of In :exit-i .9 9 , IE h< By A. S. iJAi i'i'jJStft >:jm t^A'.' ''ietJmf'i'^il.'VX!'. ID - ,Col^b^;.S,.,Cft'-- m r tf Town \t Mrcklenburc^ Resolutions of May 31, 1775. l":om The Sonih-Caroiina Guzeite: And Country Journal, June t3, 1775. THE TRUE MECKLENBURG "Declaration of Independence" By A. S. SALLEY, JR. A. S. SALLEY. JR.. Columbia, S. C. 1905. PRINTED BY THE STATE COMPANY COLUMBIA, S. C. l'^ IS^oxc- The Mecklenburg "Declaration of Independence" One of the most remarkable chapters of American history and likewise of human credulity is the story of the "Declaration of Independence" which is alleged to have been passed by a convention of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, May 20, 1775. The world had never heard of this "Declaration" (so far as we are able to find contemporary record of) until Friday, April 30, 1819, when the Raleigh Register and North. Ca/rolina Gazette (Vol. XX, No. 1023) published the following: It is not probably known to many of our readers, that the citizens of Mecklenburg County, in this State made a Declaration of Independence more than a year before Congress made theirs. The following Docu ment 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, Mecklenburg County, May 20, 177s In the spring of 1775, the leading characters of Mecklenburg county, stimulated by that enthusiastic patriotism which elevates the mind above considerations of individual aggrandisement, 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 was the cause of all ; that their destinies were indissolubly connected with those of their Eastern fellow-citizens — and that they must either submit to all the impositions which an unprincipled, and to them an unrepresented parliament might impose — or support their brethren who were doomed to sustain the first shock of that power, which, if successful there, would ultiraately overwhelm all in the common calamity. Conformably to these princi ples, Col. Adam Alexander, through solicitation, issued an order to each Captain's Company in the county of Mecklenburg, (then com prising the present county of Cabarrus) directing each militia com pany to elect two persons, and delegate to them ample power to devise ways and means to aid and assist their suffering brethren in Boston, and also generally to adopt measures to extricate themselves from the impending storm, and to secure unimpaired their inalienable rights, privileges and liberties from the dominant grasp of British imposition and tyranny. In conforming to said Order, on the 19th of May, 1775, the said delegation met in Charlotte, vested with unlimited powers; at which time official news, by express, arrived of the Battle of Lexington on that day of the preceding month. Every delegate felt the value and import ance of the prize, and the awful and solemn crisis which had arrived — every bosom swelled with indignation at the malice, inveteracy and insatiable revenge developed in the late attack at Lexington. The universal sentiment was : let us not flatter ourselves that popular harangues — or resolves; that popular vapor will avert the storm, or vanquish our common enemy — let us deliberate — let us calculate the issue — the probable result; and then let us act with energy as brethren leagued to preserve our property — our lives, — and what is still more endearing, the liberties of America. Abraham Alexander was then elected Chairman, and John M'Knitt Alexander, Clerk. After a free and full discussion of the various objects for which the delegation had been convened, it was unanimously Ordained — I. 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 inherant 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 asso ciation 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 inde pendent 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 solemly 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 con trol of no law or legal ofiicer, 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. S. Resolved, That it is also further decreed, that all, each and every military ofiicer in this county is hereby reinstated to his former com mand 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 'Com mittee man,' to issue process, hear and determine all matters of con troversy, 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. A number of bye-laws were also added, merely to protect the asso ciation from confusion and to regulate their general conduct as citi zens. After sitting in the Courthouse all night, neither sleepy, hungry, or fatigued, and after discussing every paragraph, they were all passed, sanctioned and declared unanimously, about 2 o'clock, A. M. May 20. In a few days a deputation of said delegation convened, when Capt. James Jack of Charlotte was deputed as express to the Congress at Philadelphia, with a copy of said Resolves and Proceedings, together with a letter addressed to our three Representatives there, viz : Richard Caswell, Wm. Hooper and Joseph Hughes — under express injunction, personally, and through the state representation, to use all possible means to have said proceedings sanctioned and approved by the gen eral Congress. On the return of Capt. Jack, the delegation learned that their proceedings were individually approved by the members of Congress, but that it was deemed premature to lay them before the House. A joint letter from said three members of Congress was also received, complimentary of the zeal in the common cause, and recom mending perseverance, order and energy. The subsequent harmony, unanimity and exertion in the cause of liberty and independence, evidently resulting from these regulations, and the continued exertion of said delegation, apparently tranquilised this section of the State, and met with the concurrence and high appro bation of the Council of Safety, who held their sessions at Newbern and Wilmington alternately, and who confirmed the nomination and acts of the delegation in their official capacity. From this delegation originated the Court of Enquiry of this County, who constituted and held their first session in Charlotte — they then held their meetings regularly at Charlotte, at Col. James Harris's and at Col. Phifer's alternately one week at each place. It was a civil Court founded on military process. Before this judicature all sus picious persons were made to appear, who were formally tried and banished, or continued under guard. Its jurisdiction was as unlimited as toryism, and its decrees as final as the confidence and patriotism of the County. Several were arrested and brought before them from Lincoln, Rowan and the adjacent counties — [The foregoing is a true copy of the papers on the above subject, left in my hands by John M'Knitt Alexander dec'd; I find it mentioned on file that the original book was burned April, 1800. That a copy of the proceedings was sent to Hugh Williamson in New York, then writing a History of North-Carolina, and that a copy was sent to Gen. W. R. Davie. J. M'KNITT.]* As no contemporary record evidence has ever been brought out that substantiates the claims made by John McKnitt Alex ander, it is quite evident to the impartial student of history that Mr. Alexander had in mind a meeting of a committee of Meck lenburg County that passed a set of resolutions, twenty in num ber, on the 31st of May, 1775, and that his recollection of the whole matter was at fault, and that in reconstructing the reso lutions he badly mixed them up with the Declaration of Inde pendence of July 4, 1776. By the resolutions of May 31, 1775, the control of the local government was assumed by the revolu tionary party in the county, but they in no wise declared inde pendence of Great Britain. These resolutions were published in The South-Carolina Gazette; And Country Journal, of *From the files in the Library of Congress. Courtesy of Mr. Worth ington C. Ford. Charles Town, South Carolina, on Tuesday, June 13, 1775, as follows : Charlotte-Town, Mecklenburg County, May 31, 1775. This day the Committee of this county met, and passed the folloiving 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 com missions confirmed by, or derived from the authority of the King or Parliament, are annulled and vacated, and the former civil constitu tion of these colonies, for the present, wholly suspended. To provide, in some degree for the exigencies of this county, in the present alarm ing 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 direc tion 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 yet 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 pro vided for us by the Congress. TV. That the inhabitants of this county do meet on a certain day appointed by this Committee, and having formed themselves into nine companies, (*o wit) eight in the county, and one in the town of Char lotte, do chuse a Colonel and other military officers, who shall hold and exercise their several powers by virtue of this choice, and inde pendent of the Crown of Great-Britain, and former constitution of this province. V. That for the better preservation of the peace and administration of justice, each of these companies do chuse from their own body, two discreet freeholders, who shall be empowered, each by himself and singly, to decide and determine all matters of controversy, arising within said company, under the sum of twenty shillings; and jointly and 8 together, all controversies under the sum of forty shillings; yet so as that their decisions may admit of appeal to the Convention of the Select-Men of the county; and also that any one of these men shall have power to examine and commit to confinement persons accused of pettit larceny. VI. That those two Select- Men thus chosen, do jointly and together chuse from the body of their particular company, two persons properly qualified to act as Constables, who may assist them in the execution of their office. VII. That upon the complaint of any persons to either of these Select-Men, he do issue his warrant, directed to the constable, com manding him to bring the aggressor before him or them, to answer said complaint. VIII. That these eighteen Select-Men thus appointed do meet every third Thursday in January, April, July, and October at the Court-House, in Charlotte, to hear and determine all matters of controversy, for sums exceeding forty shillings, also appeals; and in cases of felony, to commit the person or persons convicted thereof to close confinement, until the Provincial Congress shall provide and establish laws and modes of proceeding in all such cases. IX. That these eighteen Select-Men, thus convened, do chuse a Clerk, to record the transactions of said Convention, and that said Clerk, upon the application of any person or persons aggrieved, do issue his warrant to one of the Constables of the company to which the offender belongs, directing said Constable to summons and warn said offender to appear before the Convention, at their next sitting, to answer the aforesaid complaint. X. That any person making complaint upon oath, to the Clerk, or any member of the Convention, that he has reason to suspect, that any person or persons indebted to him, in a sum above forty shillings, intend clandestinely to withdraw from the county, without paying such debt, the Clerk or such member shall issue his warrant to the Constable, commanding him to take said person or persons into safe custody, until the next sitting of the Convention. XI. That when a debtor for a sum below forty shillings shall abscond and leave the county, the warrant granted as aforesaid shall extend to any goods or chattels of said debtor, as may be found, and such goods or chattels be seized and held in custody by the Constable, for the space of thirty days; in which time if the debtor fail to return and discharge the debt, the Constable shall return the warrant to one of the Select- Men of the company, where the goods are found, who shall issue orders to the Constable to sell such a part of said goods, as shall amount to the sum due : That when the debt exceeds forty shillings, the return shall be made to the Convention, who shall issue orders for sale. XII. That all receivers and collectors of quit-rents, public and county taxes, do pay the same into the hands of the chairman of this Commit tee, to be by them disbursed as the public exigencies may require; and that such receivers and collectors proceed no further in their office, until they be approved of by, and have given to, this Committee, good and sufficient security for a faithful return of such monies when col lected. XIII. That the Committee be accountable to the county for the appli cation of all monies received from such public officers. XIV. That all these officers hold their commissions during the pleasure of their several constituents. XV. That this Committee will sustain all damages that ever here after may accrue to all or any of these officers thus appointed, and thus acting, on account of their obedience and conformity to these Resolves. XVL That whatever person shall hereafter receive a commission from the Crown, or attempt to exercise any such commission hereto fore received, shall be deemed an enemy to his country, and upon information being made to the Captain of the company in which he resides, the said company shall cause him to be apprehended, and con veyed before the two Select-Men of the said company, who, upon proof of the fact, shall commit him, the said offender, to safe custody, until the next sitting of the Committee, who shall deal with him as prudence may direct. XVII. That any person refusing to yield obedience to the above Re solves, shall be considered equally criminal, and liable to the same punishment, as the offenders above last mentioned. XVIII. That these Resolves be in full force and virtue, until instruc tions from the Provincial Congress, regulating the jurisprudence of the province, shall provide otherwise, or the legislative body of Great- Britain, resign its unjust and arbitrary pretentions with respect to America. XIX. That the eight militia companies in the county, provide them selves with proper arms and accoutrements, and hold themselves in readiness to execute the demands and directions of the General Con gress of this province and this Committee. IO XX. That the Committee appoint Colonel Thomas Polk, and Doctor Joseph Kenedy, to purchase 30olb. of powder, 6oolb. of lead, lOOO flints, for the use of the militia of this county, and deposit the same in such place as the Committee may hereafter direct. Signed by order of the Committee.* EPH. BREVARD, Clerk of the Committee. These resolution soon made their way to the British Ministry from two or more sources. In a letter to Hon. D. L. Swain, of North Carolina, from "90 Eaton Square, London July 4, '48," the historian Bancroft wrote : "The first account of 'the extraordinary Resolves by the people of Charlotte Town, Mecklenburg County,' was sent over to England by Sir James Wright, then Governor of Georgia, in a letter of the 20th June, 1775. The newspaper thus transmitted is still preserved, and is the number .498 of the South Carolina Gazette and Country Journal, Tuesday, June 13, 1775."' At a meeting of His Majesty's Council for North Carolina, held at Fort Johnston, June 25, 1775, Governor Martin spoke of "the late most treasonable publication of a Committee in the County of Mecklenburg, explicitly renouncing obedience to His Majesty's Government."^ On the 30th of June, 1775, Governor Martin wrote a letter to the Earl of Dartmouth, British Secretary for the Colonies, in which he said: "The Resolves of the Committee of Mecklenburg which your Lord ship will find in the enclosed Newspaper surpass all the horrid and treasonable publications that the inflammatory spirits of this Continent have yet produced, and your Lordship may depend its Authors and Abettors will not escape my due notice, whenever my hands are suffi ciently strengthened to attempt the recovery of the lost authority of Government. A copy of these Resolves I am informed were sent off by *From the files of the Charleston Library Society. ^North CaroUna Standard, January 10, 1849. 'Colonial Records of North Carolina, Vol. X., pp. 38-39. I ; CAPE-FEAR Q^;J verum ti^iu decern etira T H jt '*'- , ¦ MERCURY; tl )-sfi. it ifioii in \iop Sum ( FRIDAY, November !4, 1769. ) a tcjulency fli to be prejudicial father dian (iafa^Orjif the fupply of amufiitiffi ^ to bis E>..'^"-:s(t CaplaiK-C eneralt ¦ i' -^-",^innHdi>r in Ci..-^. (j'i Provinci -4 Iti/e Adiirefs cf '.he ¦¦^X^^t^y^^Tj adraniageoui tg thecouplry. the co'untry, and che afllliarii,4 -fop ihe [uwn of Ncwfacriii which I rto65»mcnd^ WflJiam Tryon, /7?; The ftate of oi^r public fuhds at no <.d ta you in mylpcccl., had tieco h. Gtz-tf.cr, ;."• y C '^f J- "ii"^ fin« the retdcmcnt of llKColony has ed with your jpprobatiOfi, ¦j~j.'h '¦equtrcd a more'ftriftexaminaiipn chan at prclent i and wc agree With your ixcel- ¦ WILLIA^ TRYON' ,¦ :•/ /is /aid Prs- l.ncy ihata frtilemcrt of the JjubliG ac^ ^^^/i Cd«/wfl, Newbern, 0i? t*. i;<5i) ro.nu Ihould be forthwith ohx^^t6^zz r,„^^ ^^^j ^y hu ^%^6i^cy to ch* .1 L<,.r.il aaic of them liny, be nWde • k,,,,,;. Af „„„,',,;„„ I,., .^..„i.,, J 6' / J^. E (lis ^?v:-^ t,:-:-. of tn.- . »t til5 . i'lVC C" Vire. Trie,. Inr>,r.iT:t.i;n > 'givcrv os.fh:'! ii'» i -=' from tiiecfii'.n .. |'i- paper ^urrcjicy asa ;.-,-, WJ"i. ill •¦' -I', K""^^ '¦'* b!c T.:pT-ri-iy-i;,. ¦•' til" I jliay ki.'jv.n to tht; country t arid aallbcex- trc'i.dy ohitgeU to ytiur cxcelfcftty fjar any ¦ chf, rvjtioiiS i;r rcg^iiatiojis fn cfic ftlatincf- '¦: ¦.-'¦j:'li-ig 111'' public acccimts .that you fis,'"! Ic pltafc'! ro iay bcfori; os, which may ir:;-! to j-ndcr tlie latnc-ircc from ¦-'¦at obl.urity chcj? hjYC hiih*:riy t'^eti :,-..¦. --i' :i'L yr'-.- Wc Uri! ever ctVcfm if Our Is^ifpcnfi- [i;v ^tur.i Jr.,.ii iilcciucy to critju re mto, ar^ti.jlt^bnTi lar ii.'i.^'l. , !¦ r i.iv.s fr,r the cm.dioH^f fipti- cuifi-n- (V irtivc had iheir cff-ct, ano in whole Jf ezcctlyr.rv has kmris the -feipms 'railed to fink thofe emil'- ;i.,(.e;- t;. - ;;^ Ot this houlc of reprelcntatives now alTcinbl-d' as an oLjV^ worthy of ^:hcir attriTi-i ja that tliey take 'Under confidtfracion iljir ftatc, of tlie poblit fcvcnutr, and tlie rt- ' gulur .;ip[)li«.5uon thereof, for t!ic i ^rr pofes to which ;i: is appropriated H F, faft il too well "knovn m ^J- T"^ ot c. M .i n> VVr ;;^td ti;>:nce your «'"cl'cr;c> ha! huiiic, and whi'.ii '."ll . cHiton (*i?TTnm- ich yt-'-u V. ;rv""pi' .i";>l ot years paft, great lums ot publff nyrcy c^ve >Jc-.-ii Joft by the negh^e.icc of iafolvciicy oi ihcriffs, a.nd other coUec*. lurs. Ard it is ptcfwrni^ J^^^A courit: ol" cunf, con^"^^ h'.'en li'pk, alter they li _ Jj'.'jhlic treu.lij)y, whercofi^ huh=rf.)h,=<) mwe- „ _ . . A law ol this province lately piiCdtiJ. wil), if executed with vigor, probably,' m a grca: iiifafiir'-, prevent, for tiiC4iit}at- CO come, the fir^ of tbcfc tnifchie's i aj3^ iriiTnimcatc— MV-U5, nryvircnng ', Ii- ii-t'cnttrifi ut his tniielly's pre'eni mini- , ;:,•-:¦•. .n-.rif, ni> ':'^fi.;;i to prcpof; co pzr- . ;''i;,cfli t.oiay any lurthcr taXcs t.n .AiiiC- t ri.-^i for fhr purpoli? of rMiffn^a revenue, ,. -_ - ^.. . tijeu ptopofiog to take off the duties * '^^ to prevent the latter, might be ^ ¦i 'Joo^.dak pirtfei- arul color/i, is very S^^-*^ r»!^"<: Utdity, for maokiod ^rtfr .'. . '^-acr^l-S^H fli.'l w#t« m#i.fmorc lv, P**.'^ *^l* '^^l' ^V- C'tlier fpc t|vtf^ « ^. ¦ r„ wc4fl.stkrit^ayf*teC#tled.nto ^1**'^^. ll"" *^^ '"J^Wj Vc^c rrt.ry^i-:.rihL- -.j.,. 'le- :Uyo:>f iufh ¦ -.^^rtev^ftg biCTltof^raty to ^PW#'for Elic'porpo*;^*. ir'.g ^n ^em in£[n;lM>'rid:/ .iliL.o- -^ ,,,;. nrmciDlcsof comrtpC^S '""'^ ^^ , ,^Oonfuafc, rcgylf,- El to .wfl^^' '-^w, l1^ ¦' ¦¦ - 'i-ti-"- ^''- rVi-i.c tflit w^-»F^'^c« rok, Ai^^^ , wiietp^ cbeJtjearoirt* ug5%_ ' m.ikehftntf'h. debtor, ;ft^it)i,, - he mihcyp-jid in to him r* ther rkJeiE ercditQr lur^alt fufw nionsy.poid cut hf hfpv vitit' oaf'^luch receipts and pa] "^boojc U altogcthl Reduced from a photo made exact size (8>8 x 13X) of orig-inal by J. Chester Bushong. Courtesy of Mr. E. M HarLoii, L'brarian, American Antiquarian Society. THB CAREsFEAR Sf^ <«atnr '*l^ decem tart MERCURY; (( W; f i k* f « i -fthfiU^cl ^tfU* ">^ A^V ^^ I Or tiuniicr coutt* lEfumcisd tite undt'tTtatvd ami ^ 4 qui in f *aan »-i^Ts (ro >i ailaiittCiiKJSCW "^j Br •• -f*! ^iwjifrff', «n.» mimjitBti ttn mi* wk'i'^ V «**«:? ^'' naxiiWfSXA ''Had tfet *n>>v:v '^ ^^ ^u > \ r'-iff o^ III htssamwn t r (no^>. . J 't* fttw* •'( iVK-ltdl. ¦- *w -'-V*- .n%w ^ *^ " jS^ Vl» ..*'. . J'j.vl "^P^ ^v J .r< u ' ?¦ * >VTa t"^ frz-i-i; • '>¦'- 1.. aiv.* 'V. ?* »*}/•_(. M e rt. , (-^ * .•'5ft. -t- Jtt'.u-iir "* *<.y^ fc - - The Spurious (Tfl/^ ^^ar Mercury. Courtesy of Collier's. II express to the Congress at Philadelphia as soon as they were passed in the Committee.'" The letter from which the foregoing extract is taken was termed by Governor Martin "Dispatch No. 34." On July 6th he wrote another letter ("Dispatch No. 35") to Lord Dart mouth in which he said : "I have engaged Mr. Alexr Schaw whom I have now the honor to introduce to your Lordship to charge himself with this Letter, and my Dispatch No. 34."'' On July 16, 177s, Governor Martin wrote to Lord Dart mouth : "Since the departure of Mr. Schaw who was charged with my Dis patches to your Lordship No. 34 and 35, Duplicates of which are here with enclosed" * * * * "General Howe" * * * "defeated a body of Fifteen Thousand Rebels." * * * "Having an opportunity of writing safely by a passenger in a Merchant's Ship, I could not let it escape me without giving your Lordship the Accounts contained in this letter relative to the operations of the Army at Boston."" The passenger referred to was a Mr. Burgwine, and on Sep tember 15th Lord Dartmouth wrote to Governor Martin : "I have received from the hands of Mr. Burgwine your dispatches numbered 34, 35, 36, 37 & 38, the two first being Duplicates, the origi nals of which you mention to have been trusted to Mr. Schaw, who has not yet appeared."" The original of "Dispatch No. 34" reached Lord Dartmouth eventually and both the original and the duplicate are on file in the British Public Record Office, London. But the news paper mentioned by Governor Martin is missing from the original of "Dispatch No. 34" and in its place is a memo randum : "Taken out by Mr. Turner for Mr. Stevenson Aug. 15, 1837." ^^- Stevenson was the then United States min ister to England. The duplicate of "Dispatch No. 34," how- 'Ibid, p. 48. *Ibid, p. 70. "Ibid, pp. 96-98. "Ibid, p. 247. 12 ever, contains a manuscript copy of the resolutions of May 31st, and they are credited to The South-Carolina Gazette; And Country Journal of June 13, 1775. Jared Sparks evidently saw this newspaper before Steven son borrowed it, for he says (Sparks MSS., No. LVI) that it was the Charles Town paper that Gov. Martin sent to Dart mouth and he ,could not have seen the manuscript copy of the resolutions which was hidden away in the Dartmouth papers until B. F. Stevens brought it to light in 1895. (In The Four teenth Report, Appendix, Part X. Historical MSS. Commis sion. The MSS. of the Earl of Dartmouth, Vol. II., p. 323.). There can be no question, therefore, but that Gov. Martin's references are all to the resolutions of May 31, 1775, and when he speaks of their having been sent to the Congress at Phila delphia we have the explanation of the statement made by Capt. James Jack, December 7, 1819, that he had taken the "Meck lenburg Declaration of Independence of May, 1775, to Richard Caswell and William Hooper, the Delegates to Congress from the State of North Carolina." (Force's Archives, 4th Series, Vol. II. , p. 858.) Capt. Jack's memory was not perfect. It appears that these resolutions were also published con temporaneously in The Cape Fear Mercury, of Wilmington, for in a proclamation of August 8, 1775, Governor Martin said : "I have also seen a most infamous publication in the Cape Fear Mercury importing to be resolves of a set of people stiling themselves a Committee for the County of Mecklenburg most traiterously declaring the entire dissolution of the Laws Government and Constitution of this country and setting up a system of rule and regulation repugnant to the Laws and subversive of His Majesty's Government.'" That portion of this proclamation has long misled credulous persons into believing that the newspaper which Governor Martin enclosed in "Dispatch No. 34" was a copy of The Cape Fear Mercury and that it contained the alleged "Declaration" 'Ibid, pp. 143-144- 13 of the 20th of May, and somehow the idea has gained currency that it was the issue of. June 3, 1775. Working on this theory, S. Millington Miller, M. D., con tributed an article to Collier's of July i, 1905, wherein he in corporated a fac-simile of a portion of an alleged issue of The Cape Fear Mercury of "Friday, June 3RD, 1775," claiming that the original paper had been found among some papers left by Mr. Stevenson, the minister for whom the paper of "Dispatch No. 34" was borrowed. Anyone can see at a glance that this is not a fac-simile of a genuine issue of The Cape Fear Mercury, and the known his tory of the paper, and genuine copies thereof, prove its spu- riousness absolutely. Isaiah Thomas's History of Printing fixes Friday, October 13, 1769, as the date of the first issue of The Cape Fear Mercury, and a copy of No. 7 thereof for Fri day, November 24, 1769, in the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts, substantiates Thomas. Counting from Friday to Friday and making no allowance for 1772 as a leap-year it will be seen that there are 295 Fridays to and including the first Friday in June, 1775, and that that Friday falls on June 3rd, but allow for twenty-nine days in February, 1772, and it will be seen that the first Friday in June, 1775, fell on the 2nd of the month and not the 3rd as this spurious paper has it. The manufacturer of that paper miscalculated. Nor did the miscalculation stop on that one item. The manu facturer counted the number of weeks, not the number of Fri days, and so numbered his paper wrong. He numbered it 294. It should have been 295 to have the correct number of Fridays. But the history of The Cape Fear Mercury shows that it was not issued continuously every Friday from October 13, 1769, to June 2, 1775. The following extract from the journal of the Wilmington Committee of Safety for January 30, 1775, shows 14 that the paper had suspended publication sometime prior to the latter date : "Mr. Adam Boyd, having applied for encouragement to his news paper (some time ago laid aside), it was resolved that the committee * * * would support him on the following terms : That he, Mr. Boyd, should weekly continue a newspaper, denominated the Cape Fear Mercury, of 21 inches wide, 17 inches long, 3 columns on a page, and of the small pica or long primer letter, and in return receive his payment at the following periods, viz : ten shillings at the delivery of the first num ber, ten shillings at the end of every succeeding six months thereafter.'" But the wrong date and the wrong number are not the only evidences of spuriousness on the face of this paper. There are three distinct shades to the paper, marked by clearly defined lines, showing that the cut was made from a photograph of three distinct and separate pieces of paper put together. The heading undoubtedly came from a genuine Cape Fear Mercury, but not one of "June 3RD, 1775," and a comparison of the cut of the genuine paper in the American Antiquarian Society's library with that in Collier's of the spurious paper will show that the latter bears exactly the same stains, specks, typo graphical defects, etc., of the former and that the heading of this spurious paper is in fact an altered copy of the genuine one. For instances : The right upper horn of the little orna ment over the parenthesis before "Friday" is broken oS in both ; just to the right of the same parenthesis is a speck that appears on both cuts ; just under the "F" is another ; inside of the "U" in "Mercury" is another, and so on all over the head ing. Some apparent effort has been made to remove the larger stains from the altered copy, with the result that the altered copy is blurred at every single point where these stains show up clearly in the unchanged copy. It is well known to several people in Worcester that S. Millington 'The press of North Carolina in the Eighteenth Century (Weeks), 33. IS Miller was in Worcester a short time before this article ap peared in Collier's and that he visited the library of the American Antiquarian Society, and it is also known that the Society's copy of The Cape Fear Mercury was photographed for him prior to the appearance of his article in Collier's. The following letter will throw some light on the matter : PHOTOGRAPHERS' ASSOCIATION OF NEW ENGLAND Oflice of the First Vice-President Mr A. S. Salley. Worcester, Mass. Nov 13 1905 Columbia S. C. My Dear Sir : — Your inquiry of the nth inst to hand. I did make a copy of the Cape Fear Mercury for S. Millington Miller, but for some reason he wanted a reverse negative made — and in doing this there might have been a slight deviation from the exact size", but in your copy I feel quite sure that the dimensions are exactly the size of the original, as I was very particular about the size. I thank you for giv ing me cr for the copy in your reproduction. Very truly yours J. CHESTER BUSHONG No. 6 Elm St. The metal in the Collier's half tone shows up brighter where the erasures were made on Mr. Bushong's photograph and the faithful camera which took the next photograph and the equally faithful half tone made therefrom tell the tale too plainly. In this article is also reproduced a letter from John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, dated June 22, 1819, in which Adams caustically asks Jefferson why they had never heard of the Mecklenburg, "Declaration" before. That letter is also in Worcester — in the Public Library. Many have tried to show by that letter that Adams believed in the genuineness of the "The dimensions given in Collier's are Sj^xisM- i6 Mecklenburg "Declaration," but the wording of the letter does not show that he did. On the other hand some of his published letters show the opposite, while the Public Library in Wor cester has some unpublished letters wherein Adams denounces the "Declaration" as a villainous forgery and speaks in no un certain language of those responsible for the fraud. That Jefferson shared Adams's opinion of the matter is attested by his reply to Adams and by other writings of his. The date of the genuine paper has been altered in the repro duction. This is shown by the difference in the types in the date line. "June 3RD" is not in the usual type used for printing the months in the Mercury's date line ; it is not in the same type as "November 24" in the genuine paper. The "rd" is in small capitals which were seldom or never used in date abbreviations in the body of a newspaper then or now — always lower case letters — and it was not The Cape Fear Mercury's style to use figures followed by "rd" or "th" in the date line; a comma was all that was used, but the "rd" in small capitals appears to have been used in this case to fill up an awkward space. The "Friday" and the "1775" occupy exactly the same positions on this paper that they do on the Antiquarian Society's paper. "June 3," is not so long as "November 24," and would leave an awkward space which the "rd" in small capitals followed by the comma helps to fill up for the sake of appearance. Besides, the appearance of the cut indicates that a change was made in the original copy before the cut was made. The "75" in "1775" is also in a different type from the "17" and the "2" in "294" is in different type from the "9" and the "4." Again, the type in the two columns appended to this heading are different. The type of the Mecklenburg "Declaration" in the first column are apparently modern type and are smaller and trimmer than the type of the second column, which are the clumsy-looking type of the Revolutionary period. The second 17 column was apparently taken from a paper published just after the Lexington and Concord fights, in April, 1775, giving the casualties of those fights. The first column was taken from another paper, and contains only the first three of the five resolves of the Alexander Meck lenburg "Declaration" of May 20th, with the names appended of the chairman, secretary and others of the alleged members of the alleged convention. This piece was evidently set in modern type, and as the font evidently contained no old-fash ioned German "s" (which resembles an "f") a modern "f" was used in lieu thereof. The difference is apparent. The bar at right angles to the perpendicular extends from the left across to the right of the perpendicular in the "f" ; it stops at the per pendicular of the old style "s." This alleged contemporary print of the alleged Mecklenburg "Declaration" faithfully fol lows in capitalization, punctuation, spelling and the arrange ment of the names of the alleged signers of the "Declaration" a broadside printed in Johnson's Traditions and Reminiscences of the Revolution in 185 1, which did not pretend to be a copy from the alleged original "Declaration" but a copy of another broadside that had been prepared from Alexander's copy (made from memory) of the alleged original "Declaration" to which had been added a list of the alleged signers of the "Declara tion." Alexander's memory might have been excellent, but it could not possibly have been so accurate as to have enabled him to remember the very spelling, capitalization, punctuation and arrangement of a paper he had not seen in many years. These three pieces of paper were placed in juxtaposition and photographed, and the two column pieces were not so placed as to make their perpendicular lines of type exactly parallel. If the doubt surrounding the Mecklenburg "Declaration of Independence" is ever dispelled it will have to be done by gen uine contemporary documents and not by spurious ones like this. i8 But up to this time no contemporary documents or records have been produced to show that any resolutions or "Declaration" other than the resolutions of May 31, 1775, were passed during the latter half of May, 1775, by any body of men in Mecklen burg County, and, as the memory of man cannot be relied upon for accurate and reliable statements about some event that has taken place twenty or thirty years in the past, the impartial and scientific student of American history cannot but reject, until such documents or records are produced, the "Declaration" alleged to have been passed on May 20, 1775, and believe that the memory witnesses have gotten confused in their minds the resolutions of May 31, 1775, which were independent enough in spirit, but which by no means constituted a "Declaration of Independence." Collier's for July 1 1905 Tfe TRUE CRADLE of AMERICAN LIBERTY INDEPENDENCE BELL RANG A TEAR EARLIER IN CHARLOTTE .; THAN IN PHILADELPHIA A DECLARATION of Colonial Inde pendence was drawn up and signed by thirty-one Scotch - Irish Presbyte rians, in popular assem bly, at Charlotte, Meck lenburg County, North Carolina, on May 20, 1775, nearly fourteen months before that fa mous Declaration of July 4, 1776, inspired by Thomas Paine and writ ten by Thomas Jefferson. Richard Jackson, Ben- jamin Franklin, and others waited upon Lord Grenville in London in February, 1765, .and re monstrated against the execution of the Stamp Act. On January 6, 1765, the sloop Diligence arrived at Wilmington, North Carolina, in the Cape Fear River, and attempted to discharge its burden of stamps. But Colonial militia, hastily gathered togeth er under Colonel John Ashe (of future Revolu tionary fame), marched to the wharf and notified the captain of the sloop that they would not al low him to land his de tested cargo. And, what was even more to the point, they proceeded to the residence of James Houston, stamp agent for the Crown, took him along wilh them to the public square, and forced him there to take open oath that he would not perform the duties of his office. The affeirs of Concord and Lexington culmi nated in the pitched bat tie of Bunker Hill, on June 17, 1775. But on May 16, 1771, the army (if '_'P.egulatorsJ_' under By S. millington MILLER, M.D. X ttJS CAfE'-FEAR i?i.'ft< «j-»i< d«iclM sura MERCTJRYi (¦ F RI^I) A'V» , June 3,«/ tM^ r ru tlM ¦tHn.h^n«fa<1 ^"kI ti* (H^ t >* h% ¦^4^** iA»t,r.^ ... uia ' >., I i«' ,.utri rv tnci 'll*" A 4i»*oJvT isn ISIV 1 i ' i.CJ! * ,^ m "^Ji- g»'^'*^'> <-r,Bt* '• Iji t-f 1 natU'v tl «*«iK^<*<*rt ' 1 T, < t' X a u>) vtin thai ^l ^ ^v . / .' / / / ' y' . ' ^.. - -¦ - ^ > .^ *t.^rfV( / V. ' J * . ¦' 4 t. #v / 7^ rt.. Reduced facsimile of the letter from John Adams to President Thomas Jeffer son, in which he expresses surprise and displeasure at not having been ap prised until this late date of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence The original of this letter is now in private hands^ but teas originally in ihe Randolph Collection of Jefferson Letters^ sold by Jefferson Levy., £.sq.y of Monticello. TEXT OF THE LETTER QyiNCY, 22d June, iSig Dear Sir: — May I enclose you one of the greatest curiosities and one ofthe deepest mysteries that ever occurred to me; it is in the Essex Register of June the 5th, 1819. It is Entitled, from the Kaleigh Register ''Declaration of Independence." How is it possible that this paper should have been concealed from me to this day. Had it been communicated to me in the time of it, I know, if you do not know, that it would have been printed in every Whig newspaper upon the continent, you know that if I had pos sessed it I would have made the Hall of Congress echo and reecho with it fifteen months before your Declaration of Independence. What a poor ignorant malicious, short-sighted, crapulous mass is Tom Paine's Common sense compared with this paper. Had I known it I would have commented upon it fiom the day you entered Congress till the fourth of July 1776. - The genuine sense of America at that moment was never so well expressed before nor since. Richard Caswell, William Hooper and Joseph Hewes, the three Representatives of North Carolina in Congress, you know as well as I and you know that the unanimity of the States fully depended on the vote of Joseph Hewes, and was finally determined by him, and yet history is to ascribe American Revolution to Thomas Paine sal verbum sapienti. I am, dear Sir, your invariable friend, President Jefferson. John Adams. vy ¦ ¦ ^-- — " ^ ^THE TRUE CRADLE OF AMERICAN LIBERTY y {^Continued from page ig) much the same obscure reasons as those which have dimmed the well-earned renown of all the great men of North Carolina, history has dealt obscurely and begrudgingly with the igth and 20th of May Declaration of Independence drawn up and signed at Charlotte in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. I have prepared this article, and reproduced its original and hitherto unpro curable illustrations, to prove for good and all that there was a public assembly called at Charlotte, North Carolina, on May ig and 20, 1775, and that either on the first or Second day of that meeting Dr. Ephraim Brevard (the oldest of the seven sons of the "Widow" Brevard, all of whom fought in the Revolu tion) drew up three articles or resolutions, which were signed by thirty-one patriotic citizens. These resolutions, so signed, were at once carried by Captain James Jack to the Provincial Congress, then assembled at Hillsborough in an adjoining county, and were sent by the presiding officer of that assembly, Samuel Johnston, to the first Federal Congress, then convened in Philadelphia, in the keeping of the North Carolina delegates to that Congress, William Hooper, Richard Caswell, John Penn, and Joseph Hewes. One or all of these gentle men brought these resolves to the notice of Thomas Jefferson and other patriots, but they were regarded by them as premature, and fell into what Mr. Grover Cleveland would call "innocuous desuetude." Testimony to the fact of this May ig and 20 convention, and to the actual draft and publicity of its three resolutions, or Declarations of Independence, is extensive and entirely credible. John McKnitt Alexander, the secretary of the meeting, kept the original Book of the Resolves in his possession until his house was altogether destroyed by fire in 1800. He then made two copies from memory, and gave one to Governor William Richardson Davie and one to Hugh Williamson (the historian of North Carolina). Williamson's copy was lost or stolen. Davie's copy passed into the hands of Governor Montfort Stokes of North Carolina, who published a broadside in substantiation of it in 1831, and was among the archives of North Carolina in 1834, and again in 1846, as testified by reliable witnesses. But this copy has also disappeared. Governor Montfort Stokes has left a published statement to the effect that he saw Hugh Williamson's copy in his (Williamson's) possession in the year 1793. The Rev. Humphrey Hunter, who fought through the Revolution as a soldier, wrote a "Journal of the War in the South." The phraseology of this journal as to the dates. May ig and 20, is distinct and unequivocal; also as regards the character and number of the Resolves and the names of the sign ers. Dr. Hunter declares that he was then twenty years and fourteen days of age, and that he was a deeply interested spectator of the proceedings. KXiiUCi'lVE OFMOF. NuBTH CAWOUNA, ¦ Ba.Ei6H, Svtfi J, 1981. iV'.fXcaWafiirtiy'JV'briitvrelfnti, •:•;(/«> iasioB of 1S3I)..-(I, vi'iUi a Imtdah'f, imrtlti do .jii^lici: to Uie ihemartj f^a nmabir of frt^riotiz ciiixe^is -wlto assenthl^d iii tM esu-aty i^Mi'Mm. ¦ ^urg, in the Said Slate, ill Miit^ ITT3. addtleclafcd thiimselvesint!epsmUnti^theCrQ-mii>ffh-eat 'BnlabiT. lm:e directed t/ie pvUhcJhrn of the saiii Vedm-aiiou, tmth ihe prmji ^htl'nntien^'wg if^.e ,.ame. The lej^lainr,! have uiso directed thupiibticiillon^ a miiUar Oeclaration Ttlade by ihe 'iU.zf.nsoJCuntbCTiamlecjmfy.,iii,TlitlCylTT6j a-dr'.the reprmting ^ the Jaunixditf ilie Praoiti- •III Coufreas ojl-fmih Oanlina, lifli al nal\fax m the 4(4 da^ of JlpH, 1776, amimmng a re. ¦lolidiiM, " That Ihe ndegatcifai-tlm totomj in CmUnenlal tkmgreis be emptrwifred to umnu- ¦ivUhthe Bi-'e.^atcs ff otfter Cohnks in-deirluriTigZndi^&idenc^.'^S^c. Vide Journal, ptt^es tl ^ 12. In 'iWdknee to ilie rendniion aitthor^shj^- th£ s&id fubUcationS. and dire^^t^ufi: ihetr dkfiJi,'fiioii' I fta-:e the. honor to p-nclose you a copy ^eaeli. lo-m.r.,ihgrefii rei^peci, itotir0d't, eerv^t. Proclamation of Governor StoKes of North Carolina General John Graham wrote a letter on October 4, 1830, to Dr. Joseph M. Alexander, son of the Secretary of the Mecklenburg Declaration (John McKnitt Alexander), giving a detailed account of the proceedings at the convention as personally witnessed by him. Both Hunter's "Journal" and General Graham's letter are published in the North Carolina State Archives. A certificate of the man who carried the Resolves to Hillsborough, Captain James Jack, can also be found in the State Archives. Colonel William Polk of Raleigh had also published, in 1831^^ a personal confirmation as an eye-witness of the integrity of the May ig and 20, 1775, Convention andTDeclaration. Governor Josiah Martin issued a proclamation on August 8, 1775, in which he says: "And, whereas, I have also seen a most infamous publication in the "Cape Fear Mercury" (published at Wilmington, North Carolina) "import ing to be the resolves of a set of people styling themselves a committee for the County of Mecklenburg, most traitorously declaring the entire dissolu tion of the laws, government, and constitution of this country, and setting up a system of rule and regulation repugnant to the laws, and subversive of his Majesty's Government." The only authorities whom John Fiske quotes on the other side are^ George Bancroft (vol. vii, page 370) and a pamphlet by J. C. Welling, a late president of a college in Washington, D. C. Bancroft discovered in the archives of the Foreign Office in London a copy of the "South Carolina Gazette," published in Charleston, South Caro lina, giving a literatim and verbatim transcription of the sixteen resolutions drawn up and signed on May 30, 1775, at Charlotte, by the committee of the, county. This committee had apparently been sitting, more or less steadily, since May ig, as was most natural (and it was also even more natural that the longer they sat the more resolutions they should draw up). Bancroft, of course, as the Columbus of this copy of the "South Carolina Gazette," has laid great stress upon the actuality of the 30th of May convention, and neg lected that of the 19th and 20th. Confident in the destruction of John McKnitt Alexander's house by fire, in 1800, and overjoyed at this discovery by Bancroft, a recent school of what Fiske rather contemptuously describes as "students" has sprung into life (all of them North Carolinians), who seem to be doing all they can to deprive their own State of its "well-deserved renown." On the side of the 20th of May Declaration are arrayed the host of wit nesses already quoted, and the overwhelming character of the facsimiles which accompany this article. Opposed to this convincing array of statements from eye-witnesses to the earlier convention are: The personal theory of Ban croft that there could not have been any Convention of May 20, because he could only find a contemporary account of the Convention of May 30, and certain gentlemen whose argument is entirely founded upon Mr. Bancroft's discovery. F^'-^^i-^\- -5'** K'ljSi.'lii ,*Si;;*:''*,i 'V»;.-.-i';T>:.iSjH!i • ¦.''.¦iK :-.s5"'' ' ;, "i^ ¦'.'¦SJiiiSllSE J. '. hoh.,4.s*^ibP S. ¦! .Hi. '•"" „'. 'i,...-p. -. ';v'"'.'i'«K»'.Si3 BS^'g-.a'iiTikBEp.-riaiw