Mecklenburg resolves in context

Regular readers of this column may remember my interest in the so-called Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence dated May 20, 1775, a date enshrined on North Carolina’s state flag.

In the January 14, edition of “The News of Davidson” historian Nancy Griffith reminded her readers that last March, the “News” published my
article “on the long-standing controversy surrounding the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and the Mecklenburg Resolves.”

Griffith explained that the Mecklenburg Resolves, passed shortly after the oft-debated declaration, has been lost in its shadow, but is equally interesting. As we begin the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States, I thought it would be interesting to learn more about it.

“The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, supposedly adopted on May 20, 1775, proclaimed that residents of Mecklenburg County were seceding from British rule. There are many, from Thomas Jefferson to scholars today, who don’t believe the document ever existed.’  Many sources opine that an early 19th Century first-person account of the signing of the Declaration is really a recollection of the passing of
the Resolves.”

Griffith explains some of the background of the use of other “resolves” adopted prior to the Mecklenburg Resolves.

“By 1774 North Carolina was beginning to chafe at British rule. At the time it was governed by a Provincial Congress on the state level and
by Committees of Safety on the local level. Committees of Correspondence were used to keep residents up to date on resistance to
British rule in other colonies. As unrest increased, Committees of Safety began to publish documents known as “resolves,” which put forth
members’ positions on loyalty to the crown.”

For example, Griffith notes that at “A meeting of the North Carolina Provincial Congress, held in New Bern on August 25-24, 1774, and  attended by representatives of local Committees of Safety, is indicative of the sentiment at the time. Although the resulting resolves did not sever the relationship with the British crown, delegates decried the British custom of taxation without representation, demanded that colonists’ rights should be the same as those of British citizens, and stated that the Crown was unlawful in its punishment of Boston radicals.

“In addition, it urged the colonies to unite in resistance to British policies and noted that a boycott of British goods was possible if Parliament did not respond positively.

In February 1775, in the face of such sentiment, the British parliament addressed King George, declaring that the American colonies
were in a state of actual rebellion.”

Thanks to Ms. Griffith we can put the Mecklenburg Resolves in the context of resolves adopted in other American colonies as a part of
the growing resistance to British oppression.

She shows that the adoption of resolutions of protest by various American political and governing groups was not uncommon. The Declaration of the Causes and Necessity for Taking Up Arms was one of several addresses issued by Congress in the summer of 1775 with the object of justifying to the American people and to the world the necessity for armed resistance.

Until July 4, 1776, however, declarations of independence, other than the possible Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence were not used.

The Declaration of the Causes and Necessity for Taking Up Arms was one of several addresses issued by Congress in the summer of 1775 with the object of justifying to the American people and to the world the necessity for armed resistance. It was not a declaration of independence.

Logically, in Mecklenburg’s case, the resolves would come before the more serious independence declaration.

Confusing? Yes.

But as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of these events, we will learn more.