School History of North Carolina : from 1584 to the present time

by John W. Moore

CHAPTER XXVII.

FOURTH PROVINCIAL CONGRESS DECLARES INDEPENDENCE.

A. D. 1776.

The Hillsboro Congress of August, 1775, formally inaugurated a war of resistance to British oppressions, but to the Halifax Congress of April, 1776, was left the crowning glory of being the first in all the colonies to declare for absolute independence of the mother country and for foreign alliances.

2. It was quickly seen when the new Congress met at Halifax, on the 4th of April, 1776, that great progress had been made in public sentiment. At Hillsboro professions of loyalty and of a desire for continued connection with Great Britain, some honest, but many of questionable sincerity doubtless, were still to be heard. At Halifax there was neither halting nor hesitation in avowing that absolute independence from the mother country was the real aim of the people of the province.

3. The time for the final plunge had come, and North Carolina was quite ready for it. Accordingly, on the fourth day of the session, a committee was appointed to take into consideration the usurpations and violences attempted and committed by the King and Parliament of Britain against America, and the further measures to be taken for frustrating the same, and for the better defence of the province. Four days later, that is to say, on the 12th day of April, 1776, a day ever to be remembered in the annals of America, the committee reported as follows:

"It appears to your committee that pursuant to the plan concerted by the British Ministry for subjugating America, the King and Parliament of Great Britain have usurped a power over the persons and properties of the people unlimited and uncontrolled, and disregarding their humble petitions for peace, liberty and safety, have made divers legislative acts denouncing war, famine and every species of calamity against the continent in general. That British fleets and armies have been, and still are, daily employed in destroying the people and committing the most horrid devastations on the country. That Governors in different colonies have declared protection to slaves who should imbrue their hands in the blood of their masters; that the ships belonging to America are declared prizes of war, and many of them have been violently seized and confiscated, in consequence of which multitudes of the people have been destroyed or from easy circumstances reduced to the most lamentable distress.

"AND WHEREAS, the moderation hitherto manifested by the united colonies and their sincere desire to be reconciled to the mother country on constitutional principles have procured no mitigation of the aforesaid wrongs and usurpations, and no hopes remain of obtaining redress by those means alone, which have been hitherto tried, your committee are of opinion that the house should enter into the following resolve, to wit:

"Resolved, That the delegates for this colony in the Continental Congress be empowered to concur with the delegates of the other colonies in declaring independence and forming foreign alliances, reserving to this colony the sole and exclusive right of forming a constitution and laws for this colony, and of appointing delegates from time to time (under direction of a general representation thereof) to meet the delegates of the other colonies for such purposes as shall be hereafter pointed out."

And thereupon the Congress did so resolve unanimously.

4. With the exception of the Mecklenburg Declaration of the year before, there had been, up to that time, nowhere in all America a single organized body to venture on such a proposition. Individuals like Samuel Adams, William Hooper and Christopher Gadsden had been heard advocating it; but every other assembly was yet protesting its loyalty to the King. It was more than a month before Virginia consented to Patrick Henry's demands, and the other colonies were to follow at intervals after her endorsement.

5. In the annals of the world there is no prouder record than the entry made on the journals of the Halifax Congress on the 12th day of April, 1776. A great fleet and army were yet upon the soil and within the waters of North Carolina, but this could not deter these resolute patriots from thus taking the lead in a doubtful and perilous departure from all the ties and obligations of the past.

6. It can then be understood how joyously the news was received at this same town of Halifax on July 22d, that the Continental Congress, at Philadelphia, had acceded to the wishes of North Carolina, and had, on the 4th day of the same month, declared the "Independence of America."

7. The "Council of Safety" was at that time in session at Halifax, and by it Thursday, the 1st of August, was set as a day for proclaiming the declaration at the courthouse in Halifax, and the people were invited to attend. On the day appointed, according to the vivid description of an eye-witness, a vast concourse of people assembled in front of the court house. The provincial troops and the militia were all drawn up in full array. At midday Cornelius Harnett ascended a rostrum that had been erected in front of the courthouse, and even as he opened the scroll upon which was written the immortal words of the declaration, the enthusiasm of the immense crowd broke forth in one loud swell of rejoicing and prayer. When he had finished, all the people shouted with joy, and the cannon sounding from fort to fort, proclaimed the glorious tidings that all the thirteen colonies were now free and independent States. The soldiers seized Mr. Harnett and bore him on their shoulders through the town. The declaration was ordered to be read in all portions of North Carolina, and, except in one county, the mandate was everywhere obeyed.

8. All the North Carolina troops then in arms, including the two Continental regiments and the militia under General Ashe, were in Charleston. They were spectators of the combat in which the gallant Moultrie, within his fort of palmetto logs, signally defeated the same British fleet under Sir Peter Parker that had been so recently in Cape Fear River.

9. General James Moore marched northward from Charleston with his brigade, but died in Wilmington. His death was a serious loss to North Carolina and the cause of liberty, for in military genius, as in patriotic devotion, he had few equals and no superior in America. Colonel Francis Nash succeeded to his place. General Howe was sent to Savannah, having with him his old command, the Second North Carolina Regiment. Four new regiments were ordered by the Provincial Congress and were soon put in the field.

10. On the same day with the battle in Charleston Harbor, June 28th, 1776, the Cherokee Indians descended from their mountain homes and murdered two hundred western settlers. General Griffith Rutherford collected two thousand men of the militia regiments in his command, and took such swift and ample vengeance that from that time these Indians ceased to trouble the frontier. They had been incited by British agents to their disastrous work.