That there was a Declaration of Independence made at Charlotte, by citizens of the County of Mecklenburg, North Carolina, on the 20th of May, 1775, is the commonly received opinion in that State, and has been often stated in print.[615:A] The closer scrutiny to which this declaration has been of late years subjected[615:B] appears to invalidate its authenticity. The patriotism, intelligence, and courage of the Scotch-Irish inhabitants of Mecklenburg—the Alexanders, Brevard, Polk, Balch, and others, are universally acknowledged; and that they "acted" independence as early as May, 1775, is admitted. But that they then made an absolute declaration of independence, (supposing them competent to do so,) does not appear to be substantiated by sufficient evidence. The original manuscript, it is alleged, was preserved by the secretary of the convention till the year 1800, when it was destroyed, with his dwelling-house, by fire.[615:C] It is said, however, that he had previously taken care to give copies of it to two or three persons; and mention is made of one of these transcripts as early as 1793. But they do not appear to have been any further multiplied. That a declaration of independence, made more than a year before that of July, 1776, should have been preserved by the secretary so long, and yet have remained unpublished and so little known, is extraordinary. It is remarkable, too, that such a paper should appear without date of time on the face of it. The meeting reported to have been held at Charlotte, on the twentieth of May, is styled "the convention;" but that of the thirty-first of the same kind, was simply a meeting of the committee of the county, and was so called at the time. It is asserted that the immediate exciting cause of the resolutions, or alleged declaration of the twentieth, was, that on that day a messenger arrived in hot haste with intelligence of the battle of Lexington. But it appears[616:A] that this intelligence reached Savannah, in Georgia, on the tenth; and it would appear hardly probable that it should have reached Charlotte ten days later.
Upon comparing one of the manuscript copies with the one published in Martin's History of North Carolina, there appears to be a remarkable difference between them. To explain this, it has, indeed, been conjectured, that Martin's copy contains the resolutions as at first draughted by Dr. Brevard, the author of them, and that the other contains them in their amended form. But the Martin copy, instead of being a rough draught, appears to be more formal and complete than the other. The Martin copy expresses the resolution in the present tense; the other in the imperfect, bearing upon its face the appearance of having been made up at a subsequent time by an effort of recollection.
The document styled a declaration, whatever may have been its origin, or terms, remained long in obscurity, public attention having been first drawn to it, in 1819, by the Raleigh Register, at the instance of Colonel Thomas Polk. But a declaration, to effect its object, must be published far and wide.
The Mecklenburg committee met at Charlotte on the thirtieth of May, and passed a series of resolutions, (making no reference whatever to a previous declaration of independence;) suspending the former civil constitution, and organizing a provisional republican government. The eighteenth resolution is in these words: "That these resolves be in full force and virtue, until instructions 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:" thus explicitly recognizing the right of eminent domain as belonging to Great Britain. It is not to be credited that the Mecklenburg patriots made an absolute declaration of independence on the twentieth, and in ten days thereafter acknowledged the sovereignty of Great Britain. These admirable resolutions of the thirtieth were published in the Mercury, a North Carolina newspaper, (and others,) and a copy of it was transmitted by Governor Tryon to the British minister, and denounced as the boldest of all, "most traitorously declaring the entire dissolution of the laws and constitution, and setting up a system of rule and regulation subversive of his majesty's government." The alleged declaration of the twentieth, brief and absolute, was published in no newspaper, and was not denounced by the governor; while the resolutions of the thirty-first, recognizing the sovereignty of Great Britain, were so published and denounced. Mecklenburg, in North Carolina, was, nevertheless, then unquestionably in a condition of actual self-government and virtual independence; and the names of Brevard, the master-spirit of the Charlotte Convention, (afterwards a patriot-martyr,) and of his compatriots, stand on the page of history in characters of recorded honor which need no adventitious lustre.[617:A]
FOOTNOTES:
[615:A] Its authenticity was admitted in the former edition of this work.
[615:B] Especially by Mr. Grigsby, in his Discourse on the Virginia Convention of '76, p. 20.
[615:C] Foote's Sketches of North Carolina, 205.
[616:A] Bancroft, vii. 337.