by F.W. Thorlton

May 20, 1775

In 1762, Mecklenburg was created from Anson County. The choice of this name was to honor Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Germany, the new bride of King George III. But trouble had been brewing in the American Colonies for some time.

Tempers reached a boiling point when in June, 1774 news came that Britain had decided to punish the town of Boston for their role in the Boston Tea Party by closing the harbor. The harbor was the life blood of Boston, the busiest town in America, and this harshness angered all Americans. A cry went out from the Massachusetts Colony for all other colonies to select delegates to convene a new government, a Continental Congress. They asked the colonies to set up Committees of Correspondence to share information between themselves.

Support poured in from the colonies. To aid the sufferers in Boston, the people of Wilmington sent a shipload of provisions to be hauled by wagon from Salem, Massachusetts. Governor Martin heard that the Americans planned to convene a Continental Congress in Philadelphia in September. To keep the North Carolina Assembly from sending delegates he refused to call a meeting of the Assembly until after September. In July, the moderator of the Assembly, John Harvey, sent word for the people to send members to a convention to be held in New Bern on August 25, 1774. Governor Martin was wild with anger. He sent out letters forbidding the convention and called on the king’s officers to stop it but on the day chosen the convention met. No such group had ever before assembled without the consent of the Governor.

John Harvey was chosen the moderator of the convention. Among many issues considered, the convention declared that it was wrong to tax people without their consent, and that it was wrong to close the port of Boston. They requested each county appoint a committee of five to carry out the wishes of the convention and to aid the Committee of Correspondence. They chose delegates, William Hooper, Joseph Hewes and Richard Caswell to represent North Carolina at the Continental Congress to be held in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774.

The committees requested by the convention were later called Committees of Safety. With government authority deteriorating in the communities, these committees soon took on the role of the courts, buying and selling ammunition, and forming and drilling companies of soldiers.

Governor Martin tried to regain control by calling a meeting of the Assembly for April 4, 1775. At once Speaker Harvey asked the people to elect members to a second convention also to meet in New Bern the day before the Assembly. The convention met on April 3 and changed itself into the Assembly on April 4. Of the sixty-eight members of the Assembly, sixty–one were also members of the convention. Governor Martin would never call an Assembly again.

John Davidson was appointed to the Committee of Safety of Mecklenburg. He attended meetings held in Charlotte to discuss the grievances and methods of action. One particular meeting, which would become a significant date in North Carolina history, was called on May 19, 1775, by Col. Thomas Polk. Two men from each captain's company in the militia were selected to attend. John Davidson and John McKnitt Alexander were the representatives of the Hopewell District.

The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence 
Excitement was high. The Royal Governor in New Bern had lost control of the provincial Assembly and refused to call it into session.

The story, pieced together from Davidson family anecdotes, antique school text books and historical documents, is that Thomas Polk expected 18 delegates to attend the meeting but there were so many influential men present that an argument broke out and 27 were ultimately seated, with others listening at the door and the windows. Chief considerations were lack of security for the unarmed province, restraint on provincial and export trade, unjust taxation, and the immediate need for some form of local government.

On that day a tired rider arrived in Charlottetown with news of bloodshed in the northern colonies. The British redcoats had fired on Americans in Massachusetts, at Lexington and Concord. This was inconceivable, and with respect to their other grievances, unacceptable. Cautious men now shouted for a declaration of independence.

They appointed a committee consisting of Rev. Hezekiah Balach, Col. Kennon and Dr. Ephraim Brevard to draw up resolutions for their consideration. The declaration proposed a revolutionary list of resolves stating, "that all laws and commissions confirmed by, or derived from the authority of the King and Parliament, are annulled..." and the words, “we do hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people.” Following careful consideration at 2 am of the following day, May 20, 1775, the delegates signed the document that was called the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, the Meck Dec.

Adam Brevard. Davidson said that his grandfather, Major Davidson, and Richard Barry rode the 14 miles home on a bypath, after night for fear of being killed by the enemy in the cause of the Declaration.

As a member of the Committee of Safety, Major Davidson attended the meeting on May 31 where delegates met to adopt the Mecklenburg Resolves. The Resolves were intended to fill the legal gap between Royal and Continental government. The document contained 20 amendments outlining how the people would elect leaders and maintain law and order until laws could be authorized by Congress. They were to provide a framework for government by the Committee of Safety until proper laws were passed by the Continental and Provincial (North Carolina) Congresses. Capt. James Jack delivered the documents to North Carolina delegates attending the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia. The copies sent to Philadelphia are missing.

John McKnitt Alexander was said to have kept the original Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and was to make five copies. On April 6, 1800 many records including the original declaration were destroyed in a fire at his home. But on September 3, 1800, Mr. Alexander transcribed two additional copies from his notes.

Many believe the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and the Resolves formed the first official declaration of independence from Britain. To date no copies of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence have been found.

The Southern Campaign
In 1780 Cornwallis marched out of Charleston and across the Carolinas with orders to put an end to the rebellion in the south. The occupation of Charlotte further strengthened Mecklenburg community resolve. The patriots were usually outnumbered, but strategic battles at Kings Mountain, Cowpens, Sherrill's Ford, Cowan's Ford and Guilford Courthouse left Cornwallis troops so depleted that he retreated to Wilmington before moving on to Virginia and final defeat at Yorktown. The arrival of the French and the disastrous Carolina Campaign were considered determining factors in the outcome of the American Revolution.

The "Controversy"
In 1819, Dr. Joseph Alexander transcribed a copy of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence that his father had written from his notes after the fire, and he submitted a copy for publication in the Raleigh Register.

John Adams read the Declaration in the Essex Register, in June of 1819, and forwarded a copy to Thomas Jefferson with a note saying that he believed it to be genuine.  “The genuine sense of America at that moment was never expressed so well before, or since.” 

Opponents of Thomas Jefferson circulated a rumor that Jefferson had indeed copied “the spirit, the sense and the expressions” from this Mecklenburg Declaration in drafting his own work. In response to the rumor, supporters of Jefferson accused the Alexanders of forgery and began denying that The Meck Dec had ever even existed, a position which is maintained by some people even today.

In 1830, when Major John Davidson was 95 years old, apparently in response to Thomas Jefferson’s accusations, he wrote that he believed himself to be the last person living who had attended the May 19th - 20th, 1775 meeting when the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence was signed.

A pamphlet about the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence was published by the North Carolina legislature in 1831. It contains a copy of the declaration, the names of its signers, the 1819 newspaper article that was forwarded by Adams to Jefferson that initiated the controversy and several letters including Major John Davidson’s.

The state of North Carolina placed two dates on the state flag to commemorate the revolutionary actions. One, April 12, 1776, was to recognize the Halifax Resolves authorizing NC delegates to the Continental Congress to vote for independence. It was the first official action by a colony calling for independence. The other date, May 19 and 20, 1775, recognized the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.

For more information about the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and the Controversy that followed:
Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County
http://www.cmstory.org/history/hornets/facts.htm

On November 21, 1789, North Carolina adopted the constitution of the United States, becoming the twelfth state to enter the new federal union

Reading materials

Chain of Error - Revolutionary Spirit – William L. Brown, Jr.
Copyright 2005

They Came from Ireland - F.W. Thorlton
Copyright 1996
fthorlton@aol.com.

Major John Davidson of Rural Hill – Chalmers –Gaston Davidson , Ph.D
Copyright 1943

The Young People’s History of North Carolina – Daniel Harvey Hill
Copyright 1916

Papers, letters and affidavits from the Davidson family
Mecklenburg County Clerk of Court
Davidson College Library

University of North Carolina at Charlotte Library

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library
Southern Historical Collection

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Spectators
General Joseph Graham
General George Graham    
Reverend Francis Cummings
Colonel Ezekiel Polk            
Robert Harris Sr.
David Rose (Grandfather of Pres. Polk)

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