USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: The Colonial and Revolutionary Periods 1584 1783, Volume I > Part 38
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1 An attempt twenty-five years later to reproduce these resolves from memory resulted in the document famous in the controversial literature of the Revolution as the "Mecklenburg Declaration of In- dependence" of May 20, 1775. It is not necessary to refer to this controversy here further than to vindicate the statesmanship of the Mecklenburg patriots from the suspicion of having promulgated so absurd a declaration. For what, indeed, could be more absurd than a declaration of independence and assertion of sovereignty by a single county while in the same breath acknowledging its subordination to a Continental Congress which at that very moment was sincerely protesting the utmost loyalty to the Crown and earnestly exerting itself to restore the colonies to their former relations to the mother country ? When the time came to act, even the Provincial Congress did not venture to declare the province itself independent but re- ferred the question to the Continental Congress where it properly belonged. It is no credit to either the patriotism or the statesmanship of the Mecklenburg patriots, representing a mere artificial adminis- trative unit dependent for its very existence upon the provincial au- thority, to suppose that in such a grave matter they would assume to do what the Provincial Congress did not consider itself competent to do. On the other hand the course which they actually pursued, viz., the setting up of a county government to take the place of that which had been annulled until the proper authority, the Provincial Congress, should provide otherwise, was a wise and statesmanlike pro- cedure which reflects credit upon their wisdom and patriotism alike.
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a different opinion to "the Compact on which the Constitution is founded." And, finally, in August, just before the meeting of the Provincial Congress, Tryon County resolved to bear true allegiance to the king, but only "so long as he seeures to us those Rights and Liberties which the principles of Our Constitution require."
Thus it seems clear that when the Provincial Congress met in August, 1775, the entire provinee had reached the ad- vanced ground on which Granville County stood in August of 1774. But just as these local assemblies were more conserva- tive in expressing their sentiments than individuals, so the Provincial Congress was more conservative than the local assemblies, though both were controlled largely by the same men. This Congress, September 8, unanimously adopted an address to "The Inhabitants of the British Empire," in which they said :
"To enjoy the Fruits of our own honest Industry; to eall that our own which we earn with the labour of our hands and the sweat of our Brows; to regulate that internal policy by which we and not they [Parliament ] are to be affected; these are the mighty Boons we ask. And Traitors, Rebels, and every harsh appellation that Malice can dietate or the Viru- lenee of language express, are the returns which we receive to the most humble Petitions and earnest supplications. We have been told that Independance is our objeet; that we seek to shake off all connection with the parent State. Cruel Sug- gestion! Do not all our professions, all our actions, uni- formly contradict this?
"We again deelare, and we invoke that Almighty Being who searches the Recesses of the human heart and knows our most seeret Intentions, that it is our most earnest wish and prayer to be restored with the other United Colonies to the State in which we and they were placed before the year 1763."
Soon after the adjournment of this Congress came news of the king's proclamation in October declaring the Americans out of his protection and commanding his armies and navy to levy war against them. After this nothing more is heard from public assemblies and conventions of loyalty to the Crown. Sentiment hastened rapidly toward independence. "My first wish is to be free," declared Hooper, a delegate in the Con- tinental Congress; " my second to be reconciled to Great Brit- ain." Eight days later, February 14, 1776, John Penn, also a delegate in the Continental Congress, urged the necessity of forming alliances with foreign countries although he fore-
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saw that "the consequences of making alliances is perhaps a total separation with Britain." And Hewes, writing from Congress to Samuel Johnston, March 20, declared: "I see no prospect of a reconciliation. Nothing is left now but to fight it out. * Some among us urge strongly for Inde- pendency and eternal separation."
Thus spoke the three delegates in the Continental Con- gress ; but in no respect were they in advance of their con- stituents. Samuel Johnston in March, 1776, thought it "highly probable * that the Colonies will be under the necessity of throwing off their Allegiance to the K[ing] and P[arliament] of G[reat] B[ritain] this Summer," and reply- ing to Hewes' letter of March 20th, said : "I have apprehen- sions that no foreign power will treat with us till we disclaim our dependancy on Great Britain and I would wish to have as- surances that they would afford us effectual Service before we take that step. I have, I assure you, no other Scruples on this head; the repeated Insults and Injuries we have re- ceived from the people of my Native Island has [sic] done away all my partiality for a Connection with them." On April 12, 1776, eight days after the fourth Provincial Con- gress convened at Halifax, in a letter written from Peters- burg, Virginia, the writer says: "From several letters I have received from North Carolina since that convention met, I find they are for independence. * * Mr. was some little time at Halifax. He says they are quite spirited and unanimous; indeed, I hear nothing praised but 'Common Sense' and Independence."
On April 14, Hooper and Penn arrived at Halifax from Philadelphia to attend the Provincial Congress. Three days later Hooper wrote to Hewes, who had remained at Phila- delphia, and Penn wrote to John Adams, describing the situa- tion as they found it in Virginia and North Carolina. "The Language of Virginia," wrote Hooper, "is uniformly for Independence. If there is a single man in the province who preaches a different doctrine I had not the fortune to fall in his Company. But rapid as the change has been in Virginia, North Carolina has the honour of going far before them. Our late Instructions afford you some speci- men of the temper of the present Congress and of the people at large. It would be more than unpopular, it would be Toryism, to hint the possibility of future reconciliation." Likewise wrote Penn: "As I came through Virginia I found the inhabitants desirous to be independent from Britain.
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However, they were willing to submit their opinion on the sub- ject to whatever the General. Congress should determine. North Carolina by far exceeds them occasioned by the great fatigue, trouble and danger the people here have undergone for some time past. Gentlemen of the first fortune in the province have marched as common soldiers ; and to encourage and give spirit to the men have footed it the whole time. Lord Cornwallis with seven regiments is expected to visit us every day. Clinton is now in Cape Fear with Governor Martin, who has about forty sail of vessels, armed and un- armed, waiting his arrival. The Highlanders and Regulators are not to be trusted. Governor Martin has coaxed a number of slaves to leave their masters in the lower parts; every- thing base and wicked is practiced by him. These things have wholly changed the temper and disposition of the in- habitants that are friends to liberty; all regard or fondness for the king or nation of Britain is gone; a total separation is what they want. Independence is the word most used. They ask if it is possible that any colony after what has passed can wish for a reconciliation? The convention have tried to get the opinion of the people at large. I am told that in many counties there was not one dissenting voice."
Thus in letters, in conversations by the fireside and at the cross-roads, in newspapers, and in public assemblies, the Whig leaders worked steadily to mould public sentiment in favor of a Declaration of Independence. But the crowning arguments that converted thousands to this view were the guns of Caswell and Lillington at Moore's Creek Bridge in the early morning hours of February 27, and the black hulks of Sir Henry Clinton's men-of-war as they rode at anchor below Brunswick. Moore's Creek Bridge, says Frothingham, "was the Lexington and Concord of that region. The news- papers circulated the details of this brilliant result. The spirits of the Whigs ran high. 'You never,' one wrote, 'knew the like in your life for true patriotism.' "' 2 In the midst of this excitement the Provincial Congress met, April 4, at Hali- fax. The next day Samuel Johnston wrote: "All our people here are up for independence," and added a few days later : "We are going to the Devil ** without knowing how to help ourselves, and though many are sensible of this, yet they would rather go that way than to submit to the British Ministry. Our people are full of the idea of inde-
2 Rise of the Republic, p. 503.
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pendance." "Independence seems to be the word," wrote General Robert Howe; "I know not one dissenting voice."
To this position, then; within a year, the king had driven his faithful subjects of North Carolina and they now expected their Congress to give formal and public expression to their sentiments. When Hooper and Penn arrived at Halifax they found that the Congress had already spoken. On April 8, a committee was appointed, composed of Cornelius Harnett, Allen Jones, Thomas Burke, Abner Nash, John Kinchen, Thomas Person, and Thomas Jones, "to take into considera- tion 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 defense of this Province." After deliberat- ing four days, on April 12th, this committee, through its chairman, Cornelius Harnett, submitted the following report which the Congress unanimously adopted :
"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 uncontrouled; 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 de- clared protection to slaves who should imbrue their hands in the blood of their masters. That ships belonging to Amer- . ica are declared prizes of war, and many of them have been violently seized and confiscated. In consequence of all 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 Con- tinental Congress be impowered to concur with the delegates of the other Colonies in declaring Independency, and forming
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foreign alliances, reserving to this Colony the sole and ex- clusive right of forming a Constitution and laws for this Colony, and of appointing delegates from time to time (under the direction of a general representation thereof,) to meet the delegates of the other Colonies for such purposes as shall be hereafter pointed out."
"Thus," declares Frothingham, "the popular party car- ried North Carolina as a unit in favor of independence, when the colonies from New England to Virginia were in solid array against it."3 Comment is unnecessary. The actors, the place, the occasion, the time, the action itself, tell their own story. "The American Congress," declared Bancroft, "needed an impulse from the resolute spirit of some colonial convention, and the example of a government springing wholly from the people. * * The word which South Carolina hesitated to pronounce was given by North Carolina. That colony, proud of its victory over domestic enemies, and roused to defiance by the presence of Clinton, the British general, in one of their rivers, * * unanimously" voted for sep- aration. "North Carolina was the first colony to vote explicit sanction to independence." 4
A copy of the resolution was immediately dispatched to Joseph Hewes at Philadelphia to be laid before the Contin- ental Congress. Its effect on the movement for independence was immediate and wide-spread. The newspapers gave it wide publicity. Leaders in the Continental Congress has- tened to lay it before their constituents. "I hope it will be forthwith communicated to your honorable Assembly," wrote Elbridge Gerry, "and hope to see my native colony follow this laudable example." To a like effect wrote Samuel Adams, John Adams, and Caesar Rodney. On May 15th, Virginia followed North Carolina's lead, and on the 27th of the same month, just after Joseph Hewes had presented to the Con- tinental Congress the resolution of the North Carolina Con- gress, the Virginia delegates presented their instructions. Virginia had gone one step further than North Carolina, for while the latter "impowered" her delegates to "concur" with the other colonies in declaring independence, the former "instructed" her representatives to "propose" it. Hence it was that Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, and not Joseph Hewes, of North Carolina, won the distinction of moving
3 Rise of the Republic, p. 504.
4 History of the United States, ed. 1860, Vol. VIII, p. 345-352.
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"that these United Colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent States."
Lee's motion was made June 7th, but no vote was taken on it until July 1st. On June 28th, John Penn who had recently returned to Philadelphia from Halifax wrote to Samuel John- ston: "The first of July will be made remarkable. Then the question relative to independence will be agitated, and there is no doubt but a total separation from Britain will take place." Accordingly on July 1st, the Congress, meeting in committee of the whole, took a vote with New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia voting in the affirmative. The New York delegates personally favored the Declaration and believed that their constituents also favored it, but they were bound by an old instruction of the previous year against independence; accordingly they with- drew from Congress, declining to vote at all. Delaware's two delegates were divided and the vote of that colony was lost. Only South Carolina and Pennsylvania voted against it. It was known, however, that the New York Convention which was to meet soon would repeal the old instruction and declare for independence; and that certain delegates from Delaware and Pennsylvania who favored it but were absent when the vote was taken would attend next day and carry their colonies for it. Thus South Carolina was alone in opposition. There- fore when the committee of the whole arose and reported the resolution to Congress, Edward Rutledge, the senior delegate from South Carolina, "requested the determination might be put off to the next day, as he believed his colleagues, though they disapproved of the resolution, would then join in it for the sake of unanimity."" The request was granted. The next day a third member from Delaware and members from Pennsylvania who favored the Declaration attended. New York still declined to vote. When Congress met on July 2, therefore, South Carolina "for the sake of unanimity" changed her vote and joined with her sister colonies in de- claring the United Colonies "free and independent States." The final draft of the Declaration was laid before Congress on July 4th and formally adopted. It was signed in behalf of the State of North Carolina by William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, and John Penn.
After adopting the Resolution of April 12th, the Congress
5 Jefferson's Notes in Works, Memorial Edition, Vol. XV, p. 199.
Vol. 1-26
WILLIAM HOOPER
JOSEPH HEWES
North Carolina Signers of the Declaration of Independence (There is no authentic portrait of John Penn, the other signer from North Carolina)
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of North Carolina, proceeding as if independence were an ac- complished fact, immediately took up the task of reorganizing the government. On April 13th a committee was appointed "to prepare a temporary Civil Constitution." Prominent among the members of this committee were Johnston, Nash, Harnett, Burke, and Person. Hooper was afterwards added. They were men of political sagacity and ability, but their ideas of the kind of constitution that ought to be adopted were woefully inharmonious. Heretofore in the measures of re- sistance to the British ministry remarkable unanimity had prevailed in the councils of the Whigs. But when they under- took to frame a constitution faction at once raised its head .- In after years historians designated these factions as "Con- servatives" and "Radicals." These terms carry their own meaning, and need no further explanation, but perhaps it may not be out of place to say that while both were equally devoted to constitutional liberty, the Radicals seem to have laid the greater emphasis upon "liberty," the Conservatives upon the modifier "constitutional." Of the members of the committee, Thomas Person was the leader of the former, Samuel Johnston of the latter. As the lines between the two factions at that time were not sharply drawn, it is not always possible to assign prominent politicians to either; indeed, many of them would not have admitted that they belonged to any faction, or party, for agreeing with some of the views of both, they agreed with the extreme views of neither.
The committee worked hard at its task. Its discussions were not always tempered with good feeling. "I must con- fess," wrote Johnston, April 17, "our prospects are at this time very gloomy. Our people are about forming a constitu- tion. From what I can at present collect of their plan, it will be impossible for me to take any part in the execution of it." In fact, the next day he withdrew from the committee in dis- gust, though later he was persuaded to reconsider his action. It should be remembered that many political policies which we now regard as elementary were then in their experimental stage. Should suffrage be universal, or should a property qualification be required? Should there be one, or two houses of legislation? Should the representatives of the people be chosen annually, and what check should be imposed upon their power over the rights of the people? How should the execu- tive branch of the government be constituted? How should the governor and other "great officers" be chosen and for what terms? Should the judges be elected by the people? Or
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chosen by the legislature? Or appointed by the executive? And what should be their tenure? Such were the questions that puzzled and divided our first constitution-makers.
The more they discussed them, the more hopeless became their divisions. Congress finally found that no agreement could be reached, while continued debate on the constitution would consume time that ought to be given to more urgent matters. Accordingly on April 30th, the committee was dis- charged and a second committee appointed to frame "a tem- porary form of government until the end of the next Con- gress." This committee brought in a report on May 11th, which the Congress promptly adopted. But few changes were made in the plan already in operation, but these changes were not without significance. The district committees of safety were abolished. The term "Provincial" was thought to be no longer appropriate and "Council of Safety" was accord- ingly substituted for "Provincial Council." No change was made in its organization. The Provincial Council had been required to sit once in every three months; the Council of Safety was to sit continuously, and its authority was con- siderably extended. All the powers of its predecessor were bequeathed to it, while among its additional powers was the authority to grant letters of marque and reprisal; to estab- lish courts and appoint judges of admiralty; and to appoint commissioners of navigation to enforce the trade regulations of the Continental and Provincial Congresses.
The election of the members of the Council of Safety re- vealed the growth of factions. Willie Jones, chief of the Radicals, defeated Samuel Johnston for member at large. Other changes in the membership were as follows: in the New Bern District, John Simpson in place of Abner Nash; in the Halifax District, Joseph John Williams in place of Willie Jones; in the Hillsboro District, John Rand in place of John Kinchen; in the Salisbury District, Hezekiah Alexander and William Sharpe, both new members. Two only of the six dis- tricts retained their same members, Edenton District reelected Jones and Hill; Wilmington District, Harnett and Ashe. The other members who retained their seats were Coor, Eaton and Person.
Such was the personnel of the Council that was to put into execution the measures of the Congress for the defense of the province. This was the most important business that came before Congress. Clinton with a large force of British regulars was at Cape Fear awaiting the arrival of Sir Peter Parker's fleet with Cornwallis' army. "Our whole time,"
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wrote Thomas Jones, May 7, "has been taken up here in raising and arming men, and making every necessary mili- tary arrangement. The word is war, or as Virgil expresses it, bella, horrida bella. Two thousand ministerial troops are in Cape Fear, 5,000 more hourly expected; to oppose the whole will require a large force." The Congress, accordingly, in addition to the troops already in the field, ordered the levying of four continental regiments, the enlistment of three companies of light-horse, the drafting of 1,500 militia, and the organization into five companies of 415 independent vol- unteers. The light-horse were offered to the Continental Congress and accepted; the militia were ordered to Wilming- ton'"for the protection of this province;" and the independ- ent companies were directed to patrol the coast against the ravages of small armed vessels which were accustomed in this way to secure fresh supplies for the troops below Wil- mington.
It was comparatively an easy matter to raise these troops ; to clothe, feed and equip them was another problem. It is of course, unnecessary to say that this was a problem that was not solved at all during the Revolution, either by the United Colonies or by any of them; but perhaps North Carolina came as near to it as the former, or as any of the latter. This was the work which, during the year 1776, was entrusted to the Council of Safety. The Council held its first session at Wil- mington, June 5, and unanimously elected Cornelius Harnett president. Harnett served until August 21st when he resigned and was succeeded by his colleague, Samuel Ashe who re- signed in September and was succeeded by Willie Jones. Jones served until the meeting of the Constitutional Conven- tion in December which superseded the provisional govern- ment with a permanent government.
An attempt to follow in detail the numerous problems pre- sented for the consideration of President Harnett and his colleagues would doubtless make but a dull and lifeless nar- rative. Yet upon the proper, disposition of these matters depended the execution of laws, the administration of justice, the preservation of order, and the success of armies; and when we consider these facts, we may well doubt whether in subordinating such details to more dramatic and striking events, the narrative does not lose in instructiveness what it may gain in interest. The fidelity with which the members of the Council attended to the details of these problems is a good index to their characters and patriotism. Nothing less than
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boundless faith in the justice of their cause and in its ultimate success could have sustained them in the discharge of their delicate and exacting duties. There was nothing in the char- acter of their labor, such as the soldier finds in the excitement of the campaign, to lighten fatigue or banish anxiety. Nor were they, like the soldier, inspired by the hope of glory and renown; on the contrary their duties were of such a nature that to discharge them with fidelity and impartiality, would more likely invite criticism and denunciation than applause and popularity. There was no popular applause to be gained by even the strictest attention to the commonplace details in- cident to the detection, apprehension and punishment of
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