05/20/2026
Round 3 of the Documents and Ideas that created our Independent America.
Have any of you ever noticed that the North Carolina state flag has two dates on it? One of which is May 20, 1775 the alleged date of the Mecklenburg County Declaration of Independence. The other is a similar document called the Halifax Resolves.
Alleged? The original declaration was supposedly hidden when the British advanced on Charlotte in Sept 1780, was destroyed in a house fire in 1800 and rewritten from memory. Some historians believe the rewriting may have some revisions based on the more famous Declaration of Independence.
The roots of the “Mec Dec” still celebrated in Charlotte today goes back to the early 1700’s wave of Scottish and Scots-Irish Presbyterians who came through Pennsylvania and traveled the edge of the Appalachians and Blue Ridge into North Carolina. These had been a fiercely independent people since Roman times. In response to the British actions at Lexington and Concord, several gathered in Charlotte to pen their grievances. The response was a series of small conventions, declarations and statements across the Carolinas declaring their intention to break with Great Britain by any means necessary.
The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence Charlotte North Carolina May 20TH 1775
Resolved — That whosoever directly or indirectly abets or in any way, form or manner, countenances the invasion of our rights, as attempted by the Parliament of Great Britain, is an enemy to his country, to America, and the rights of man.
Resolved — That we, the citizens of Mecklenburg county do hereby dissolve the political bands which have connected us with the mother county, and absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the British crown, abjuring all political connection with a nation that has wantonly trampled on our rights and liberties and inhumanly shed the innocent blood of Americans at Lexington.
Resolved — That we do hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people, that we are and
of right ought to be, a sovereign and self-governing people under the power of God and the general Congress; to the maintenance of which independence we solemnly pledge to each other our mutual co-operation, our lives, our fortunes, and our most sacred honor.
Resolved — That we do hereby ordain and adopt as rules of conduct all and each of our former laws, and the crown of Great Britain cannot be considered hereafter as holding any rights, privileges, or immunities amongst us.
Resolved — That all officers, both civil and military in this county, be entitled to exercise the same powers and authorities as heretofore; that every member of this delegation shall henceforth be a civil officer, and exercise the powers of a justice of the peace, issue process, hear and determine controversies according to law, preserve peace, union and harmony in the county, and use every exertion to spread the love of liberty and of country, until a more general and better organized system of government be established.
Resolved — That a copy of these resolutions be transmitted by express to the President of the
Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia, to be laid before that body.
Abraham Alexander Chairman.
John Mc Kuilt Alexander Secretary.
Ephraim Brevard
May 20th 1776 a year later to the day, the grand jury of the Cheraws District across the line in South Carolina presented what many consider to be South Carolina's Declaration of Independence. We'll catch that one next.
