north carolina in the war for independence · section 2: north carolina in the war for...

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North Carolina in the Warfor Independence

Above: Alexander Martin hadaided the Regulators, then servedin the Provincial Congresses. Hewas a patriot leader at the Battle ofMoore’s Creek Bridge. After theWar for Independence, he becamea governor.

As you read, look for:• how North Carolina reacted to Great Britain’s

tightening controls• the Mecklenburg Resolves and the Halifax Resolves• the state government created in 1776• vocabulary terms Provincial Congress, Committee of

Safety, Tory, Whig, Mecklenburg Resolves, HalifaxResolves, Declaration of Independence, constitution,bicameral, Declaration of Rights, amendment,Confiscation Act

Even before the battles of Lexington and Concord, North Carolinianshad taken steps to separate themselves from the clutches of the British.When first Governor Tryon, then his successor, Josiah Martin, tried toshut down the Assembly, Speaker John Harvey continued to correspondwith protestors in other colonies.

Harvey, who was five times elected speaker of the Assembly, stoodup to the royal governors for the interests of North Carolinians. In 1774,Governor Martin refused to call the Assembly together to elect represen-tatives to attend a Continental Congress. (The Congress was meeting

in Philadelphia to protest whatwas going on in Boston.) Harveyset up a new body, a ProvincialCongress, that chose the delegatesanyway. When news of the battlesat Lexington and Concord arrivedin North Carolina, Governor Mar-tin fled. Harvey ordered Commit-tees of Safety to be set up in eachcounty to keep order and providegovernment. Most committeesimmediately demanded that mensuspected of siding with the Brit-ish—called Tories—had to sign a

Section 2: North Carolina in the War for Independence 163

North Carolina in the Warfor Independence

John Harvey was thegreat grandson of thefirst John Harvey of

Culpeper’s Rebellion. Hewas carrying on a familytradition of protestingwhat he believed to be

unfair treatment.

This section will help you meet thefollowing objectives:8.2.02 Describe the contributionsof key personalities from theRevolutionary War era.8.2.03 Examine the role of NorthCarolina in the Revolutionary War.8.2.05 Describe the impact ofvarious significant documents on theformation of the state and nationalgovernments.

164 Chapter 5: The Struggle for Independence

loyalty oath. In turn, members of the Committeescalled themselves Whigs, a name borrowed fromthe political opponents of the Tories back inLondon.

The Committee of Safety in MecklenburgCounty went farther in protesting the British at-tacks than any other. Mecklenburg’s leaders cametogether at Queen’s Academy to discuss recentevents. The Committee announced a series ofstatements that have collectively been called theMecklenburg Resolves. The resolves stated that,because of British aggression, “the king’s commis-sions” were “null and void.” Local leaders weredirected to elect new leaders themselves. As cheer-ing residents realized, this amounted toMecklenburg being “free and independent” ofBritish authority. Later, Mecklenburg residentscounted their “years of liberty” from 1775 andwhat came to be called the “Mecklenburg Decla-ration of Independence.” The date it was said tohave been signed—May 20, 1775—was later in-cluded on North Carolina’s state flag.

The Battle of Moore’s Creek BridgeAfter the death of John Harvey in 1775, other leaders like Cornelius

Harnett and Richard Caswell led the province. The Provincial Congressset up defense measures, created a loyalty oath for everyone to take, au-thorized the enlistment of soldiers to fight in the war, and issued papermoney to pay for everything. The province raised two regiments (groupsof soldiers) for General George Washington’s Continental army. JamesMoore of Wilmington and Robert Howe of Brunswick commanded theregiments. (Both later became generals in the army.) North Carolina

Tories were also calledloyalists, British Royalists,and “King’s friends.” TheWhigs were also calledPatriots, Liberty Boys,colonials, and Sons andDaughters of Liberty.

Map 16The ThirteenColonies in 1776

Map Skill: Which colony isfarthest north?

N

0 100 200 Miles

0 100 200 Kilometers

A Revolutionary War-eratwo-pound cannon on display at Moore’s Creek.

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CAROLINA CURIOSIT IESCAROLINA CURIOSIT IES

Was There a MecklenburgDeclaration of Independence?


North Carolina has a distinctivestate flag. Not only is it red, white,and blue, but it also has twoimportant dates on it. One is May20, 1775, when the people ofMecklenburg County declaredthemselves free of British author-ity. The other is April 12, 1776,when the state legislature voted tosupport the growing nationalmovement for independence.

The Halifax Resolves, as theyare called, are an accepted state tradition. The MecklenburgDeclaration of Independence—or “Meck/Dec” as it has beencalled—is another matter. Since the early 1800s, manyAmericans and some North Carolinians have doubted it everhappened.

Thomas Jefferson, the author of the U.S. Declaration ofIndependence, was one of the first to question the Meck/Dec. Backcountry settlers in Charlotte, he said, could nothave written something that sounded so much like his greatessay. Jefferson’s doubts were strengthened by the fact thatno original copy of the document existed. It was lost in ahouse fire near Charlotte about 1800. Only copies writtenfrom memory by John McKnitt Alexander, who had been thesecretary at the Charlotte meeting in 1775, were available.

Plus, the leaders of Mecklenburg had approved a seconddocument—called the Mecklenburg Resolves—on May 31,1775, that sounded a lot like the earlier declaration. Sincean actual copy of the Resolves existed and one of the Dec-laration did not, historians have wondered whetherAlexander mixed the two up in his old age.

For years, however, the people of Charlotte asserted thatboth documents were real. Former students of Queen’s Acad-emy, where the meetings had been held, testified that they

Was There a MecklenburgDeclaration of Independence?

had been present when residentscheered at hearing the word inde-pendence. And, several land deedsrecorded in the courthouse afterthe American Revolution weredated “such and such year of ourliberty,” with the math pointingback to 1775, not 1776. Foryears, Meck/Dec Day was a Char-lotte holiday.

Historians, however, want moreevidence. Like Jefferson, they of-

ten wonder how folks in the backcountry could be so out infront of the rest of the colonies. But, a few historians pointout that the original people of Mecklenburg County weredescendants of the Scots-Irish who suffered at the hands ofthe British. And, the first Mecklenburg settlers were preachedto by the Reverend Alexander Craighead, the son of one ofthe ministers who was harassed in Ireland. One colonialgovernor noted that the Mecklenburg Scots-Irish wanted “aSolemn League and Covenant teacher among them.” The“League” referred to a Scottish independence movement,and the “teacher,” Craighead, numbered among his studentsmany of the later signers of the Meck/Dec. If the Meck/Decreally happened, then Craighead was its inspiration.

Several of those signers had graduated from the Collegeof New Jersey (today’s Princeton University). At the time,the New Jersey school was considered a better place of highereducation than the College of William and Mary inWilliamsburg, which Thomas Jefferson attended. They, likeJefferson, had read the Scottish and English documents thatincluded phrases like “life, liberty, and property” and“sacred honor.”

Like most of the Carolina curiosities, the Meck/Decremains arguable from both sides.

Above: This is a reconstructionof the Moore’s Creek Bridge. Insetis a swivel gun of the type thatfired on the British troops as theystruggled to cross the bridge.

militiamen (civilians called up to serve the military for short periods oftime) were sent into South Carolina and Virginia to fight Tories.

By early 1776, North Carolinians were fighting among themselvesabout the war against the British. Governor Martin had fled to a ship offthe Cape Fear coast. Nevertheless, he encouraged the recently arrivedHighland Scots to march on Wilmington to join a British invasion of thetwo Carolina colonies. Since many of the Highlanders had signed an oathof personal loyalty to the king, they kept their word and gathered to fight.In February, the Highlanders marched from Cross Creek towardWilmington. Colonel James Moore ordered several groups of militia tocut them off.

The Whig forces blocked the Tories’ path at Moore’s Creek Bridge,about twenty miles north of Wilmington. The Whigs removed the planksfrom the bridge and greased the support beams. For fifteen minutes, theHighlanders tried to slip and slide across the bridge. More than fifty wereshot. They soon retreated. Colonel Moore chased them, seizing their armsand money. The Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge was as celebrated anAmerican victory in the southern colonies as the 1775 Battle of BunkerHill had been in Boston.

Halifax ResolvesThe British attempt to invade the province convinced many North

Carolinians that their conflict could not be settled peacefully. WilliamHooper, a delegate to the Continental Congress, wrote home that “it wouldbe Toryism to hint [at] the possibility of future reconciliation.” In April1776, the Provincial Congress decided that the whole province shouldfollow the example of Mecklenburg County. “Independence seems to bethe word,” Robert Howe told friends back in Brunswick.


The Declaration ofIndependence was written

by Thomas Jefferson ofVirginia, with the help ofJohn Adams of Massachu-

setts and BenjaminFranklin of Pennsylvania.

On April 12, 1776, the Provincial Congress passed the Halifax Resolves,which put together all the feelings about liberty and freedom that NorthCarolinians had been discussing for years. (This is the second date onthe state flag.) The Resolves authorized the delegates in Philadelphia tojoin other colonies in seeking independence. North Carolina became thefirst of the thirteen colonies to endorse the independence movement. Later,in July 1776, William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, and John Penn were thethree North Carolinians who signed the Declaration of Independence.Within months, the great document was read publicly in front of everycourthouse in North Carolina.

State ConstitutionOnce independence was declared, and the United States created by

an act of the Continental Congress, North Carolina officially went frombeing a colony to a state. As a state, North Carolina had to come up withits own rules to govern itself. With the encouragement of the Continen-tal Congress, each of the thirteen new states wrote a state constitution,a set of rules and procedures for government. To make sure the newgovernment truly connected to the people, the Provincial Congress chosedelegates for a special constitutional convention. The delegates wrotethe first state constitution at a convention in Halifax in November andDecember 1776. Although the delegates used many of the old colonialideas of governing, they did make innovations.

Everyone who wrote the North Carolina constitution agreed upon oneprinciple: The legislature made up of the representatives of the peopleshould be the strongest part of the government. They continued theGeneral Assembly, but made it bicameral (having two bodies): the Houseof Commons (an old English term for people who weren’t aristocrats)

Above: This mural shows theDeclaration of Independence beingpresented to John Hancock(seated). The men standing beforethe table were those charged withwriting the document. The paintinghangs in the U.S. Capitol Building.


Above, left to right: The threeNorth Carolina signers of theDeclaration of Independence wereWilliam Hooper, a Wilmingtonlawyer; Joseph Hewes, an Edentonmerchant; and John Penn, aGranville County farmer. Hooperwas absent on July 4, 1776, whenthe Declaration was approved, butlater signed it. Penn had just beenappointed to the Congress torepresent the North Carolinabackcountry but served longer inthe Continental government thanany other state delegate. Heweshelped establish the United StatesNavy and helped John Paul Jones,the first great naval hero, get hiscommission.

and the Senate (an old term that went back to ancient Rome, referring toolder, wiser leadership). Each county in the state was to send two del-egates to the house and one to the senate. The representation was equalno matter how big or small the county was, whether in size or popula-tion. House members had to own 100 acres, and senators 300 acres, as away to ensure that people with the means to take time off from theirfarms and businesses could afford to govern. Similarly, all eligible men(no women or slaves could vote at that time) could elect a house mem-ber, but only those who owned at least 50 acres could vote for senators.

While North Carolinians gave a lot of power to the General Assembly,they kept watch on them. All General Assembly members were to runfor office on an annual basis. That way, unhappy voters could replacethem frequently, or reward them often.

The fact that North Carolinians could be guarded about giving too muchpower to government officials was seen in the creation of the office ofgovernor. He was to be chosen by the legislature each year, and he hadvery little power. North Carolinians did not quickly forget the abuses Wil-liam Tryon had committed. The governor could only act upon the adviceof a council and the consent of the legislature. William Hooper joked thatthe governor’s only power was “to sign a receipt for his salary.”

Most importantly, North Carolinians included a Declaration of Rightsin their constitution. This list set out the rights and protections citizenshad, such as the right to a trial with a jury. The Declaration of Rights wasa legacy of the Regulation and the other controversies with the British. Itwas written by the delegates from Mecklenburg, Rowan, and Orangecounties, the very places where people’s rights and property had beenliterally trampled.

The constitution also set up a court system. Amazingly, the delegatesincluded no rule about amendments, additions or changes to the stateconstitution.


It’s Your Turn

1. Who were the Tories? the Whigs?2. What is the significance of May 20, 1775?2. What was the strongest part of the government established by the

first North Carolina constitution?

Governing the New StateThe new legislature in the new state faced many chal-

lenges in its early years. Under the first governor, RichardCaswell, it had to protect its citizens from Tories and otherpotential threats.

Some of the Native Americans in the state saw the Warfor Independence as a way to regain their lands. In thespring and summer of 1776, the Cherokee attacked alongthe frontier. The state sent backcountry militia over the BlueRidge to attack the Cherokee. Dozens of Cherokee townswere destroyed, including the sacred town of Nikwasi, andmany of the Cherokee were left hungry and homeless.

The state also had to find sources of revenue to pay forthe war. In 1777, the state passed a Confiscation Act,which said that Tories who refused to take the oath of al-legiance to the new state could have their property takenaway. Eventually, the lands of hundreds of North Caro-lina residents were seized, including the thousands of acresstill belonging to the descendants of Lord Granville. Witheach seizure, the state made money by reselling the land.In addition, strictly religious people like the Quakers andMoravians, who would not say an oath or take up arms,had to pay more taxes than other citizens.

One of the major expenses was the raising of troops to fight in theContinental army. North Carolina sent several regiments north to fightwith General Washington in 1777. Some of these troops fought bravelyat the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown just outside of Philadel-phia. General Francis Nash of Hillsborough was killed. He would laterbe remembered in the naming of both Nashville, North Carolina, andNashville, Tennessee. The state’s troops had to endure the harsh winterat Valley Forge in 1777 and 1778 before they were sent back south todefend the Carolinas. By the end of the war, more than 7,000 NorthCarolinians had done Continental service.

The strict measures the new government took against the Cherokeeand the Tories kept the state safe and relatively secure for the first threeyears of the war. In 1779, however, the British invaded the southern statesagain, and this time North Carolina was almost destroyed.

Richard Caswell wasthe unanimous choice for

governor. He held theoffice for three years.

Above: Richard Caswell, who livednear present-day Kinston, becamethe first governor once NorthCarolina became a state.


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CAROLINA PLACESCAROLINA PLACES

Halifax

During the War for Independence, Halifax may have beenthe liveliest town in the new state. It certainly was the mostimportant in the year 1776, when North Carolina becamethe first state to go on record urging the United States toseek independence. Later that same year, the new state’sleaders returned to write the first state constitution. Laterin the war, Lord Cornwallis camped there as his British armymoved toward Virginia, and, as Cornwallis would find out,disaster at Yorktown.

Halifax was founded in 1757 to handle shipping fromnearby plantations on the Roanoke River. Halifax remainedvery small in the colonial period because most of its promi-nent citizens lived outside of town on their plantations.People from all around the area, however, came to town tohave parties, watch horse races, attend the Church of En-gland, and hold the county court four times a year. Duringthe War for Independence, Halifax made uniforms for NorthCarolina Continentals.

Halifax

The best-known early resident was Willie (pronounced“why-ley” in the speech of the day) Jones. Jones, a success-ful tobacco and wheat planter, threw the biggest parties intown. He kept some of the fastest racehorses and had hisown private racetrack. Jones had a hand in the passage ofthe Halifax Resolves in April 1776 and became acting ex-ecutive of the state during the time between the Declara-tion of Independence in July 1776 and the writing of thestate constitution in November. He then had a major role inthe writing of the North Carolina constitution. During theWar for Independence, Jones went to Philadelphia to be amember of the Continental Congress. Jones had a very strictview of what liberty was. He believed no government shouldbe very strong. When it came time to write the United States

Above: The Owens House is the oldest house in Halifax.It was North Carolina’s first entry on the NationalRegister of Historic Places.


Constitution in 1787, Jones opposedthe idea of a strong federal govern-ment. He refused to go to Phila-delphia to represent the state atthe constitutional convention, thenworked to keep North Carolina fromratifying the Constitution in 1788.His last public act was to help es-tablish the site for the capital city,Raleigh.

“Historic Halifax” is now a statehistoric site within the small townof Halifax. The state has restored anumber of buildings to depict life inthe early history of the town. Thebest known of the buildings is theOwens House, built around 1760.The Constitution-Burgess House was, at one time, thoughtto be where the first state constitution was written. How-ever, later evidence shows that the constitution was actu-ally written at Eagle Hotel.

After the Declaration of Independence was passed, Halifaxwas one of the first places in the state where it was readaloud. Townspeople carried members of the Assembly ontheir shoulders in an impromptu parade.

Halifax did not grow very much during the 1800s. Itparticularly lost influence after the railroads helped developRoanoke Rapids. In the twentieth century, it remained asmall county seat town in the northern Coastal Plain.

Above: The Constitution-Burgess House is furnishedas an early 1800s law office would be. Below: TheEagle Tavern was built in the late 1700s.


north carolina in the war for independence · section 2: north carolina in the war for...

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