# Fifth North Carolina Provincial Congress

The Fifth North Carolina Provincial Congress was the last of five extra-legal unicameral bodies that met beginning in the summer of 1774. They were modeled after the colonial lower house (House of Commons). These congresses created a government structure, issued bills of credit to pay for the movement, organized an army for defense, wrote a constitution and bill of rights that established the state of North Carolina, and elected their first acting governor in the fifth congress that met in 1776. These congresses paved the way for the first meeting of the North Carolina General Assembly on April 7, 1777 in New Bern, North Carolina. The Fifth Congress met in Halifax from November 12 to December 23, 1776. Richard Caswell served as president, with Cornelius Harnett as vice-president.

## Legislation

This congress approved the first Constitution of North Carolina, along with a "Declaration of Rights" on December 18, 1776. It elected Richard Caswell to serve as acting governor until the province's first General Assembly in 1777 could meet to elect a governor. The congress dealt extensively with raising a militia of 5, 000 men. They also discussed the Cherokee War in the western region of the state.

## Delegates

Each county was authorized five delegates to this congress. Some counties only had four delegates. In addition, nine districts or borough towns were also authorized a single delegate. These districts were the larger towns and population centers of the state. The concept of district representation was a hold over from the Province of North Carolina in colonial times. Washington District, in the western end of the state and later became a county, elected four delegates to the congress. The following list shows the names of the delegates and the counties or districts that they represented:
| County/District | Delegate |
| Anson County | George Davidson |
| Anson County | David Love |
| Anson County | William R. Pickett |
| Anson County | Charles Robertson |
| Anson County | Thomas Wade |
| Beaufort County | John Barrow |
| Beaufort County | Francis Jones |
| Beaufort County | Thomas Respess |
| Beaufort County | Thomas Respess Jr. |
| Beaufort County | Robert Tripp |
| Bertie County | William Gray |
| Bertie County | Noah Hinton |
| Bertie County | John Johnston |
| Bertie County | Thomas Pugh |
| Bertie County | Zedekiah Stone |
| Bladen County | Thomas Amis |
| Bladen County | James Council |
| Bladen County | Thomas Owen |
| Bladen County | Thomas Robeson Jr. |
| Brunswick County | Lewis Dupree |
| Brunswick County | Cornelius Harnett |
| Brunswick County | William Lord |
| Brunswick County | Archibald MacLaine |
| Brunswick County | Maurice Moore |
| Bute County | James Denton |
| Bute County | Thomas Eaton |
| Bute County | Philemon Hawkins |
| Bute County | Benjamin Seawell |
| Bute County | Benjamin Ward |
| Carteret County | William Borden |
| Carteret County | Brice Williams |
| Carteret County | Thomas Chadwick |
| Carteret County | John Easton |
| Carteret County | Soloman Shepard |
| Chatham County | John Birdsong |
| Chatham County | Mial Scurlock |
| Chatham County | Jeduthan Harper |
| Chatham County | Isaiah Hogan |
| Chatham County | Ambrose Ramsey |
| Chowan County | Thomas Benbury |
| Chowan County | Jacob Hunter |
| Chowan County | James Blount |
| Chowan County | Thomas Jones |
| Chowan County | Luke Sumner |
| Craven County | Nathan Bryan |
| Craven County | John Tillman |
| Craven County | William Bryan |
| Craven County | James Coor |
| Craven County | Christopher Neale |
| Cumberland County | William Rand |
| Cumberland County | Philip Alston |
| Cumberland County | Robert Cobb |
| Cumberland County | Robert Rowan |
| Currituck County | James White |
| Currituck County | Samuel Jarvis |
| Currituck County | Kedar Merchant |
| Currituck County | Hollowell Williams |
| Currituck County | Thomas Williams |
| Dobbs County | Andrew Bass |
| Dobbs County | Benjamin Exum |
| Dobbs County | Simon Bright |
| Dobbs County | Richard Caswell |
| Dobbs County | Abraham Sheppard |
| Duplin County | James Gillespie |
| Duplin County | William Dickson |
| Duplin County | Thomas Gray |
| Duplin County | James Kenan |
| Duplin County | William Taylor |
| Edgecombe County | Elisha Battle |
| Edgecombe County | William Haywood |
| Edgecombe County | William Horn |
| Edgecombe County | Jonas Johnston |
| Edgecombe County | Isaac Sessums |
| Granville County | Memucan Hunt |
| Granville County | Robert Lewis |
| Granville County | John Oliver |
| Granville County | Thornton Yancey |
| Granville County | Thomas Person |
| Guilford County | Isham Browder |
| Guilford County | Charles Bruce |
| Guilford County | David Caldwell |
| Guilford County | Ralph Gorrell |
| Guilford County | Joseph Hinds |
| Halifax County | Willis Alston |
| Halifax County | John Bradford |
| Halifax County | James Hogun |
| Halifax County | Egbert Haywood |
| Halifax County | Benjamin McCullough |
| Halifax County | Samuel Weldon |
| Hertford County | Lawrence Baker |
| Hertford County | William Murfree |
| Hertford County | Day Ridley |
| Hertford County | Robert Sumner |
| Hertford County | James Wright |
| Hyde County | John Jordan |
| Hyde County | Abraham Jones |
| Hyde County | Joseph Hancock |
| Hyde County | Benjamin Parmele |
| Hyde County | William Russell |
| Johnston County | Alexander Avery |
| Johnston County | Needham Bryan Jr. |
| Johnston County | Henry Rains |
| Johnston County | Samuel Smith |
| Johnston County | John Stevens |
| Martin County | Whitmell Hill |
| Martin County | John Hardison |
| Martin County | Thomas Hunter |
| Martin County | Samuel Smithwick |
| Martin County | William Williams |
| Mecklenburg County | Hezekiah Alexander |
| Mecklenburg County | Waightstill Avery |
| Mecklenburg County | Robert Irwin |
| Mecklenburg County | John Phifer |
| Mecklenburg County | Zaccheus Wilson |
| New Hanover County | John Ashe |
| New Hanover County | Samuel Ashe |
| New Hanover County | John Devane |
| New Hanover County | John Hollingsworth |
| New Hanover County | Sampson Mosely |
| Northampton County | Jeptha Atherton |
| Northampton County | Robert Peoples (Peebles) |
| Northampton County | Howard Edmunds (Howell Edmunds) |
| Northampton County | James Ingram |
| Northampton County | Thomas Parker |
| Northampton County | Allen Jones |
| Onslow County | Benajah Doty |
| Onslow County | Thomas Johnston |
| Onslow County | Henry Rhodes |
| Onslow County | John Spicer |
| Onslow County | Edward Starkey |
| Orange County | Thomas Burke (replaced John Atkinson) |
| Orange County | John Butler (replaced John McCabe) |
| Orange County | John McCabe (replaced William Moore) |
| Orange County | Alexander Mebane (replaced John Paine) |
| Orange County | Nathaniel Rochester (replaced James Saunders) |
| Pasquotank County | Henry Abbot |
| Pasquotank County | Dempsey Burgess |
| Pasquotank County | Devotion Davis |
| Pasquotank County | Isaac Gregory |
| Pasquotank County | Lemuel Sawyer |
| Perquimans County | Benjamin Harvey |
| Perquimans County | Miles Harvey |
| Perquimans County | Thomas Harvey |
| Perquimans County | William Hooper |
| Perquimans County | William Skinner |
| Pitt County | George Evans |
| Pitt County | James Gorham |
| Pitt County | Benjamin May |
| Pitt County | William Robson |
| Pitt County | Edward Salter |
| Rowan County | John Brevard |
| Rowan County | Matthew Locke |
| Rowan County | Griffith Rutherford |
| Rowan County | William Sharpe |
| Rowan County | James Smith |
| Surry County | Charles Gordon |
| Surry County | William Hall |
| Surry County | Robert Lanier |
| Surry County | Joseph Williams |
| Tryon County | John Barber |
| Tryon County | Robert Abernathy |
| Tryon County | William Alston |
| Tryon County | William Graham |
| Tryon County | Joseph Hardin Sr. |
| Tyrrell County | Benjamin Blount |
| Tyrrell County | Jeremiah Frazier |
| Tyrrell County | Stephen Lee |
| Tyrrell County | Isham Webb |
| Tyrrell County | Peter Wynn |
| Wake County | Britain Fuller |
| Wake County | James Jones |
| Wake County | Tignal Jones |
| Wake County | John Rice |
| Wake County | Michael Rogers |
| Washington District | John Carter |
| Washington District | John Haile |
| Washington District | Charles Robertson |
| Washington District | John Sevier |
| Bath District | William Brown |
| Brunswick District | Parker Quince |
| Campbellton District | Thomas Hadley |
| Edenton District | Joseph Hewes |
| Halifax District | Willie Jones |
| Hillsborough District | William Johnston |
| New Bern District | Abner Nash |
| Salisbury District | David Nesbitt |
| Wilmington District | William Hooper |
Notes:
* ↑ James Hogun resigned his position after being commissioned in the North Carolina Line, replaced by Egbert Haywood
* ↑ Possibly the father of William Murfree
* ↑ James Ingram was commissioned in the North Carolina Line and replaced by Thomas Parker, who was elected to replace him.
* 1 2 3 4 5 Seated on December 16, due to voting irregularities in a first pole
* ↑ James Jones was deemed ineligible due to service in the Light Horse. He resigned his commission on October 25, 1776 and was re-elected to serve in the congress.
* ↑ The Congress Journal shows that it was John Rice as delegate for Wake County. William Brown was the delegate for Bath. This appears to be an error in the Lewis delegate listing.