# Fourth North Carolina Provincial Congress

The Fourth North Carolina Provincial Congress was one of five extra-legal unicameral bodies that met beginning in the summer of 1774 through 1776. 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 Fourth Congress met in Halifax from April 4 to May 14, 1776. Samuel Johnston served as president, with Allen Jones as vice-president.

## Legislation

The delegates authorized their representatives to the Second Continental Congress to vote for the Declaration of Independence, including Joseph Hewes, William Hooper, and John Penn. The 83 delegates present on April 12, 1776 adopted the Halifax Resolves. On April 13, 1776, the delegates formed a committee to start working on a North Carolina Constitution, which was ratified in December 1776 by the Fifth North Carolina Provincial Congress. In April, 1776, the congress passed a resolve to move loyalists while allowing them to dispose of their property. Later in May 1776, the congress passed a resolve to confiscate the property of those taking up arms against the United States.

## Members

The following list shows the names of the delegates and the counties or districts that they represented:
| County or Town/District | Delegate |
| Anson | John Child |
| Anson | John Crawford |
| Anson | Daniel Love |
| Anson | James Pickett |
| Anson | Samuel Spencer |
| Beaufort | John Cowper |
| Beaufort | Roger Ormond |
| Beaufort | Thomas Respess, Jr. |
| Bertie | John Campbell |
| Bertie | John Johnston |
| Bertie | Charles Jaycocks |
| Bladen | Thomas Amis |
| Bladen | Maturin Colville |
| Bladen | James Council |
| Bladen | Nathaniel Richardson |
| Bladen | Thomas Robeson, Jr. |
| Brunswick | Unknown/Vacant |
| Bute | William Alston |
| Bute | Philemon Hawkins |
| Bute | Green Hill |
| Bute | William Person |
| Bute | Thomas Sherrod |
| Carteret | John Backhouse |
| Carteret | Solomon Shepard |
| Carteret | William Thompson |
| Chatham | Elisha Cain |
| Chatham | Jeduthan Harper |
| Chatham | Ambrose Ramsey |
| Chatham | Joseph Rosser |
| Chatham | John Thompson |
| Chowan | Thomas Benbury |
| Chowan | John B. Beasly |
| Chowan | Thomas Hunter |
| Chowan | Samuel Johnston |
| Chowan | Thomas Jones |
| Craven | Jacob Blount |
| Craven | John Bryan |
| Craven | William Bryan |
| Craven | James Coor |
| Craven | Lemuel Hatch |
| Cumberland | Farquard/Farquhard Campbell |
| Cumberland | Alexander McAllister |
| Cumberland | Alexander McCoy (McKay) |
| Cumberland | Thomas Rutherford |
| Cumberland | David Smith |
| Currituck | Samuel Jarvis |
| Currituck | Gideon Lamb |
| Currituck | Solomon Perkins |
| Currituck | James Ryan |
| Currituck | James White |
| Dobbs | Simon Bright |
| Dobbs | Richard Caswell |
| Dobbs | William McKinnie |
| Dobbs | George Miller |
| Dobbs | Abraham Sheppard |
| Duplin | Richard Clinton |
| Duplin | William Dickson |
| Duplin | Thomas Gray |
| Edgecombe | Elisha Battle |
| Edgecombe | Nathan Boddie |
| Edgecombe | William Haywood |
| Edgecombe | Henry Irwin |
| Edgecombe | Duncan Lemon |
| Granville | Charles A. Eaton |
| Granville | Memucan Hunt |
| Granville | John Penn |
| Granville | Thomas Person |
| Granville | John Taylor |
| Guilford | William Dent |
| Guilford | Ralph Gorrell, Jr. |
| Guilford | Ransom Sutherland |
| Halifax | Willis Alston |
| Halifax | John Bradford |
| Halifax | James Hogun |
| Halifax | David Sumner |
| Halifax | Joseph John Williams |
| Hertford | Laurence/Lawrence Baker |
| Hertford | Matthias Brickell, Jr. |
| Hertford | William Murfree |
| Hertford | Robert Sumner |
| Hyde | Joseph Hancock |
| Hyde | John Jordan |
| Hyde | Rotheas Latham |
| Hyde | Benjamin Parmelin |
| Johnston | Needham Bryan, Jr. |
| Johnston | Henry Rains |
| Johnston | Samuel Smith, Jr. |
| Martin | Whitmell Hill |
| Martin | Kenneth McKenzie |
| Martin | Edward Smithwick |
| Martin | Thomas Wiggins |
| Martin | William Williams |
| Mecklenburg | John McKnitt Alexander |
| Mecklenburg | Robert Irwin |
| Mecklenburg | John Phifer |
| New Hanover | John Ashe |
| New Hanover | Samuel Ashe |
| New Hanover | John DeVane |
| New Hanover | John Hollingsworth |
| New Hanover | Sampson Mosely |
| Northampton | Jeptha Atherton |
| Northampton | Howard/Howell Edmunds |
| Northampton | Drewry Gee |
| Northampton | Eaton Haynes |
| Northampton | Allen Jones |
| Northampton | Samuel Lockhart |
| Northampton | Eaton Haynes |
| Onslow | Benjamin Doty |
| Onslow | John King |
| Onslow | George Mitchell |
| Onslow | John Norman |
| Onslow | John Spicer |
| Orange | Thomas Burke |
| Orange | John Butler |
| Orange | John Kinchen |
| Orange | Nathaniel Rochester |
| Orange | James Saunders |
| Pasquotank | Henry Abbot |
| Pasquotank | Thomas Boyd |
| Pasquotank | Dempsey Burgess |
| Pasquotank | William Cumming |
| Pasquotank | Joseph Jones |
| Perquimans | Charles Blount |
| Perquimans | Miles Harvey |
| Perquimans | Thomas Harvey |
| Perquimans | Charles Moore |
| Perquimans | William Skinner |
| Pitt | William Robeson |
| Pitt | Edward Salter |
| Pitt | John Simpson |
| Rowan | John Johnston |
| Rowan | Matthew Locke |
| Rowan | Griffith Rutherford |
| Surry | Charles Gordon |
| Surry | Joseph Williams |
| Surry | Joseph Winston |
| Tryon | James Johnston |
| Tryon | Charles McLean |
| Tyrrell | Archibald Corry |
| Wake | John Hinton |
| Wake | William Hooper |
| Wake | Tignal Jones |
| Wake | Joel Lane |
| Wake | John Rand |
| Bath District | William Brown |
| Campbellton Town | Arthur Council |
| Edenton District | Joseph Hewes |
| Halifax District | Willie Jones |
| Halifax District | John Webb |
| Hillsborough District | William Johnston |
| New Bern District | Abner Nash |
| Salisbury District | David Nesbitt |
| Wilmington District | Cornelius Harnett |
Notes:
* ↑ Possibly the father of William Murfree
* ↑ Campbellton became part of Fayetteville in 1784
* 1 2 Willie Jones had to leave the congress because he was elected by the Continental Congress to serve as the Superintendent of Indian Affairs. John Webb replaced him.