Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1873-06-27
-.j's VI AZ. MA.

Ett!et III the 2enunencs9 of the
Mecklcnburg Declaration Of lndcpenh-
exec of 20th May, 177:5, is and has
been cardinal tenet III the faith Of
North Car0linians. Outside OF the
State the claims OF THAT day and Of all
,jthcr davs prior to the itIl oi July,
f717G, to the honor OF being the natal
day of American Independe,,ce have,
rlntil of late. been ridicule1 ami repu-
dated.
But. in spite of this, the great popu-
ltr heart III North Carolina has ever
beaten with responsive throb whenever
the Mccklonburg Declaration or the
1jth MAY have been named. Indeed
no one of their tradition is better
Established in the affections at least, of
thr people of North Carolina, than that
the people of Mecklenburg did GA that
day declare them 10 be Z free and
independent people,
\ writer in the Raleigh Sentinel,
Mr. y. Il. GorlInc, of Warren county,
in this State. a gentleman of literary
culture ard historical research, has
1m,lrri AIKEN :ie rngrateful task, task
we feel suYa as ungrateful to himself
rs to any oln else, of uprooting this
LONG cherished popular belief. He
tale. the Old Ground that the only
Meckien!urg Declaration, of which
there is sufficient proof, is the one
llade on the 31st May, 1715. OF the
1aaking uf this later declaration Mr..
& ,odlne cut,.rtains no doubt.
The making of either declaration
Establishes beyond doubt the claim OF
North Carolina 10 the honor of having
taL"n the lead n the declaration Of
American Independence. But, not
withstanding That tact, We regret to
witness any attempt at TINS late day
t. revive an o!H controversy that, by
common consent. has been Sn long re
garded a. settled. There lnust of NJ
c4ssitv be al end at one time or
another to disputes OF this kind as well
III to all others. Popular sentiment
has accepted the 20th May as the day
Oh which the first declaration of iude-
pendcnce was III ,de and we see 10
more good to be derived from an
attemptto set aside this verdict sOlOng
adquiesceG in, than is to be derived
from telling the Swiss that sucl man
as vii lam Tell never existed. Nor
10 we believe that any new lights OF
any new testimony can be brought to
bear upon question that has been
subjected to the patient and laborious
and intelligent investigation of Hawks
and Swain and Wheeler, to say nothing
| Of Shocco Jones and others.
! while IL is not our purpose, there
! fore, to enter into the argument, we
cGlhot refrain frcm making the single
remark that, with any one familiar with
the current of popular opinion and its
forms of expression. III the South fO1
slanc wears prior to the late war, the
! Charge, that if the MecklenbIrg Dec.
laraticn be genuine Mr., Jefferson was
guilty of palpahle plagiarism, can have
nj fore
we ali remember that in every
county meeting i'll this State and il
TIL, other Southern States, the resn1u
tions adopted we"t almost identical
not oniJ III s,..'.aent, D,.5 III language
Doubtless ti,e state Of things existing
prior to the war of the Revolution wa
precisely similar to that which exi,te,
in.tne s5Outh for a few years prior t.
the late wur. and Doubtless, also, th
language and sentiments common t.
the National and Mechlenhrrg Declar
ations, We're brlt part and parcel Of th
everywhere current sentiment, enunci
! ated in the everywhere current forr
, Of expression.
The substance Of the popular tradi
ton is that on the Goth of May, 177E
the people of MecElenburg were as
: sembled in Charlotte in large number
for some purpose or other that Will
, collected in and about the Court Hous
, a courier rode up bringing the news {
the battle OF Lexington, and that, il
spired by the feeling that ''the cause {
4 Massachusetts, was the cause of all,
D the people organized themselves into
9 meeting and adopted the famous reso
e lutions known, as the Meckienbu1
Declaration that another, or, al
iourned meeting, was held eleven da,
) later, on the 31st May, 1775, at whie