The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-05-07
For the Farmer and Mechanic
The 2oth Of May and the 1th Of
July.
WASHINGTON. ID. c.. April 26.

w ASHINGTON- ~. u. April 70.
/ One changes his home more readily
than himself. In this city, once OF
magnificent distances, hut now of pa
/ latial editices and national celebrities,
where so many subjects are suggested.
just description OF which would fill as
many letters, my heart instinctively
turns to the old folks who gave Lber-
/ ty a home. and whose successors | have
so much cause to remember with pleas
ure.
OF what / have heretofore written of
the true date OF the organization and
/ the manifestoes Of the independent
/ Committee or Congress Of Mecklenburg,
this is the substance:
! /. No reason whatever has ever been
advanced for disbelieving the evidence of
the eyewitnesses who testified, and were
never contradicted by their cotempora-
ries, that it was organized on the 10Th
of Nav, 177j
=. The day of the reading out of the
manuscripts (pluraD to the assembled
multitude, is confirmed by an oath as
the Goth.
3. The printed date Of the 'attested
copy of the whole proceedings,' rests
Charles-Town typos.
4. 1t is more probable, from the
dates which are proven, that the print
ed 3lst was written on this attested
copy, 2lst.
). While the 2lst would have been
Sunday by OR calendar, it was not so
with the Independents as is proven by
the official actions of the Charlotte
Town Commissioners. and the execu-
ton OF deeds among the people, on that
day.
6. With the Julian calendar then in
use by the people, the 3lst, instead
of the 21st, was Sunday with them
and this is sufficient reason for at once
rejecting the date as a misprint, or an
alteration from the manuscript, and re-
| fusing to celebrate the 3lst as the n
5. date of the digested Resolves.
= The N s. date of this latter docu-
ment would not, then, be the 3lst of
May, but the lst of June
S. Newspapers of the colonial period,
and the established churches wherever
found, kept English time, but Mecklen-
| burg then had neither.
Now if there are those who still con-
tend for a conclusion, unwarranted bv a
single premisis, and only suggested by
a suspicion that the old patriots did not,
and could not, tell the exact truth as to
the days of the month, / must bid them
adieu in the language of the rider who
refused to adopt the choice of route
claimed by his mule, and say: | will
not argue with you or any of your kin
| folks
Let us turn then to the several man
/ uscripts on the subject Of Independence
emanating from Mecklenburg in the
year l7715. In this letter only an intro
duction to this branch of the subject
will be given.
| In recent interview with Senator NJ.
| W. Ransom, after reiteratng his faith
in the document of the Goth, and, as
Mr. Bayard so happily put it, in the
| traditions of virtuous and intelligent
people, he remarked that his father had
seen the original draft of the 4th of
July Declaration, aud often mentioned
the number of interlineatiOns displayed
in the manuscript This tradition /
| find confirmed by the following extract
| from the Charlotte Journal OF May 4th,
1893. kindly loaned me by Mrs. Thos.
j. llolton, of Charlotte.
FROM the Fayetteville Observer
! THE MECKLENBURG DECLARA TION OF