The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-02-13
For the Farmer and Mechanic.
Col. Daniel r. Coodioe Takes Pen
to the Same Subject.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 10, 1884.

/ have read with interest the article
signed y~eritas. in the last issue of the
Farmer and Mechanic, upon the genuine
ness of the "Mecklenburg Declaration
of independence" The theory adj
vanced in regard to the two dates,-the
Goth and 3lst of May,-strikes me as
ingenious. and satisfactory, as it regards
the positive averments OF the dc gen.
tlemen, who state in their certificates
that the me citing was on the Goth. Five
or six of them, however, only remem
bered that it was in May, or a year be-
fore the American Declaration. These
certificates were given after the year
| 1920, to the date of an event which
transpired in l775, and to the wording
| of Resolutions, adopted at that remote
period. They would remember the
event of course but that their memories
can be relied on, as to the particular
| day, and to the precise language of a
paper, chtch wds n 9rer printed, accord
ing to DR.. Hawks, until 1919, is utterly
inadmissible.
But l propose, at present, to call at
tention to some tangible facts in the his
tory of this paper. 1t first appeared in
the Raleigh Register, of April 80, 1919.
III lIldG DuOLCiUIOu, htlISI NdS hdtC ny
DR.. Joseph McKnitt, son of John Me-
Knit Alexander, Adam Alexander is
stated to have called the meeting togeth-
err but in the pamphlet published by
order of the Legislature, III 1881, Col.
Thomas Polk is named as having per-
formed that office. This discrepancy
between two printed papers, both of
which claim to have been taken from
the original, is explained as follows:
February 18th, 1920, the Raleigh
Register stated that when the Declara-
ton was first published, in the preced-
ing April, some doubts were expressed
in the Eastern papers as to its authenti-
city, but that col. William Polk, OF
this city, (who though a mere youth at
the time, was present at the meeting,
which made the Declaration, and whose
father, being colonel Of the county. APP
pears to have acted a conspicuous part
on the occasion,0 observing this, assured
US OF the correctness of the facts gener-
ally, though he thought there were errors
as to the name Of the Secretary sc.
1t is said that that Col Polk was not at
all pleased at noticing that his fathers
name was omitted and the Legislative
committee accordingly, a dozen years
later, corrected the error.
This was taxing a great liberty with
a paper which bears date, May 20, 1775,
and purports to be the original report of
the proceedings of the meeting. 1t is
several years since / examined the files
OF the Register, but my recollection is
as above stated. The file is in the State
Library, and the question can be settles
in ten minutes.
l call attention to another d~iscrepan-
cy. Mr.. John McKnitt Alexander in
serts his name,-or is made by the pub
l~ication in the Register to insert his
name, as sole clerk or secretary; while
the Reverend Humphrey Hunter states
that John McKnitt Alexander and
Ephraim Brevard were chosen secre-
taries. Geo. Graham. VIM. Hutchison,
Jonas Clark. and Robt. Robinson, four
OF the witnesses, say that the Declara-
ton was drawn up by the secretary,
DR.. Ephraim Brevard." Isaac Alex
ander states that Ephraim Brevard was
the secretary. All the witnesses who
refer to the subject. say that DIR. Bre-
ward was the author of the Declaration.
To all which it may be adde:l that Dr.
Brevard was clerk to the Committee of
Safety of the county, which on the 3Ist
May issued the famous Resolves, and
signed his name to them.
Joseph McKnitt, a son Of John Nc
Knit Alexander, published the ''Decla-
ration in the Register in 1919, but in
so doing he omitted to insert the post
script, written by his father. 1t is as
follows:
1T may be worthy of notice here to
observe that the foregoing statement.
though Fundamentally correct, yet NAV
not literally correspond with the original
Record of the transactions cf said dele
cation and Court Of Enquiry, as all the
Records and papers were burnt with the
no Use IN Aprat 6, 1900; but previous to
that time Of 1900, a full copy of said
records, at the request of DR.. Hugh
Williamson, then of New York, but
formerly a representative in Congress
frOLl this State, was forwarded to him
by Col. VIM. Polk, in order that those
early transactions might fill their proper
IN a history of this State her writing
by the said DR.. Williamson in New
York.
Certified to the best of my recollection
and belief, this 3rd day Of September.
1900, by J. McKnitt Alexander, Meek
'enburg county, n. c."
This suppressed certificate-suppress-
ed by DR.. Joseph McKnitt, when pub
fishing the ''Declaration'' in the Reals
ter, is taken from the University Maqa-
zine for May, 1853. 1t is embraced in
an article written by DR.. CHARLES Phil
lips, who took it from the original, then
in the possession of ex-GoF. Swain.
This certificate shows that the So
called ''Declaration'' was written in the
| year 1900, from memory, by John Nc
Knit Alexander, twenty-five years after
the event it attempts to record. and six
months after the original papers were
destroyed by fire.
The fact that the pretended record of
proceedings, dated Liay 60, IT'S. speaks
of events as past, and records events
which transpired all during the war, is
explained by this certificate. The old
man, their author, could not have in
tended to impose the paper upon the
public as genuine, as is shown BY the
suppressed certificate. He was not a
scholar, as Brevard was. and hence. he
strung together in poor English, some
of the finest gems in the American Dec
laration, including the Resolution of in
structions written by Richard Henry
Leg to the committee which was APP
pointed to draft the American Declara-
ton.
The Resolves of May 31st are strong
ly written, and would have done credit
to the best mind in the country. In
spirit they were in advance of the times,
and they were lever receded from.
NlV. then. ShOnld not North Carnlin.