The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-02-06

For the barn. aud Mechanic.
The MecklenbGrs Resolses--A
Strong Argument Against
the "2Oth."

Will call his attention To- some facts
that | conceive to be well Established.
l.. Until the Republication of the re
solves of May 81, l775. the tradition
current was that the people of Mccklen-
burg declared their independence OF
the mother country on May 20, 1915.
The tradition was confined to n meet
ing and to one set Ot resolves. The
resolves" Of Nav 3l-t were. loWcver,
the only ones publicly set forth By the
people who made them. These dates
did not tally. The difficulty wa avoid
e by asserting that there were two
meetings and two sets Of resolves. Is
there any proof OF this: No one ques-
tons the honesty of t.c men who as
serted that the .declarationn of May
20. l77j, was authentic, but very few
persons who have investigated tie ques-
ton now believe the declaration" "a
usually published, to be the exact lam
guage of the resolves framed by the
meu VINO participated III the meeting.
TIE words OF the declaration seem to
have been reproduced from recollection.
The resolves were extensively pub
lished in the newspapers at the time.
?. Governor Martin read the re
solves and vigorously denounced them
III June. lT1j. y copy OF these re
solves was Immediately sent of by cX-
press Il the Congress at Philadelphia.
Capt. Jack was the bearer; and he
passed through Salisbury the very next
day, ON Thursday, the first day OF June,
being the first day OF the District court,
presided oyer by Alexander Martin, un-
der a special commission from the
crown. The records Of this court are
complete. There is absolutely no EVIL
dence that Capt. Jack carried with him
two sets of resolves.
3. On the very same day, the COM
mittee of Rowan county met, and sent
the following communication To 1.-THE
committee of the county of Mecklen-
burg: Gentlemen-Thn alarming state
Of American Freedom being in the con
sideration of all committees. from the
Continental Congress. now sitting AT
Philadelphia. to the smaller kind through
the province we. a committee Tor the
county OF Rowan now met at Salisbury,
desiring a communication to be held up
betwiXt the several committees, that
the greater unity may be in supporting
the common u in particular, desir-
Ing the correspondence of your commit
tee, considering our profession and in
tentiOns for Professionalism are the same.
we request that we may have an account
OF your proceedings, promising you a
like return. We beSeech you, likewise,
that with us You would lift up your
hearts in undissembled prayers to the
Disposer of all events, that He would
by His Providence intcrpose against the
counselS of designing men. That we
pay have our constitution as contained
in the -NdgHe Chdrtd, the Charter of the
Forest. the HabeaS Corpus act, and the
charter we brought over with Us. hand
ed down unsullied to posterity, and that
und,r God, the present House of Han
over in LEGAL succession, may be the de-
tenders OF it. BY order of the commit
tee. Signed by
JAMES MACAY, Clerk"
This meeting of the committee was
presided over 10y Samuel Young, in the
absence of William kennon. the regular
! chairman. who had gone to the Neck
lenburg meeting of May 3lst, and who
is credited with making a speech for and
assisting to draft the Mecklenburg in
strument.
1. 1t is a curious fact that The Goth OF
May. old style. is the same day as the
3lst of MAY, new style and this alone
may account for the confusion Of the
two dates. The alteration of the old
stvle was enacted for Great Britain in
the vear l75l. An act of Parliament
was passed for the adoption OF the new
STYLE in all public and legal transactions.
The difference of the two STYLES, which
then amounted to eiccca days was re-
moved by ordering the third day OF
September of the year 1872 to be called
the I4th of that month. The difference
in the present century is twelve days.
For instance. Epiphany or old Christ
mas, now falls oil the 9th day of Jan.
uarv-in the last century the same day
was observed on the 9TH day of Jam
uary. Although the calendar was re-
formed, it is notorious that it was more
than IA generation before the people be-
came accustomed to the change. Those
born and reared under the cd calendar
TO the last DAYS of their lives more fle.
q%uently dated their letters and kept
count of current events by the old style
rather than the new. This is observable
in reading the correspondence of men
who lived just preceding, during and fol
some time after the American Revolu'
ton.
"R. y. e." has unconsciously reach.
ed the same conviction. He says
The NJ, ckleuburgers"-ot l715-"pre'
ierred the calendar of Julius Cesar
Pontifer Ndrimus. to that of Gregory
SUI stituted by statute "a Geo. III, l75l
No one who understands the history o
ALEXANDER CRAIGHEAD from lab tC
I1G6. and that he was virtually hing o
Nsckienburg for the last eleven years o
his life can doubt whose time he kept
i. the choice wa. limited 10 the two
The old Mecklenburgers
held to the O.. s., doubtless as at once
a legacy from Craighead and a badge o
liberty. But the fact is they were yer.
little more tenacious than were the Pro
testant States of Germany, who mad
the exchange in l174; while the civil
and religious head-the king and pom
tn of All the Russias bears Cesar
name and keeps Caesars time 10 tn
present day
Ii this reasoning be sound, tn
old Mecklenburgers assembled II
Charlotte on Tuesday, the lot
day OF May. u S.-the 53th day 0
May, y S. l775 and the resolves
} were publicly adopted on Wednesday
: the 10Th day of May, .. S.-the Bis
day of May, y. S. The 2lst day {
May. o. 5. wa. Thursday, the first da
of June, y. S. If he declaration
was promulgated on Saturday, Q. 5
that day must have been May %, IL;
which nobody asserts. The only Satul
: days in May, l775, fell on the ,econC
: ninth sixteenth, twenty-third. and Thu
p tieth days of that month. according I
the Julian calendar and on the siXtl
thirteenth, twentieth and twenty-se'