The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-10

1naGh
sentiments at public meetings until in the
spring OF l775 the leading minds in Meek.
iehpurg county were so deeply convicted
OF the wrongs to which the colonies were
subjected, and so fred with the love or
freedom that they rose above ali cousid-
efatlons OF personal and selfish interests
ana requested Col. Thomas Polk to order
edch hllltary company TO elect two pei
sons ana delegate 10 them ample powers
70 oeVlse means to aid and assist their suf-
Ieflng brethren in Boston; and also 10
adopt measures to extricate themselve,
from the impending storm and to secure
uhlrnpaired their inaenable rights. priyt
reyes and liberties from the dominant
grasp OF British imposition and TYRANNY"
me delegates elected were to meet at -
O'CLOCK m. in the court house of Char
iotte on May 10 in open session.
"A Few Gays before this meeting several
OF the most active and prominent men of
the county held two primary meetings in
queens Museum to digest articles for a
state constitution in anticipation that The
province would proceed 10 do So The
prime leaders in this business were DR..
Ephraim Brevard, Waightstill Avery. A
distinguished lawyer; Col Thomas Polk
ana Rev. Mr.. Balch, graduate of Prince
ton College.
On May IS the delegates met at the ap-
pointed tlme and place Al the proper
time the resolutions which had been pre-
pared and approved in the primary meet
lngs were read by Ephraim Breyard. AL
most all the members spoke in turn in
favor of their adoption, and as Mr.. Balch
was about closing the final address a mes
| senger arrived with the news that the bat
| tie OF Lexington had been fought lust one
month before! Upon the announcement of.
| TINS event the interest of the meeting
reached its highest point and from that
| moment the duty of Immediately proclaim
ing declaration of independence was de-
clded-the assembly as with one voice cry
ing out:
Let US be Independent! Let us declare
our independence, and defend it with our
hVes and fortunes So intense was the
earnestness and so painful the pressure
| Oh feeling that no note of time was iaken.
| Nearly all night long these patriots sat
In the court house, rocking not of sleep,
| munger nor fatigue and after discussing
| every paragraph of the resolutions, declar-
ed independence against Great Britain
about O'Clock I'm the morning. The con-
vention then took a recess until 70 O'Clock
OF the same day, when an immense con-
course of people, consisting of gray-haired
sires and vigorous youths assembled all
! anxious to know the result of that memoir
| able occasion, when the resolutions were
read from the front steps of the court
house by Col. Thomas Polk, and they were
! adopted by the people amid. shouts of ap-
| plause and tremendous enthusiasm The
names of the signers were: Abraham AL
exander Ephraim Brevard, Thomas Polk,
| Adam Alexander, David Reese, John Nc
| Knit Alexander. Hezekiah Alexander
John Phifer, Robert Irwin, Richard Bar
| ry, William Kennon, Benjamin Patton,
John Foard, John Davidson, William Ora
ham John Flenniken, Waghtstill Avery,
| Charles Alexander, Henry Downs, Rich
| ard Harris. Ezra Alexander, Neil Morri-
son, James Harris.
The venerable Abraham Alexander was
| chosen chairman and Dr. Brevard and
John McKnitt Alexander secretaries. Sew
| eral of the signers were graduates of
| Princeton College and were men of emil
nent ability in their different professions.
1t is a well known fact that our Meek
lenburg declaration was repudiated by
| Thomas Jefferson, who pronounced it
spurious and a very unjustifable
| quiz" because 1t came out over year in
| advance of the national declaration, and
! both documents are worded in language
so similar that it has caused much contro-
versy among historians as TO the anthem
| ITCHY of the Mecklenburg.
| 1t Is true that our original document
cannot be brought to light, and thus for
ever silence all doubt, but, unfortunat ely,
| it was burned when the residence of John
McKuitt Alexander, who was its custo-
dian, was destroyed by fire in 1900. Mr..
Alexander afterwards prepared a copy
| from memory, and in the effort of doing
| so, 1t is claimed by the opposers of Mr..
| Jefferson's charge that he may have con-
fused it with the national declaration and
inserted several phrases peculiar to that
paper. However, we hope to be able to
produce testimony from such unimpeach-
able authority that ought to be sufficient
to satisfy incredulity itself" as to the gen.
uineness of our Mecklenburg declaration,
and of its PRONUNCIATION to the world on
the 10Th of May, 1775.
Let us hear some of Americas distin-
guished historians and writers upon this
| mooted question. Losing, in his Lives
of the Signers of the National Declare
ton" records that as early as the 10th
of May, 1775, at a meeting in Charlotte
N. c., the committee made declaration
of Independence of the British crown 10
the support of which they pledged their
lives. their fortunes and their sacred hon
or"
bancroft saws: 1.-THE people of the coun-
Nv of Mecklenburg had carefully observed
the progress of the controversy with BRIT
ain. and during the winter of 1774-To, politl-
cal meetings had repeatedly been held IN
Charlotte. That town had been chosen FOR
tbe seat of the Presbyterian College, winch
the legislature of North Carolina had char
tered. but which the King had disallowedi
and II was the center of the culture OF
that part of the province. Some time in
Nav news was received that both houses
Of Parliament, by an address to the KING,
had declared the American colonies to be
in a state of actual rebellion. This was to
them evidence that the crisis in Amerl-
can affairs was come, and the people pro-
posed among themselves to abrogate al
genendence on the royal authority"
Hldreth. a very painstaking, accurate
ond instructive writer, asserts: That the
citizens of Mecklenburg country, North
Carolina. carried their zeal so far as 70
resolve at a public meeting 10 throw on
The British connection and they framed a
declaration Of independence. But this feel
;r,, was by no means general"
washington Irving, the first OF Amerl-
cans who gave to his country character
For literature in Europe, and appropriate"
l., closed his long and bright career by a
,;Riography of Washington published in
1877. SAYS in the fourth volume OF TINS
York speaking of the invasion OF LORD
Cornyalis: 1T was an enterprise IN
T,bicb much difficulty was to be appre-