The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-06-01
Observation-Disclosures
To the Editor Of The Times:

George w. Graham, NJ. d.. WrltlnS u
The Times from Charlotte, n. c., says
that the people of that town are mucn
amused at the ignorance displayed by ms
in The Times of May 10, concerning tic
Mecklenburg Declaration OF independence
Having ventilated that fraud many times
in the last eighteen years, / am at last
charged with ignorance so profound that
do not know declaration OF independence
when see it. My critic denounces me
for careless and reckless assertion. and
says he and his neighbors are not willing
to accept as witnesses DR.. yelling. late
President of Columbian University. nor the
late Peter Force, who. in 1888, discovered
in an old newspaper part OF the reso-
lutions adopted at Charlotte, N. c., May
81. 1775 And he challenges me to cite
two contemporaneOus witnesses to meet
ing of delegates at that place on that date.
will do better For twenty-seven years
l have had in my library the full historical
record of that meeting, comprising the
twenty resolutions adopted. The preamble
recites that by the action OF the British
Parliament 1.-The former civil constitution
of these colonies is for the present wholly
suspended" Therefore, ito provide in
some degree for the esigencies OF this
country in the present alarming period.
we deem it proper and necessary to pass
the following resolves"
Accordingly, the twenty resolutions pro-
vide for local government in Mecklen-
b,r to ho in full force and virtue
until instructions from the Provincial Con-
gress regulating the jurisprudence OF the
province shall provide otherwise. or the
legislative body of Great Britain resign its
unjust and arbitrary pretensions with re-
spect to America"
These resolves were published in the
South Carolina Gazette and were trans
mitted to Congress by Captain Jack. They
were denounced by Governor Martin and
sent to London. Some of them were print
ed in Northern newspapers. Similar reso-
lutions were adopted in other colonies.
The point I make is that that was the
only revolutionary meeting held at Char
lotte in May, 1775. And let me add that il
May 81 was new style in Meckienburg
county III ITO, tuen INC PSopiS "a 1850
county ought to be celebrating the event
at the very moment when 1 am writing
this to The Times. :
The resolutions that came to light In
June, 1919, contained the following
phrases. exactly like those In the Declara-
ton of July 4, 1776, emitting the bracketed
words:
Inherent and inalienable rights"
dissolve the political bands which
have connected tusl."
"Absolve [ourselvesl from all allegiance
to the British Crown"
Declare Yourselves al free and indie
pendent [peoplel."
..Are and of right ought to be-" Gan
moved by Richard Henry Lee
to the Declaration Of 1776.)
I'VE IsoiemnIyl pledge to each other our
mutual [co-operationl. our lives, our for
tunes, and our fmostl honor"
When John Adams enclosed these four
Or five resolutions fsome of the records
have only four, in a letter to Thomas
Jefferson, he said:
How is It possible that this paper should have
to me in the time Of it. / know. IL
sou do not that it would have bsen printed in
very Wing newspaper upon this continent; You
SNOW that il | had possessed it | would have
made the hall Of Congress echo and re-echo with
t fifteen Uhirteen) months before your DECLARE
ion of Independence.
jefferson. in reply. July Q. 1919. pro-
the resolutions spurious. He
could find no historical allusion to such
proceedings. and he concluded his letter
is follows:
When Mr.. Patrick Henry's resolutions, far short
VI independence, flew like lightning through every
,aper and kindod both sides of the Atlantic, this
tanning declaration Of the same date, OF the
Of Mecklenburg County OF North
'arolina absoIving it from British allegiance and
buring all political connection with that nation
although sent to Congress. too, Is never heard
f. II il not known, even a twelve-month after,
when similar proposition is first made in tia.
,ody Armed with this bold example, would not
'ou have addressed our timid brethren in pcdlS
II thunder on their tardy fears? Would not every
dvocate Of independence have rung the gories
4 Mecklenburg in North Carolina in the Of
he doubting Dickinson and others who hung
IL heavily on US!
Six weeks later John Adams expressed
lis disbelief in the authenticity of the
resolutions, saying. "Haud credo.'
If Jefferson or Adams had ever known
If the presentation to Congress of the |
resolutions of May 81, 1775. the fact was
orgotten in 1919.
Historian Bancroft, who procured from
he British archives the complete record |
# the proceedings of the meeting at Char
otte, dated May 81. 1775 has avoided the
question OF the Mecklenburg Declaration |
# Independence. Mr.. Conway. in his Life |
# Thomas Paine" 1892, accepts it as |
genuine. He attempts to account |
or Jefferson's non-recognition of the pa
,er in 1919 by his feeble memory and |
jealousy concerning the paternity of the
Declaration of 1915. Feeble memory" in
eed! How about the memory of John
adams? And why should Jefferson be
ealous regarding the paternity of an in
trument whose authorship he had up to
hat time studiously avoided claiming?
To account for the moderation of the
esolutions OF May 81, compared with those
( May 20, Mr.. Conway surmises that the
alter ones we're tempered expressions OF
he absolute Declaration of Indepen-
ence" after the receipt of the tidings
rom Lexington" The bloodshed at Lex
ngton is recited in one of the resolutions
( May 90 of which nothing was publicly
nown until June. 1919. and which both
efferson and Adams discredited.
My critic having appended IN. d. to
is signature, l now append to mine a
egree conferred on me in 1916.
WM. HENRY BURR, A. N.
OTIS IN QUARANTINE.