The Irish standard., 1909-05-08
THE MECkLENRURG MYTH

at Philadelphia declared that the 10
colonies We're free and independent
states and absolved from all allegi.
ance to the British crown, the Irish
settlers of North Carolina or "the Pres
byterians of Scotch Irish descent" as
Bancroft terms them, held a conven-
tion in Mecklenburg county and passed
resolutions declaring their indepen-
dence Of Great Britain; and knowing
they would encounter opposition,
Thomas Polk and Joseph Kennedy,
were appointed ito purchase flints,
lead and powder" A copy of the reso-
lutions was dispatched to the Contin-
entail Congress. and the royal COVER
nor of the colony was appraised of the
proceedings.
meeting to commemorate the
Mecklenburg declaration will be held
next month, and President Taft will
be present on the occasion. The an
nouncement of the celebration of this
historic event has caused the histori-
ans to trace up the documents relat-
ing to the matter and some of them
pronounce the Mecklenburg declaration
myth. because the phraseologv Of
the resolutions is similar to that in
Jefferson's Declaration of Indepen-
dence.
The resolutions passed at Mecklen-
burg were lost or destroyed by fire;
but forty years after, the son of the
secretary OF the convention reproduced
them from memory, as he heard them
from his father and jefferson is said
TO have told John Adams that the de-
claration was a clumsy forgery.
The Minneapolis Journal of last
Sunday, after saying that historians
conclude that the declaration is fake,
concludes as follows:
The question is largely a histori-
cal ono. There is no attempt to DENY
that the people Of North Carolina were
foremost among the Americans who
threw off the British yoke. The con-
troversy arises over the question
whether Jefferson was anticipated by
Mecklenburg. II he was, somebody in
North Carolina, whose name is Sc
curely embedded in a Silurian stra
tum of history, has been robbed of an
immense credit to his name and fame,
and jefferson has been glorified for
something he did not do. Az has been
said. the best evidence takes care of
Jeffersons fame. while dctracting not
at all from the patriotism of the peo-
pic Of North Carolina
The Irish Standard thinks it is rea-
sonablc to suppose that the Irish set
tiers of North Carolina had used the
same ideas found in Jeffcrson's De-
claration of Independence. The fact
that Jefferson used the same ideas a
year afterwards does not necessarily
imply that he was guilty of plagiar-
ism: but the truth of the matter is
that the ideas expressed in his inmor-
tai document are not very original
as the sequel will show. He says:
we hold these truths to be self
evident. that all men are created equal
that they are endowed by their Crea-
tor with certain inalienable rights,
that among these are life. liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness; that to Sc
cure these rights, governments are in
stituted among men, deriving their
Just powers from the consent of the
governed: that whenever any form Of
government becomes destructive of
these ends it Is the right of the peg
pie to alter or to abolish it, and to
institute new government. laying it's
foundation on such principles and or
EanizinE its powers in such form as
to them shall seem most likely to ef-
feet their safety and happiness
Compare the foregoing with the fol-
lowing. taken from The Case of Ire
land Stated" by William Molyneux.
which appeared in 1895, and was adj
dressed to William III of England:
"Al men are by nature in a state of
equality in respect Of jurisdiction and
dominion: this take to be principle
in itself so evident that it stands in
need Of little proof It is not to he con-
ceived that creatures Of the same
species and rank. promiscuously born
to all the same advantages of nature,
and the use Of the same faculties,
should be subordinate and subject one
to another. On this equality in ma
ture is founded that right which all
men claim. of being free from all sub
lection to positive laws, till by their
own consent they give UP their free
dom. by entering into civil societies
for the common benefit Of all the
members thereof. And on this consent
depends the obligation Of all humane
laws. inasmuch that without it, by
the unanimous opinion Of all jurists,