The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1909-04-15

The act was introduced by Senator
E. L. Travis, of Halifax county, and
is in commemoration Of the passage
bv the Provincial Congress OF the
famous Halifax Resolution directing
the North Carolina delegates in the
Continental Congress to vote for IN
dependence. Already the date has
been placed by legislative enactment
on the State flag, and on State Seal,
along with that of May 20, 1775, and
it is but proper that this next step
should have been taken and that
April 18th should become a legal
holiday as May goth has been for
some years. Whatever one may
think about the Mecklenburg De
claration of May Goth, 1775, there
can be no possible dispute about the
Halifax Resolution Of April II, TITS,
and if there had been no Mecklen-
burg Declaration, the later event
alone entities the State to the claim
of priority in the movement Of indie
pendence, which those who dispute
the Mecklenburg Declaration are
sometimes supposed to deny.
The Halifax Resolut ton of April II,
1776, was the first declaration in ia
vor of independence by any Ameri-
can colony, and properly considered,
that date is the proudest date in
North Carolina history. On April
4, 1776, the Fourth Provincial Con-
gress met in Halifax. The people
were greatly aroused in the provinces
by the victory at Moore's Creek on
February 27. On April 5, Samuel
Johnston, President of the Congress,
wrote to James Iredell: "All our
people here are up for indepen-
dence." Independence is the word
most used," wrote General Howe.
Il am told that in many counties
there is not one dissenting voice. y
In response to this sentiment, on
April s, Congress passed the follow
ing resolution:
Resolved. That Mr.. Harnett,
Mr.. Allen Jones, Mr.. Burke, Mr..
Nash, Mr.. Kinchen, Mr.. Thomas
Person and Mr.. Thomas Jones be d
select committee to take into con-
sideration the usurpations and vio-
lences attempted and committed by
the King and Parliament of Britain
against America, and the further
measures to be taken for frustrating
the same, and for the better defence
of this Province
Of this Committee Cornelius Har-
nett was chairman, and wrote the
report which he submitted to the
Congress on April r. AS DR.. Smith
so well says:
In ringing sentences, not un-
worthy Of Burke or Pitt, the report
set forth in a short preamble the
usurpations of the British Ministry
and the moderation hitherto mani
tested by the United Colonies Their
came the declaration which to those
who made it meant years of desolat
ing war, smoking homesteads
widowed mothers, ard fatherless
children, but to us and our descen
dants a heritage Of imperishable
glory"
The report which Cornelius Har.
nett read, and which the Congress
unanimously adopted, and in com
memoration of which the State has
now made April Il a legal holiday
was as follows:
ct appears to your committee, that
pursuant to the plan concerted by
the British Ministry for subjugatine
America, the King and Parliament
of Great Britain have usurped pow.
er over the persons and properties
of the people unlimited and uncon.
trolled; and disregarding their
humble petitions for peace, liberty
and safety, have made divers legisla
tive acts, denouncing war, famine
and every species of calamity, again
st the Continent in general. That
the British fleets and armies have
been and still are daily employed If
destroying people, and committing
the most horrid devastations on the
country. That Governors in differ
ent Colonies have declared protection
to slaves, who should imbrue theil
hands in the blood of their masters
That the ships belonging to America
are declared prizes of war and many
of them have been violently seized
and confscated. In consequence o.
all which multitudes of the people
have been destroyed, Or from cas-,
circumstances reduced to the mos
lamentable distress.
and whereas. the moderation
hitherto manifested by the United
Colonies and their sincere desire t.
be reconciled to the mother countr,
on constitutional principles, have