Evening star., 1925-05-24
The Mecklenburg Celebration
BY FREDERIC J. H4SkIN

Questions Of foreign affairs. ques-
| tions of domestic affairs. questions
| relative TO the French debt. to Am
F., bassador Houghton's speech and
| myriad others came and went in
recent press conference at the White
| House. but one persisted.
At almost every session it was
asked and each time the answer
given by Mr.. Coolidge was no The
| question was, Are you going TO
Charlotte. y. G.. May 20. To partici-
pate in the celebration OF the Neck
| lenburg Declaration of Independ-
ence?" All of which gives rise to 2
discussion of the MecklenburG declar-
! alton it's writer's and the reason for
| wanting the Presidents appearance
at the celebration of it.
! Mecklenburg County Is on the south
border of North Carolina. about mid
way between the Atlantic Ocean and
! the Tennessee line. Its county seat
| is charlotte. which boasts popuia-
| ton Of $4,000. The Meckienburg
declaration was drawn up at Char
lotte.
The early inha abitantS OF Mecklen-
burg County were Scotch Irish. This
ma me- however. is misnomer. as II
! gives the impression that these peo-
! pie are mixture of Scotch and irish,
! whereas they are undiluted Scotch.
and nothing else. In Scotland they
are considered OF pure Scotch strain.
: nd no one ever heard of n lrishman n
declaring that they were part Of his
! people.
| The reason for the appellation
Scotch-Irish dates from the reign of
! the preiat tic James |. Also here be-
! gins the background for the Meckien-
burg declaration. The rebellion OF two
mobiles of the Water province IN
/ Northern Ireland. furnished the King
with popular reason to confiscate
their domains. In order TO maintain
these confiscations and to people them
| with men that could hold their own
against Catholic Ireland, James de-
cided to hand-pick his subjects. He
offered the Scotch various induce
| ments to make Ulster their home.
| These offers were very attractive
and large numbers responded, from
which James selected the best. and
sent them to Ulster. Today the de-
scendants of these people in the Unit
ed States are called Scotch-Irish. This
is ethnologically incorrect, the term
possessing geographical significance
only.
Soon Forced Out of Ulster.
!
| the province of Ulster, but Engla nd
soon made their lives unbea rable. The
Ulster men were oppressed just as the
American colonies were oppressed.
First Engian destroyed their woolen
trade. This was like cutting their
throat and there began an exodus OF
Scotch colonists to America. A sec
ond and larger emigration was caused
by the advancement of taxes. This
first outrage was an attack on the
industry of the people; the second
was an attack on their agriculture.
| For so years, 1920 to 1910, these peo-
pie, abused and then elected from their
farms and homesteads. emigrated to
America at the rate of 1900 year.
They settled principally in Pennsyl.
vania, then in Virginia and then be-
tween the Catawba and Yadkin rivers
| in North Carolina. So great was this
lfnflux from Ulster that at the out.
break Of the Revolutionary War the
Scotch formed almost one.third of the
population of the American colonies.
| These Scotch came with a bitter ha.
tired for all things that smacked of
English. Their homes, the homes they
had been cordially invited to by the
precursors of their detested sovereign,
had been taken from them. But, with
1
i they soon prospered In the Piedmont
country.
| About the year .1771, however, they
found new causes for being angry
with the English. They wished to
found q college to educate their young
men and wanted a charter from the
King In order to establish it. Also
they wanted permission for their own
pastors to marry their children. Hith,
erto they had been compelled to pay
a fee to the Church of England's min
listers every time marriage occurred
| In order to placate the King whom
| they so despised and further their
cause they decided on strategic
policy,
They, named their queen city Char,
lotte. in honor OF the wife of George
III, and they named their county
Msckienburs. after the district In
watch Charlotte, Queen OF England