Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 88, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 July 1902 — THE MECKLENBURG MYTH. [ARTICLE]

THE MECKLENBURG MYTH.

No Declaration Adopted Prior to the Great Declaration. The Mecklenburg declaration of independence Is one of the most persistent of our myths; but the patient researches of the historian has uncovered its fallacious foundation, albeit the people of North Carolina still religiously celebrate May 20 as the anniversary of the alleged adoption of the so-called “declaration of independence” in 1775. The Mecklenburg myth owes Its origin to one of the earliest attempts at yellow journalism made by the American press. In other words, it was an audacious “fake,” but as fakes were not so common in early days as now, the Mecklenburg fake was taken seriously and nas become a part of the accepted history of the country, surviving the lapse of nearly a century and still retaining a tenacious hold upon public belief. The story of the Mecklenburg “declaration of independence” delusion Is this: On April 30. 1819. the Raleigh (N. O.) Register published five resolutions and an accompanying statement purporting to have been written at the time, which said that the resolutions were adopted on May 20, 1775, by delegates from the different parts of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, at a meeting in Charlotte, in that county. The third of these resolution* read thus: “That we do hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people, and of right ought to be a sovereign and self-governing association, under the control of no power other than that of our God and the general government of the Congress; to the maintenance of which independence we solemnly pledge to each other our mutual co-opera-*tion, our lives, our fortunes and our most sacred honor.” It was a clever Invention, circumstantially fortified forty-four years after the alleged event. But unfortunately for the Inventors of the yarn, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and other prominent members of the Continental Congress declared In 1819 that they never heard of the Mecklenburg resolutions. Furthermore. Dr. Williamson made no mention of it In

his history of North Carolina, and, finally, three months after the alleged adoption of the resolutions, the Legislature of North Carolina, including the members from Mecklenburg County, reported a “test of loyalty” which all the members signed, and which began with these words: “We, the subscribers, professing our allegiance to the King,” etc. All of Mecklenburg County’s representatives in the assembly signed this “test of loyalty” to George 111., and four of these representatives were among the reputed signers of the alleged paper of May 20 of that yrear, two of them being the leaders in the pretended movement which that imagined document was said to have voiced. As a matter of fact no community adopted a declaration of independence in advance of the year of the momentous pronouncement drawn up by Thomas Jefferson and signed by himself and colleagues of the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. Protests against the pretensions of the British government were made by resolutions in several communities, but no declaration of independence of the colonies. From all of which it appears that yellow journalism in its incipient stage was rather more of a success In imposing upon national credulity than is the finished product of to-day. It also proves that whilst fake journalism has been amplified, it is no new thing in the land.