A Visit Home for the Meck Dec

Library lore says that Carolyn Wallace, Director of the Southern Historical Collection from 1975-1987, once declared that the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence was the single most valuable item in our entire collection.

It is thus no surprise that we have blogged about the Mecklenburg County, NC native before, that digital copies are available online, and that DocSouth provides a full transcript of the document.

Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence - the Davie Copy

A quick “Meck Dec” crash course, for those unfamiliar with this corner of Southern history: On April 30th, 1819, the Raleigh Register published an article by Dr. Joseph McKnitt Alexander. In it, Alexander said that his own father was present for the signing of the very first Declaration of Independence ever written in the Colonies – dated May 20th, 1775, more than a year before the other Declaration of Independence. He went on to explain that, though the original version of the document was lost in a fire, he owned an exact copy of it. Thomas Jefferson scoffed, but Mecklenburg locals claimed they had witnessed the original declaration with their own eyes.

While scholars still disagree over the document today, each May 20th is celebrated with much enthusiasm in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. This past “Meck Dec Day” was particularly exciting, as the document was able to make the 140-mile journey from our secure storage in Chapel Hill to a public exhibit in Charlotte. Present for the one-day event was McKnitt’s own great-great-great-great-great granddaughter, along with descendants of many other Meck Dec signers.

Meck Dec on display in Charlotte

Meck Dec on display in Charlotte

Meck Dec on display in Charlotte

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nearly all of our collections are available to access within the library, but we are particularly pleased when we have a chance to let the items come out to the public. If you were in the Charlotte area, we hope you were able to swing by and see this treasure from the collection.

 

Special thanks to sponsors, hosts, and supporters at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, the May Twentieth Society, the Bank of America Heritage Center of Charlotte, and UNC School of Information and Library Science alumni Anne Harding.

The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence

“…to secure unimpaired their inalianable rights, priviledges, and liberties from the Dominant grasp of British imposition and Tyranny.”

This Fourth of July marks two hundred and thirty-seven years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, but did you know that Mecklenburg County set out to declare its independence from Great Britain even earlier? On May 19th and 20th of 1775, immediately after receiving news of the Battle of Lexington, a convention in Charlotte adopted but did not publish resolutions of independence from the British government.  Days later, the Committee of Safety in Charlotte adopted twenty resolves establishing independence and local laws.  These resolves were taken to Congress in Philadelphia, which considered them a premature action, and the National Declaration of Independence was not adopted until the next year.

However, those who had participated in the drafting of the Mecklenburg Declaration continued to profess its historical importance.  Since no formal declaration was published, the original copy was considered to be the minute book of the Mecklenburg convention recorded by its secretary, John McNitt Alexander. This minute book was destroyed in a fire in 1800, but copies of the record in Alexander’s possession survived. Later that year, Alexander created a new copy from his surviving records for William R. Davie. While the accuracy of surviving copies of the Declaration has been disputed by historians, this copy is given credence due to the accompanying certificate from Samuel Henderson testifying that he received it directly from Davie’s son. That document (known as the Davie Copy) as well as the accompanying certificate from Samuel Henderson, can be seen in the images below.

[click on images for full-screen view]

MecDecDC01

MecDecDC02

MecDecDC03

MecDecDC04MecDecCert

Item citation: From folder 1 of the Mecklenburg Declaration Papers (#00501) in the Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Other sources:

McNitt, V. V. (1960). Chain of Error and the Mecklenburg Declarations of Independence. Palmer, Massachusetts & New York: Hampden Hills Press.

Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. (1961). Chapter 4: Verifying the Facts. Hornets’ Nest: The Story of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Charlotte, NC: Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Retrieved from http://www.cmstory.org/history/hornets/facts.htm

The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence

“…to secure unimpaired their inalianable rights, priviledges, and liberties from the Dominant grasp of British imposition and Tyranny.”

This Fourth of July marks two hundred and thirty-seven years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, but did you know that Mecklenburg County set out to declare its independence from Great Britain even earlier? On May 19th and 20th of 1775, immediately after receiving news of the Battle of Lexington, a convention in Charlotte adopted but did not publish resolutions of independence from the British government.  Days later, the Committee of Safety in Charlotte adopted twenty resolves establishing independence and local laws.  These resolves were taken to Congress in Philadelphia, which considered them a premature action, and the National Declaration of Independence was not adopted until the next year.

However, those who had participated in the drafting of the Mecklenburg Declaration continued to profess its historical importance.  Since no formal declaration was published, the original copy was considered to be the minute book of the Mecklenburg convention recorded by its secretary, John McNitt Alexander. This minute book was destroyed in a fire in 1800, but copies of the record in Alexander’s possession survived. Later that year, Alexander created a new copy from his surviving records for William R. Davie. While the accuracy of surviving copies of the Declaration has been disputed by historians, this copy is given credence due to the accompanying certificate from Samuel Henderson testifying that he received it directly from Davie’s son. That document (known as the Davie Copy) as well as the accompanying certificate from Samuel Henderson, can be seen in the images below.

[click on images for full-screen view]

MecDecDC01

MecDecDC02

MecDecDC03

MecDecDC04MecDecCert

Item citation: From folder 1 of the Mecklenburg Declaration Papers (#00501) in the Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Other sources:

McNitt, V. V. (1960). Chain of Error and the Mecklenburg Declarations of Independence. Palmer, Massachusetts & New York: Hampden Hills Press.

Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. (1961). Chapter 4: Verifying the Facts. Hornets’ Nest: The Story of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Charlotte, NC: Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Retrieved from http://www.cmstory.org/history/hornets/facts.htm