Mecklenburg Independence Day
Mecklenburg Independence Day is observed on May 20 in North Carolina, commemorating the purported adoption of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence in 1775. According to tradition, on this date, Colonel Thomas Polk convened a meeting of local militia leaders to discuss establishing a government in response to British colonial actions. The meeting took place amidst rising tensions, following the battles of Lexington and Concord. It is said that on the early morning of May 20, delegates adopted a declaration asserting their independence from British rule. However, many historians question the validity of this narrative, suggesting that the actual resolutions were passed on May 31, 1775, which did not contain any direct reference to independence.
The event has historical significance, as it reflects the sentiments of rebellion that were growing in the colonies at the time. Over the years, the legacy of Mecklenburg Independence Day has been shaped by memory and interpretation, especially after a fire destroyed original records, leading to embellished recollections. While the authenticity of the Mecklenburg Declaration has been challenged, the actions taken by the local convention are recognized as an important part of the broader American Revolutionary narrative. This day serves as a reminder of the complexities and evolving nature of historical accounts related to independence and governance.
Mecklenburg Independence Day
May 20 in North Carolina commemorates the alleged adoption of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence on this date in 1775. A popular tradition holds that Colonel Thomas Polk, commander of the Mecklenburg County militia, after consulting community leaders, ordered each company of citizen soldiers to select two delegates to attend a convention in Charlotte. They reportedly met on May 19, 1775, with the intention of setting up a local government, as the British government had declared the colonies to be in a state of rebellion. During the debates, the story continues, a messenger arrived with news that the colonials had fought battles against the British at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts the previous month. Aroused by this news, many delegates reportedly brought far-reaching resolutions before the convention. At 2:00 A.M. on May 20, 1775, according to the legend, the delegates adopted the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.
Many historians doubt this account, however, and there is strong evidence to support the belief that the declaration is, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, a “spurious document.” The actual course of events in North Carolina in May of 1775 seems to have been as follows:
On May 31 a convention met in Mecklenburg County and passed a series of resolutions that “annulled and vacated all civil and military commissions granted by the Crown.” The delegates further pledged that “until Parliament should resign its arbitrary pretensions” the provincial congress would exercise all legislative and executive powers within the colony. These bold resolves were then sent to the North Carolina delegation at the Second Continental Congress then meeting in Philadelphia, but they were never presented to the Philadelphia gathering.
Much to the Mecklenburg colonials' chagrin, the first accounts of the American revolution passed over the proceedings of May 31, 1775, in silence. Those who had participated in the convention would not be so easily ignored, however, and in the following decades they used every means to make certain that they were accorded an honored place. After a fire in 1800 destroyed the records of the Mecklenburg Convention, North Carolina's one -time revolutionaries, who became further and further removed from the facts as time went on, had to rely on their recollections to prove their case. On April 30, 1819, the Raleigh Register published what Joseph Graham, one of the delegates, remembered to have been the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence of May 20, 1775. Events that had taken place over a period of many months, forty-four years earlier, blended into a single experience in Graham's fading memory and he embellished the substance of the convention's resolves with the immortal phrases of Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence.
The genuineness of the so-called Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence was widely accepted until the discovery in 1847 of a Charleston newspaper of June 16, 1775, containing the proceedings of the Mecklenburg Convention. The old newspaper challenged the authenticity of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence for two serious reasons: It proved that the delegates had met on May 31 rather than May 20; and in setting forth the full text of the resolutions it showed that they contained no mention of “independence.”
Even though the North Carolina colonialists may not have been the first to call for independence, the action of Mecklenburg County marked an important step on the road to the American Revolution. The resolves of May 1775, bearing as they do the unmistakable stamp of rebellion, still merit the attention of historians of the period.
"'Meck Dec Day' Celebrations Remember Mecklenburg's Independence from Britain." WBTV, 20 May 2022, www.wbtv.com/video/2022/05/20/meck-dec-day-celebrations-remember-mecklenburg-independence-britain/. Accessed 1 May 2024.
"Why May 20 (MeckDec Pay) Is a Big eal in Charlotte." WSOC-TV, 20 May 2023, www.wsoctv.com/news/why-may-20-meckdec-day-is-big-deal-charlotte/KONIYQZGXH4VU564TLSL6GSVOU/. Accessed 1 May 2024.
Williams, James H. "The Mecklenburg Declaration--The Celebrations." Mecklenburg Historical Society, 28 Jan. 2022, www.meckdec.org/the-celebrations/. Accessed 1 May 2024.