First North Carolina Provincial Congress

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First North Carolina Provincial Congress (1774)
2nd Provincial Congress
Overview
Legislative bodyNorth Carolina Provincial Congress
JurisdictionProvince of North Carolina
Meeting placeNew Bern, North Carolina
Term1774
Members73 Delegates (35 counties, 6 not represented; 9 towns/districts, 3 not represented)
President/ModeratorJohn Harvey
Sessions
1stAugust 25, 1774 – August 27, 1774

The First North Carolina Provincial Congress was the first of five extra-legal unicameral bodies that met beginning in the summer of 1774. They were modeled after the colonial lower house (House of Commons). These congresses created a government structure, issued bills of credit to pay for the movement, and organized an army for defense, in preparation for the state of North Carolina. This First Congress met in New Bern from August 25 to August 27, 1774. John Harvey served as president. These Provincial congresses paved the way for the first meeting of the North Carolina General Assembly on April 7, 1777 in New Bern, North Carolina.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Committee of Correspondence

Massachusetts' young and ardent Boston patriot, Josiah Quincy, Jr.[7] visited North Carolina staying five days. He spent the night of March 26, 1773 at Cornelius Harnett's home near Wilmington, North Carolina. The two discussed and drew up plans for a Committee of Correspondence. The committee's purpose: communicate circumstances and revolutionary sentiment among the colonies.[8] The North Carolina Committee of Correspondence formed in December 1773 in Wilmington. Although Cornelius Harnett was absent, he was made chairman of the committee. Other members included John Harvey, Robert Howe, Richard Caswell, Edward Vail, John Ashe, Joseph Hewes, Samuel Johnston, and William Hooper.

The function of the committees in each colony was to inform the voters of the common threat faced by all the colonies, and to disseminate information from the main cities to the rural hinterlands where most of the colonists lived. As news was typically spread in hand-written letters or printed pamphlets to be carried by couriers on horseback or aboard ships, the committees were responsible for ensuring that this news accurately reflected the views of their parent governmental body on a particular issue and was dispatched to the proper groups. The committee supervised the election of the first Provincial Congress in North Carolina.[9][10]

Resolutions

The delegates to the First North Carolina Provincial Congress deliberated in 1774 in response to the Boston Tea Party and Intolerable Acts (Boston Port Act) by British rulers. The following resolutions were passed by this congress on August 27, 1774 and are listed below as they appear in the minutes of the sessions.[11][5]

"We his Majesty's most dutiful and Loyal Subjects, the deputies from the several Counties and Towns, of the Province of North Carolina, impressed with the most sacred respect for the British Constitution, and resolved to maintain the succession of the House of Hanover, as by law Established, and avowing our inviolable and unshaken Fidelity to our sovereign, and entertaining a sincere regard for our fellow subjects in Great Britain viewing with the utmost abhorrence every attempt which may tend to disturb the peace and good order of this Colony, or to shake the fidelity of his Majesty's subjects resident here, but at the same time conceiving it a duty which we owe to ourselves and to posterity, in the present alarming state of British America, when our most essential rights are invaded by powers unwarrantably assumed by the Parliament of Great Britain to declare our sentiments in the most public manner, lest silence should be construed as acquiescence, and that we patiently submit to the Burdens which they have thought fit to impose upon us."

"The act of Parliament commonly called the Boston Port Act, as it tends to shut up the Port of Boston and thereby effectually destroy its Trade and deprive the Merchants and Manufacturers of a subsistance which they have hitherto procured by an honest industry, as it takes away the Wharves, Quays and other property of many individuals, by rendering it useless to them, and as the duration of this Act depends upon Circumstances founded merely in opinion, and in their nature indeterminate, and thereby may make the miseries it carries with it even perpetual,"

"That they assert our rights to all the privileges of British subjects particularly that of paying no taxes or duties but with our own consent, and that the Legislature of this province, have the exclusive power of making laws to regulate our internal Polity subject to his Majesty's disallowance."

"That should the British Parliament continue to exercise the power of levying taxes and duties on the Colonies, and making laws to bind them in all cases whatsoever; such laws must be highly unconstitutional, and oppressive to the inhabitants of British America, who have not, and from their local circumstances cannot have a fair and equal representation in the British Parliament, and that these disadvantages must be greatly enhanced by the misrepresentation of designing Men inimical to the Colonies, the influence of whose reports cannot be guarded against, by reason of the distance of America from them or as has been unhapily experienced in the case of the Town of Boston, when the ears of the administration have been shut, against every attempt to vindicate a people, who claimed only the right of being heard in their own defence."

"That therefore until we obtain an explicit declaration and acknowledgment of our rights, we agree to stop all imports, from Great Britain after the first day of January 1775, and that we will not export any of our Commodities to Great Britain after the first day of October 1775."

"That they concur with the Deputies or Delegates from the other Colonies, in such regulation, address or remonstrance, as may be deemed most probable to restore a lasting harmony, and good understanding with Great Britain, a circumstance we most sincerely and ardently desire and that they agree with a majority of them in all necessary measures, for promoting a redress of such grievances as may come under their consideration."

Signed: JOHN HARVEY, Moderator, Richard Cogdell, Wm Thomson, Solomon Perkins, Nathan Joyner, Sam. Jarvis, Sam. Johnston, Thos. Benbury, Thos. Jones, Thos. Oldham, Thos. Hunter, Ferqd Campbell, M. Hunt, Nick Long, Benj. Williams, William Hooper, Wm Cray, Thos. Harvey, Edward Everigin, Edward Salter, Sam. Young, Joseph Spruil, Joseph Hewes, John Geddy, Sam Spencer, Wm Thomas, Roger Ormond, Thos. Respess, Jr, Wm Salter, Walter Gibson, Wm Person, Green Hill, R. Howe, John Campbell, James Coor, Sam. Smith, Willie Jones, Benj. Patten, Allen Jones, Benj. Harvey, J. Whedbee, Joseph Reading, Wm Kennon, David Jenkins, Abner Nash, Francis Clayton, Edward Smythwick, Lemuel Hatch, Thomas Rutherford, R. Caswell, Wm McKinnie, Geo. Miller, Simon Bright, Thos Gray, Thos Hicks, James Kenan, William Dickson, Thos. Person, Rothias Latham, Needham Bryan, John Ashe, Thomas Hart, Andrew Knox, Joseph Jones, John Simpson, Moses Winslow, Robert Alexander, I. Edwards, William Brown, Jeremiah Frasier

Delegates

John Baptista Ashe, New Hanover County
Richard Caswell, Dobbs County
Joseph Hewes, Edenton
William Hooper, New Hanover County
Robert Howe, Brunswick County
Samuel Johnston, Chowan County
Allen Jones, Northampton County
Willie Jones, Halifax County
James Kenan, Duplin County
Abner Nash, New Bern
Benjamin Williams, Johnston County

The minutes refer to the delegates to this congress as "deputies of the inhabitants of this province". The table below lists these delegates and the county or town they represented. Those delegates that served in the Continental Congress are indicated.

County/Town Representing Delegate
Anson Samuel Spencer
Anson William Thomas
Beaufort Roger Ormond
Beaufort Thomas Respess, Jr.
Bertie John Campbell[12]
Bladen William Salter
Bladen Walter Gibson
Brunswick Robert Howe
Bute Green Hill[13]
Bute William Person
Carteret William Thompson
Carteret Solomon Shepard
Chatham not represented
Chowan Thomas Benbury
Chowan Thomas Hunter[14]
Chowan Samuel Johnston[Note 1][Note 2]
Chowan Thomas Jones[15]
Chowan Thomas Oldham
Craven Richard Cogdell[16]
Craven James Coor
Craven Lemuel Hatch
Craven Joseph Leech[17]
Cumberland Farquard/Farquhard Campbell[18]
Cumberland Thomas Rutherford
Currituck Samuel Jarvis
Currituck Solomon Perkins
Currituck Nathan Joyner[Note 3]
Dobbs Richard Caswell[Note 4][Note 1]
Dobbs William McKinnie
Dobbs George Miller
Dobbs Simon Bright[19]
Duplin William Dickson[20]
Duplin Thomas Gray
Duplin Thomas Hicks
Duplin James Kenan
Edgecombe not represented
Granville Memucan Hunt
Granville Thomas Person
Guilford not represented
Halifax Willie Jones[Note 1]
Halifax Nicholas Long
Hertford not represented
Hyde Rotheas Latham
Hyde Samuel Smith
Johnston Needham Bryan
Johnston Benjamin Williams
Martin Edmund Smithwick
Mecklenburg Benjamin Patten
New Hanover John Baptista Ashe[Note 2]
New Hanover William Hooper[Note 4][Note 1]
Northampton Allen Jones[Note 1]
Onslow William Cray
Orange Thomas Hart
Pasquotank Joseph Jones
Pasquotank Edward Everagin
Pasquotank Joseph Reading
Perquimans Benjamin Harvey
Perquimans John Harvey
Perquimans Thomas Harvey
Perquimans Andrew Knox[21]
Perquimans John Whedbee, Jr.
Pitt Edward Salter
Pitt John Simpson[22]
Rowan Moses Winslow
Rowan Samuel Young
Surry not represented
Tryon David Jenkins
Tryon Robert Alexander
Tyrrell Joseph Spruill
Tyrrell Jeremiah Frazier
Wake not represented
Edenton (town) Joseph Hewes[Note 4][Note 1]
New Bern (town) Abner Nash[Note 2]
New Bern (town) Isaac Edwards[23]
Wilmington (town) Francis Clayton
Bath (town) William Brown[24]
Halifax (town) John Geddie/Gettie
Hillsborough (town) not represented
Salisbury (town) William Kennon[25]
Brunswick (town) not represented
Campbellton (town)[Note 5] not represented

Notes:

  1. ^ a b c d e f Representative to the Second Continental Congress
  2. ^ a b c Representative to the Congress of the Confederation
  3. ^ Nathan Joyner was sometimes recorded as Nathan Poyner
  4. ^ a b c Representative to the First Continental Congress
  5. ^ Campbellton became part of Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1783.

See also

References

This article contains direct quotes from the minutes of the congress published in 1774 that are not subject to copyright laws and are free and open source.[5]

  1. ^ Butler, Lindley (2006). Powell, William Stevens (ed.). Encyclopedia of North Carolina, Provincial Congresses. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 917–918. ISBN 0807830712.
  2. ^ "State Library of North Carolina. Information page for Tryon Palace". Archived from the original on 2008-05-03.
  3. ^ Lewis, J.D. "1st Provincial Congress". Carolina.com. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  4. ^ Connor, Robert Diggs Wimberly, ed. (1913). A Manual of North Carolina Issued by the North Carolina Historical Commission for the Use of Members of the General Assembly Session 1913. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  5. ^ a b c North Carolina Provincial Congress. Minutes of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina. Vol. 9. pp. 1041–1049., August 25, 1774 – August 27, 1774
  6. ^ Cheney, John L. Jr. (1974). North Carolina Government, 1585–1974.
  7. ^ Lossing (1855), p. 83.
  8. ^ Maier, Pauline (1978). "Early revolutionary leaders in the South and the problem of Southern distinctiveness". In Jeffrey J. Crow & Larry Tise (ed.). The Southern Experience in the American Revolution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. pp. 6–7. ISBN 978-0-8078-1313-3.
  9. ^ Smith, Carmen Miner (2006). "Committees of Correspondence (North Carolina)". ncpedia.org. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  10. ^ Albert Bushnell Hart (1897). Formation of the Union. Echo Library. p. 49. ISBN 9781406816990.
  11. ^ "First Provincial Congress". ncpedia.org. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  12. ^ Parramore, Thomas C. Parramore (1979). "John Campbell". NCPEDIA. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  13. ^ Malone, E. T. Jr. (1988). "Green Hill, Jr". NCPEDIA. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  14. ^ Smith, Claiborne T. Jr. (1988). "Thomas Hunter". NCPEDIA. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  15. ^ Powell, William S. (1988). "Thomas Jones". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  16. ^ Watson, Alan D. (1979). "Richard Cogdell". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  17. ^ Carraway, Gertrude S. (1991). "Joseph Leech". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  18. ^ Fields, William C. (1979). "Farquhard Campbell". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  19. ^ Holloman, Charles R. (1979). "Simon Bright, Jr". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  20. ^ Ingram, Charles M. (1986). "William Dickson". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  21. ^ Johnson, Elmer D. (1988). "Andrew Knox". Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  22. ^ Maupin, Armistead J. (1994). "John Simpson". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  23. ^ Engstrom, Mary Claire (1986). "Isaac Edwards". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  24. ^ Lewis, J.D. "William Brown". Carolana.com. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
  25. ^ King, Victor C. (1956). Lives and Times of the 27 Signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence of May 20, 1775. Charlotte, NC. Retrieved October 31, 2019.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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Notes: Prior to the Constitution of 1868: the lower house of the North Carolina Legislature was known as the House of Commons and the leader of the Senate was called the Speaker of the Senate.