This article has multiple issues. Please help
improve it or discuss these issues on the
talk page. (
Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
First North Carolina Provincial Congress (1774) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
Overview | |||||
Legislative body | North Carolina Provincial Congress | ||||
Jurisdiction | Province of North Carolina | ||||
Meeting place | New Bern, North Carolina | ||||
Term | 1774 | ||||
Members | 73 Delegates (35 counties, 6 not represented; 9 towns/districts, 3 not represented) | ||||
President/Moderator | John Harvey | ||||
Sessions | |||||
|
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]
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]
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
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.
Notes:
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]
{{
cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)
This article has multiple issues. Please help
improve it or discuss these issues on the
talk page. (
Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
First North Carolina Provincial Congress (1774) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
Overview | |||||
Legislative body | North Carolina Provincial Congress | ||||
Jurisdiction | Province of North Carolina | ||||
Meeting place | New Bern, North Carolina | ||||
Term | 1774 | ||||
Members | 73 Delegates (35 counties, 6 not represented; 9 towns/districts, 3 not represented) | ||||
President/Moderator | John Harvey | ||||
Sessions | |||||
|
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]
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]
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
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.
Notes:
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]
{{
cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)