The head of the historical association down in Charlotte-Mecklenburg has a piece today that reminds us of the region?s revolutionary history. While some doubt the authenticity of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence of 1775, the first in the American colonies, the subsequent Mecklenburg Resolves are substantiated and clearly constitute the first known movement towards separation from British rule. There?s also the ride of Captain Jack and, not mentioned in the piece but important, the later Halifax Resolves adopted by delegates meeting on the other side of North Carolina.
These are among the reasons why North Carolina used to have ?First in Freedom? on its license plates. Of course, the story doesn?t lack for irony, since this freedom took more than a century to be fully extended to a significant minority of the population who were held in slavery, de jure or de facto. But still, at least no one can say these early battles for freedom were waged by visitors from Ohio.
