Charlotte Mecklenburg Library

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Rural Rebellion 1773-1775

1774 - Backcountry Politics

December 1774 - Colonists hold meetings and agree they will refuse to buy any more British goods. This refusal, called a boycott, further shows the British rulers that the settlers are determined to win independence. In Charlotte, citizens select a Committee of Safety, five men who will help carry out the boycott and inform citizens of its results. The men are John McKnitt Alexander, Abraham Alexander, Hezekiah Alexander, Thomas Polk and Ephraim Brevard.

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March 6, 1773 - King's Power

King George III is still unhappy with the colonists and their desire for independence. On this day it is announced in New Bern that he has rejected a bill passed over two years previously that established a "seminary for learning" in Charlotte. When he revokes the charter for Queens College, he also takes away the right of Presbyterian ministers to perform marriages. There is increasing ill will toward Britain.

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1774 - Will of the People

September 5, 1774 - Delegates from the all 13 colonies (except Georgia) and Canada travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They form the First Continental Congress, and plan how they will respond to the Intolerable Acts. Still hoping to restore harmony with Britain, they send a petition to King George III.

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1775 - Mecklenburg Resolves

May 31, 1775 - Since all laws imposed by England are suspended, the 27 signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence hurriedly meet again. They draft the Mecklenburg Resolves, which are new laws that will govern the now independent Mecklenburgers. Even those who doubt the existence of the Meck Dec cannot deny the Mecklenburg Resolves.

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1775 - Captain Jack's Ride

June 3, 1775 - Captain James Jack arrives in Philadelphia. He has traveled from Charlotte to inform the Second Continental Congress of the Mecklenburgers' proclamation of freedom. But he never presents the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence to Congress. Some believe he realized the Meck Dec was worded so angrily that it would hurt chances of regaining peace with Britain.

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1775 - Mecklenburg Declaration

May 20, 1775 - The Mecklenburgers announce their freedom with a proclamation called the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. The document dissolves forever the colonists' bonds with Britain. In the anxious days that follow these emotional events, people will disagree when recalling exactly what happened. Some will doubt the Meck Dec ever existed. Even two hundred years later historians will debate these questions, but the May 20 date will be commemorated on North Carolina's state flag.

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1775 - Crown's Strong Arm

August 1775 - It becomes clear that no solution is possible for the bitter disagreements between the American colonists and the rulers in their homeland. The British monarchy sends 20,000 Hessian soldiers to America. But these men from Germany are not fighting because they are loyal to Britain -- they are soldiers who are paid to fight, called mercenaries.

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1775 - Mecklenburg Militia

May 19, 1775 - Colonel Thomas Polk is leader of Mecklenburg's citizen army, called a militia. He has asked citizens to send representatives to meet at the Charlotte courthouse. They are planning ways to protect their freedom from British rule when a messenger arrives with news of the battles of Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. Furious, the citizens decide to cut all ties with Britain.

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1775 - The Shot

April 18, 1775 - The British are angry at the American colonists who defy orders to follow the monarchy's laws. Paul Revere rides his horse through the countryside and warns the minutemen, who were ready to fight at a moment's notice, that the British are coming. British soldiers called redcoats because of their uniforms, fire upon colonists gathered at the village green in Lexington, Massachusetts. The Revolutionary War has begun. 

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1774 - Intolerable Situation

March, 1774 - The British lawmakers, called Parliament, enact a series of laws designed to punish the port of Boston, where feeling for independence runs high. Colonists throughout America call the laws the Intolerable Acts.

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