First in Carolina to Declare Independence
On April 4, 1776, North Carolina’s Fourth Provincial Congress met in Halifax County, NC. After investigating unfair treatment and violences by Great Britain against America, on April 12, 1776, an assigned committee submitted a report then adopted unanimously by the 83 delegates present. In the later called “Halifax Resolves,” the last paragraph of the document reads: “Resolved, that the delegates for this colony in the Continental Congress be empowered to concur with the delegates of the other Colonies in declaring independence.” It was the first official provincial action for independence in all the colonies. On July 22nd, 1776, Halifax received news that the Declaration of Independence had been signed in Philadelphia, Pa. The Council of Safety, which had been appointed to rule the entire colony, immediately adopted a resolution declaring North Carolinians “absolved from all Allegiances to the British Crown”.
By December 18th, 1776, the Fifth Provincial Congress, meeting in Halifax, approved the State’s First Constitution and on December 23, 1776, as the Council of Safety’s last official act, the assemblage appointed Richard Caswell as the first governor of the State of North Carolina.
