John, not enough people know this, but North Carolina is actually the real birthplace of American independence.
Let me explain. I want you to picture yourself in Halifax, North Carolina. The date: Friday, April 12th, 1776. 248 years ago today. As Great Britain’s grip tightens on her colonies, the flame of rebellion that was sparked by the Boston Massacre has blossomed from localized unrest in New England into a civil war—no, a revolution—that stretches from the Bahamas to Nova Scotia.
And although our colony has sent delegates to a meeting with Britain’s other American colonies in faraway Philadelphia for the purpose of finding a way back from the brink, it has become increasingly clear that the only path forward is separation.
Here, in Halifax, a meeting of North Carolina’s Provincial Congress draws on. Delegates from forty of our colony’s counties and towns hear the business of a legislature, although the assembly they’re sitting in today is operating without the authority to legislate, at least as far as the British Crown is concerned. In fact, the Provincial Congress is an extralegal assembly—as far as King George III and Governor Josiah Martin are concerned, North Carolina has no official representative legislature, not after it was dissolved alongside numerous others the year before.
But the men meeting in Halifax today believe that democracy is important enough that no King can dissolve it.
The Provincial Congress reviews invoices for “sundry goods”, “merchandizes”, and gunpowder. The Congress hears a petition for action regarding a ship that had been seized by British forces under the command of Josiah Martin, who is referred to as the “late Governor of this Province”. This is a colony at war. This is an assembly acting with the force of a legislature. This is a state and a nation ready to be born—but it is only April, and it has not yet taken the step of declaring independence.
This date, April 12th, is the day that changes.
The Provincial Congress reaches its final order of business for the day: a select committee formed for the purpose of “tak[ing] into consideration the usurpations and violences attempted and committed by the King and Parliament of Britain against America” is ready to give its report and its recommendation.
The select committee has reviewed the atrocities committed against our people, has reviewed the course of fighting so far, and has concluded that in spite of “their sincere desire to be reconciled to the mother country”, it has become clear that “no hopes remain of obtaining redress by those means which have been hitherto tried”.
And the committee recommends that the Provincial Congress adopt the following resolution:
“Resolved, That the delegates for this Colony in the Continental Congress be impowered to concur with the delegates of the other Colonies in declaring Independency, and forming foreign alliances, reserving to this Colony the sole and exclusive right of forming a Constitution and laws for this Colony, and of appointing delegates from time to time (under the direction of a general representation thereof), to meet the delegates of the other Colonies for such purposes as shall be hereafter pointed out.”
Some moments in history are like fulcrums—the course of the world hinges on how they pivot. The Continental Congress has been meeting in Philadelphia for the better part of a year at this point, but although the situation has grown ever more dire, none of the colonial governments has yet instructed their delegates that they can take the final, inevitable step of permanent separation from Great Britain.
In passing this resolution, which we today call the Halifax Resolves, North Carolina becomes the very first colonial government to authorize its delegates to vote for American Independence, and paves the way for all thirteen colonies to join together in doing so just a few months later. April 12th, 1776.
(The meeting minutes say that they adjourned for the day almost immediately after, and, well, I probably wouldn’t be able to get much else done after taking a step like that either.)
I’ve talked a lot about the promise that North Carolina has made to our people since the very beginning. As far back as the original Lords Proprietors and the earliest days of European settlement in what would become our state, this land has been one that valued democratic governance, opportunity, and the freedom of our people to reach their highest potential.
That’s not an ideal we’ve always lived up to. In spite of the lofty sentiments at the heart of who we are, our state has often been a deeply unequal place to live. In fact, I would say we’re not living up to it right now—not when our prosperity is so uneven and so many of our neighbors are being left behind.
But much like the United States itself, there is a higher ideal we are failing to meet when we fail our people, and the challenge of keeping the promises at the heart of what North Carolina is has always driven us to do and be greater tomorrow than we were the day before.
I’m running for Treasurer because I believe that if we work together, we really can fulfill the promise of being a state that believes in and invests in its people. At the dawn of our nation, North Carolina was the very first to stand up and say that even if it was hard, even if it was scary, even if it made for an uncertain tomorrow, necessary change was more important than trying to maintain a failed status quo. I believe that is still at the core of who we are, and I believe that we can once again make that choice in November.
(Well, except that this time, changing our government doesn’t need to involve any “sundry goods” or “gunpowder”—and that’s the beauty of American democracy.)
Let’s be first in freedom again. Let’s be great together. Let’s be a state that says there’s a better way, one that doesn’t leave anyone behind. And let’s make this campaign the first step in getting there.
