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Charlotte's history


ChiefJoJo

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Reviving the Meck Deck celebration to a high-level event would be a boon for the city. Probably the biggest complaint about Charlotte is that it lacks cultural distinction, and this would be a large step in the right direction. It's also a great excuse to have a parade during a down-time for holidays.

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Reviving the Meck Deck celebration to a high-level event would be a boon for the city. Probably the biggest complaint about Charlotte is that it lacks cultural distinction, and this would be a large step in the right direction. It's also a great excuse to have a parade during a down-time for holidays.
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Speaking of Meck Dec, I know it isn't a hot topic right now, but for anyone so inclined I would highly recommend the book, " In Defence of the Mecklenburg County Declaration of Independence", by James Moore. It offers the best defense of Mec Dec that I've seen. Unfortunatley it can only be found in the Carolina Room of the main branch uptown and you're not allowed to check it out. They usually have to go and get it out of the so called Mecklenburg Room. It has some very compelling points related to the timing of Captain Jack's ride to Philadelphia and is very persuasive in general. I think it was written in 1905 after William Henry Hoyt had written his well known book that argues against Meck Dec.

It is some of those timing issues, related not only to Captain Jack's ride but also the express rider who brought the news of the battle of Lexington, that I think offer some of the best arguments in favor of Meck Dec:

All of the eyewitnesses agreed and no one has ever questioned that the historic meeting took place on the same night the express rider came into Charlottetown with the news of the battle of Lexington. It had a big influence on what happened as it got everyone upset and led to a more radical action than might have happened otherwise. To that end, we know that the news had reached Salem by May the 17th, a easy two days ride from Charlotte. There had been evidence of other stops along the way: Philly on April 24, Petersburg, Virginia on April 30, New Bern, North Carolina by May 6 and across the mountains in Boonesborough, Kentucky by May 29. That would seem to leave little doubt that the news would have reached Charlottetown at or around May 19 and certainly long before May 31, the date of the Mecklenburg Resolves. Moreover, John Mcnight Alexander, in his notes written before 1800, said that the news arrived on the same day of the month as the battle of Lexington the month before, which of course was the 19th. Some have suggested that maybe the Mecklenburg Resolves were actually adopted on May 20 and sent to the newspapers on May 31. That could be possible, but it seems clear that something must have happened long before May 31.

When Captain Jack made his trip to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, it is well documented that he stoped in Salisbury while court was in session June 1-7. Therefore, if the Mecklenburg Resolves were the only true document and it was adopted on May 31, it raises serious doubts about whether or not Captain Jack could have made it to Salisbury before court was out. That's because he wasn't chosen right away. As several eyewitnesses testified, including John Mcnight Alexander and Captain Jack himself, they met again a few days later (whatever a few days means), and it was at that meeting when Captain Jack was chosen. Once he was chosen, there is also good reason to believe that he didn't leave right away. His expenses were paid by voluntary subcription so the money to pay the expenses had to be collected from various sources. By his own testimony decades later, Jack seems to suggest there was a lull between the time he was chosen and when he actually started on his journey to Philadelphia. He wrote that "I was then solicited to be the bearer of the proceedings to Congress. I set out the following month, say June, and in passing through Salisbury, the General Court was in setting".

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The June 12, 1875 edition of "Harper's Weekly" (the USA Today of its time) featured a full page (with illustrations) devoted to the Centennial celebration of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. It noted that the town was pleasantly situated along Sugar Creek, had excellent rail facilities, and several mills using waterpower, and that in time, would become a considerable centre of commerce and manufacture.

This article was on page 476, and went on to comment that Charlotte had a population of 5,000-6,000. People had come from all over the Carolinas and Tennessee for the celebration which was held about a mile from Independence Square, at the fairgrounds. The estimated size of the crowd was 40,000. (That's roughly EIGHT times the town's population!) That would be the equivalent of a crowd today of 4.5 million persons.

Even President Eisenhour came here on May 20, 1954 to dedicate the openning of Freedom Park.

The date May 20, 1775 is on our state flag, and the date was always a city holiday until pressure was mounted to give MLK a holiday, and rather than give the city workers another holiday, the city chose to supplant May 20th with the MLK holiday in January.

In reality, very few American cities have anything near as historical to venerate as the Mec Dec and the Mecklenburg Resolves.

Rather than "there's a lot in Charlotte" restore the holiday and spend the money promoting May 20th, usually a great time to visit Charlotte. There is a huge opportunity staring us in the face. Sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees!

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Yes, I agree. I went to the celebration this year for the first time, and it was a nice little event but obviously nothing remotely like what it once was. Given the skepticism, maybe it would help if they broaden the meaning of the celebration to include, not just the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, but the Resolves and Charlotte's overall important role during that period.

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That's it exactly.

Don't you agree the celebrations of the last 20 years or so pale in comparison to past anniversaries of the signing (real or imagined)? As the article states, the people seem to have made up their own mind that the document was real.

Do public or private schools even teach about local history anymore?

We have a very small stock of historic buildings left in Charlotte, but the history of events here is to be envied by other American cities, not just in the South. Just because we're located pleasantly on Sugar Creek doesn't mean we have to miss the boat in beating our chests proudly and including Charlotte in the list of Revolutionary milestones, a la Boston, Lexington and Concord, Philadelphia, et al.

I guess part of the indifference comes from our strength of being a magnet city, filled mostly with people educated in other parts of the country. Thus, my point that Charlotte needs PR nationally and locally about its history. It starts with local, though. Why should John Doe in Anytown, USA know or care about the Mec Dec if local Charlotteans don't even know much about it and are too indifferent to celebrate it?

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Hopefully, the new statue of Capt. Jack will inspire the local populace to learn more about Mecklenburg's history. (kind of pessimistic on this)

What does Peter Gorman know of our history? The county/and or school board could make it part of his bonus plan to ensure this history is taught and learned. That would be a good first step. (maybe even make the date a mandatory teacher work day, or something to equate May 20th with local independence.)

When the current budget for the national PR theme "There's a lot in Charlotte" is spent, make our next national PR theme include Meck Dec/Resolves. Include images of the Capt. Jack statue and the memorial oblisk on E. Trade Street. I can think of dozens of slogans equating a "free yourself....come to America's FIRST free land".

The point is: (1) the local history should be known and celebrated, and

(2) our rich history should be promoted to the whole nation

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To that end, there was a little blurp in Sunday's Observer that wasn't exactly encouraging. They had a brief thing about the sculptor who is doing the Captain Jack statue, and referred to Captain Jack as a mythical figure in Charlotte's history. I've always suspected that many who aren't that knowledeable about the subject might have the impression that if there are doubts about Meck Dec then there are doubts about the rest of the story as well. Of course, the truth is, the only dispute about Captain Jack's trip to Philadelphia has to do with which document or documents he took with him, not whether or not he went.

Speaking of statues and such, I wonder what other statues are planned in the near future as part of the so called Trail of History. It seems like we haven't heard anything about that in a long time.

Maybe when they finish the statue, they should name the street something like Captain Jack Blvd. :camera:

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I mentioned earlier that we haven't heard anything in a long time about the trail of history project planned for the Greenway, other than the Captain Jack part. I still haven't heard anything, but I did run across this old article from 2005 that might help to refresh people's memories on some of the details. Of course, I don't know if any of the plans have changed during the past three years. Apparently, they have some sort of master plan but to my knowledge they haven't shared it with the public, so we have no way of knowing who the next subject will be. If it's another Revolutionary figure, then my vote would be for General Joseph Graham, maybe the only one who could rival Captain Jack for dramatic effect. Among many other accomplishments, Gemeral Graham was involved in the battle when General Cornwallis invaded uptown Charlotte. The battle extended several miles outside of town and Graham was eventually wounded nine times, three bullet wounds and six saber wounds, and left for dead. He was later rescued and made a miraculous recovery. As many may already know, Graham was also a key eye witness to the Mecklenburg Declaration of Indpendence and provided testimony to that fact decades later. He had been a 15 year old boy living in Charlotte when he witnessed the proceedings that day, including the reading from the courthouse steps.

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