At the crossing of two Indian trading paths, where the small village of Charlotte Town stood, the patriots met on May 19, 1775 to decide what response they could make to the increased oppression on the Colonies by the King and Parliament of the father country. During that meeting, a messenger arrived bearing the news of the incident at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. The meeting went on throughout the night and on the morning of May 20, the patriots signed and then announced and published the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, foreshadowing the Continental Declaration of Independence by over a year.
The Mec Dec was carried to the Continental Congress, assembled in Philadelphia, where it was evidentially ignored. Many years later the only remaining true copy was destroyed in a house fire. Since the Mec Dec had never been published in a newspaper (so far discovered), its very existence was quickly put in doubt. It was further challenged by Thomas Jefferson in his latter years, probably because it sounded too much like the Declaration he wrote a year later.
None the less, Mec Dec Day continued to be celebrated by Charlotteans and North Carolinians up to the present time, including occasional city-wide celebrations with Governors and U. S. Presidents in attendance.
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