Fifth North Carolina Provincial Congress

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Fifth North Carolina Provincial Congress (1776)
Fourth Provincial Congress NC General Assembly of 1777
Overview
Legislative body North Carolina Provincial Congress
Jurisdiction North Carolina, United States
Meeting place Halifax, North Carolina
Term1776
Members187 Delegates (35 counties, 10 Districts)
President Richard Caswell [1]
Vice-President Cornelius Harnett [1]
Secretary James Green, Jr. [1] [2]
Assistant Secretary James Glasgow
Sessions
1stNovember 12, 1776 – December 23, 1776
Richard Caswell Richard Caswell (governor).jpg
Richard Caswell

The Fifth North Carolina Provincial Congress was the last of five extra-legal unicameral bodies that met beginning in the summer of 1774. They were modeled after the colonial lower house (House of Commons). These congresses created a government structure, issued bills of credit to pay for the movement, organized an army for defense, wrote a constitution and bill of rights that established the state of North Carolina, and elected their first acting governor in the fifth congress that met in 1776. These congresses paved the way for the first meeting of the North Carolina General Assembly on April 7, 1777 in New Bern, North Carolina. [3] The Fifth Congress met in Halifax from November 12 to December 23, 1776. Richard Caswell served as president, with Cornelius Harnett as vice-president. [3] [4] [5] [6]

Contents

Legislation

This congress approved the first Constitution of North Carolina, along with a "Declaration of Rights" on December 18, 1776. It elected Richard Caswell to serve as acting governor until the province's first General Assembly in 1777 could meet to elect a governor. The congress dealt extensively with raising a militia of 5, 000 men. They also discussed the Cherokee War in the western region of the state. [1] [4] [6] [7]

Delegates

James Kenan James Kenan.jpg
James Kenan
Allen Jones Allen Jones.jpg
Allen Jones
William Hooper William Hooper.jpg
William Hooper
John Sevier John Sevier.jpg
John Sevier
Joseph Hewes Joseph Hewes.jpg
Joseph Hewes
AbnerNash AbnerNash.jpg
AbnerNash
Willie Jones WillieJonesNC.jpg
Willie Jones
Thomas Amis, Halifax County Thomas Amis.jpg
Thomas Amis, Halifax County

Each county was authorized five delegates to this congress. Some counties only had four delegates. In addition, nine districts or borough towns were also authorized a single delegate. These districts were the larger towns and population centers of the state. The concept of district representation was a hold over from the Province of North Carolina in colonial times. Washington District, in the western end of the state and later became a county, elected four delegates to the congress. The following list shows the names of the delegates and the counties or districts that they represented: [5] [6] [8]

County/DistrictDelegate
Anson County George Davidson
Anson County David Love
Anson County William R. Pickett
Anson County Charles Robertson
Anson County Thomas Wade
Beaufort County John Barrow
Beaufort County Francis Jones
Beaufort County Thomas Respess
Beaufort County Thomas Respess, Jr.
Beaufort County Robert Tripp
Bertie County William Gray
Bertie County Noah Hinton
Bertie County John Johnston
Bertie County Thomas Pugh
Bertie County Zedekiah Stone
Bladen County Thomas Amis [9]
Bladen County James Council
Bladen County Thomas Owen [10]
Bladen County Thomas Robeson, Jr.
Brunswick County Lewis Dupree
Brunswick County Cornelius Harnett [note 1]
Brunswick County William Lord
Brunswick County Archibald MacLaine
Brunswick County Maurice Moore
Bute County James Denton
Bute County Thomas Eaton
Bute County Philemon Hawkins
Bute County Benjamin Seawell
Bute County Benjamin Ward
Carteret County William Borden
Carteret County Brice Williams
Carteret County Thomas Chadwick
Carteret County John Easton
Carteret County Soloman Shepard
Chatham County John Birdsong
Chatham County Mial Scurlock
Chatham County Jeduthan Harper
Chatham County Isaiah Hogan
Chatham County Ambrose Ramsey
Chowan County Thomas Benbury
Chowan County Jacob Hunter
Chowan County James Blount
Chowan County Thomas Jones [11]
Chowan County Luke Sumner
Craven County Nathan Bryan
Craven County John Tillman
Craven County William Bryan
Craven County James Coor
Craven County Christopher Neale
Cumberland County William Rand
Cumberland County Philip Alston
Cumberland County Robert Cobb
Cumberland County Robert Rowan
Currituck County James White [12]
Currituck County Samuel Jarvis
Currituck County Kedar Merchant
Currituck County Hollowell Williams
Currituck County Thomas Williams
Dobbs County Andrew Bass
Dobbs County Benjamin Exum
Dobbs County Simon Bright
Dobbs County Richard Caswell [note 2]
Dobbs County Abraham Sheppard
Duplin County James Gillespie
Duplin County William Dickson/Dixson [13]
Duplin County Thomas Gray
Duplin County James Kenan
Duplin County William Taylor [14]
Edgecombe County Elisha Battle [15]
Edgecombe County William Haywood
Edgecombe County William Horn
Edgecombe County Jonas Johnston [16]
Edgecombe County Isaac Sessums
Granville County Memucan Hunt
Granville County Robert Lewis
Granville County John Oliver
Granville County Thornton Yancey
Granville County Thomas Person
Guilford County Isham Browder
Guilford County Charles Bruce
Guilford County David Caldwell
Guilford County Ralph Gorrell [17]
Guilford County Joseph Hinds
Halifax County Willis Alston
Halifax County John Bradford
Halifax County James Hogun [note 3]
Halifax County Egbert Haywood
Halifax County Benjamin McCullough
Halifax County Samuel Weldon
Hertford County Lawrence Baker
Hertford County William Murfree [note 4]
Hertford County Day Ridley
Hertford County Robert Sumner
Hertford County James Wright
Hyde County John Jordan
Hyde County Abraham Jones
Hyde County Joseph Hancock
Hyde County Benjamin Parmele
Hyde County William Russell
Johnston County Alexander Avery
Johnston County Needham Bryan, Jr.
Johnston County Henry Rains
Johnston County Samuel Smith
Johnston County John Stevens
Martin County Whitmell Hill [note 5]
Martin County John Hardison
Martin County Thomas Hunter
Martin County Samuel Smithwick
Martin County William Williams
Mecklenburg County Hezekiah Alexander
Mecklenburg County Waightstill Avery
Mecklenburg County Robert Irwin
Mecklenburg County John Phifer
Mecklenburg County Zaccheus Wilson
New Hanover County John Ashe
New Hanover County Samuel Ashe
New Hanover County John Devane
New Hanover County John Hollingsworth
New Hanover County Sampson Mosely
Northampton County Jeptha Atherton
Northampton County Robert Peoples (Peebles)
Northampton County Howard Edmunds (Howell Edmunds)
Northampton County James Ingram [note 6]
Northampton County Thomas Parker
Northampton County Allen Jones [note 7]
Onslow County Benajah Doty
Onslow County Thomas Johnston
Onslow County Henry Rhodes
Onslow County John Spicer
Onslow County Edward Starkey
Orange County Thomas Burke (replaced John Atkinson) [note 8] [note 9]
Orange County John Butler (replaced John McCabe) [note 9]
Orange County John McCabe (replaced William Moore) [note 9]
Orange County Alexander Mebane (replaced John Paine) [note 9]
Orange County Nathaniel Rochester (replaced James Saunders) [note 9]
Pasquotank County Henry Abbot [18]
Pasquotank County Dempsey Burgess
Pasquotank County Devotion Davis
Pasquotank County Isaac Gregory
Pasquotank County Lemuel Sawyer
Perquimans County Benjamin Harvey
Perquimans County Miles Harvey
Perquimans County Thomas Harvey
Perquimans County William Hooper [note 10]
Perquimans County William Skinner
Pitt County George Evans
Pitt County James Gorham
Pitt County Benjamin May
Pitt County William Robson
Pitt County Edward Salter
Rowan County John Brevard
Rowan County Matthew Locke
Rowan County Griffith Rutherford
Rowan County William Sharpe [note 11]
Rowan County James Smith
Surry County Charles Gordon
Surry County William Hall
Surry County Robert Lanier
Surry County Joseph Williams
Tryon County John Barber
Tryon County Robert Abernathy
Tryon County William Alston
Tryon County William Graham
Tryon County Joseph Hardin, Sr.
Tyrrell County Benjamin Blount
Tyrrell County Jeremiah Frazier
Tyrrell County Stephen Lee
Tyrrell County Isham Webb
Tyrrell County Peter Wynn
Wake County Britain Fuller
Wake County James Jones [note 12]
Wake County Tignal Jones
Wake County John Rice [note 13] [19]
Wake County Michael Rogers
Washington District John Carter
Washington District John Haile
Washington District Charles Robertson
Washington District John Sevier
Bath District William Brown [19]
Brunswick District Parker Quince
Campbellton District Thomas Hadley
Edenton District Joseph Hewes [note 14]
Halifax District Willie Jones [note 15]
Hillsborough District William Johnston
New Bern District Abner Nash [note 16]
Salisbury District David Nesbitt
Wilmington District William Hooper

Notes:

  1. Cornelius Harnett was a representative to the 2nd Continental Congress (17771779)
  2. Richard Caswell was a North Carolina Representative to the Continental Congress (1774)
  3. James Hogun resigned his position after being commissioned in the North Carolina Line, replaced by Egbert Haywood
  4. Possibly the father of William Murfree
  5. Whitmell Hill was a representative to the 2nd Continental Congress (17781780)
  6. James Ingram was commissioned in the North Carolina Line and replaced by Thomas Parker, who was elected to replace him.
  7. Allen Jones was a representative to the 2nd Continental Congress (1779–1780)
  8. Thomas Burke was a representative to the 2nd Continental Congress, 17771781
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Seated on December 16, due to voting irregularities in a first pole
  10. William Hooper was a representative to the 1st and 2nd Continental Congress (17741777) and a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence
  11. William Sharpe was a representative to the Continental Congress (1779–1781) and elected to the North Carolina House of Commons in 1781 and 1782
  12. James Jones was deemed ineligible due to service in the Light Horse. He resigned his commission on October 25, 1776 and was re-elected to serve in the congress.
  13. The Congress Journal shows that it was John Rice as delegate for Wake County. William Brown was the delegate for Bath. This appears to be an error in the Lewis delegate listing.
  14. Joseph Hewes was a Representative to the 1st Continental Congress (1774), 2nd Continental Congress (1775–1776; 1779), and signer of the Declaration of Independence
  15. Willie Jones was a representative to the 2nd Continental Congress (1780)
  16. Abner Nash was a representative to the Confederation Congress (1782–1783)

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Congress (1776). Minutes of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina, North Carolina. Provincial Congress, November 12, 1776 - December 23. Vol. 10. pp. 913–1003.
  2. Reidinger, Martin (1986). "James Green, Jr". NCPEDIA. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  3. 1 2 Butler, Lindley (2006). Powell, William Stevens (ed.). Encyclopedia of North Carolina, Provincial Congresses. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 917–918. ISBN   0807830712.
  4. 1 2 "State Library of North Carolina. Information page for Tryon Palace". Archived from the original on 2008-05-03.
  5. 1 2 Lewis, J.D. "5th Provincial Congress". The American Revolution in North Carolina. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  6. 1 2 3 Connor, Robert Diggs Wimberly, ed. (1913). A Manual of North Carolina Issued by the North Carolina Historical Commission for the Use of Members of the General Assembly Session 1913 . Retrieved August 13, 2019.
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  9. Starnes, Sam (2013). "Thomas Amis". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
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  11. Powell, William S. (1988). "Thomas Jones". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  12. Powell, William S. (1996). "James White". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  13. Ingram, Charles M. (1986). "William Dickson". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  14. Powell, William S. (1996). "William Taylor". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  15. Taylor, R. Hargus (1979). "Elisha Battle". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
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  17. Bell, John L. Jr. (1986). "Ralph Gorrell". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 2, 2019. His grandfather was Ralph Gorrell, Jr. (1735–1816), … Ralph, Jr., was a member of the Halifax Provincial Congresses of April and December 1776,
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  19. 1 2 Lewis, J.D. "William Brown". Carolana.com. Retrieved November 3, 2019.

Further reading