The Halifax Resolves

On April 12, 1776, the Fourth Provincial Congress of North Carolina unanimously approved a resolution, allowing the state’s delegates to the Second Continental Congress to vote for independence from Britain. The measure became known as The Halifax Resolves and remembered as the first official action for independence from any of the 13 British colonies in continental North America. 

North Carolina’s long timeline to The Halifax Resolves had been filled with tension, violence and uprising plots. As a British colony, North Carolina emerged in 1710 when Carolina Colony was divided into north and south. “The Old North Colony” supplied British fleets with much-needed tar and lumber. Settlers pushed into the Piedmont region, heading west from the coast and hoping to own land for small farms. By the 1760s, the Piedmont settlers felt frustrated by the inequality of the colony’s tax system. Petitions to the royal governor failed, and in 1768 the Regulator movement broke out, eventually leading the defeat of the Regulators at the Battle of Alamance in 1771. The internal colonial conflict unfolded against the backdrop of the larger debates and protests over British taxation and lack of colonial representation in Parliament. Some North Carolinians organized Sons of Liberty groups, vowed to not import British goods and joined committees of correspondence with other resistors in the colonies. In 1774, the First Provincial Congress organized to formally discuss grievances over British taxation. That same year North Carolinians sent delegates to the First Continental Congress, a gathering of men from across the colonies to seek redress and stronger petitions to King George III. 

In April 1775, as shots were fired and armed conflict began in Massachusetts at Lexington and Concord, North Carolinians tried to assemble in a Second Provincial Congress. Royal Governor Josiah Martin dissolved the colony’s General Assembly, canceling the provincial congress. As news arrived from the north, militias assembled and eventually forced Governor Martin to seek refuge aboard a British warship. Ashore, Loyalists squabble and sometimes fought with their Whig (Patriot) neighbors. The Second Continental Congress assembled delegates from across the thirteen colonies in May 1775 and grappled with the reality of war and seeking a peaceful, productive reconciliation with King George III. Back in North Carolina, the Third Provincial Congress met in August 1775; they began to officially enlist soldiers to join the Continental Army and organized a Council of Safety to coordinate the militia units for defense of North Carolina. 

During the winter of 1775-1776, Royal Governor Martin plotted with Loyalists and rallied Scottish Highlanders and Loyalist militia to march to the coastline and coordinate with an anticipated British army and naval force. Whig militia confronted the Highlanders and Loyalists at the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge on February 27, 1776. The Patriot victory at this battle boosted morale in North Carolina and the other colonies. It also helped influence the next steps of North Carolina leaders as they assembled in the Fourth Provincial Congress. 

Eighty-three delegates assembled at Halifax, representing from the counties of Anson, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick (possibly – delegate not known), Bute, Carteret, Chatham, Chowan, Craven, Cumberland, Currituck, Dobbs, Duplin, Edgecombe, Granville, Guilford, Halifax, Hertford, Hyde, Johnston, Martin, Mecklenburg, New Hanover, Northampton, Onslow, Orange, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Pitt, Rowan, Surry, Tryon, Tyrell, and Wake. This congress met at the Halifax County courthouse, a structure that no longer stands though historic maps and archaeology techniques suggest the location and footprint of the original building. 

On the Provincial Congress’s agenda was a discussion about severing ties with Britain. A year of discussions in county-level conferences drove the conversation during the congress. If North Carolina formally advanced a resolution to seek independence and break from British empire, it would be the first official announcement of its kind. All other formal efforts from the colonies and the Continental Congresses had sought reconciliation within the framework of colonialism. From the local county level to colony level to the continental level, men who had voice in politics made their voices and preferences heard either directly or through their representative. 

The delegates of the Fourth Provincial Congress unanimously adopted the resolution that would become known as The Halifax Resolves. The pattern of the resolves offers a format that would later be copied by other historic declarations. First, it recognized “the usurpation and violences attempted and committed by the King and Parliament of Britain against America” and went on to note that “the King and Parliament have usurped a Power…unlimited and uncontrouled [sp] and disregarding…humble Petitions for Peace, Liberty and safety…” The resolution outlined specific perceived threats of “destroyed the People and committing the most horrid devastations on the Country,” encouragement of uprisings among the enslaved population, seizure of American ships and destruction of commerce. After pointing out that “their sincere desire to be reconciled to the mother Country on Constitutional Principles, have procured no mitigation of the aforesaid Wrongs”, the document “impowered” the North Carolina delegates to the Second Continental Congress “to concur with the other delegates…in declaring Independency…”

The Halifax Resolves passed on April 12, 1776, and the Provincial Congress sent copies to North Carolina delegates in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This formally allowed North Carolinians in the Continental Congress to become leading voices in the call for independence and votes for the Declaration of Independence. Importantly, the Halifax Resolves gave permission and a recommendation to work with other Continental representatives to determine a path toward independence. The resolves did not specify when or how independence should be declared but rather opened the door for those discussions to unfold. In July 1776, North Carolinians William Hooper, Joseph Hewes and John Penn voted for independence in the Continental Congress and later signed the Declaration of Independence. By July 22, 1776, news of the Declaration of Independence reached the Council of Safety in North Carolina, also meeting in Halifax. A few days later on August 1, Cornelius Harnett, a revolutionary living in Halifax, gave the first known public reading of the Declaration of Independence in North Carolina. In the months that followed, North Carolina created a state government, adopted a state constitution and appointed Richard Caswell as the first state governor. 

Colonial status, the Regulator Conflict, taxation protests, Provincial Congresses and the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge were major milestones on North Carolina’s extended timeline toward a formal break with Britian and hope for independence. The Halifax Resolves, born out the years of tension and the peoples’ debates, empowered North Carolinians to take a leading role in spurring the Continental Congress toward declaring independence and founding the United States of America.