First In Freedom

By Wes Westmoreland | The Sunday Column | Special to The Shelby Independent

Westmoreland

April 12 marks the 250th anniversary of a largely forgotten, but significant date in American history. On this date in 1776, the Fourth Provincial Congress of North Carolina met in Halifax and unanimously passed a measure instructing its delegates to the Continental Congress to vote to declare independence from Great Britain.

With the Halifax Resolves, North Carolina became the first colony to direct representatives to vote in favor of separation from the mother country, and reserved the right for North Carolina to create its own constitution and laws.

The April vote followed two other significant votes in North Carolina.

On May 20 of the previous year, representatives in Mecklenburg County signed what was to become known as the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. There is controversy over the existence of this document, but the resolutions passed by this committee eleven days later are not disputed. The Mecklenburg Declaration was the first Declaration of Independence from Britain by a colony, signed more than a year prior to that penned by Mr. Jefferson.

On August 14, 1775, representatives of old Tryon County (which covered much of NC west of the Catawba River), met near Cherryville to consider and sign a document to prepare for war. The document states that the actions of British troops at Lexington and Concord “…suggest to us the painful necessity of having recourse to arms in defense of our National freedom and constitutional rights, against all invasions. …” This was one of, if not the first, formal call to arms in defense of American sovereignty.

North Carolina stood before any other. These documents predate Mr. Jefferson’s Declaration, by 3, 11 and 14 months. North Carolina’s leadership continued in the coming years.

By 1780, the war for independence was well underway, often not in the patriots favor. Then, in October, Patriot and Tory forces clashed in Kings Mountain. Of the battle at Kings Mountain, Theodore Roosevelt wrote, “[t]his brilliant victory marked the turning point of the American Revolution.” While Thomas Jefferson called it, “[t]he turn of the tide of success”. It is from the leaders of this battle that the City of Shelby, NC derives its name, as well as names of many of the city’s streets.

North Carolina’s demand for liberty continued again in 1788, when the Old North State became the first state to refuse to ratify the new Constitution, demanding that a statement of rights be added. Over a year later, North Carolina became the twelfth state to ratify the Constitution— now with a Bill of Rights.

North Carolina’s first actions earned the title, ‘First in Freedom’. The dates May 20, 1775 and April 12, 1776 are emblazoned on the flag and seal of NC. The streets of Shelby are named in patriots' honor, and we proclaim the freedoms enumerated in the Bill of Rights.

As I celebrate the nation’s semiquincentennial this year, drive the streets, and speak of core freedoms, I choose to fly the flag of North Carolina to be reminded and to celebrate our role as ‘First in Freedom’, leading the colonies to emphatically state on July 4, 1776 that

“…these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved. …"

—William Hooper, Joseph Hewes,

and John Penn, on behalf of the

State of North Carolina, et al.

Read the Sunday column every week, only at ShelbyIndependent.com.

Wes Westmoreland is president and founder of Westmoreland Printers, Inc., co-founder and vice-chair of Pinnacle Classical Academy, and a director of Polyhymnia, a think- tank dedicated to American culture and ideas.

© 2026 Wes Westmoreland.