THE CONGRESS AT HILLSBORO.
A. D. 1775.
It had been seen at New Bern that Colonel Harvey's days were
numbered, and Samuel Johnston had been empowered, in case of the
Moderator's death, to order an election for another Congress to
meet at Hillsboro whenever he should deem it necessary.
Accordingly (Colonel Harvey having died) the Congress met, at
the call of Mr. Johnston, in Hillsboro, on the 20th of August,
1775, and a memorable Congress it was. Samuel Johnston was its
President.
2. When Governor Martin left New Bern royal authority was
virtually at an end in North Carolina, but it was at Hillsboro,
and by the Congress there assembled, that its last vestige was
swept away. The time had come when, if North Carolina intended
to stand with her sister colonies, she must take up arms and
appeal to the God of battles. This she was ready to do without
any hesitation, and this she did do at Hillsboro, giving
publicly to the world her reasons for so doing.
3. The Governor sent to Samuel Johnston a copy of his
proclamation, dated on board His Majesty's ship Cruiser, at Cape
Fear, on the 8th of August, 1775, in which he warned the people
against the Hillsboro Congress as a dangerous and
unconstitutional assembly, and of baneful influence; and
further, that to assemble men in arms in the province without
authority from the King, was a violation of law for which they
would be held answerable. In reply to this proclamation, which
was duly laid before the Congress by the Moderator, Mr.
Johnston, it was formally resolved that the proclamation was a
false, scandalous, scurrilous and seditious libel, tending to
disunite the good people of the province; "and further, that the
said paper be burnt by the common hangman."
4. Accepting the recent flight of Governor Martin to the British
war-sloop Cruiser as an abdication of the government of the
Crown, the Congress proceeded to put in its place a government
of the people, and established what in this day would be called
a provisional government. Cornelius Harnett* was at its head.
*This man was the second of the name. His father came to
Clarendon in Governor Burrington's time, and was all his life
afterwards a member of the council. This Cornelius Harnett was
well educated, and was so intensely devoted to the American
cause that he was called in that day "the Samuel Adams of North
Carolina."
5. On the third Tuesday in October in each year delegates to a
Congress were to be elected, which Congress was to meet on the
10th of November following, unless otherwise directed. When in
session Congress was, of course, supreme; when not in session,
ample authority was vested in a general or provisional council
and subordinate or district committees of safety. The province
was divided into six military districts, and as far as possible,
put on a war footing.
6. The ordinary militia organization was perfected and monthly
drills ordered; a special organization of minutemen, as that
class of troops was called, was provided for each district, and,
in addition, two regiments of regulars were ordered as the
contingent of the province for the Continental army. Provision
was also made for the purchase, anywhere and everywhere, of
arms, powder, lead, salt and saltpetre; for the manufacture at
home of salt, saltpetre, powder, and for the refining of
sulphur; for the manufacture of brown and writing paper, cotton
and woolen cards, linen and woolen cloths, pins and needles, and
for the erection of furnaces for making iron and steel and iron
hollow ware, and of rolling mills for making nails, large
premiums were offered. A census, too, was ordered to be taken
without delay.
7. An issue of money to meet expenses was also provided for. In
a word, every function of government was from that time
exercised in the name and by the authority of the people of
North Carolina. Virtually the province was under martial law,
but it was under martial law self-imposed.
8. It is evident that the men who constituted the Hillsboro, or
third Provincial Congress, knew perfectly well what they were
doing, and had fully counted the cost. Success meant freedom,
and would make them patriots; failure meant abject submission to
a foreign government, and would make them traitors. Knowing
this, they deliberately put a government of the people in the
place of the government of the King; they put an army in the
field and provided it with arms and ammunition; and, as if
looking ahead to a long and protracted struggle, during which
their ports would be doubtless blockaded, they sought at once,
by the offer of large bounties to encourage the manufacture at
home of such articles as were of common use and prime necessity.
They were indeed both bold and far-seeing, those men of the
Hillsboro Congress, and well they might be, for they were the
best and bravest of the province-men whose names are now
household words throughout the State.
9. The Hillsboro Congress had not called out troops any too
soon, for it was discovered that both Governor Martin, in North
Carolina, and Lord Dunmore, in Virginia, were engaged in schemes
to excite insurrections among the negro slaves. Colonel Robert
Howe, with the Second North Carolina Regiment, was sent to
Norfolk, in Virginia, where the British troops, being beaten at
Great Bridge, were soon driven from the soil of the "Old Dominion."
10. This occurred in December, 1775. About the same time
Colonels Griffith Rutherford, Thomas Polk and James Martin
embodied their militia regiments and went to South Carolina,
where they speedily crushed a Tory insurrection of certain men
called the "Scovilites." The militia were, of course, aided by
Whig troops of that province. The readiness with which North
Carolina marched troops both to Virginia and to South Carolina
caused her to stand very high in the estimation of the
Continental Congress.
11. The term "Tory" was applied to men who upheld the royal
authority, and were opposed to any movement to defend the
colonies against the exactions of the Crown and Parliament. The
"Whigs," on the contrary, were at that day demanding that
American commerce should be free, and that no taxes should be
imposed by Great Britain upon the colonies. They were not
enemies to the King, and only opposed to that which they
considered oppressive in the designs of his ministers.
QUESTIONS.
1. Who had been selected to take Colonel Harvey's place?
When and where did the third Provincial Congress meet?
2. In what condition were public affairs when the Congress met?
3. What proclamation did the Governor send to Samuel Johnston?
What reply was returned?
4. What view was taken of the Governor's flight?
Who was placed at the head of the provisional government?
5. Mention some laws which were passed concerning the Congress?
6. Mention some further acts of the Hillsboro Congress.
7. What about the issue of money?
8. What is said of the men who composed the Congress?
9. In what scheme was Governor Martin found engaged?
What force was sent to Virginia?
10. Who were sent to South Carolina?
11. Define the terms "Tory" and "Whig."