Halifax is celebrated for the HALIFAX RESOLVES of April 12, 1776. During the time of increasing unrest against England, North Carolina led the way. The eight-three delegates, representing the counties and towns in North Carolina, unanimously approved a resolution directing the three state representatives at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia to vote for independence. The Halifax Resolves were the first official provincial action for independence in any of the colonies.
This Provincial Congress also appointed a single Council of Safety to rule the entire colony. This council was meeting in Halifax when, on July 22, it received news that the Declaration of Independence had been signed in Philadelphia. The council immediately adopted a resolution declaring North Carolinians “absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown.”
On August 1, 1776, Cornelius Harnett, a prominent Halifax resident and Revolutionary patriot, was elected to give North Carolina’s first public reading of the Declaration of Independence to the town of Halifax. It had only been a little over three months since the approval of the Halifax Resolves. In November, the Fifth Provincial Congress assembled in Halifax. By December 18, this congress had approved the new state’s first constitution and on December 23, as its last official act, the assembly appointed Richard Caswell as the first governor of the State of North Carolina. This one small town of Halifax saw the adoption for national independence, the first state constitution and the election of the first governor after colonial rule. Clearly Halifax was a front runner for the independence movement in not only North Carolina, but the entire nation as well.
The Town of Halifax became a major supply depot for both the state militia and the Continental Army. In the latter half of 1775, the Provincial Congress established a bureaucracy for the organization of the battalion of minutemen being raised at Halifax and for the effective management of the powder magazine and supply depot already being established there. Troops that had been raised at Halifax and other North Carolina districts were accepted into the Continental Army in May of 1776.
Halifax and the Revolution | NC Historic Sites
The Halifax Resolves
The HALIFAX RESOLVES were the first official action taken by any colony toward independence from England. The Fourth Provincial Congress was attended by eighty-three delegates who represented the counties and towns in North Carolina. On April 12, 1776, they unanimously voted to adopt this resolution. The Secretary of the Congress, James Green, copied the resolution and sent it to the three North Carolina representatives at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia with instructions to vote for independence. A copy, signed by Green, is located in the National Archives, Library of Congress, in Washington, D.C., while the minutes of the Congress are in our State Archives in Raleigh.
No picture of the original 1776 Halifax County courthouse exists. It is known that it was of timber construction and the 1769 Sauthier map gave an approximate location and shape. In the summer of 2023, state department officials sanctioned Ground Penetrating Radar which located the footprint of the building, confirming the location and a rectangular building with wings. Illustration is the early Warren County Courthouse.
DELEGATES TO 4TH PROVINCIAL CONGRESS
Halifax, NC April 4 to May 14th, 1776
Samuel Johnston of Chowan County was elected President,
Allen Jones of Northampton was elected Vice President,
James Green, Jr. was appointed Secretary,
James Glasgow was appointed Assistant Secretary,
John Hunt was appointed Clerk.
| COUNTIES | |
| Anson | John Child, John Crawford, Daniel Love, James Pickett, Samuel Spencer |
| Beaufort | John Cowper, Roger Ormond, Thomas Respess, Jr, |
| Bertie | John Campbell, John Johnston, Charles Jaycocks |
| Bladen | Thomas Amis, Maturin Colville, James Council, Nathaniel Richardson, Thomas Robeson Jr. |
| Brunswick | Unknown/vacant |
| Bute | Philemon Hawkins, Green Hill, William Person, Thomas Sherrod |
| Carteret | John Blackhouse, Solomon Shepard, William Thompson, |
| Chatham | Elisha Cain, Jeduthan Harper, Ambrose Ramsey, Joseph Rosser, John Thompson |
| Chowan | Thomas Benbury, John B. Beasly, Thomas Hunter, Samuel Johnston, Thomas Jones |
| Craven | Jacob Blount, John Bryan, William Bryan, James Coor, Lemuel Hatch |
| Cumberland | Farquard Campbell, Alexander McAllister, Alexander McCoy/McKay, Thomas Rutherford, David Smith |
| Currituck | Samuel Jarvis, Gideon Lamb, Solomon Perkins, James Ryan, James White, |
| Dobbs | Simon Bright, Richard Caswell, George Miller, Abraham Sheppard |
| Duplin | Richard Clinton, William Dickson, Thomas Gray |
| Edgecombe | Elisha Battle, Nathan Boddie, William Haywood, Henry Irwin, Duncan Lemon |
| Granville | Charles A. Eaton, Memucan Hunt, John Penn, Thomas Person, John Taylor |
| Guilford | William Dent, Ralph Gorrell Jr, Ransom Sutherland |
| Halifax | Willis Alston, John Bradford, James Hogun, David Sumner, Joseph John Williams |
| Hertford | Lawrence Baker, Matthias Brickell Jr., William Murfree, Robert Sumner |
| Hyde | Joseph Hancock, John Jordan, Rotheas Latham, Benjamin Parmelin |
| Johnston | Needham Bryan Jr, Henry Rains, Samuel Smith Jr. |
| Martin | Whitmell Hill, Kenneth McKenzie, Edward Smithwick, Thomas Wiggins William Williams |
| Mecklenburg | John McKnitt Alexander, Robert Irwin, John Phifer |
| New Hanover | John Ashe, Samuel Ashe, John DeVane, John Hollingworth, Sampson Mosely |
| Northampton | Jeptha Atherton, Howell Edmunds, Drewry Gee, Eaton Haynes, Allen Jones, Samuel Lockhart/Eaton Haynes (1) |
| Onslow | Benjamin Doty, John King, George Mitchell, John Norman, John Spicer |
| Orange | Thomas Burke, John Butler, John Kinchen, Nathaniel Rochester, James Saunders |
| Pasquotank | Henry Abbot, Thomas Boyd, Dempsey Burgess, William Cummings, Joseph Jones, |
| Perquimans | Charles Blount, Miles Harvey, Thomas Harvey, Charles Moore, William Skinner |
| Pitt | William Robeson, Edward Salter, John Simpson |
| Rowan | John Johnston, Matthew Locke, Griffith Rutherford |
| Surry | Charles Gordon, Joseph Williams, Joseph Winston |
| Tryon | James Johnson, Charles McLean |
| Tyrell | Archibald Corry |
| Wake | John Hinton, William Hooper, Tignal Jones, Joel Lane, John Rand |
Are You A Descendent?
The Friends of Historic Halifax, a non-profit organization with a mission of supporting the State Historic Site, encourages you to search your ancestors to see if you are a descendant of one of the delegates to the 4th Provincial Congress. These were brave men, who risked life, liberty, and property, as they took the first step toward American Independence. We welcome your membership. A FOHH membership application and/or a Descendant of a Delegate form can be obtained at the visitors center or by email:
Halifax Resolves
The Select Committee taking into Consideration the usurpations and violences attempted and committed by the King and Parliament of Britain against America, and the further Measures to be taken for frustrating the same, and for the better defence of this province reported as follows, to wit,
It appears to your Committee, that pursuant to the Plan concerted by the British Ministry for subjugating America, the King and Parliament of Great Britain have usurped a power over the Persons and Properties of the People unlimited and uncontrouled, and disregarding their humble Petitions for Peace, Liberty, and Safety, have made divers Legislative Acts, denouncing War, Famine, and every Species of Calamity daily employed in destroying the People and committing the most horrid devastations on the Country.
That British Fleets and armies have been, and still are daily employed in destroying the People, and committing the most horrid devastations on the country.
That Governors in different Colonies have declared Protection to Slaves who should imbrue their Hands in the Blood of their Masters.
That the Ships belonging to America are declared prizes of War, and many of them have been violently seized and confiscated.
In consequence of which multitudes of the people have been destroyed or from easy Circumstances reduced to the most Lamentable distress.
And Whereas the moderation hitherto manifested by the United Colonies and their sincere desire to be reconciled to the Mother Country on Constitutional principles, have procured no Mitigation of the aforeasaid Wrongs and usurpations and no hopes remain of obtaining redress by those Means alone which have been hitherto tried, Your Committee are of Opinion that the house should enter into the following Resolve, to wit
Resolved that the delegates for this Colony in the Continental Congress be impowered to concur with the other delegates of the other Colonies in declaring Independency, and forming foreign Alliances, resolving to this Colony the Sole and Exclusive right of forming a Constitution and Laws for this Colony, and of appointing Delegates from time to time (under the direction of a general Representation thereof to meet the Delegates of the other Colonies for such purposes as shall be hereafter pointed out.
The Congress taking the Same into Consideration unanimously Concurred.
By order of
James Green, Junior, Secretary