Rowan Resolves is the short name for a colonial era document called ''Resolutions by inhabitants of Rowan County concerning resistance to Parliamentary taxation and the Provincial Congress of North Carolina.'' It was signed in

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

, Rowan County, in the royal

Province of North Carolina The Province of North Carolina, originally known as the Albemarle Settlements, was a proprietary colony and later royal colony of Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712 to 1776.(p. 80) It was one of the five Southern col ...

on August 8, 1774 in response to a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774, the

Intolerable Acts The Intolerable Acts, sometimes referred to as the Insufferable Acts or Coercive Acts, were a series of five punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws aimed to punish Massachusetts colonists fo ...

, after the political protest against the

Tea Act The Tea Act 1773 ( 13 Geo. 3. c. 44) was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain. The principal objective was to reduce the massive amount of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company in its London warehouses and to he ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, commonly known as

Boston Tea Party The Boston Tea Party was a seminal American protest, political and Mercantilism, mercantile protest on December 16, 1773, during the American Revolution. Initiated by Sons of Liberty activists in Boston in Province of Massachusetts Bay, colo ...

. Rowan County was the first county in North Carolina to adopt such resolutions in the early stages of the American Revolution.

Discovery

The document was discovered in Iredell County in 1851 among the papers of the Sharpe family which were direct descendants of William Sharpe, the last Secretary of the Rowan County Committee of Safety. The document was first published to the general public by Colonel Wheeler. Authenticity of the document was asserted by a committee of experts before the publication.

Summary

The freeholders of Rowan County opened the document with the assertion of their fidelity and obedience to

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

and his right to the Crown of Great Britain and Dominions in America. Then the authors proceeded to state their position on the recent Royal measures in response to the economic and political events in the colonies. * The right to impose taxes on the colonists lies within the jurisdiction of the General Assembly of the province (as opposed to the legislature in England) * Imposition of taxes by any authority other than the General Assembly is an infringement upon the constitutional rights and liberties of the colonies. * Opposition to taxation without representation in response to the tea tax imposed on the colonies by the British Parliament. Comparison of taxation without representation to the state of slavery. * Regarding the cruel treatment of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay as the intent to deprive colonies of their rights and liberties. * Proclamation of the cause of the Town of Boston as the common cause of the colonies and calling " firmly to unite in an indissoluble Union and Association" to oppose the infringement upon the rights and privileges in the colonies. * A call not to import British goods into the colonies and banish luxury and extravagance as well as encourage local manufacturing by subscription. * Objection to African slave trade on the grounds that it prevents manufacturers and other useful immigrants from settling in the colonies. * Encouragement of raising sheep, hemp, and flax. * Assertion that wearing clothes manufactured in the colonies is a sign of true patriotism. * Appointment of Samuel Young, Moses Winslow, and William Kennon to represent Rowan County at the First Provincial Congress in anticipation of the

First Continental Congress The First Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates of twelve of the Thirteen Colonies held from September 5 to October 26, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia at the beginning of the American Revolution. The meeting was organized b ...

in Philadelphia. * Recommendation not to trade with any colony that will refuse to join the Union to preserve rights and liberties in the colonies as will be agreed upon in the future Continental Progress in Philadelphia.

Signatories

Freeholder representatives from all parts of Rowan County signed the Resolves. * James McCay * Andrew Neal * George Cathy * Alexander Dobbins * Francis McKorkle * Matthew Locke * Maxwell Chambers * Henry Harmon * Abraham Dinton * William Davidson * Samuel Young * John Brevard * William Kennon, Esq., Chairman * George Henry Barringer * Robert Bell * John Bickerstaff * John Cowdon * John Lewis Beard * John Nisbet * Charles McDowel * Robert Blackburn * Christopher Beekman * William Sharpe * John Johnson * Morgan Bryan *

Adlai Osborne Adlai Osborne (June 4, 1744 – December 14, 1814) was a lawyer, public official, plantation owner, and educational leader from Rowan County, North Carolina (became Iredell County in 1788). During the American Revolution, he served on the Rowan ...

, Esq., Clerk

Commemoration

On August 9, 2009 Rowan Public Library held the first annual Rowan Resolves Day to commemorate Rowan County's involvement in paving the road to American Independence.

References

One of the authors is my fourth great grandfather. You have him as Abraham Dinton. It is actually Abraham Denton. I have never seen his name spelled other than Denton. Thanks for letting me edit. Norma Drake

External links

Text of the Rowan Resolves
in Colonial and State Records of North Carolina presented online by the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

as part of Documenting the American South digital collection {{American Revolution origins North Carolina in the American Revolution 1774 in the Thirteen Colonies Documents of the American Revolution Rowan County, North Carolina 1774 in North Carolina