Abstract:
Fourteen months before the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia, a group of leaders in Mecklenburg County met on May 20, 1775, to sign the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. Was this the first document declaring freedom for the American colonies, or was it just a fanciful story? Mecklenburg has celebrated and commemorated the document for 180, but the controversy over its origination challenges its legitimacy. Timblin examines this dispute over legitimacy, beginning in 1819 down to the present-day.