Second North Carolina Provincial Congress

Second North Carolina Provincial Congress (1775)
Second North Carolina Provincial Congress (1775)
Overview
Legislative body	North Carolina Provincial Congress
Jurisdiction	North Carolina, United States
Meeting place	New Bern, North Carolina
Term	1775
Members	107 Delegates (33 counties, 3 not represented; 9 towns/districts)
President	John Harvey
Sessions
1st
1st	April 3, 1775 – April 7, 1775

The Second North Carolina Provincial Congress was the second extra-legal unicameral body of the North Carolina Provincial Congress that met beginning in 1774. They were modeled after the colonial lower house (House of Commons). These congresses created a government structure, issued bills of credit to pay for the movement, and organized an army for defense, in preparation for the state of North Carolina. These congresses paved the way for the first meeting of the North Carolina General Assembly on April 7, 1777 in New Bern, North Carolina.^[1] The second Congress met in New Bern from April 3 to April 7, 1775.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

Legislation[]

The second congress met at New Bern, from April 3 to 7, 1775. John Harvey served as moderator. The congress met at the same place and almost the same time as the Province of North Carolina General Assembly of 1775 and had almost exactly the same membership (61 of the 107 delegates attended both). This infuriated the royal governor Josiah Martin, who dissolved the colonial legislature on April 8 and never called another. This congress approved the Continental Association, an economic boycott authorized by the Continental Congress. Just after this congress met, news reached North Carolina about the Battle of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. Following this news, Governor Josiah Martin fled and this ended the royal government in the Province. The first military action occurred on July 18 when patriots burned Fort Johnston, where Governor Martin had transferred his headquarters.^[5]^[4]

Delegates[]

John Baptista Ashe, New Hanover County

Thomas Burke, Orange County

Richard Caswell, Dobbs County

Joseph Hewes, Edenton

William Hooper, New Hanover County

Robert Howe, Brunswick County

Samuel Johnston, Chowan County

Allen Jones, Northampton County

Willie Jones, Halifax County

James Kenan, Duplin County

Alexander Martin, Guilford County

Joseph Montfort, Halifax

Abner Nash, New Bern

Benjamin Williams, Johnston County

County/Town Representing	Delegates to the Second North Carolina Provincial Congress (April 3–7)	Also delegate to the Province of North Carolina General Assembly of 1775 (April 4–8)
Anson	Samuel Spencer
Anson
Beaufort	Roger Ormond	Yes
Beaufort		Yes
Beaufort
Bertie		Yes
Bertie		Yes
Bertie		Yes
Bladen	?
Bladen	James White^[6]	Yes
Brunswick County	Robert Howe	Yes
Brunswick County		Yes
Bute	Thomas Eaton
Bute	^[7]	Yes
Bute	William Person	Yes
Bute	James Ransom
Carteret		Yes
Carteret	William Thompson	Yes
Chatham	Not represented
Chowan	Thomas Benbury	Yes
Chowan		Yes
Chowan	Samuel Johnston	Yes
Chowan	^[8]	Yes
Chowan		Yes
Craven	William Bryan
Craven	^[9]
Craven
Craven	James Coor	Yes
Craven
Craven		Yes
Cumberland		Yes
Cumberland		Yes
Currituck		Yes
Currituck	^{[note 1]}	Yes
Currituck		Yes
Currituck		Yes
Currituck		Yes
Dobbs	Richard Caswell	Yes
Dobbs		Yes
Dobbs
Dobbs
Duplin	^[10]
Duplin
Duplin
Duplin	James Kenan
Edgecombe	Not represented
Granville	Memucan Hunt
Granville
Granville
Granville
Granville	Thomas Person	Yes
Guilford	Alexander Martin
Halifax County	Willie Jones
Halifax County		Yes
Halifax County		Yes
Hertford
Hertford		Yes
Hyde
Hyde
Johnston		Yes
Johnston	Benjamin Williams	Yes
Martin
Mecklenburg
New Hanover	John Baptista Ashe	Yes
New Hanover	William Hooper	Yes
Northampton	Jeptha Atherton	Yes
Northampton	Allen Jones	Yes
Onslow		Yes
Onslow		Yes
Onslow
Orange	Thomas Burke
Orange		Yes
Orange
Pasquotank		Yes
Pasquotank		Yes
Pasquotank	Joseph Jones	Yes
Pasquotank	Isaac Gregory	Yes
Pasquotank		Yes
Perquimans	John Harvey	Yes
Perquimans		Yes
Perquimans		Yes
Perquimans		Yes
Perquimans
Pitt
Pitt
Pitt
Pitt		Yes
Pitt		Yes
Rowan	Griffith Rutherford
Rowan	William Sharpe
Surry	Not represented
Tryon
Tryon
Tyrrell		Yes
Tyrrell	Benjamin Spruill	Yes
Tyrrell	Joseph Spruill	Yes
Wake
Wake
Wake
Bath Town	^[11]	Yes
Brunswick Town		Yes
Campbellton Town^{[note 2]}		Yes
Edenton Town	Joseph Hewes	Yes
Halifax Town
Halifax Town	Joseph Montfort
Hillsborough Town	Francis Nash	Yes
New Bern Town	Abner Nash
New Bern Town
Salisbury Town
Wilmington Town	Cornelius Harnett	Yes

Notes:

^ Nathan Joyner was recorded as Poyner.
^ Campbellton became part of Fayetteville in 1783)

References[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Butler, Lindley (2006). Powell, William Stevens (ed.). Encyclopedia of North Carolina, Provincial Congresses. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 917–918. ISBN 0807830712.
^ "State Library of North Carolina. Information page for Tryon Palace". Archived from the original on 2008-05-03.
^ Lewis, J.D. "2nd Provincial Congress". Carolina.com. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Connor, Robert Diggs Wimberly, ed. (1913). A Manual of North Carolina Issued by the North Carolina Historical Commission for the Use of Members of the General Assembly Session 1913. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
^ Lewis, J.D. "Members of the 2nd Provincial Congress". The American Revolution in North Carolina. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
^ Powell, William S. (1996). "James White". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
^ Malone, E. T., Jr. (1988). "Green Hill, Jr". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 2, 2019.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Powell, William S. (1988). "Thomas Jones". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
^ Watson, Alan D. (1979). "Richard Cogdell". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
^ Ingram, Charles M. (1986). "William Dickson". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
^ Lewis, J.D. "William Brown". Carolana.com. Retrieved November 3, 2019.

[10] Nathan Joyner was recorded as Poyner.

[13] Campbellton became part of Fayetteville in 1783)

[Butler-1] Jump up to: ^a ^b Butler, Lindley (2006). Powell, William Stevens (ed.). Encyclopedia of North Carolina, Provincial Congresses. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 917–918. ISBN 0807830712.

[Library-2] "State Library of North Carolina. Information page for Tryon Palace". Archived from the original on 2008-05-03.

[Lewis3rd-3] Lewis, J.D. "2nd Provincial Congress". Carolina.com. Retrieved August 13, 2019.

[Manual-4] Jump up to: ^a ^b Connor, Robert Diggs Wimberly, ed. (1913). A Manual of North Carolina Issued by the North Carolina Historical Commission for the Use of Members of the General Assembly Session 1913. Retrieved August 13, 2019.

[Lewis2nd-5] Lewis, J.D. "Members of the 2nd Provincial Congress". The American Revolution in North Carolina. Retrieved August 13, 2019.

[6] Powell, William S. (1996). "James White". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 1, 2019.

[7] Malone, E. T., Jr. (1988). "Green Hill, Jr". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 2, 2019.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[8] Powell, William S. (1988). "Thomas Jones". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 1, 2019.

[9] Watson, Alan D. (1979). "Richard Cogdell". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 1, 2019.

[11] Ingram, Charles M. (1986). "William Dickson". NCPEDIA. Retrieved November 1, 2019.

[12] Lewis, J.D. "William Brown". Carolana.com. Retrieved November 3, 2019.

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[note 1]

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[note 2]

show v t North Carolina General Assemblies by year convened and order
List of North Carolina state legislatures Senate President pro tempore of the Senate House of Commons House of Representatives Speakers of the House of Representatives (see Note)	1 (1777) 2 (1778) 3 (1779) 4 (1780) 5 (1781) 6 (1782) 7 (1783) 8 (Apr 1784) 9 (Oct 1784) 10 (1785) 60 (1835) 61 (1836) 73 (1860) 74 (1862) 78 (1868) 94 (1899) 145 (2001) 146 (2003) 147 (2005) 148 (2007) 149 (2009) 150 (2011) 151 (2013) 152 (2015) 153 (2017) 154 (2019) 155 (2021)
Other	Executive Branch: Governor of North Carolina, List of Governors, Lieutenant Governors (since 1868), Cabinets, Council of State, Attorney General
Conventions	Hillsborough Convention of 1788 Fayatteville Convention of 1789
Provincial Congresses and Constitution	North Carolina Provincial Congress (1774–1776: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th), Constitution of North Carolina (1776, 1835 Convention, 1861 Convention, 1868 redraft, 1875 Convention, Constitution of 1971)
Notes: Prior to the Constitution of 1868: the lower house of the North Carolina Legislature was known as the House of Commons and the leader of the Senate was called the Speaker of the Senate.