Tryon Resolves 1775

Minutes of the Tryon County Committee of Safety

Tryon County (N.C.). Committee of Safety

October 24, 1775 - October 25, 1775

Volume 10, Pages 296-298

[From MS. Records in Office of Secretary of State.]

 .

[24th October 1775.]

Met according to adjournment.

They proceeded and chose Wm Graham Esq. Chairman.

Present: John Walker, Andrew Neil, James Baird, George Paris, John Morris, Andrew Hampton, members of the old Committee; & Alexander Gilliland, John Dellinger, Robert Armstrong, Robert Parks, John Scott Jr & John Earle members of the new Committee.

Committee adjourned till to-morrow morning at 8 o'clock.

Met according to adjournment.

Present: William Graham, Chairman; Robert Parks, James Coburn, John Earle, Geo. Paris, John Scott, John Dellinger, Nicholas Friday, Andrew Hampton & Alexander Gilliland.

TEST.

We the subscribers professing our allegiance to the King and acknowledging the Constitutional Executive power of Government, do Solemnly profess, Testify & Declare, that we do absolutely believe, that neither the parliament of Great Britain nor any member or Constituent Branch thereof hath a right to impose Taxes upon these Colonies to regulate the Internal police thereof and that all attempts by fraud or force to establish & exercise such claim & power are violations of the peace & security of the people, and ought to be resisted to the utmost, and the people of this province singly and collectively are bound by the Acts and Resolutions of the Continental and Provincial Congresses, because in both they are freely represented by persons chosen by themselves, and we do solemnly and sincerely promise, and engage under the Sanction of Virtue, Home and the Sacred Love of Liberty and of our Country, to maintain and support all and every the Acts, Resolutions & Regulations of the said Continental and Provincial Congresses to the utmost of our power and abilities. In Testimony we have hereunto set our hands the 25th day of October, A. D. 1775.

WILLIAM GRAHAM, Chairman.

John Dellinger

John Morris

David Jenkins

James Logan

Wm Gilbert

John Earle

Robert Parks

Alexander Gilliland

John Scott

James Coburn

Andrew Hampton

Robert Alexander

Robert Porter

Joseph Hardin

John McKinney

Thomas Townsend

John Ashley

William Yancey

Frederick Hambright

Francis Armstrong

James Baird

Robert Armstrong

William Moore

Nicholas Walton

Jonathan Potts

George Potts

Resolved by this Committee that any two members thereof upon application made upon Oath to them of any person or persons who is Debtor is about to abscond, Remove or otherwise to defraud his Creditors of his Debt, may grant a certificate of the same to the Clerk of the County who is hereby directed to proceed in the usual forms of Law against such Debtor.

Resolved, That Debts Recoverable before Magistrates be under the same Restrictions as the above Resolve.

Resolved, That when any absconding Debtor or Debtors hath left any goods in the County behind him on application of his or their Creditor to any two of the Committee as aforesaid on Oath to the amount of his or their Debt, the said Two shall grant an order to such person as they shall Depute for that purpose to seize the goods to the amount of the said Debt and Deliver them into the possession of the said Creditor or Creditors, who shall give Bond & Security to the said Committee to Deliver or otherwise to be accountable for the Same when called for in Law or otherwise.

Resolved by this Committee, and it is hereby Recommended to all the good people of this County not to construe the Association to Break off all Dealings or Commerce with such persons who refuse to subscribe the same, so as to extend to any Acts of Inhumanity or Coerce them by famine, such as refusing to grind at Mills, or refusing them the necessaries of life.

John Price came into Committee & made oath that he is Credibly Informed that Benj. Kuykendall his Debtor is about to remove himself out of this County. It was therefore ordered, that the Clerk of the Court issue a Writ against the Body of the said Debtor so as to hold him to Bail.

Committee Adjourned till the fourth Tuesday of January Next.

WILLIAM GRAHAM, Chairman.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/tryon/history/other/committe10ms.txt

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Tryon Resolves

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Tryon Resolves were a brief declaration adopted by the citizens of Tryon County in the Province of North Carolina in the early days of the American Revolution. In the Resolves, the county vowed resistance to coercive actions by the British Empire against its North American colonies. The document was signed on August 14, 1775.

Background

As tensions between the North American colonies and the British government continued to increase, county residents began forming Committees of Safety to prepare militia companies for a potential war. On September 14, 1775, many of the signers of the Tryon Resolves formed the Tryon County Militia in preparation for British retaliation against American revolutionaries.The Tryon Resolves "association" was created in response to the Battle of Lexington, and the Resolves were among the earliest of many local colonial declarations against the policies the British government had instituted in the colonies, which were considered oppressive by the colonists. Other similar declarations from the same period included the Mecklenburg Resolves (adopted in nearby Mecklenburg County, North Carolina) and the Suffolk Resolves (adopted in Suffolk County, Massachusetts). The Tryon Resolves predated the United States Declaration of Independence by almost 11 months, but stopped short of proscribing independence from Britain, and, in fact, sought a resolution to the problems that had grown between the colonies and England.

Text summary and effect

In the Tryon Resolves:

• The county residents refer to "the painful necessity of having recourse to arms in defense of our National freedom and constitutional rights, against all invasions;
• Vow to take up arms and risk our lives and our fortunes in maintaining the freedom of our country..."
• The colonists declare they will continue to follow the Continental Congress or Provincial Conventions in defiance of British declarations that these were illegal;
• The signers warn that force will be met with force until such a time as a "reconciliation" can be made between the colonies and Britain.

Signers

The signatories of the Tryon Resolves were:

• Robt. Alexander
• Jas. Baird
• Abel Beatty
• Thomas Beatty
• John Beeman
• George Black
• James Buchanan
• Christian Carpenter
• Samuel Carpenter
• James Coburn
• Jacob Costner
• Geo. Dellinger
• John Dellinger
• Thomas Espey
• Jacob Forney
• William Graham
• Frederick Hambright
• Andrew Hampton
• Benjamin Hardin
• Joseph Hardin
• Robert Hulclip
• David Jenkins
• Joseph Kuykendall
• Samuel Loftin
• Jas. Logan
• Perrygreen Mackness (or Magness) [1]
• Jacob Mauney, Jun.
• Valentine Mauney
• Fried Mauser
• James McAfee
• Charles McLean
• Jas. Miller
• Moses Moore
• John Morris
• Andrew Neel
• Joseph Neel
• George Paris
• Jonathan Price
• John Robison
• Peter Sides
• Adam Simms
• Samuel Smith
• William Thompson
• Joab Turner
• Richard Waffer
• John Walker
• John Wells
• Davis Whiteside
• William Whiteside