NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1965 SESSION

 

 

RESOLUTION 42

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 215

 

 

A JOINT RESOLUTION COMMEMORATING THE HALIFAX RESOLVES OF APRIL 12, 1776, WHICH AUTHORIZED NORTH CAROLINA DELEGATES IN THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS TO VOTE FOR INDEPENDENCE.

 

WHEREAS, the British Government had looked upon the American colonies as a colonization venture to counteract the Spanish in the New World; and

WHEREAS, the thirteen colonies had been settled by the English and were governed by the Mother Country; and

WHEREAS, the British Government felt that the colonies should pay some form of taxes to England in order to defray some of the expense of that government; and

WHEREAS, the Stamp Act was passed by Parliament in 1765, which was a tax on all transactions of legal papers in the colonies, which the colonies successfully resisted; and

WHEREAS, other taxing measures were adopted by the British Government, such as the Townsend Act and the Tea Tax, which likewise were successfully resisted; and

WHEREAS, some British merchants and businessmen transacting business in North Carolina through factors would not pay their business debts and the General Assembly passed an attachment law, which levied on the property of the nonresidents, and the North Carolina Governor disallowed the court law and thereby there were no courts from 1773 until the Revolution; and

WHEREAS, the people were against taxation without representation and began to look more to their own resources, both political and legal; and

WHEREAS, the Fourth Provincial Congress meeting in Halifax in order to formulate plans to strengthen the position of the people, on April 12, 1776, voted to instruct the delegates in the Continental Congress to vote for independence from the Mother County:

 

Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring:

Section 1.  That the members of the Senate and House of Representatives for themselves and for future generations go on record as approving the actions of our forefathers in their foresight and patriotic action in striving for independence of the original thirteen colonies.

Sec. 2.  That the school children of North Carolina be taught the significance of this important date in our history.

Sec. 3.  That this Resolution shall become effective upon its adoption.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 13th day of April, 1965.