By Clyde

Shhh! Don’t tell anyone, but we gave the first call for an indissoluble union before anyone else. We are not listed in the book of N.C. firsts and omitted from Our State Magazine. With all this Independence Day hoopla, why do we not make a big thing of it like other counties in N.C.? Halifax claims April 12, 1776, and Mecklenburg’s date of May 20, 1775, is even emblazoned on the state flag. The date on the Salisbury city seal and flag is wrong too, but that’s a whole ‘nuther story.

Meanwhile, if you dare, you can go to the Rowan Public Library history room on the third floor and Gretchen, hidden in a file drawer, will show you a reprint made in 1974 by Security Bank; thank you Mr. Clement. It is a document like no other, although it was patterned after a call for a Provincial Congress. The Rowan Resolves named the “cause” of the Town of Boston is the common cause of the American colonies. Yes, as in Tea Party, and that “every kind of luxury, dissipation and extravagance ought to be banished from among us.” It continues “that the raising of sheep, hemp and flax ought to be encouraged” and further “that to be clothed in manufacturers fabricated in the colonies ought to be considered as a badge of distinction, of respect and true patriotism. Where is the “Made in China” label in this picture? Where is your homespun and linsey-woolsey?

All we know about July 4th is blasted fireworks. Giving your life for your country does not mean the eight people a year who die in fireworks mishaps. The Resolves were born out of necessity. They could not wait two more years foår the country to catch up.

The Rowan Resolves is dated Aug. 8, 1774. Freeholders met in Salisbury, a mere 20-year-old town and selected Moses Winslow and Samuel Young to represent Rowan and William Kennon to represent Salisbury in New Bern, who set up a Committee of Safety for each county — Rowan being the first again. You activists will be glad to know a few lily-livered liberals may have been your ancestors who called for liberty against the mother country. The 25 signers were not your usual city councilmen and county commissioners unawares today. They might be your relatives.

Freeholder representatives of Rowan County who 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

Clyde is a Salisbury artist.