On the 250th anniversary, the WCNC Charlotte Verify team digs deeper into the debates surrounding the holiday.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Monday marks the 250th anniversary of Meck Dec Day, a holiday celebrated annually on May 20 to commemorate what many in Charlotte believe was the first declaration of independence from Great Britain in the American colonies.
Historians often mention this was more than a year before Congress signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
Let’s verify how this holiday began.
OUR SOURCES:
THE QUESTION:
What is the history of Meck Dec Day?
WHAT WE FOUND:
According to local lore, in 1775, a group of patriots in Charlotte decided they were fed up with the declining state of affairs in the American colonies.
“Over the course of the next 24 hours, they meet and debate and draft up a series of resolutions that we now call the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, in which they declare Mecklenburg County free and independent of Great Britain,” Syfert said. “This is the first such declaration in the American colonies and occurs well more than a year before the national Declaration, which everyone is familiar with in July of 1776.”
The historical record is murky. The original document was reportedly lost in a house fire in April of 1800, which has fueled skepticism about its existence. But supporters point to other evidence, including letters and eyewitness accounts.
“The controversy arises because the original papers and whatever they said are lost,” Syfert said. “Now, what we do have are 12 eyewitnesses and very good eyewitnesses about what occurred. We have letters from the British saying that a treasonable publication had occurred in Mecklenburg County.”
Angel Johnston, a former education specialist at the Charlotte Museum of History, also cited evidence backing the story.
“There are surviving letters from the royal governor of North Carolina saying, ‘These people in Mecklenburg County are crazy, look what they’re doing,’” Johnston said. “So we know for sure that that happened and that the folks here were wanting to not be under British rule.”
THE QUESTION:
Have there been any notable celebrations of Meck Dec Day over the past 250 years?
WHAT WE FOUND:
Over the past two and a half centuries, Meck Dec Day has drawn attention from both residents and national figures. Four sitting U.S. presidents — William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Gerald Ford — have visited Charlotte to mark the occasion.
Meck Dec Day was once an official city and county holiday until the 1980s. Its legacy remains etched into North Carolina’s identity — the date May 20, 1775, appears on both the state flag and the state seal.
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