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Colonial and State Records of North Carolina
Resolutions by inhabitants of Rowan County concerning resistance to Parliamentary taxation and the Provincial Congress of North Carolina
No Author
August 08, 1774
Volume 09, Pages 1024-1026

[From MS. Records in Office of Secretary of State.]
Proceedings of the Freeholders in Rowan County.

August 8th 1774.

At a meeting August 8th 1774, The following resolves were unanimously agreed to.

Resolved, That we will at all times, when ever we are called upon for that purpose, maintain and defend at the Expense of our Lives and Fortunes, his Majesty's Right and Title to the Crown of Great Britain, and his Dominions in America to whose royal Person and Government we profess all due Obedience & Fidelity.

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Resolved, That the Right to impose Taxes or Duties to be paid by the Inhabitants within this Province for any purpose whatsoever is peculiar and essential to the General Assembly in whom the legislative Authority of the Colony is vested.

Resolved, That any attempt to impose such Taxes or Duties by any other Authority is an Arbitrary Exertion of Power, and an Infringement of the Constitutional Rights and Liberties of the Colonies.

Resolved, That to impose a Tax or Duty upon Tea by the British Parliament in which the North American Colonies can have no Representation to be paid upon Importation by the inhabitants of the said Colonies, is an Act of Power without Right, it is subversive to the Liberties of the said Colonies, deprives them of their Property without their own Consent, and thereby reduces them to a State of Slavery.

Resolved, That the late cruel and Sanguinary Acts of Parliament to be executed by military force and Ships of War upon our Sister Colony of the Massachusetts Bay and Town of Boston, is a strong Evidence of the corrupt Enfluence obtained by the British Ministry in Parliament and a convincing Proof of their fixed Intention to deprive the Colonies of their Constitutional Rights and Liberties.

Resolved, That the Cause of the Town of Boston is the common Cause of the American Colonies.

Resolved, That it is the Duty and Interest of all the American Colonies, firmly to unite in an indissoluble Union and Association to oppose by every Just and proper means the Infringement of their common Rights and Privileges.

Resolved, That a general Association between all the American Colonies, not to import from Great Britain any Commodity whatsoever (except such things as shall be hereafter excepted by the general Congress of this Province) ought to be entered into and not dissolved till the just Rights of the said Colonies are restored to them, and the cruel Acts of the British Parliament against the Massachusetts Bay and Town of Boston are repealed.

Resolved, That no friend to the Rights and Liberties of America ought to purchase any Commodity whatsoever, except such as shall be excepted, which shall be imported from Great Britain after the general Association shall be agreed upon.

Resolved, That every kind of Luxury, Dissipation and Extravagance, ought to be banished from among us.

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Resolved, That manufactures ought to be encouraged by opening Subscriptions for that purpose, or by any other proper means.

Resolved, That the African Trade is injurious to this Colony, obstructs the Population of it by freemen, prevents manufacturers, and other Useful Emigrants from Europe from settling among us, and occasions an annual increase of the Balance of Trade against the Colonies.

Resolved, That the raising of Sheep, Hemp and flax ought to be encouraged.

Resolved, That to be cloathed in manufactures fabricated in the Colonies ought to be considered as a Badge and Distinction of Respect and true Patriotism.

Resolved, That Messrs Samuel Young and Moses Winslow for the County of Rowan, and for the Town of Salisbury William Kennon Esqr be and they are hereby nominated and appointed Deputies, upon the Part of the Inhabitants and Freeholders of this County and Town of Salisbury, to meet such Deputies as shall be appointed by the other Counties and Corporations within this Colony at Johnston Court-House the 20th of this Instant.

Resolved, That at this important and alarming Crisis it be earnestly recommended to the said Deputies at their general Convention that they nominate and appoint one proper Person out of each District of this Province, to meet such Deputies in a general Congress, as shall be appointed upon the Part of the other Continental Colonies in America, to consult and agree upon a firm and indissoluble Union and Association for preserving by the best and most proper means their Common Rights and Liberties.

Resolved, That this Colony ought not to trade with any Colony which shall refuse to join in any Union and Association that shall be agreed upon by the greater Part of the other Colonies on this Continent, for preserving their common Rights and Liberties.