View complete article and references at Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina at: https://docsouth.unc.edu/commland/monument/241

Description: The large marble and bronze tablet commemorates the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and its twenty-seven signers. The tablet is composed of a large rectangular slab of marble surrounded by a bronze frame. The engraved inscription is bounded on the four corners of the marble with circular medallions. The frame is adorned with a border of pine cones in bas-relief.

Inscription:
IN COMMEMORATION / OF / THE MECKLENBURG / DECLARATION / OF / INDEPENDENCE / MAY 20, 1775 / AND / THE TWENTY SEVEN SIGNERS / ERECTED BY / THE NORTH CAROLINA SOCIETY / OF / COLONIAL DAMES OF AMERICA / 1912

Dedication date: 5/20/1912

Materials & Techniques: Bronze, marble

Sponsor: North Carolina Society of the Colonial Dames of America

Unveiling & Dedication: The monument was dedicated on May 20, 1912 on the 137th anniversary of the alleged signing of the Declaration. The Hon. Walter Clark, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, presented the tablet to the State and gave an address on the history of the signing and referred to the tablet as of "imperishable bronze." Governor William W. Kitchen accepted the tablet on behalf of the State, giving a brief acceptance speech. The tablet was unveiled in the Rotunda by the North Carolina Society of Colonial Dames of America, accompanied by the singing of "The Star Spangled Banner" by the Raleigh High School Chorus, a benediction given by the Rev. William White, and the playing of "Columbia" by the Third Regiment Band.

Subject notes: The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence was reportedly signed on May 20, 1775, however the actual declaration has not been found and no additional strong documentary evidence is available surrounding the time of the event to corroborate its existence. Word of the battles at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts had already made its way to Charlotte, and on May 31, 1775, a committee of citizens in Mecklenburg County, the Mecklenburg County Committee of Safety, drafted the resolutions of the Mecklenburg Resolves, most likely distinct from the alleged May 20 Declaration. The Resolves had the same intent as the alleged Declaration as a declaration of the suspension of English authority over the colonies. In 1838, a document reported to be the contents of the Mecklenburg Declaration was published.

Location: The marker sits in the rotunda of the Capital. The Capitol is located in Union Square on East Edenton Street.

Landscape: The marker is located in the Rotunda, surrounded by other commemorative markers.

City: Raleigh

County: Wake

Subjects: Revolutionary War