For you non-Charlotteans out there, the "Meck Dec" is a nickname for the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. County legend holds that on May 20, 1775 (today), a council of representatives signed a local version of what would become the Declaration (and some Resolves as well, but the story focuses on the declaration). They hired Captain James Jack, of whom a statue now stands in a fountain on Kings Drive, to deliver the documents 500 miles north to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. He almost got arrested for carrying treasonous documents when he stopped in Salisbury to rest on the way there.

It's a fascinating story, all the better for being true. Almost. See, Mecklenburg County didn't actually declare independence from the Crown. (Well, when it's named after your queen's hometown, you can't exactly say you're no longer affiliated with her husband's rule, can you?) What it actually did was set up a government separate from Britain--with the condition that the Mecklenburg Resolves (dated May 31, 1775) would be void if/when the British government stopped oppressing colonists in the North. They may not have gone as far as an actual declaration, they were unprecedented, grounds for treason, and a bold statement of defiance.

Here's where it gets interesting. The original documents were lost in a fire during the Revolution, but in 1800 (after another fire at J.M. Alexander's home), several attempts to recreate the Resolves cropped up. One in particular by Joseph Alexander borrowed some language from the actual Declaration (for example, a bit at the end where the representatives mutually pledge their lives, fortunes, and sacred honors). People are still wondering today whether the Meck Dec actually happened.

No grand point to this, just a ramble fueled by a talk I went to this evening.