Contents PAGE By Charles A. Shriner, Paterson, N. J. Glimpses Into Ancient American Discoveries (Continued). By Jacques J. Heit, Brooklyn, N. Y. The French in the Ohio Valley. By Dr. George P. Donehoo, Harrisburg, Pa. Long Island-The Daughter of Atlantis. By Henry Isham Hazelton, Brooklyn, N. Y. AMERICANA JANUARY, 1925 Mecklenburg* BY CHARLES A. SHRINER, PATERSON, N. J. E are free and independent and subject to no laws excepting those of God and the Continental Congress and to the maintenance of this independence we pledge our fortunes, our honor and our lives.-The men of Mecklenburg County, May, 1775. We will not receive the addresses of any men who remain loitering at home when their country calls for their services, for these men show that they lack the spirit which would qualify them to be our guardians and defenders.-The women of Mecklenburg County, January, 1776. Provocation. One of the first facts ascertained by the men sent to govern Carolina was that they had unruly and determined subjects. There was a spirit of rebellion before the days of George III. The first government, established three-quarters of a century after Sir Walter Raleigh had made a failure of his attempt in that direction, was liberal in its character, for its framer was John Locke. But the lords proprietors did not believe that the principles of the famous philosopher could be put into practice in an unsettled country and accordingly they devised a government of their own, much to the dissatisfaction of the people. The latter made short work of the innovation. One of the lords proprietors was exiled because of his extortionate demands. Another was imprisoned because of an infringement of popular rights; in order that there might be no misunderstanding about the will of the people the governor's council was sent to keep him company behind the bars. For fully two years the colonists governed themselves as they saw fit and then, having patched up a truce with the rulers on the other *This is the second of a series of articles by Mr. Shriner, the first "The Whiskey Rebellion," having appeared in a recent issue. They treat of five American "rebellions" and present succinct and informative narratives.-ED. side, returned to their former allegiance, presuming that their determination not to be trifled with would be understood by all concerned. In 1715 a number of Scotchmen with their families joined the English colonists and these were materially increased some thirty years later by such as did not like the way things went at Culloden. Then came a number of Scotch-Irish, a very superior type of men, who showed both their hardihood, and their dislike of people who had preceded them, by forcing their way into the backwoods many miles west from the waters of the Atlantic. That they were thrifty and believed in education is made evident by the fact that the names of some of the rising generation appeared on the roster of the students at Princeton, the first to matriculate from North Carolina. They were loyal, apparently with more or less mental reservation, and there is no record that they protested when what was intended. to be their principal city was named after the Queen of England and when the county set apart for them was named after the birthplace of the Queen. Letters to the folks at home told of the pleasant existence, cut off as it practically was from intercourse with the rest of the inhabitants of the colony. More Scotch-Irish arrived, until 1769-according to Waightstill Avery, subsequently the first attorney-general under the constitution-there were a thousand freemen capable of bearing arms and all of the dominant church of Scotland; not a dozen of them, even including members of the Legislature, had ever been East above the falls of the rivers. The territory subsequently comprising Mecklenburg County, and some hundreds of thousands of acres adjacent, had been obtained from George II "by some legerdemain," as the records of the day designate the transaction. By the accident of inheritance, George Augustus Selwyn and Henry Eustace McCulloh, sons of the grantees, had obtained title and at once offered to dispose of the property to intending settlers. The terms were couched in language not easily understood; disputes as to the boundary lines were injected into the controversy and there was little prospect of an amicable settlement. McCulloh came to this country for the purpose of solving all difficulties, having received power of attorney from Selwyn to act also in his behalf. He determined to have the lines established to suit his own ideas and for this purpose employed surveyors. Then appeared on the scene Thomas Polk, who, |