The three men who saw the colony of North Carolina through the transition from British rule to independence are pictured below. Did you know that none of these men were born in colonial NC? Each found their way here on their path to destiny. Their fate was to leave a legacy for those who came after.
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| Portraits by Ole Erekson, Engraver, c. 1876, Library of Congress as viewed at USHistory.org |
These three men were William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, and John Penn. They were the same delegates who with other local leaders outlined the NC colonists' needs and grievances in Halifax on April 12, 1776 and distilled these sentiments into the document historically known as the Halifax Resolves.
The trio presented the Resolves to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia just months later. That document became the bones of the Declaration of Independence written in June of the same year by Thomas Jefferson and a committee of men. This timeline is remarkable. Just 83 days elapsed from the Resolves signed locally in Halifax, to the commitment of thirteen diverse colonies resulting in the signed Declaration in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. The die was cast by these men. Here are their stories.
William Hooper was a Boston born, Harvard educated lawyer who settled in Wilmington. By 1768 his legal reputation garnered him an appointment as deputy attorney general to the Salisbury District. He was heavily involved in the attempt to dispel the Regulator movement. So much so, that he was dragged through the streets of Hillsborough in 1770 by an angry mob. He served in the NC General Assembly from 1777 until 1781. He returned to NC after the Congress in 1776 to retire, but came out of retirement in 1789 for an appointment to the Federal Bench. Read more about Mr. Hooper.
Joseph Hewes was a Quaker born in Princeton, New Jersey and attended college at Princeton. He chose to settle in Edenton, another coastal town, and made his fortune after establishing a shipping business around 1760. By 1766 he was elected to serve on the Provincial Assembly and did so until 1775 when the assembly was dissolved by the royal governor. He continued to support independence after the Declaration signing. In 1776 he placed his fleet of ships at the disposal of the Continental Armed Forces. Later he served the Congress as Secretary of Naval Affairs. Read more about Mr. Hewes.
John Penn was a Virginia boy from Caroline County. Though he was from a family of wealth, he had received little education. He educated himself with access to the personal library of a relative, Edmund Pendleton who made a career in the House of Burgesses. John's determination to educate himself under the tutelage of his relative led to a license to practice law by the age of twenty-two. By 1774 he had relocated to Granville County in NC and became a force in the political community. By 1775 he was elected to the Continental Congress and served until 1780. In retirement, he practiced law in Granville County. Read more about Mr. Penn.
These three men, each from different origins, shared a common commitment to independence. We owe them such a debt of gratitude for making North Carolina their home state and for taking a stand in the face of great risk and questionable odds at an important turning point in our history.
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