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32-527: The North Carolina Provincial Congress was an extralegal representative assembly patterned after the colonial lower house that existed in North Carolina from 1774 to 1776. It led the transition from British provincial to U.S. state government in North Carolina . It established a revolutionary government, issued bills of credit to finance the provincial government, provided for

64-457: A "Declaration of Rights." It elected Caswell to serve as acting governor until the province's first General Assembly could meet to elect a governor. Representative assembly The classical republics of Greece , Rome and Carthage included citizen assemblies (e.g. the Roman comitia ). Popular assemblies ( things ) also emerged in pre-civilised Germanic and Scandinavian lands (and

96-500: A government structure, issued bills of credit to pay for the movement, organized an army for defense, wrote a constitution and bill of rights that established the state of North Carolina, and elected their first acting governor in the fifth congress that met in 1776. These congresses paved the way for the first meeting of the North Carolina state Legislature on April 7, 1777, in New Bern, North Carolina . The first such congress met at

128-467: A monthly convening of councils in the regions of his bishopric “as it was the custom of our ancestors”, bringing together churchmen, knights ('milites') and peasants to do justice, in what has been interpreted as a continuation of old Celtic or Suevi local traditions. Later, in 1188, King Ferdinand II of León and Galicia called for a general council of his kingdoms to meet in the capital, León , bringing together bishops, nobility and – allegedly for

160-577: A planned Regulator march upon the provincial capital, New Bern , which ultimately did not occur. The passage of the Johnston Riot Act and others precipitated an even more significant enlargement of the Regulator movement and forced Royal Governor Tryon to call out the provincial militia, which culminated in the Battle of Alamance on May 16, 1771. As a strong supporter of independence, he

192-806: Is not confirmed in Senate Journals. He may have been elected, but he certainly did not attend. In Johnston's own words, after 1777, "...had nothing to do with public business..." during the Revolution. Under the new state government, Johnston was elected to the North Carolina Senate in 1783 and 1784. Johnston was the first Grand Master of Freemasons for the State of North Carolina, voted into office on 11 Dec 1787 to revive Masonic activities that had been defunct after breaking away from England. There had only been Deputy Grand Master until he

224-595: The Continental Congress to vote for independence. The fifth congress approved a state constitution and elected Richard Caswell governor. In 1777, the newly established General Assembly convened at New Bern . Five extra-legal unicameral bodies called the North Carolina Provincial Congresses met beginning in the summer of 1774. They were modeled after the colonial lower house (House of Commons). These congresses created

256-810: The Middle Ages , more specifically in the twelfth to fifteenth centuries. It may have been brought into being by rulers determined to avoid being overawed by their powerful warrior barons by appealing to lower ranks of society: lesser landowners, townsmen and clergy. It may be the most important political innovation of the European Middle Ages. The idea appeared first in Spain, then in England, France and Italy, then spread to Germany and Scandinavia, even Poland and Hungary. Various names were used for these institutions: in England, Ireland, Scotland, Sicily,

288-942: The Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples they were called parliaments or parlamenti ; in the Iberian peninsula they were called cortes or corts ; in France they were called estates-general and in the Low Countries the estates- or states-general ; in Germany the term used was landtag ; in Denmark and Norway it was rigsdag , in Sweden riksdag , and in Poland sejm . The number of chambers roughly corresponded to

320-636: The Thirteen Colonies . Joseph Hewes presented the Halifax Resolves to the Continental Congress on May 27, the same day that Virginia delegates presented similar resolves. The Fifth and last Provincial Congress met at Halifax from November 12 to December 23, 1776. Richard Caswell served as president, with Cornelius Harnett as vice-president. This congress approved the first Constitution of North Carolina , along with

352-542: The Tryon Palace in New Bern , from August 25 to 27, 1774. It was the first such gathering anywhere in the Thirteen Colonies held in defiance of British orders. Its moderator (president) was John Harvey , who was concurrently the last speaker of the Province of North Carolina General Assembly of 1775 House of Burgesses. This first provincial congress, with 69 delegates from 30 of the then-36 counties, approved

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384-415: The calling of a Continental Congress and elected William Hooper , Joseph Hewes , and Richard Caswell as the colony's delegates thereto. The congress also approved a trade boycott to protest British actions against New England . The second congress also met at New Bern, from April 3 to 7, 1775. John Harvey once again served as moderator. The congress met at the same place and almost the same time as

416-737: The colonial assembly, and had almost exactly the same membership. This infuriated the royal governor, Josiah Martin , who dissolved the colonial legislature on April 8 and never called another. This congress approved the Continental Association , an economic boycott of Great Britain authorized by the First Continental Congress . Just after this congress met, news reached North Carolina about the Battle of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. Following this news, Governor Josiah Martin fled and this ended

448-472: The common defense, and adopted the state's first constitution . There were five congresses . They met in the towns of New Bern (first and second), Hillsborough (third), and Halifax (fourth and fifth). The fourth congress approved the Halifax Resolves , the first resolution of one of United Colonies to call for American independence . Five months later it would authorize the state's delegates to

480-459: The first time in European history – representatives of the major cities and towns. In more modern times, the supremacy of the lower chamber became normal, so did the organisation of representatives into competing parties, so did election and an extended franchise, so did the idea that the ministers of the executive should be responsible to it. For more details on the state of the institution in

512-408: The highest governmental body in the province (British Governor Martin had fled, ending royal government). To govern North Carolina when the congress was not in session, a 13-member Provincial Council, or Council of Safety, was elected, constituting the first executive body in North Carolina free of British rule. Cornelius Harnett was elected as the first president of the council. The congress divided

544-785: The immense international influence of the United States has encouraged the spread of representative democracy worldwide. Where forms of representative democracy have spread to countries that already had a tradition of assemblies, a merger of ideas has often taken place and the traditional name has tended to be used. Examples include majlis in certain Muslim countries, jirga in Afghanistan, duma in Russia. See list of national legislatures for more examples. In Galicia in 1113, Bishop Diego II of Santiago de Compostela ordered

576-456: The modern assemblies in those countries are often named after the originals). However, all of these were direct rather than indirect expressions of democracy, since their members were the people themselves rather than representatives of the people. The idea of an assembly of representatives, a representative assembly , as a political institution of a literate society first appeared in Europe in

608-498: The modern world, consult the "See also" list below. Samuel Johnston Samuel Johnston (December 15, 1733 – August 17, 1816) was an American planter, lawyer, Grand Master of Freemasons, slave holder, and statesman from Chowan County, North Carolina . He represented North Carolina in both the Continental Congress and the United States Senate , and he was the sixth Governor of North Carolina . Johnston

640-717: The nobility and the rest. The representative assembly fell into disuse in many of the more important states of Europe in the seventeenth century. However, it survived in England, Sweden, Poland, Hungary and many of the German statelets, the southern ones particularly. In the eighteenth century, the English parliament was effectively transplanted to the United States, and in the nineteenth century it evolved there in an increasingly democratic direction. The American variant propagated in due course to Latin America, but meanwhile in Europe there

672-698: The office of President, and offered such reasons as were satisfactory, the House proceeded to another election; and, the ballots being taken, the hon. Thomas McKean was elected. Johnston served as Governor of North Carolina from 1787 to 1789. He presided over both conventions called to ratify the US Constitution . The one in 1788 rejected the Constitution despite Johnston's strong support. He called another convention in 1789, which decided on ratification. Johnston then resigned as governor to become one of

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704-452: The organised orders or estates of mediaeval society: typically the church, the nobility, and the rest of society. Sometimes however (as in Spain and Portugal) the gentry or lesser nobility formed a separate order; sometimes (as in Sweden) the richer peasantry did likewise. The English parliament, which was to be an important example, was a deviant case in that only two orders were represented:

736-462: The present day, the fourth North Carolina Provincial Congress is sometimes referred to as the "Halifax Assembly." The fourth congress, also presided over by Samuel Johnston, met in Halifax , from April 4 to May 14, 1776. Allen Jones served as vice-president. This congress passed what became known as the Halifax Resolves , the first "official" endorsement of independence from Great Britain by one of

768-544: The royal government in the Province. The first military action occurred on July 18 when patriots burned Fort Johnston , where Governor Martin had transferred his headquarters. The third congress met in Hillsborough , from August 20 to September 10, 1775. Its president was Samuel Johnston (Harvey had recently died). This congress, which included representatives of every county and town, officially established itself as

800-459: The state into six military districts for purposes of organizing militia and for determining representation on the Council. These districts included Edenton, Halifax, Hillsborough, New Bern, Salisbury , and Wilmington. Later, an additional district, Morgan, was added for the western part of the state, including counties that eventually became part of Tennessee (Davidson, Greene, and Washington). In

832-736: The state's first two US Senators and served from 1789 to 1793. In 1800, he was made a Judge in the Superior Court of North Carolina, an office he held until his retirement in 1803. Johnston died at his home, Hayes Plantation , near Edenton, in Chowan County; he purchased the house from David Rieusett in 1765 and lived there until 1793 when he moved to the Hermitage, a plantation in Martin County. The 1790 Census shows that he enslaved 96 people at Hayes Plantation. In 1816 he

864-531: Was a general revival of the representative assembly based principally on the English model. France revived its Estates General in the wake of its revolution. Later, after the disintegration of the empire of Napoleon Bonaparte, assemblies re-emerged in Sweden, the Netherlands, France and Spain. The British Empire especially at the time of its dismantlement in the twentieth century was instrumental in spreading parliamentary democracy far and wide, and in modern times

896-878: Was admitted to the bar and began a law practice in Edenton. In 1759, he was elected to the North Carolina House of Burgesses and served in that body until it was displaced in 1775 during the American Revolution . During North Carolina's War of the Regulation in December 1770, he introduced the anti-Regulators bill was later passed as the Johnston Riot Act in response to the September 1770 Hillsborough Riot and to later reports of

928-553: Was also elected as a delegate to the first four provincial congresses and presided over the Third and Fourth congresses in 1775 and 1776. After Royal Governor Josiah Martin abdicated in 1775, he was the highest-ranking official in the state until Richard Caswell was elected president of the Fifth Provincial Congress. Johnston is frequently cited as having served in the North Carolina Senate in 1779, but that

960-618: Was born in Dundee , Scotland, in the Kingdom of Great Britain , on December 15, 1733. In 1736, he accompanied his father, Samuel Sr., in relocating to Onslow County , in what was then colonial-era Province of North Carolina . Samuel Sr. became surveyor-general of the colony. Young Samuel was educated in New England , and then read law in Carolina. He moved to Chowan County and started a plantation known as Hayes near Edenton . Johnston

992-600: Was buried in the Johnston Burial Ground there. The plantation house is privately owned but was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973. It is now within Edenton, but the current house was completed by his son, James Cathcart Johnston, a year after Samuel's death. On the Hayes farm, Edenton, North Carolina once owned by Johnston in 1983 a copy of the Declaration of Independence was found; in 2024

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1024-539: Was elected Grand Master. He would be elected Grand Master again in 1789-1791. North Carolina sent Johnston as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1780 and 1781. Johnston was elected the first President of the United States in Congress Assembled under the Articles of Confederation , but he declined the office. This was reported on July 10, 1781: Mr. [Samuel] Johnston having declined to accept

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