Fifth North Carolina Provincial Congress

Resolutions

This fifth provincial congress approved the first state constitution and a "Declaration of Rights" on December 18, 1776. It chose Richard Caswell as acting governor until the first General Assembly elected a state governor to replace Josiah Martin. The congress dealt extensively with raising a militia of 5,000 men to defend North Carolina. They also dealt with the ongoing Cherokee War taking place in the western part of the state.^[4][2][5][6]

Delegates

Each county was authorized five delegates to this congress. Some counties only had four delegates. In addition, nine districts or borough towns were also authorized a single delegate. These districts were the larger towns and population centers of the state. The concept of district representation was a hold over from the Province of North Carolina in colonial times. Washington District, in the western end of the state and later became a county, elected four delegates to the congress.

The following is a full list of delegates to the fifth congress by constituency.^[3][5][7]