On May 20, 1775, in a log courthouse near this spot, twenty seven patriot militia leaders debated and unanimously approved resolutions declaring themselves “free and independent” from Great Britain. Known as the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, it was the first Declaration of Independence in the American colonies. It is believed to have read in part: “We the citizens of Mecklenburg County do hereby dissolve the political bands which have connected us to the mother country and hereby absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the British crown.” On May 31, 1775, a new code of government for the county, known as the Mecklenburg Resolves, was put into effect. It declared in part that “All laws and commissions confirmed by, or derived from the authority of the King or Parliament, are annulled and vacated, and the former civil constitution of these colonies for the present wholly suspended.” In June 1775, North Carolina Royal Governor Josiah Martin wrote that the resolves “Surpass all the horrid and treasonable publications that the inflammatory spirits of this continent have yet produced.” A local tavern owner, Captain James Jack, delivered the Mecklenburg papers to the Continental Congress sometime in the summer of 1775, but North Carolina’s congressional delegates deemed them “premature.” For this reason, the plaza around Trade and Tryon Streets has long been known as Independence Square, and the date May 20, 1775 appears on the North Carolina state flag and state seal.