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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC00496.122 |
| From Archive Folder | Documents Relating to 1787 |
| Title | Correspondence from John Alexander to the Sheriff of Mecklenburg County requesting the seizure of Robert Wiley's estate to cover debts owed to David Allison |
| Date | 8 February 1787 |
| Author | Alexander, John M. (1733-1817) |
| Document Type | Correspondence; Land transaction document; |
| Content Description | Requests the seizure of Robert Wiley's estate to cover debts owed to David Allison. |
| Subjects | Debt Finance Law |
| People | Alexander, John McKnitt (1733-1817) Wiley, Robert (fl. 1787) Allison, David (fl. 1785-1800) |
| Place written | Mecklenburg County, North Carolina |
| Theme | Law |
| Sub-collection | The Gilder Lehrman Collection, 1493-1859 |
| Additional Information | John McKnitt (also "McKnight) Alexander was a signer of the so-called "Mecklenburg Declaration" of 20 May 1775, a series of resolves put forward by the committee of Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, declaring their independence from Britain, more than a year before the American Declaration of Independence was adopted. As secretary of the committee, Alexander had custody of the original document, which he claimed was destroyed in a fire in 1800. He subsequently transcribed the original "declaration" from memory. When one of his transcriptions surfaced in 1819, it led to controversy over the true origins of the Declaration of Independence. Supporters claimed that the American Declaration had been plagiarized from the Mecklenburg version; opponents challenged the latter as a fraud. |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859 |