11 



Fifth Provincial Congress, 1776 . 



The Fifth Provincial Congress of North Carolina, which vfrote 

 and ratified the Declaration of Rights and Constitution of 1776, 

 met according to adjournment of the preceding Congress. The Con- 

 gress derived its status as a constituent assembly (or constitu- 

 tional convention) from a resolution of the Council of Safety, 

 adopted 9 August 17%, which advised the people of the State that 

 the representatives whom they would elect to the Fifth Provincial 



Congress would, in addition to their usual legislative functions, 



2 

 be responsible for framing a constitution for the State. The 



vote for members of the Congress was the only vote of the people 

 with respect to this Congress and its work. Neither the question 

 of whether the Congress should write a Constitution, nor the 

 question of whether the Constitution adopted by it should be ap- 

 proved, was submitted directly to the people. 

 Conventions of 1788 and 1789 . 



The Constitution of 1776 prescribed no mode for calling a 

 convention of the people, nor was any mode of constitutional 

 amendment set forth in that document. That the power of unending 

 the Constitution resided in the people in convention assembled seems 

 nevertheless to have been the accepted theory. When the General 



Assembly adopted resolutions calling for the election of delegates 



•J ] 

 to the Conventions of 1788 and 1789 (called primarily to con- 

 sider ratification of the United States Constitution), it also 



•'• The Journal of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina , 

 Held at Halifax, November the Twelfth Day, Anno. Pom. 1776 , 10 

 Colonial Records 913. 



^ Journal of the Council of Safety, Begun and Held in the 

 Town oflialifax, 21st July, 1776 . 9 Aug. 1776, 10 Colonial Records 696. 



^Senate— First Journal— 1787 , 6 Dec, 1787, 20 State Records 371. 



^ Senate Journal-1788 . 17 Nov. 1788, 20 S tate Records 5lU-5l5j 

 House Journal— I7H57 19 Nov. 1788, 21 State Records 6b. 



