North Carolina’s motto, “First in Freedom,” describes the state’s history in the era during the Revolutionary War. The motto may specifically allude to the Halifax Resolves and the legend of the Mecklenburg Declaration, but Cumberland County established its own place in state history on June 20, 1775, through its own ‘declaration of independence’—the Liberty Point Resolves. The document is a marker of the signers’ dedication to their patriotic beliefs in a region heavily populated by Loyalists.

In this text, the Local & State History Department at the Cumberland County Public Library explores the history of the Cumberland Association and their signing of the Liberty Point Resolves. Documents ranging from newspaper articles, census records, family stories to provincial Congress records, and petitions provide readers the varied lives of the signers, from heroic deeds to acts of treachery. This book also explores the Loyalists in the county, the women who helped the Patriots, the commemorations of the Liberty Point Resolves, and the disappearance and reappearance of the authentic Resolves document itself.