This is my Amazon review.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Scott Syfert's Great Historical Detective Story, August 1, 2014
By
Hershel Parker (Morro Bay, California United States) -
Verified Purchase
This review is of The First American Declaration of Independence? The Disputed History of the Mecklenburg Declaration of May 20, 1775 (Paperback)
A few weeks ago while working on the Tryon
County “Association” of August 14, 1775, I had to take a week off to dig
into the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence adopted in Charlotte
in May 1775, more than a year before the national Declaration. I needed
to study the Mecklenburg story because the news of its declaration and
the controversy on it, beginning about 1819, sucked almost all attention
away from the three documents known on the Internet as the Tryon
Resolves (which I wanted to write about), the Liberty Point Resolves,
and the Halifax Resolves.
As usual, I started from scratch, compiling dozens of pdfs of historians’ accounts and newspaper articles starting in the 1700s and going through the 19th and 20th centuries. I traced the excitement over the announcement of the declaration, the angry denunciation of it by Thomas Jefferson, the defense in the form of affidavits from surviving participants, and the quite astonishing reversals as Peter Force, George Bancroft, and others weighed in with evidence through the 19th century, with the culmination early in the 20th century—the discovery of an 18th century diary in German, written and preserved in one of “the Moravian towns.” In the latter part of the 20th century North Carolina politicians caved under the onslaught of skepticism and the state of North Carolina gave up celebrating May 20 as an official holiday. The great thing about retiring as a mere youth is that, when you want to, you can spend a week ploughing day and into the night on a limited if enormous project and emerge with a good sense of the controversy over, say, the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. I emerged as a believer, not that the declaration survives in an 18th century piece of paper but that it existed and that many fine people approved it and some of them were around to testify about it decades later.
I’m just as happy I started from scratch, but a more efficient student might have discovered at the outset that Scott Syfert had recently published a book on THE FIRST AMERICAN DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. In the webzine JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION Jim Piecuch on May 28, 2014 reviewed this book, concluding this way: “Syfert has marshaled all of the corroborating evidence available to support the authenticity of the Mecklenburg Declaration, and his clear and well balanced presentation, giving full attention to opposing arguments, makes a strong case. Unfortunately, it is not conclusive and probably can never be unless new evidence is found. Yet, having begun reading The First American Declaration of Independence as a solid skeptic, by the time I finished the book I found myself accepting the possibility that the document may indeed have existed, and that the citizens of Mecklenburg might actually have declared independence from Great Britain in May 1775.” I am happy to see that Piecuch shares that review here on Amazon, one way that serious reviewers can help make Amazon a great honest democratic reviewing organ at a time when the mainstream media is often corrupt as well as incompetent.
Piecuch says he began “as a solid skeptic.” I was more open minded for personal reasons, having spent months tracing hundreds of North Carolina patriots through the astounding ongoing gift of Will Graves and C. Leon Harris, the transcriptions of pension applications under the law of 1832 in the Southern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension Statements and Rosters. If anyone ever deserved the Medal of Freedom! Among other works I already knew pretty well Cyrus Hunter’s SKETCHES OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA (1877), so I felt acquainted with many of the participants in the Mecklenburg (that is, Charlotte) meetings late in May 1775. These were momentous men.
History, still, is written by the North, and anyone who thinks that historians give the South due attention should look at the treatment of North Carolina by Gordon S. Wood in THE RADICALISM OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Now, here is Scott Syfert, reasonable, methodical, judicious, and a really eloquent writer. He demonstrates vast knowledge and relies on no special pleading in these pages. In 5 parts, “Life in the Carolina Backcountry (1663-1775),” “High Treason (1775-1781),” “Opening Arguments (1817-1829),” “The Mecklenburg Controversy (1829-2012),” and “Clues and Explanations,” Syfert traces the whole story. He divides up the parts into highly focused chapters, such as one devoted to the ride of Captain James Jack to Philadelphia carrying the declaration. Every chapter is fact-filled and every chapter has a driving narrative. This man knows what he is talking about, and knows that he has a terrific story to tell. I warn you, this book may keep you up most of the night, as it did me--it’s that compelling. What is Syfert’s own history? How does a “corporate attorney” become such a fine historian and fine writer? My hat is off to you, Scott Syfert!
As usual, I started from scratch, compiling dozens of pdfs of historians’ accounts and newspaper articles starting in the 1700s and going through the 19th and 20th centuries. I traced the excitement over the announcement of the declaration, the angry denunciation of it by Thomas Jefferson, the defense in the form of affidavits from surviving participants, and the quite astonishing reversals as Peter Force, George Bancroft, and others weighed in with evidence through the 19th century, with the culmination early in the 20th century—the discovery of an 18th century diary in German, written and preserved in one of “the Moravian towns.” In the latter part of the 20th century North Carolina politicians caved under the onslaught of skepticism and the state of North Carolina gave up celebrating May 20 as an official holiday. The great thing about retiring as a mere youth is that, when you want to, you can spend a week ploughing day and into the night on a limited if enormous project and emerge with a good sense of the controversy over, say, the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. I emerged as a believer, not that the declaration survives in an 18th century piece of paper but that it existed and that many fine people approved it and some of them were around to testify about it decades later.
I’m just as happy I started from scratch, but a more efficient student might have discovered at the outset that Scott Syfert had recently published a book on THE FIRST AMERICAN DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. In the webzine JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION Jim Piecuch on May 28, 2014 reviewed this book, concluding this way: “Syfert has marshaled all of the corroborating evidence available to support the authenticity of the Mecklenburg Declaration, and his clear and well balanced presentation, giving full attention to opposing arguments, makes a strong case. Unfortunately, it is not conclusive and probably can never be unless new evidence is found. Yet, having begun reading The First American Declaration of Independence as a solid skeptic, by the time I finished the book I found myself accepting the possibility that the document may indeed have existed, and that the citizens of Mecklenburg might actually have declared independence from Great Britain in May 1775.” I am happy to see that Piecuch shares that review here on Amazon, one way that serious reviewers can help make Amazon a great honest democratic reviewing organ at a time when the mainstream media is often corrupt as well as incompetent.
Piecuch says he began “as a solid skeptic.” I was more open minded for personal reasons, having spent months tracing hundreds of North Carolina patriots through the astounding ongoing gift of Will Graves and C. Leon Harris, the transcriptions of pension applications under the law of 1832 in the Southern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension Statements and Rosters. If anyone ever deserved the Medal of Freedom! Among other works I already knew pretty well Cyrus Hunter’s SKETCHES OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA (1877), so I felt acquainted with many of the participants in the Mecklenburg (that is, Charlotte) meetings late in May 1775. These were momentous men.
History, still, is written by the North, and anyone who thinks that historians give the South due attention should look at the treatment of North Carolina by Gordon S. Wood in THE RADICALISM OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Now, here is Scott Syfert, reasonable, methodical, judicious, and a really eloquent writer. He demonstrates vast knowledge and relies on no special pleading in these pages. In 5 parts, “Life in the Carolina Backcountry (1663-1775),” “High Treason (1775-1781),” “Opening Arguments (1817-1829),” “The Mecklenburg Controversy (1829-2012),” and “Clues and Explanations,” Syfert traces the whole story. He divides up the parts into highly focused chapters, such as one devoted to the ride of Captain James Jack to Philadelphia carrying the declaration. Every chapter is fact-filled and every chapter has a driving narrative. This man knows what he is talking about, and knows that he has a terrific story to tell. I warn you, this book may keep you up most of the night, as it did me--it’s that compelling. What is Syfert’s own history? How does a “corporate attorney” become such a fine historian and fine writer? My hat is off to you, Scott Syfert!
There may be an advantage in starting from scratch as I did a few weeks ago, as I always tend to do. See Syfert p. 236 Chapter 22, note 9. Archibald D. Murphey published documents in the Hillsborough Recorder of March 1821, Syfert says, and adds: “copy no longer exists.” I think I have that article, just by from starting from scratch and assembling evidence. It is not signed Murphey and it took me hours to establish that he was the writer. I have run my fingers down all the pages of Syfert’s notes and don’t see that he has it. I have checked twice and will feel like a fool if I have missed it. [I know: an old fool.] I have left a message on Syfert’s telephone. If I have what he thinks no longer exists, I will send a pdf to Scott Syfert at once but I want a 2nd, signed copy in exchange. The Scots-Irish drive a hard bargain.
ReplyDeleteNow, it will be interesting to see if I can retrace the steps which led me to know that Murphey was the author. I started with the classical or mythological name of a putative female correspondent . . . . I really did. This will be very instructive. One could do an essay on starting from scratch.