Cornelius Harnett (April 10, 1723 – April 28, 1781) was an American Founding Father, merchant, and politician from

Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is the ...

. He was a leading

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

ary statesman in the Cape Fear region, and a delegate for

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

in the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...

from 1777 to 1779 where he signed the

Articles of Confederation The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was an agreement among the 13 Colonies of the United States of America that served as its first frame of government. It was approved after much debate (between July 1776 and November 1777) by ...

. Cornelius Harnett is the namesake of

Harnett County, North Carolina Harnett County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 133,568. Its county seat is Lillington; its largest city is Dunn. Harnett County is part of the Fayetteville Metropolitan Stat ...

Personal life

Harnett was born on April 10, 1723, to Cornelius and Elizabeth Harnett in

Chowan County, North Carolina Chowan County ()
, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the University of North Carolin ...

. Soon after he was born, his parents moved to Wilmington. As an adult, he obtained a plantation in Wilmington. He became a leading merchant there and was interested in

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

, milling, and

mercantile Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct exchan ...

ventures. Harnett was an Episcopalian but has also been identified as a deist. Though he was an intelligent man, there is little known about his educational background. His intelligence served him well in his passion for politics. Harnett married Mary Holt where they lived on his second plantation, Poplar Grove, located in Scotts Hill, which is north of Wilmington. During Harnett's political career, he maintained his relationship with his wife through letters. Harnett's death came about after being captured and "thrown across a horse like a sack of meal". He was captured by the British upon their occupation of Wilmington in January 1781. His health steadily declined while imprisoned. He died April 28, 1781, shortly after being released on parole.

Political career

In 1750 Harnett became involved in public affairs when he was elected Wilmington town commissioner. He was appointed a

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for

New Hanover County New Hanover County is one of 100 counties located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 225,702. Though the second-smallest NC county in land area, it is one of the most populous, as its county seat, Wilm ...

by Governor

Gabriel Johnston Gabriel Johnston (1699 – 17 July 1752) was a British colonial official who served as the sixth governor of the Province of North Carolina from 1734 until his death in 1752. He was the longest serving governor, holding the office for 18 ...

. Harnett was elected to represent Wilmington in the

Province of North Carolina Province of North Carolina was a province of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712(p. 80) to 1776. It was one of the five Southern Colonies, Southern colonies and one of the Thirteen Colonies, thir ...

House of Burgesses in 1754 and 1775. In 1765, Harnett became the chairman of the

Sons of Liberty The Sons of Liberty was a loosely organized, clandestine, sometimes violent, political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It pl ...

and was a leader in the resistance to the Stamp Act. In 1775–1776, he served as the first president of the North Carolina Provincial Council, or

Council of safety In the American Revolution, committees of correspondence, committees of inspection (also known as committees of observation), and committees of safety were different local committees of Patriots that became a shadow government; they took control ...

, essentially the chief executive of the revolutionary state, although with limited powers. In 1776, he was excepted by Sir Henry Clinton from his proclamation of general amnesty. He was a member of the

for 1777–1779. He is a signatory to the

. Harnett was delegate from Wilmington to the 1st, 2nd,

3rd Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

, and 4th

North Carolina Provincial Congress The North Carolina Provincial Congresses were extra-legal unicameral legislative bodies formed in 1774 through 1776 by the people of the Province of North Carolina, independent of the British colonial government. There were five congresses. They ...

. He was a delegate from Brunswick County and Vice President of the

Fifth North Carolina Provincial Congress The Fifth North Carolina Provincial Congress was the last of five extra-legal unicameral bodies that met beginning in the summer of 1774. They were modeled after the colonial lower house (House of Commons). These congresses created a governmen ...

Notes

References

* Connor, Robert D. W. ''Cornelius Harnett;: An essay in North Carolina history'', 1971, Books for Libraries Press (). * Connor, Robert D. W. ''Revolutionary Leaders of North Carolina'', reprinted 1971 from 1916 edition. () Chapter 3: pp. 49–78. *

External links

Excerpt from "''Dictionary of North Carolina Biography''"
()

at the

Southern Historical Collection The Southern Historical Collection is a repository of distinct archival collections at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill which document the culture and history of the American South. These collections are made up of unique primary mat ...

, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill {{DEFAULTSORT:Harnett, Cornelius 1723 births 1781 deaths American deists Continental Congressmen from North Carolina 18th-century American politicians Signers of the Articles of Confederation North Carolina patriots in the American Revolution People from Chowan County, North Carolina Politicians from Wilmington, North Carolina Burials in North Carolina Members of the North Carolina Provincial Congresses American justices of the peace North Carolina Council of State Members of the North Carolina House of Burgesses

Personal life

Political career

See also

Notes

References

External links