The maintenance work of freedom

Two hundred fifty years ago, the Second Continental Congress adopted a declaration that the 13 American colonies were no longer under British rule and were now “Free and Independent States.”

Among the signers were North Carolinians William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, and John Penn.

Burke County did not yet exist. That didn’t happen until June 1, 1777, when the North Carolina General Assembly carved the vast frontier of Old Burke out of Rowan County and named it for Thomas Burke, an Irish-born physician turned lawyer turned delegate to the Continental Congress. At the time, Burke County stretched all the way to the Tennessee line and included all of Burke, Catawba, Madison, Mitchell, and Yancey; most of Avery, Caldwell, and McDowell; and parts of Alexander, Buncombe, Haywood, Cleveland, Lincoln, Rutherford, Swain, and Watauga.

Three years after Burke’s founding, the Revolution came directly through it. In late September 1780, word reached the backcountry that British Maj. Patrick Ferguson had threatened to march over the mountains and “lay waste your country with fire and sword” if the frontier settlements did not lay down their arms.

The local response was swift.

On Sept. 30, brothers Charles and Joseph McDowell welcomed roughly 1,400 militiamen onto their family land at Quaker Meadows, just outside present-day Morganton. These were men who had ridden in from what is now Tennessee and Virginia, joining others from Wilkes, Surry, and the surrounding backcountry. Under an oak tree later remembered as the Council Oak, the Overmountain Men decided their next move.

A week later, at Kings Mountain, they broke Ferguson’s force in what historians still call the turning point of the Revolution in the South. They marched hundreds of prisoners back through Burke County on the return and camped again at Quaker Meadows before going home to their farms. Our county seat, established a few years later, was named Morganton for Gen. Daniel Morgan, whose victory at Cowpens helped finish what Kings Mountain started.

We did not watch the Revolution happen from a distance. We stood at one of its turning points.

The Overmountain Men were not professional soldiers waiting on orders from above. They were neighbors who heard a threat to their families and their land, organized themselves with little help from anyone above them, marched on short rations, and fought a decisive battle 9 miles into another colony.

The independence they fought for was the right to be governed by neighbors they would meet at the courthouse, the mill, and church the following Sunday.

Today, we can follow their literal footsteps.

The Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail traverses about 330 miles in Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The Overmountain Victory State Trail goes right through Burke County. The 1780 community near Lake James pays tribute to their sacrifice.

We can also follow their figurative footsteps.

Self-government was never a one-time purchase. It is maintenance work, done locally, by people willing to be known and held to account by their neighbors — the same arrangement the McDowells and the men who mustered under their oak tree understood without having to be told.

So, when fireworks light up the sky on the Fourth of July, remember that this ground helped turn the Declaration’s words into reality. Two and a half centuries later, the obligation has not expired.

Burke County did not get a supporting role in this country’s founding. We should not settle for one in its keeping.

The debt we owe to our founding fathers is not simply gratitude. We owe civic involvement. Modern lifestyle makes it too easy to spend our days living behind privacy fences or communicating via text.

We should take a cue from the men and women who gave us a reason to celebrate on this day. Don’t sit on the sidelines, expecting or waiting for someone else to step up.

Here’s what we can do:

• Read the founding documents. Read the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Federalist Papers.
• Vote and participate in civic life. Take part in elections (midterms are this November), attend your local council or board meetings, stay informed about public issues, and reach out to your elected representatives.
• Serve the community. Volunteer, help neighbors, serve on committees, and contribute to civic organizations.
• Teach younger generations. Help children and youth understand why independence, self-government, civic duty, and constitutional limits matter.

As we celebrate this incredible milestone for our “young” country, we must remember that the Founding Fathers’ vision remains unfinished. Each generation has a role in helping the United States of America more fully live up to its ideals.