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COMMEMORATING THE 250-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF ALAMANCE
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HON. TED BUDD
of north carolina
in the house of representatives
Thursday, December 9, 2021
Mr. BUDD. Madam Speaker, as we close out the calendar year, I rise today to commemorate the 250-year anniversary of the Battle of Alamance.
In 1771, a group of North Carolinians took a stand for their rights, raising their voices in opposition to the unjust overreach and abuses they were subjected to under the watch of royal governor William Tryon. These colonists branded themselves as the Regulators--seeking to protect individual liberties that had been encroached upon by a government more interested in serving itself than its people. Of primary concern to the Regulators were issues of unfair taxation, corruption, and illegally assessed fines, penalties, and fees.
Governor Tryon caught wind of the Regulators' revolt and moved swiftly to silence them. Assembling a militia at New Bern, Tryon and his forces headed west. The conflict reached its height when armed Regulators were met by the Governor's militiamen in modern-day Alamance County. Refusing to be subdued, the Regulators defied Tryon's call for their surrender and the Governor charged his militia to open fire. Many Regulators were killed, injured, or taken prisoner; but their cause was not forgotten and their bravery not wasted.
Preceding the onset of the Revolutionary War, the Regulator Movement gave public face to the frustrations of colonists who recognized they were toyed with like pawns at the hands of a power-hungry British Empire and its corrupt regime of abusive officials. Surely, it was the righteous anger, bold indignation, and strong resolve of these early North Carolinians that set flame to the hearts of their fellow American patriots who would declare their independence with resounding authority in 1776, affirming:
. . . That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved.''
Madam Speaker, as we reflect on the Regulators' courage, may we in this Congress vow to preserve the fundamental rights to life and liberty that undergird our American prosperity. Please join me in tribute to the spirit of the American Revolution as displayed in 1771 at the Battle of Alamance, in a county I have the high privilege of representing within North Carolina's 13th Congressional District.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 213
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