Abraham Alexander was an American legislator. He was a public figure during the American Revolution and chaired the meetings that the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.
Background
Abraham Alexander was born on December 9, 1717 in Cecil County, Maryland, United States. His parents were Elias Elijah Alexander Sr. and Sophia Alexander. Abraham Alexander was a member of one of the seven Scotch-Irish families, bearing the surname Alexander, who landed at New York during the eighteenth century. One family remained there, the others moving on to New Jersey and then to Maryland. About 1745 these six families left Maryland for North Carolina, settling on the Catawba River not far from the South Carolina boundary. Of one of these the head was Abraham Alexander, the others being his brothers, Adam, Charles, and Ezra, and two cousins, Hezekiah and John McKnitt, who were also brothers.
Career
In 1762 Alexander was appointed by Governor Dobbs a justice of the peace for the county of Mecklenburg, established that year, and one of the commissioners for erecting a court-house and other public buildings; and in 1766 he was one of the commissioners for establishing the town of Charlotte.
In 1769 and 1770 he represented Mecklenburg in the North Carolina Assembly, and in the latter year he was one of the trustees of Queen's Museum, an educational institution at Charlotte, the charter of which was disallowed by the Crown because the trustees were Dissenters; but the institution functioned without a charter until 1777, when it was incorporated as Liberty Hall, Abraham Alexander again appearing as a trustee.
In the agitation resulting in the Revolution he was active, being a member of the Committee of Safety of Mecklenburg County. On May 31, 1775, he was chairman of a public meeting at Charlotte which adopted resolutions declaring that as King George III by his address to Parliament in the preceding February had suspended the constitution of the colonies, the people of Mecklenburg should adopt certain regulations for the government of the county. This was a declaration that independence was the result of British not American policy, and it was the first step in all the colonies toward establishing a government independent of England. The records of the meeting passed into the possession of John McKnitt Alexander (1738-1817), and when they were destroyed by fire in 1800 he attempted to recast them from memory; in that effort he wrote into the resolutions the spirit and some of the language of the Declaration of Independence adopted by the Continental Congress in 1776, and also made the date of the meeting May 20. Thus arose the controversy as to the historicity of the resolves of May 20.
Achievements
Alexander became one of the influential and prominent leaders in the affairs of his community. He was one of the Presbyterian leaders who obtained a charter for Queen's College (subsequently known as Queen's Museum), which was a forerunner of Queens University of Charlotte. Alexander was also among the trustees who founded the town of Charlotte.
Connections
Alexander was married to Dorcas Amelia Alexander. They had nine children.
