July 4th, 1776 is arguably the most important date in American history. That's when citizens of the colonies declared total independence from Great Britain for the very first time. But what if it wasn’t the first? This week, we travel down the rabbit hole of North Carolina’s Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and entertain a couple of shocking possibilities: either someone’s lying — or we may need to rethink everything we know about American independence.

Featuring: 

Links: 

• You can find a transcript of the episode here.

Donate: The Broadside is made possible by contributions from listeners like you. Support WUNC-North Carolina Public Radio and this podcast by making a donation here.

Sign up for WUNC's new Politics Newsletter here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.