Edenton Tea Party Plaque, State Capitol, Raleigh
This plaque, which is located in the Capitol rotunda in Raleigh, bears a relief carving of an ornate tea kettle surrounded by both inscriptions and a wreath of pine. An image of a colonial house surrounded by trees is carved into the kettle.
ERECTED BY THE NORTH CAROLINA SOCIETY OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
TO / THE FIFTY-ONE LADIES OF EDENTON, / WHO, BY THEIR PATRIOTISM, ZEAL AND EARLY / PROTESTS AGAINST BRITISH AUTHORITY, / ASSISTED OUT FORE FATHERS IN THE MAKING OF THIS / REPUBLIC AND OUR COMMONWEALTH.
THE TEA PARTY HOUSE / EDENTON NORTH CAROLINA
MDCCCCVIII
EDENTON TEA PARTY
OCTOBER 25, 1774
October 24, 1908
35.780410 , -78.639140
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"Folder 92_R16_C244b1: Raleigh, Wake County: Capitol Building: Scan 14," in the North Carolina County Photographic Collection #P0001, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Link
Bishir, Catherine W. "State Capitol Memorials," from “Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina”, http://docsouth.unc.edu/commland/, (accessed May 16, 2012) Link
Folder 10a at in the E. E. Moffitt Papers, #519, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, see scans 51-57 Link
Folder 10b in the E. E. Moffitt Papers, #519, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Link
Folder 64 at in the E. E. Moffitt Papers, #519, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, see scan 15 Link
Grimes, J. Bryan. "Why North Carolina Should Erect and Preserve Memorials and Mark Historic Places: Address Before the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association, Raleigh, N.C., November 4, 1909," ([Raleigh, NC: The News and Observer, 1909]), (accessed May 18, 2012) Link
Kickler, Troy L. "Edenton Tea Party: An American First," North Carolina History Project, (accessed May 6, 2012) Link
North Carolina Society Daughters of the Revolution. The North Carolina Booklet: Great Events in North Carolina History VIII: No. 1 (1908), 151, 258-261, 265-297, (accessed August, 2013) Link
Wenger, Ansley. “Edenton Tea Party,” NCpedia.org, (accessed April 15, 2016) Link
“English Caricature of Edenton Tea Party , Oct. 25, 1774 At Edenton, N.C.,” in Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards (PO77), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Link
Yes
Daughters of the American Revolution
When the plaque was unveiled, prayer was given by the Rev. Robert Brent Drane, addresses by Patrick Matthew, Lieutenant-Governor of North Carolina Francis Winston, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina Walter Clark, and a benediction by Benjamin F. Dixon. Mrs. E. E. Moffitt presented the plaque to Lt. Governor Winston, who accepted on behalf of the state.
In October of 1774, fifty-one women in Edenton, North Carolina signed a pact in which they agreed to avoid buying British tea and clothing as a sign of resistance to the 1773 Tea Act.
The full text of the petition to the British monarchy read, "As we cannot be indifferent on any occasion that appears nearly to affect the peace and happiness of our country, and as it has been thought necessary, for the public good, to enter into several particular resolves by a meeting of Members deputed from the whole Province, it is a duty which we owe, not only to our near and dear connections who have concurred in them, but to ourselves who are essentially interested in their welfare, to do every thing as far as lies in our power to testify our sincere adherence to the same; and we do therefore accordingly subscribe this paper, as a witness of our fixed intention and solemn determination to do so."
The event was satirized by the English press but was lauded in the colonies. Like the Battle of Alamance, North Carolina residents during the 19th and early 20th century utilized the Edenton Tea party to present the roots of the revolution as beginning in the South instead of in New England.
The Edenton Tea Pot memorial is located on Colonial Avenue just off the green in front of the historic Chowan
County Courthouse built in 1767. The courthouse address is 117 E. King Street, Edenton, NC.
The plan to put the names of all the signers on the plaque was nixed when it became clear there was no definitive list of who had participated, as the original text of the petition has been lost.
The plaque is is located in the North Carolina Sate Capitol building in the rotunda on the first floor of the building in Raleigh, NC.
The plaque is inside the rotunda. The interior of the rotunda houses other State Capitol memorials including statuary, paintings, and plaques commemorating significant events and individuals in North Carolina's history. A 1970 copy of Antonio Canova's original statue of George Washington stands in the center.
E. E. Moffitt headed a committee of the Daughters of the American Revolution devoted to the creation of the plaque.
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