CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - Every year, three-cornered hats and muskets take over Uptown Charlotte for Meck Dec Day, celebrating what supporters claim was the first declaration of independence from British rule in any of the American colonies.

The day was May 20, 1775, more than a year before the national Declaration of Independence.

“A lot of people probably know [the date] because it’s on the state flag, and they might also know it from the ‘First in Freedom’ license plates,” said Nolan Dahm, exhibits manager at the Charlotte Museum of History.

During the annual Uptown reenactments, actors recreate the gathering where colonists supposedly declared they “hereby absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the British crown.”

There is a significant flaw, though, in the story’s credibility tha

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