But to these Ulster immigrants such a choice was no choice at all.

They knew themselves strong men, who had made the most of opportunity despite almost superhuman obstacles.

The drumming of their feet along the banks of the Shenandoah, or up the rivers from Charleston, and on through the broad sweep of the Yadkin Valley, was a conquering people's challenge to the Wilderness which lay sleeping like an unready sentinel at the gates of their Future.
It is maintained still by many, however often disputed, that the Ulstermen were the first to declare for American Independence, as in the Old Country they were the first to demand the separation of Church and State.

A Declaration of Independence is said to have been drawn up and signed in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, on May 20, 1775.

* However that maybe, it is certain that these Mecklenburg Protestants had received special schooling in the doctrine of independence.