[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 213 (Thursday, December 9, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1351]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    COMMEMORATING THE 250-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF ALAMANCE

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                             HON. TED BUDD

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 9, 2021

  Mr. BUDD. Madam Speaker, as we close out the calendar year, I rise 
today to commemorate the 250-year anniversary of the Battle of 
Alamance.
  In 1771, a group of North Carolinians took a stand for their rights, 
raising their voices in opposition to the unjust overreach and abuses 
they were subjected to under the watch of royal governor William Tryon. 
These colonists branded themselves as the Regulators--seeking to 
protect individual liberties that had been encroached upon by a 
government more interested in serving itself than its people. Of 
primary concern to the Regulators were issues of unfair taxation, 
corruption, and illegally assessed fines, penalties, and fees.
  Governor Tryon caught wind of the Regulators' revolt and moved 
swiftly to silence them. Assembling a militia at New Bern, Tryon and 
his forces headed west. The conflict reached its height when armed 
Regulators were met by the Governor's militiamen in modern-day Alamance 
County. Refusing to be subdued, the Regulators defied Tryon's call for 
their surrender and the Governor charged his militia to open fire. Many 
Regulators were killed, injured, or taken prisoner; but their cause was 
not forgotten and their bravery not wasted.
  Preceding the onset of the Revolutionary War, the Regulator Movement 
gave public face to the frustrations of colonists who recognized they 
were toyed with like pawns at the hands of a power-hungry British 
Empire and its corrupt regime of abusive officials. Surely, it was the 
righteous anger, bold indignation, and strong resolve of these early 
North Carolinians that set flame to the hearts of their fellow American 
patriots who would declare their independence with resounding authority 
in 1776, affirming:

       . . . That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to 
     be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from 
     all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political 
     Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain is and 
     ought to be totally dissolved.''

  Madam Speaker, as we reflect on the Regulators' courage, may we in 
this Congress vow to preserve the fundamental rights to life and 
liberty that undergird our American prosperity. Please join me in 
tribute to the spirit of the American Revolution as displayed in 1771 
at the Battle of Alamance, in a county I have the high privilege of 
representing within North Carolina's 13th Congressional District.

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