Series: 1 FF (Volume 1)
Scope and Content Note: Chapters 1-11, covering the following topics: origin of the controversy; consideration and analysis of the alleged declaration; the discovery, proof, and dating of the genuine Mecklenburg resolutions of May 31, 1775; Captain James Jack's mission to Philadelphia; errors and perversions of the facts exposed and corrected.

Series: 2 FF (Volume 2)
Scope and Content Note: Chapters 12-23, including discussion of evidence disproving the validity of the May 20 resolves; lists of delegates; and biographical sketches of delegates, certifiers, and others involved in the events (listed in the order of their consideration by Draper in this volume): Thomas Polk, Abraham Alexander, Ephraim Brevard, Adam Alexander, John Phifer, Robert Irwin, John McKnitt Alexander, H.J. Balch, Hezekiah Alexander, Benjamin Patton, Zaccheus Wilson, Neill Morrison, Richard Barry, John Flenniken, William Graham, Matthew McClure, John Queary, Ezra Alexander, Waightstill Avery, William Kennon, James Harris, David Reese, Henry Downs, John Foard, Charles Alexander, Robert Harris, Sr., John Davidson, Ezekiel Polk, Samuel Martin, William Wilson, Duncan Ochiltree, James Jack, John Simeson, Sr., Francis Cummins, Joseph Graham, William Hutchison, Jonas Clark, Robert Robinson, Humphrey Hunter, Isaac Alexander, William Polk, and William Lee Davidson.

Series: 3 FF (Volume 3)
Scope and Content Note: Chapters 24 and 25, containing biographical sketches of Hugh Waddell and Griffith Rutherford, and appendices 1-8. The first appendix contains a descriptive list of writings in manuscript and published form, 1819-1876, about the Mecklenburg Declaration. In the remaining seven appendices, Draper included with his introductions and annotations the texts of papers he considered most significant as evidence: the pamphlet (1831) published by the state of North Carolina, with related documents; the resolutions of May 31, 1775; a comparison of three variant published versions of the May 20 resolves by William R. Davie (called by Draper the McKnitt-Davie copy), by Francois-Xavier Martin (called the Martin copy), and by Alexander Garden (called the Garden copy); the proposed instructions to Mecklenburg County delegates, dated September 1, 1776; and Charles Phillips's article in the North Carolina University Magazine of May, 1853. Also included are Peter Force's letter to John Vaughan, dated December 11, 1841; David L. Swain's letters to historians George Bancroft (1858), Benson J. Lossing (1851), and Henry S. Randall (1858), preceded by a biographical account of Swain's life and character by Draper. In preparation of several of the appendices Draper was aided by a copyist, but all of the sections bear Draper's notations.