The first people settled at the place where Charlotte is in 1755 when a man named Thomas Polk built a house near two Native American trading paths. More people started living in the area and in 1768 it became a town named Charlotte Town. It was named after the wife of King George III because the people wanted him to like them. But he did not, and soon he started passing laws that the people in Charlotte did not like. So, on May 20, 1775, the people in Charlotte signed a proclamation that later was called the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. They did not want to be ruled by the king anymore so eleven days later they had a meeting and made new laws for their town.