Scott Syfert

Scott Syfert is an attorney at Moore & Van Allen and a native of Charlotte. He studied history and political science as an undergraduate at UNC-Chapel Hill and the London School of Economics. He received his Master’s Degree in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia and his J.D. from UNC-Chapel Hill.

His interest in local history dates back ten years ago, when he and a group of young professionals founded the May 20th Society. The goal of the May 20th Society was to continue the commemoration of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence but more broadly to celebrate Charlotte’s revolutionary spirit. Since that time, the Society has brought many national historians to speak in Charlotte, including David McCullough and Ken Burns; completed the Charlotte Liberty Walk; and erected a statue to Captain James Jack on the Little Sugar Creek Greenway. Scott’s book The First Declaration of Independence? The Disputed History of the Mecklenburg Declaration of May 20, 1775 is the product of ten years of research and thought about the story, the controversy and its impact on Charlotte’s history. According to Ken Burns: “Scott Syfert rescues and then brings vividly to life a little-known story of our Revolutionary past and the urgent need by our ancestors for freedom.” British military historian Andrew Roberts writes: “This book is one of the finest pieces of historical detective work I’ve ever read. Scott Syfert is the Sherlock Holmes of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.”