North Carolina: second in flight?

The flight of the Wright Flyer (not pictured) was so early that it might as well have been first.

With revelations about Gustave Whitehead, whose aircraft reportedly flew in southern Connecticut over a year before the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina may wish to reconsider its slogan, ‘First in Flight.’

A whole new slogan.  Whole.  New.

So many options… 

Well, this is obvious, but… ‘Second in Flight’?

Maybe not.  One down.

There are so many possibilities!

‘Second to Secede’?  That one has a ring to it.

… … …

Okay, maybe forget the “second” thing and focus on the firsts.  And anything with Mecklenburg is out.  The word’s too long and no one knows about it anyway and, besides, it sounds like a cheese.

So here goes:

‘First to Follow’.

‘First after the First’.

‘First “North” State’.

‘First State North of South Carolina’.

‘First State South of Virginia’.

‘First State West of…’ oh, wait.  Well, there’s still East, so…

‘We Border Tennessee!’.

Maybe we’re dwelling too much on statehood.

‘First Non-Permanent English Settlement in North America Not Counting St. John’s’.

Long.  Although it could be shortened by omitting the reference to St. John’s.  No one would notice.

‘Second in a Lot of Things’.

Whoops — now we’ve slid back into the runner-up stuff, and we can’t settle for that.

There must be something the Old North State’s got that no one else’s got.

‘First State to Vote for Independence from Britain before It Was a State’.

Long and boring.

‘First State to Terminate British Military Authority within Its Boundaries before It Was a State’.

Longer and, despite the allusion to war, somehow more boring.

‘First in Slogan Possibilities’.

We’re getting closer…

All right…

How about, ‘Suggestions Are Welcome’?

Bravo.

What state has ever done that?