I | INTRODUCTION |
Continental
Congress, American intercolonial assemblage of delegates, which evolved
into the de facto revolutionary government that directed the war for
independence. The First Continental Congress convened in Carpenters' Hall,
Philadelphia, on September 5, 1774, to consider and act on the situation arising
from the so-called Intolerable Acts, passed by the British Parliament in
retaliation for the Boston Tea Party.
Twelve colonies were represented in the First
Continental Congress by about 50 delegates designated principally by the
colonial assemblies; Canada and Georgia were not represented. One of the
Virginia delegates, Peyton Randolph, was unanimously elected president of the
assembly. The First Continental Congress issued a petition to George III, king
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, called the Declaration of
Rights and Grievances, and invited the people of Canada to join in an appeal to
the king to help restore harmony between Britain and the colonies. In addition,
the Congress called for the colonies to adopt a radical agreement—the
Continental Association—boycotting trade with Britain. Extralegal bodies known
as Committees of Safety were charged with enforcing the association; they soon
became revolutionary spearheads in the towns and counties, creating the first
effective union among the colonies and silencing Loyalist opinion.
II | SECOND CONGRESS |
Before adjourning on October 26, 1774, the
First Continental Congress summoned a second Congress to assemble in
Philadelphia on May 10, 1775, if the king failed to respond favorably to its
petition. When the Second Continental Congress convened on the appointed date,
the battles of Lexington and Concord had recently taken place in Massachusetts,
and militiamen were besieging the British occupying force within Boston.
The delegates, including George Washington,
Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams, were elected in part by
colonial assemblies and in part by the provincial congresses that had sprung up
to replace those rebellious legislatures dissolved by royal governors. The
Congress had no basis in law and its delegates were uncertain about their
functions. The crisis, however, compelled them to form committees and to assume
governmental duties, essentially executive in character, that had previously
been exercised by the king. The Congress thus commissioned Washington to
organize a continental army and assume responsibility for the siege of Boston.
It formulated regulations for the conduct of trade; issued paper money; and sent
emissaries abroad to negotiate with foreign powers for financial, diplomatic,
and military assistance. Most of the delegates, including Washington, still
hoped for reconciliation with Britain, but by the end of 1775 this possibility
had faded. In August the British monarch had issued a proclamation 'for
suppressing rebellion and sedition' in the colonies and in September had hired
20,000 Hessian mercenaries to be sent to America.
The radicals in Congress remained unable to
convince a majority of their colleagues that independence was their only
alternative until the spring of 1776, when Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common
Sense created such massive support for the break with Britain that
conservative delegates could no longer resist. After voting in May to instruct
the colonies to form their own governments and to suppress all vestiges of royal
authority, the Congress began debating a resolution in favor of independence. It
approved the resolution on July 2, 1776, and on July 4 it adopted the
Declaration of Independence, drafted mainly by Jefferson.
III | INDEPENDENCE |
The principal business of the Continental
Congress was to direct the Revolutionary War and to preserve the union formed by
the 13 colonies. Not until November 15, 1777, did the delegates finally agree on
the Articles of Confederation, which codified their procedures and stipulated
their powers. The states, fearful of central authority and of one another, did
not unanimously consent to the document for more than three years. When
Maryland, the last to ratify, approved the Articles of Confederation on March 1,
1781, the Continental Congress was replaced by the Congress of the
Confederation.
In 1782-1783 emissaries of Congress
negotiated the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain, securing British recognition
of U.S. independence. With its primary goal accomplished, the Congress began to
forfeit power to the state governments. Had it not been for proponents of a
strong central government, such as James Madison and Alexander Hamilton,
Congress might have become inconsequential. These insurgent nationalists took
advantage of the sense of crisis created by Shays' Rebellion to press for a
thorough revision of the articles. The result was the Constitutional Convention,
held in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. With the adoption of the United
States Constitution in 1789, the Congress of the Confederation was succeeded by
the present U.S. Congress.
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