CONTINENTAL CONGRESS

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.