Continental Congress

Continental Congress First Continental Congress Declaration and Resolves Continental Association First Petition to the King Second Continental Congress Olive Branch Petition Declaration of the Causes... Declaration of Independence Articles of Confederation Confederation Congress Northwest Ordinance Land Ordinance of 1784 Land Ordinance of 1785 Members List of delegates Presidents

The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution.

The Congress met from 1774 to 1789 in three incarnations. The first call for a convention was made over issues of mounting taxation without representation in Parliament and because of the British blockade. Though at first somewhat divided on issues concerning independence and a break from Crown rule, the new Congress would come to issue a Declaration of Independence and a Constitution, and proclaim the name United States of America as the name of the new nation. It would establish a Continental Army and also have to endure a war with Britain, before fruition of an independent Constitutional government was fully realized among the American colonies.

First Continental Congress

Main article: First Continental Congress

The First Continental Congress, which met briefly in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from September 5, to October 26, in 1774 and consisted of fifty-six delegates from twelve of the Thirteen Colonies that would become the United States of America. The delegates which included George Washington, then a colonel of the Virginia volunteers, Patrick Henry, and John Adams, were elected by their respective colonial assemblies. Other notable delegates included Samuel Adams from Massachusetts Bay, and Joseph Galloway and John Dickinson from Pennsylvania.

Benjamin Franklin had put forth the idea of such a meeting the year before but was unable to convince the colonies of its necessity until the British placed a blockade at the Port of Boston in response to the Boston Tea Party in 1773. All of the colonies sent their delegates except Georgia, who had its own troubles and needed the protection of British soldiers. Most of the delegates were not yet ready to break away from Great Britain, but they wanted the British King and Parliament to act more fairly. Convened in response to the Intolerable Acts passed by the British Parliament in 1774, the delegates organized an economic boycott of Great Britain in protest and petitioned the King for a redress of grievances. The colonies were united in their effort to demonstrate their authority to Great Britain by virtue of their common causes and through their unity, but their ultimate objectives were not consistent. Pennsylvania and New York had sent delegates with firm instructions to pursue a resolution with Great Britain. While the other colonies all held the idea of colonial rights as paramount they were split between those who sought legislative equality with Britain and those who instead favored independence and a break from the Crown and its excesses. On October 26, 1774 the First Continental Congress adjourned but agreed to reconvene in May 1775 if Parliament still did not address their grievances. In London, Parliament debated the merits of meeting the demands made by the colonies; however, it took no official notice of Congress's petitions and addresses. On November 30, 1774, King George III opened Parliament with a speech condemning Massachusetts and the Suffolk Resolves. At that point it became clear that the Continental Congress would have to convene once again.^[1][2][3]

Second Continental Congress

Main article: Second Continental Congress

By the time the Second Continental Congress met on May 10, 1775 in Philadelphia, the Battles of Lexington and Concord had already begun in April, and while delegates were still making their way to Philadelphia, which marked the beginning of the American Revolutionary War.

John Hancock from Massachusetts was elected president of the assembly. Congress issued a petition entitled "The Declaration of Rights and Grievances" to King George III, the King of Great Britain. The Delegates adopted a strategy where the colonies would prepare for war while the Congress continued to pursue reconciliation. On July 8 the Congress adopted a petition to the king in the hopes that he would intervene in Parliament on behalf of the colonies. A former governor of Pennsylvania was chosen to carry another petition, approved in July 1775, to London and present it to the king himself but the king refused to see him. On August 23 he issued a proclamation declaring the colonies to be in a state of "open and avowed rebellion." Moderates in the Congress still hoped that the colonies could be reconciled with Great Britain, but a movement towards independence steadily gained ground. On June 17 the Battle of Bunker Hill energized the Patriots; Congress established the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as commander-in-chief in June 1775. On July 4, 1776 Congress issued a Declaration of Independence, ending all American efforts at reconciliation. Congress designed a new government in the Articles of Confederation, which operated as the nation's constitution.^[3]

Confederation Congress

Main article: Congress of the Confederation

The newly-founded country of the United States next had to create a new government to replace the British Parliament that it was in rebellion against. After much debate, the Americans adopted the Articles of Confederation, a declaration that established a national government which was made up of a one-house legislature known as the Confederation Congress. Its ratification gave the Congress a new name: the Congress of the Confederation, which met from 1781 to 1789.^[4] The Confederation Congress helped guide the United States through the final stages of the Revolutionary War, but during peacetime, the Continental Congress steeply declined in importance.

During peacetime, there were two important, long-lasting acts of the Confederation Congress:

1. The passage of the Northwest Ordinance in 1787. This ordinance accepted the abolishment of all claims to the land west of Pennsylvania and north of the Ohio River by the states of Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, and the ordinance established Federal control over all of this land in the Northwest Territory -- with the goal that several new states should be created there. In the course of time, this land was divided among Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota.
2. After years of frustration, an agreement was reached in 1787 to organize a Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia with the mission of writing and proposing a number of amendments to the Articles of Confederation in order to improve the form of government. In reality, the delegates to this Constitutional Convention soon decided that they needed to start over with a blank slate to write a new Constitution of the United States to completely replace the Articles of Confederation. Furthermore, the delegates agreed that the new Federal Government would come into effect upon the ratification of just nine of the States, rather than requiring unanimous consent as the Articles of Confederation did. Hence, the Confederation Congress peacefully planted the seeds of its own demise and replacement.

Under the Articles of Confederation, the Confederation Congress had little power to compel the individual states to comply with any of its decisions. More and more prospective delegates elected to the Confederation Congress declined to serve in it. The leading men in each State preferred to serve in the state governments, and thus the Continental Congress had frequent difficulties in establishing a quorum. When the Articles of Confederation were superseded by the Constitution of the United States, the Confederation Congress was superseded by the United States Congress.

The Confederation Congress finally set up a suitable administrative structure for the Federal government. It put into operation a departmental system, with ministers of finance, of war, and of foreign affairs. Robert Morris was selected as the new Superintendent of Finance, and then Morris used some ingenuity and initiative -- along with a loan from the French Government -- to deal with his empty treasury and also runaway inflation, for a number of years, in the supply of paper money.

As the ambassador to France, Benjamin Franklin not only secured the "bridge loan" for the national budget, but also he persuaded France to send an army of about 6,000 soldiers across the Atlantic Ocean to America -- and also the dispatch of large squadron of French warships under Comte de Grasse to the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina. These French warships proved to be decisive at the Battle of Yorktown along the coast of Virginia by preventing Lord Cornwallis's British troops from receiving supplies, reinforcements, or evacuation via the James River and Hampton Roads, Virginia.^[5]

Robert Morris, the Minister of Finance, persuaded Congress set up the Bank of North America, in 1782. This bank was privately chartered, but it was funded in part by the loan from France. The Bank of North America played a major role in financing the war against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

The combined armies of George Washington and Nathaniel Greene, with the help of the French Army and Navy, defeated the British in the Battle of Yorktown during October 1781. Lord Cornwallis was forced to sue for peace and to surrender his entire army to General Washington. During 1783, the Americans secured the official recognition of the independence of the United States from the United Kingdom via negotiations with British diplomats in Paris, France. These negotiations culminated with the signing of the Treaty of Paris of 1783, and this treaty was soon ratified by the British Parliament.^[4]

Timeline

1774

• September 5: First Continental Congress convened at Philadelphia’s Carpenter's Hall.
• October 14: Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress adopted
• October 18: Continental Association adopted
• October 25: First Petition to the King signed
• October 26: Congress adjourned, resolving to reconvene the following May if grievances are not redressed

1775

• April 19: War began at the Battles of Lexington and Concord
• May 10: Second Continental Congress convened at Philadelphia’s State House.
• June 14: Congress established the Continental Army
• June 15: Congress appointed one of its members, George Washington, as commander of the Continental Army
• July 1: King George III Addresses Parliament stating they will "put a speedy end" to the rebellion
• July 6: Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms approved
• July 8: Second petition to the king (the Olive Branch Petition) signed
• October 13: Congress established the Continental Navy
• November 10: Congress established the Continental Marines

1776

• January 10: Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense
• July 2: Resolution of independence adopted, asserting the independence of the colonies from Britain
• July 4: Final text of the United States Declaration of Independence approved
• August 2: Declaration of Independence signed in Congress
• December 12: Congress adjourns to move to Baltimore, Maryland.
• December 20: Congress convenes in Baltimore at Henry Fite’s House.

1777

• February 27: Congress adjourns to return to Philadelphia.
• March 4: Congress reconvenes at Philadelphia’s State House.
• September 18: Congress adjourns in order to move to Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
• September 27: Congress convenes for one day in Lancaster, at the Court House.
• September 30: Congress reconvenes at York, Pennsylvania at the Court House.
• November 15: Congress issues the Articles of Confederation to the states for approval

1778

• June 27: Congress adjourns to return to Philadelphia.
• July 2: Congress reconvenes in Philadelphia, first at College Hall, then at the State House.

1781

• March 1: Articles of Confederation go into effect, Congress becomes the Congress of the Confederation.

1783

• June 21: Congress adjourns to move to Princeton, New Jersey.
• June 30: Congress reconvenes in Princeton, New Jersey, first at a house named “Prospect,” then Nassau Hall.
• November 4: Congress adjourns to move to Annapolis, Maryland.
• November 26: Congress reconvenes at Annapolis, in the State House.

1784

• August 19: Congress adjourns to move to Trenton, New Jersey.
• November 1: Congress reconvenes at Trenton, at the French Arms Tavern.
• December 24: Congress adjourns to move to New York City

1785

• January 11: Congress reconvenes in New York City, first at City Hall, then at Fraunces Tavern.

1787

• September 17: Philadelphia Convention adjourns after writing the United States Constitution

1788

• July 2: New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the US Constitution, thereby allowing for the creation of the new government.
• July 8: Continental Congress puts the new Constitution into effect by announcing the dates for the elections and the assembly of the new Congress.
• October 10: The last session during which the Continental Congress succeeded in achieving a quorum. The Continental Congress passed its last act on this date.^[6]

1789

• March 2: Last session of the Continental Congress at Fraunces Tavern is adjourned sine die. Philip Pell of New York was the sole member in attendance.
• March 4: First session of the 1st United States Congress begins at Federal Hall.
• April 30: George Washington inaugurated as first President of the United States.
• July 23: Charles Thomson transmitted to President Washington his resignation of the office of Secretary of Congress.
• July 25: In accordance with President Washington's directions, "the books, records, and papers of the late Congress, the Great Seal of the Federal Union, and the Seal of the Admiralty" were delivered over to Roger Alden, deputy secretary of the new Congress, who had been designated by President Washington as custodian for the time being.^[7]

See also

• Albany Congress
• Stamp Act Congress
• List of delegates to the Continental Congress
• American Revolution

References

1. ^ "First Continental Congress". Independence Hall Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/related/congress.htm. Retrieved October 22, 2010. 
2. ^ "The 1st Continental Congress, Lexington". Founding Fathers.info. http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h650.html. Retrieved October 23, 2010. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "The Second Continental Congress". Massachusetts Historical Society. http://www.masshist.org/revolution/congress2.php. Retrieved October 23, 2010. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "Confederation Congress". Ohio Historical Society. http://ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=2327. Retrieved October 23, 2010. 
5. ^ Joseph J. Ellis, His Excellency: George Washington (2004) p 131
6. ^ Taylor, Hannis. The Origin and Growth of the American Constitution, page 268 (1911).
7. ^ Burnett, Continental Congress, 726.

Further reading

• Burnett, Edward Cody (1941). The Continental Congress. New York: Norton. 
• Fremont-Barnes, Gregory, and Richard A. Ryerson, eds. The Encyclopedia of the American Revolutionary War: A Political, Social, and Military History (5 vol. 2006) 1000 entries by 150 experts, covering all topics
• Henderson, H. James (1974). Party Politics in the Continental Congress. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0070281432. 
• Horgan, Lucille E. Forged in War: The Continental Congress and the Origin of Military Supply and Acquisition Policy (2002)
• Irvin, Benjamin H. Clothed in Robes of Sovereignty: The Continental Congress and the People Out of Doors (Oxford University Press; 2011) 378 pages; analyzes the ritual and material culture used by the Continental Congress to assert its legitimacy and rally a wary public.
• Jensen, Merrill. The Articles of Confederation: An Interpretation of the Social-Constitutional History of the American Revolution, 1774-1781 (1959) excerpt and text search
• Rakove, Jack N. (1979). The Beginnings of National Politics: An Interpretive History of the Continental Congress. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0801828643. 
• Resch, John P., ed. Americans at War: Society, Culture and the Homefront vol 1 (2005), articles by scholars

Primary sources

• Smith, Paul H., ed. Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789. 26 volumes. Washington: Library of Congress, 1976–1998.

External links

• Journals of the Continental Congress, September 5, 1774 to March 2, 1789