Continental Congress

The Continental Congress was the governing body by which the American colonial governments coordinated their resistance to British rule during the first two years of the American Revolution.[1][2] The term refers specifically to the bodies that met in 1774 and 1775–81, respectively designated as the First and Second Continental Congress.[2] As the war progressed, the Congress became the effective national government of the country, and, as such, conducted diplomacy on behalf of the new United States.[1]

Origins and Formation

In 1774, the British Parliament passed a series of laws collectively known as the Intolerable Acts, with the intent to suppress unrest in colonial Boston by closing the port and placing it under martial law.[1] In response, colonial protestors led by a group called the Sons of Liberty issued a call for a boycott.[1] Merchant communities were reluctant to participate in such a boycott unless there were mutually agreed upon terms and a means to enforce the boycott's provisions.[1]

Spurred by local pressure groups, colonial legislatures empowered delegates to attend a Continental Congress which would set terms for a boycott.[1] By late spring 1774, nine of the colonies called for a continental congress. Meeting in assemblies to discuss political issues was a colonial tradition, as each colony had held Committees of Correspondences in response to British taxes and to meet about local issues. Virginia's Committee of Correspondence is largely credited with originating the invitation for all the colonies to meet.[21]

First Continental Congress (1774)

The Congress first met in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774, with delegates from each of the 13 colonies except Georgia.[1][2] Fifty-six deputies represented all the colonies except Georgia. Peyton Randolph of Virginia was unanimously elected president, thus establishing usage of that term as well as "Congress." Charles Thomson of Pennsylvania was elected secretary and served in that office during the 15-year life[2] of the Continental Congress.

Notable Delegates

The First Continental Congress included Patrick Henry, George Washington, John and Samuel Adams, John Jay, and John Dickinson.[2] The list of delegates included many prominent colonial leaders, such as Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, and two future presidents of the United States, George Washington and John Adams.[21] Almost every significant political figure of the American Revolution served in the Continental Congress, including Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Hancock, John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Patrick Henry and George Washington.[23]

Key Actions and Decisions

Meeting in secret session, the body rejected a plan for reconciling British authority with colonial freedom.[2] Instead, it adopted a declaration of personal rights, including life, liberty, property, assembly, and trial by jury. The declaration also denounced taxation without representation and the maintenance of the British army in the colonies without their consent.[2]

On October 20, the Congress adopted the Articles of Association, which stated that if the Intolerable Acts were not repealed by December 1, 1774, a boycott of British goods would begin in the colonies.[1] The Articles also outlined plans for an embargo on exports if the Intolerable Acts were not repealed before September 10, 1775.[1]

In October 1774 the Congress petitioned the crown for a redress of grievances accumulated since 1763. In an effort to force compliance, it called for a general boycott of British goods and eventual nonexportation of American products, except rice, to Britain or the British West Indies.[2]

Second Continental Congress (1775-1781)

As promised, Congress reconvened at Independence Hall in Philadelphia as the Second Continental Congress on May 10, 1775–and by then the American Revolution had already begun.[4][2] The British army in Boston had met with armed resistance on the morning of April 19, 1775, when it marched out to the towns of Lexington and Concord to seize a cache of weapons held by colonial Patriots who had ceased to recognize the authority of the royal government of Massachusetts. The colonists drove the British expedition back to Boston and laid siege to the town. The Revolutionary War had begun.[4]

Military Leadership and Organization

The Congress "adopted" the New England military forces that had converged upon Boston and appointed Washington commander in chief of the American army on June 15, 1775.[2][4] It also acted as the provisional government of the 13 colony-states, issuing and borrowing money, establishing a postal service, and creating a navy.[2]

Attempts at Reconciliation

Meanwhile, Congress drafted the Olive Branch Petition, which attempted to suggest means of resolving disputes between the colonies and Great Britain. Congress sent the petition to King George III on July 8, but he refused to receive it.[1] Congress issued a petition declaring its loyalty to the king, George III, and stating its hope that he would help arrange a reconciliation and prevent further hostilities against the colonies. Four months later, King George III rejected the petition and declared the colonies in rebellion.[10]

Declaration of Independence

In 1776, it took the momentous step of declaring America's independence from Britain.[23][4] On July 2, 1776, with New York abstaining, the Congress "unanimously" resolved that "these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states." Two days later it solemnly approved this Declaration of Independence.[2]

The committee consisted of five men, including John Adams and Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania. But the declaration was primarily the work of one man, Thomas Jefferson, who penned an eloquent defense of the natural rights of all people, of which, he charged, Parliament and the king had tried to deprive the American nation.[4]

Wartime Challenges

With the lack of centralized power, the Continental Congress was hamstrung throughout the conflict. Rapid turnover in the ranks of delegates and having to improvise a system of government to a scale beyond anything any individual in the colonies had attempted before, meant that the task of managing the war effort was herculean.[7]

Without enforcing taxes within the colonies, the Continental Congress had no money-generating capability. The Continental Congress asked the states to support the war by sending funds; the Congress could insist, but it had no mechanism to force the states to comply and provide the requisite amounts.[7] The Continental Congress had no established supply system, no national distribution, and no purchasing system.[7]

Diplomatic Efforts

As the de facto national government, the Continental Congress assumed the role of negotiating diplomatic agreements with foreign nations.[1] The Declaration of Independence allowed Congress to seek alliances with foreign countries, and the fledgling U.S. formed its most important alliance early in 1778 with France, without the support of which America might well have lost the Revolutionary War.[4]

Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation were adopted by the Continental Congress on November 15, 1777.[11] This document served as the United States' first constitution.[11] It was in force from March 1, 1781, until 1789 when the present-day Constitution went into effect.[11]

A day after appointing a committee to write the Declaration of Independence, the Second Continental Congress named another committee to write the Articles of Confederation.[17] One of the committees was tasked with determining what form the confederation of the colonies should take. This committee was composed of one representative from each colony. John Dickinson, a delegate from Delaware, was the principal writer.[11]

Ratification by all 13 states was necessary to set the Confederation into motion. When Maryland ratified it on March 1, 1781, the Congress of the Confederation came into being.[11]

Structure and Powers

This "first constitution of the United States" established a "league of friendship" for the 13 sovereign and independent states. Each state retained "every Power...which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States.[11] The Articles of Confederation also outlined a Congress with representation not based on population – each state would have one vote in Congress.[11]

Under the Articles, the states, not Congress, had the power to tax. Congress could raise money only by asking the states for funds, borrowing from foreign governments, and selling western lands.[17] In addition, Congress could not draft soldiers or regulate trade. There was no provision for national courts or a chief executive.[17]

Weaknesses and Dissolution

Just a few years after the Revolutionary War, however, James Madison and George Washington were among those who feared their young country was on the brink of collapse. With the states retaining considerable power, the central government had insufficient power to regulate commerce. It could not tax and was generally impotent in setting commercial policy. Nor could it effectively support a war effort.[11]

The years immediately following the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783 presented the young American nation with a series of difficulties that Congress could not adequately remedy: dire financial straits, interstate rivalries and domestic insurrection.[4]

A movement developed for constitutional reform, culminating in the Philadelphia Convention of 1787. The delegates at the convention decided to scrap the Articles of Confederation completely and create a new system of government. In 1789, the new U.S. Constitution went into effect and the Continental Congress adjourned forever and was replaced by the U.S. Congress.[4]

Legacy and Impact

The Second Congress continued to meet until March 1, 1781, when the Articles of Confederation that established a new national government for the United States took effect.[1] Altogether, The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress lists 343 men who served as delegates to the Continental Congress in three incarnations from 1774 to 1789; also listed are another 90 persons who were elected as delegates but never served.[24]

Although the Continental Congress did not function well in a time of peace, it had steered the nation through one of its worst crises, declared its independence and helped to win a war to secure that independence.[4] As one historian aptly titled a history of the American Revolution, the victory of the colonies over the British was "almost a miracle."[7]

The Continental Congress established crucial precedents for American governance, including the concept of representative democracy, the importance of written constitutions, and the principle of federalism that would later be refined in the U.S. Constitution. Its experience with both the challenges of wartime leadership and the limitations of decentralized government under the Articles of Confederation directly informed the creation of the more robust federal system established in 1789.