First_Continental_Congress

Continental Congress


First Continental Congress


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The First Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from twelve British North American colonies that met in 1774, early in the American Revolution. Called in response to the passage of the Intolerable Acts by the British Parliament, the Congress was held in Philadelphia, attended by 55 members appointed by the legislatures of the Thirteen Colonies, except for the Province of Georgia, which did not send delegates. The Congress met briefly to consider options, organize an economic boycott of British trade, publish a list of rights and grievances, and petition King George for redress of those grievances.
The Congress also called for another Continental Congress in the event that their petition was unsuccessful in halting enforcement of the Intolerable Acts. Their appeal to the Crown had no effect, and so the Second Continental Congress was convened the following year to organize the defense of the colonies at the outset of the American Revolutionary War.

Contents

1 Background

1.1 The Acts
1.2 Forming the Congress


2 Convention

2.1 Galloway's Plan of Union
2.2 Accomplishments


3 List of delegates
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links
7 Credits



The Continental Congresses helped to forge the consensus for the American Revolution and create the pattern for American democracy.

Background
Like the Stamp Act Congress, which was formed by American colonists to respond to the infamous Stamp Act, the First Continental Congress was formed largely in response to the Intolerable Acts.

The Acts
Main article: Intolerable Acts
These Acts included:

The Boston Port Act, the first of the acts passed in response to the Boston Tea Party, closed the port of Boston until the East India Company had been repaid for the destroyed tea and until the king was satisfied that order had been restored.
The Massachusetts Government Act unilaterally altered the government of Massachusetts to bring it under control of the British government. Under the terms of the Government Act, almost all positions in the colonial government were to be appointed by the governor or the king.
The Administration of Justice Act allowed the governor to move trials of accused royal officials to another colony or even to Great Britain if he believed the official could not get a fair trial in Massachusetts. George Washington called this the "Murder Act" because he believed that it allowed British officials to harass Americans and then escape justice.[1]
The Quartering Act applied to all of the colonies, and sought to create a more effective method of housing British troops in America. The act permitted troops to be quartered in uninhabited houses, outhouses, barns, or other buildings.[2]
The Quebec Act was unrelated to the events in Boston, but the timing of its passage led it to be labeled as one of the Intolerable Acts. The act enlarged the boundaries of the Province of Quebec and instituted reforms generally favorable to the French Catholic inhabitants of the region. Many feared the establishment of Catholicism in Quebec, and that the French Canadians were being courted to help oppress Americans.[3]
Forming the Congress
The idea of a continental congress first appeared in a letter written and published by Samuel Adams on September 27, 1773.[4] In May 1774, New York City's Committee of Fifty-One, called for a continental congress when it issued a declaration: "Upon these reasons we conclude that a Congress of Deputies from all the Colonies in general is of the utmost moment; that it ought to be assembled without delay, and some unanimous resolutions formed in this fatal emergency".[5]
The Congress was planned through the permanent committees of correspondence. They chose the meeting place to be Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in Carpenters' Hall, which was both centrally located and one of the leading cities in the colonies. The Congress was held in 1774.

Convention
 Carpenters' Hall
The Congress met from September 5 to October 26, 1774. From September 5, through October 21, Peyton Randolph presided over the proceedings; Henry Middleton took over as President of the Congress for the last few days, from October 22 to October 26. Charles Thomson, leader of Philadelphia Sons of Liberty, was selected to be Secretary of the Continental Congress.[6]

Galloway's Plan of Union
Patrick Henry already considered government dissolved, and was seeking a new system.[7] Pennsylvania delegate Joseph Galloway sought reconciliation with Britain. He put forth a "Plan of Union," which suggested an American legislative body be formed, with some authority, and whose consent would be required for imperial measures.[7] John Jay, Edward Rutledge and other conservatives supported Galloway's plan.[8] (Galloway would later join the Loyalists).

Accomplishments
The Congress had two primary accomplishments. First, the Congress created the Continental Association on October 20, 1774. The Association was a compact among the colonies to boycott British goods beginning on December 1, 1774.[9] The West Indies were threatened with a boycott unless the islands agreed to nonimportation of British goods.[10] Imports from Britain dropped by 97 percent in 1775, compared with the previous year.[9] Committees of observation and inspection were to be formed in each colony for enforcement of the Association. All the colony's Houses of Assembly approved the proceedings of the congress with the exception of New York.[11]
If the “Intolerable Acts” were not repealed, the colonies would also cease exports to Britain after September 10, 1775.[9] The boycott was successfully implemented, but its potential for altering British colonial policy was cut off by the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in 1775.
The second accomplishment of the Congress was to provide for a Second Continental Congress to meet on May 10, 1775. In addition to the colonies which had sent delegates to the First Continental Congress, letters of invitation were sent to Quebec, Saint John's Island, Nova Scotia, Georgia, East Florida, and West Florida. None of these sent delegates to the opening of the second Congress, though a delegation from Georgia arrived the following July.[12]

List of delegates


#

Name

Colony

Notes


1
Folsom, NathanielNathaniel Folsom
New Hampshire



2
Sullivan, JohnJohn Sullivan
New Hampshire



3
Adams, JohnJohn Adams
Massachusetts



4
Adams, SamuelSamuel Adams
Massachusetts



5
Cushing, ThomasThomas Cushing
Massachusetts



6
Paine, Robert TreatRobert Treat Paine
Massachusetts



7
Hopkins, StephenStephen Hopkins
Rhode Island



8
Ward, SamuelSamuel Ward
Rhode Island



9
Deane, SilasSilas Deane
Connecticut



10
Dyer, EliphaletEliphalet Dyer
Connecticut



11
Sherman, RogerRoger Sherman
Connecticut



12
Duane, JamesJames Duane
New York



13
Jay, JohnJohn Jay
New York



14
Livingston, PhilipPhilip Livingston
New York



15
Low, IsaacIsaac Low
New York



16
Boerum, SimonSimon Boerum
New York



17
Haring, JohnJohn Haring
New York



18
Wisner, HenryHenry Wisner
New York



19
Floyd, WilliamWilliam Floyd
New York



20
Crane, StephenStephen Crane
New Jersey



21
De Hart, JohnJohn De Hart
New Jersey



22
Kinsey, JamesJames Kinsey
New Jersey



23
Livingston, WilliamWilliam Livingston
New Jersey



24
Smith, RichardRichard Smith
New Jersey



25
Biddle, EdwardEdward Biddle
Pennsylvania



26
Dickinson, JohnJohn Dickinson
Pennsylvania



27
Galloway, JosephJoseph Galloway
Pennsylvania



28
Humphreys, CharlesCharles Humphreys
Pennsylvania



29
Mifflin, ThomasThomas Mifflin
Pennsylvania



30
Morton, JohnJohn Morton
Pennsylvania



31
Rhoads, SamuelSamuel Rhoads
Pennsylvania



32
Ross, GeorgeGeorge Ross
Pennsylvania



33
McKean, ThomasThomas McKean
Delaware



34
Read, GeorgeGeorge Read
Delaware



35
Rodney, CaesarCaesar Rodney
Delaware



36
Chase, SamuelSamuel Chase
Maryland



37
Goldsborough, RobertRobert Goldsborough
Maryland



38
Johnson, ThomasThomas Johnson
Maryland



39
Paca, WilliamWilliam Paca
Maryland



40
Tilghman, MatthewMatthew Tilghman
Maryland



41
Bland, RichardRichard Bland
Virginia



42
Harrison, BenjaminBenjamin Harrison
Virginia



43
Henry, PatrickPatrick Henry
Virginia



44
Lee, Richard HenryRichard Henry Lee
Virginia



45
Pendleton, EdmundEdmund Pendleton
Virginia



46
Randolph, PeytonPeyton Randolph
Virginia



47
Washington, GeorgeGeorge Washington
Virginia



48
Caswell, RichardRichard Caswell
North Carolina



49
Hewes, JosephJoseph Hewes
North Carolina



50
Hooper, WilliamWilliam Hooper
North Carolina



51
Gadsden, ChristopherChristopher Gadsden
South Carolina



52
Lynch, Jr., ThomasThomas Lynch, Jr.
South Carolina



53
Middleton, HenryHenry Middleton
South Carolina



54
Rutledge, EdwardEdward Rutledge
South Carolina



55
Rutledge, JohnJohn Rutledge
South Carolina



56
Alsop, JohnJohn Alsop
New York



Notes


↑ Ammerman, p. 9.

↑ Ammerman, p. 10.

↑ Ammerman, 11-12.

↑ Puls, p. 139.

↑ Launitz-Schurer, p. 114.

↑ Norman K. Risjord, Jefferson's America, 1760-1815 (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002), 114.

↑ 7.0 7.1  Evarts Boutell Greene, The Foundations of American Nationality (American Book Company, 1922), 434.

↑ Marion Mills Miller, Great Debates in American Hist: From the Debates in the British Parliament on the Colonial Stamp (Current Literature Pub. Co., 1913), 91.

↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Isaac Kramnick (ed.) and Thomas Paine (Author), Common Sense (Penguin Classics, 1982), 21. 

↑ Ketchum, p. 262.

↑ Launitz-Schurer, p. 144.

↑ In Worthington C. Ford, et al. (eds.), Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, 2:192–193. Retrieved June 25, 2008.



ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
Bancroft, George. History of the United States of America, from the discovery of the American continent. vol 4. Franklin Classics Trade Press, 2018. ISBN 978-0344254789
Burnett, Edmund C. . The Continental Congress. Greenwood Press, 1975 (original 1941) ISBN 0837183863
Henderson, H. James. Party Politics in the Continental Congress. Rowman & Littlefield, 2002 (original 1974). ISBN 0819165255
Launitz-Schurer. Loyal Whigs and Revolutionaries, The making of the revolution in New York, 1765-1776, 1980. ISBN 0814749941
Ketchum, Richard. Divided Loyalties, How the American Revolution came to New York. 2002. ISBN 0805061207
Puls, Mark. Samuel Adams, father of the American Revolution, 2006. ISBN 1403975825
Montross, Lynn. The Reluctant Rebels; the Story of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789. Barnes & Noble, 1970 (original 1950). ISBN 038903973X
External links
All links retrieved April 11, 2017.

Full text of Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789


Pennsylvania during the American Revolutionary War1774 First Continental Congress · Articles of Association 1775 Independence Hall · Second Continental Congress  1776 Betsy Ross Flag · United States Declaration of Independence · Pennsylvania Constitution · Washington's Delaware Crossing  1777 Articles of Confederation · Philadelphia campaign · Battle of Brandywine · Battle of the Clouds · Liberty Bell moved to Allentown · Battle of Paoli · Battle of Germantown · Siege of Fort Mifflin · Battle of White Marsh · Battle of Matson's Ford · Valley Forge  1778 Battle of Crooked Billet · Battle of Barren Hill · Philadelphia recaptured · Wyoming Valley battle and massacre 
1781 Congress of the Confederation


Location of the capital of the United States


1774 First Continental Congress

Philadelphia


1775 – 1781 Second Continental Congress

Philadelphia → Baltimore → Lancaster → York


1781 – 1789 Congress of the Confederation

Philadelphia → Princeton → Annapolis → Trenton → New York


1789 to date United States Congress

New York → Philadelphia → Washington




Preceded by:
-

Legislature of the United States
September 5 1774 to October 26 1774

Succeeded by:
the Second Continental Congress


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