FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS

The 'First Continental Congress' was a body of representatives appointed by the legislatures of twelve North American colonies of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1774. It met briefly then set up its successor, the Second Continental Congress, which organized the Americans into war against Britain. The two bodies together comprise the Continental Congress.The First Continental Congress was held in Philadelphia in 1774, with 55 members representing all American colonies except Georgia.

Contents

Background

Convention

Galloway's Plan of Union

Accomplishments

Colonies and delegates

See also

Notes

Bibliography

Primary sources

External links

Background

Like the Stamp Act Congress, which was formed by colonials to respond to the unpopular Stamp Act, the First Continental Congress was formed largely in response to the Intolerable Acts. 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

The Congress met from September 5, 1774, 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.^[1]

Galloway's Plan of Union

Patrick Henry already considered government dissolved, and was seeking a new system.^[2] 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. John Jay, Edward Rutledge and other conservatives supported Galloway's plan.^[3]

Accomplishments

The Congress had two primary accomplishments. First, the Congress drafted the Articles of Association on October 20, 1774. The Articles formed a compact among the colonies to boycott British goods beginning on December 1, 1774.^[4] Imports from Britain dropped by 97 percent in 1775, compared with the previous year.
If the “Intolerable Acts” were not repealed, the colonies would also cease exports to Britain after September 10, 1775. 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.^[5]

Colonies and delegates

; Province of New Hampshire
:
★ Nathaniel Folsom
:
★ John Sullivan
; Province of Massachusetts Bay
:
★ John Adams
:
★ Samuel Adams
:
★ Thomas Cushing
:
★ Robert Treat Paine
; Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
:
★ Stephen Hopkins
:
★ Samuel Ward
; Connecticut Colony
:
★ Silas Deane
:
★ Eliphalet Dyer
:
★ Roger Sherman
; Province of New York
:
★ City and County of Albany, City and County of New York, County of Duchess, and County of West Chester
:
★
★ John Alsop
:
★
★ James Duane
:
★
★ John Jay
:
★
★ Philip Livingston
:
★
★ Isaac Low
:
★ County of Kings
:
★
★ Simon Boerum
:
★ County of Orange
:
★
★ John Haring
:
★
★ Henry Wisner
:
★ County of Suffolk
:
★
★ William Floyd
; Province of New Jersey
:
★ Stephen Crane
:
★ John De Hart
:
★ James Kinsey
:
★ William Livingston
:
★ Richard Smith
; Province of Pennsylvania
:
★ Edward Biddle
:
★ John Dickinson
:
★ Joseph Galloway
:
★ Charles Humphreys
:
★ Thomas Mifflin
:
★ John Morton
:
★ Samuel Rhoads
:
★ George Ross
; New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, on Delaware
:
★ Thomas McKean
:
★ George Read
:
★ Caesar Rodney
; Maryland
:
★ Samuel Chase
:
★ Robert Goldsborough
:
★ Thomas Johnson
:
★ William Paca
:
★ Matthew Tilghman
; Colony and Dominion of Virginia
:
★ Richard Bland
:
★ Benjamin Harrison V
:
★ Patrick Henry
:
★ Richard Henry Lee
:
★ Edmund Pendleton
:
★ Peyton Randolph
:
★ George Washington
; Province of North Carolina
:
★ Richard Caswell
:
★ Joseph Hewes
:
★ William Hooper
; Province of South Carolina
:
★ Christopher Gadsden
:
★ Thomas Lynch, Jr.
:
★ Henry Middleton
:
★ Edward Rutledge
:
★ John Rutledge

See also

★ Articles of Confederation

★ Galloway's Plan of Union

★ History of the United States (1776-1789)

★ List of Continental Congress Delegates

★ President of the Continental Congress

★ Continental Association

★ Papers of the Continental Congress

★ Timeline of United States revolutionary history (1760-1789)

Notes

1. Jefferson's America, 1760-1815, Risjord, Norman K., , , Rowman & Littlefield, 2002,
2. The Foundations of American Nationality, Greene, Evarts Boutell, , , American Book Company., 1922,
3. Great Debates in American Hist: From the Debates in the British Parliament on the Colonial Stamp, Miller, Marion Mills, , , Current Literature Pub.
Co, 1913,
4. Common Sense, Kramnick, Isaac (ed); Thomas Paine, , , Penguin Classics, 1982,
5. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, , , , , ,

Bibliography

★ Bancroft, George. ''History of the United States of America, from the discovery of the American continent.'' (1854-78), vol 4-10 online edition

★ The Continental Congress, , Edmund C., Burnett, Greenwood Publishing, 1975, ISBN 0-8371-8386-3

★ Party Politics in the Continental Congress, , H. James, Henderson, Rowman & Littlefield, 2002, ISBN 0-8191-6525-5

★ Miller, John C. ''Origins of the American Revolution'' (1943) online edition

★ The Reluctant Rebels; the Story of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, , Lynn, Montross, Barnes & Noble, 1970, ISBN 0-389-03973-X

Primary sources

★ Peter Force, ed. ''American Archives,'' 9 vol 1837-1853, major compilation of documents 1774-1776. online edition

External links

★ The Continental Congress - History, Declaration and Resolves, Resolutions and Recommendations

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

★ ''Papers of the Continental Congress'' (Digitized Original Documents)