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Continental Congress
1774-89, Federal Legislature of the Thirteen Colonies and later of the United States in the American Revolution and under the Articles of Confederation
The Thirteen Colonies The term used for the colonies of British North America that joined together in the American Revolution against the mother country, adopted the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and became the United States. They were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. They are also called the Thirteen Original States.
First Continental Congress
Indignation against England's colonial policy reached fever pitch in the colonies after the passage (1774) of the Intolerable Acts, and the Sons of Liberty and the committees of correspondence promoted the idea of an intercolonial assembly similar to the one held (1765) at the time of the Stamp Act.
The First Continental Congress (Sept. 5-Oct. 26, 1774) was made up of delegates from all the colonies except Georgia. It met in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, and Peyton Randolph was chosen to preside. The meeting's general purpose was to express colonial grievances against British policy, and only a few radical members considered the possibility of breaking with England. The plan of Joseph Galloway for reconciling Great Britain and the colonies under a new imperial scheme was introduced but rejected.
The session's most important act was the creation of the Continental Association, which forbade importation and use of British goods and proposed prohibition of colonial exports. Several petitions of grievances, written principally by John Dickinson, were sent to the king, and the meeting was adjourned until May 10, 1775.
The Second Continental Congress
Smoke from the battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775) had scarcely cleared when the Second Continental Congress met on the appointed day in Philadelphia. Armed conflict strengthened the radical element, but only gradually did the delegates swing toward independence. A Continental army was created to oppose the British and, through the agency of John Adams, George Washington was appointed (June 15, 1775) commander in chief. The reconciliation plan offered (1775) by Lord North's government was tabled. A diplomatic representative, Silas Deane, was sent (March, 1776) to France. American ports were opened in defiance of the Navigation Acts. Finally, the momentous step was taken: Congress on July 4, 1776, adopted the Declaration of Independence.
The Congress, a young and unsteady organization, had little money and limited means for obtaining more. Nevertheless, it struggled to press the conduct of the war while moving, under force of military circumstances, from place to place; it met at Philadelphia (1775-76), Baltimore (1776-77), Philadelphia again (1777), Lancaster, Pa. (1777), York, Pa. (1777-78), and Philadelphia once more (after 1778). There was friction between Congress and the military leaders, and the soldiers, contemptuous (sometimes justly) of the politicians, constantly agitated for their pay and their rights. The Congress, jealous of its powers, frequently hindered Washington in his strategy.
The Postwar Continental Congress
After the war ended and the Articles of Confederation took force, the quality of Congressional membership declined, since state offices were more desirable; and the Congress itself eventually dissolved. The Congress of the postwar period has, however, been underrated by many. Though shackled by the weaknesses of the federal structure, which sharply curtailed its power and particularly its ability to raise funds, the Congress can be credited with some accomplishmentsnotably the Ordinance of 1787, which set up the Northwest Territory; resolution of the Wyoming Valley territorial dispute; and adoption of the decimal system of currency. Ordinance of 1787
Adopted by the Congress of Confederation for the government of the Western territories ceded to the United States by the states. It created the Northwest Territory and is frequently called the Northwest Ordinance. It was based on the ordinance of 1784, drafted by Thomas Jefferson, which provided for dividing the region into numerous territories. The 1784 ordinance never went into effect. In 1785 an ordinance was passed providing for division and sale of the lands. Subsequently, the application of the Ohio Company of Associates to purchase a large tract of land in the region forced Congress to act on political administration for the area. The able leaders of the company, Rufus Putnam and Manasseh Cutler, were influential in the drafting of the ordinance, which was passed July 13, 1787. It set up a government in the region N of the Ohio River. A territorial governor, a secretary, and three judges were to be appointed by Congress, which would retain control until the population reached 5,000 voting citizens, when an elected legislature would be set up and the territory would obtain a nonvoting representative in the U.S. House of Representatives. When any portion of the territory reached a population of 60,000 or more, it could apply for admission to the Union as a state according to conditions laid down in the ordinance; there were to be not less than three or more than five states created out of the region (five were ultimately created). The ordinance also provided that no one born in the Northwest Territory should be a slave, that no law should ever be passed there that would impair the obligation of contract, that the fundamental rights and religious freedom be observed, and that education be promoted. The ordinance was the most significant achievement of Congress under the Articles of Confederation. It set the form by which subsequent Western territories were created and later admitted into the Union as states and marked the beginning of Western expansion of the United States.
President of the Constitutional Congress George Washington
Bibliography
See Journals of the Continental Congress (34 vol., 1904-37); Letters of Members of the Continental Congress (ed. by E. C. Burnett, 6 vol., 1921-33; repr. 1963); E. C. Burnett, The Continental Congress (1941, repr. 1964); Lynn Montross, The Reluctant Rebels: The Story of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789 (1950, repr. 1970).
Presidents of the Continental Congresses
Name Elected Birth and
death dates
Peyton Randolph, Va.
9/5/1774
c.17211775
Henry Middleton, S.C.
10/22/1774
17171784
Peyton Randolph, Va.
5/10/1775
c.17211775
John Hancock, Mass.
5/24/1775
17371793
Henry Laurens, S.C.
11/1/1777
17241792
John Jay, N.Y.
12/10/1778
17451829
Samuel Huntington, Conn.
9/28/1779
17311796
Thomas McKean, Del.
7/10/1781
17341817
John Hanson, Md.
11/5/1781
17151783
Elias Boudinot, N.J.
11/4/1782
17401821
Thomas Mifflin, Pa.
11/3/1783
17441800
Richard Henry Lee, Va.
11/30/1784
17321794
John Hancock, Mass.1
11/23/1785
17371793
Nathaniel Gorham, Mass.
6/6/1786
17381796
Arthur St. Clair, Pa.
2/2/1787
17341818
Cyrus Griffin, Va.
1/22/1788
17481810
1. Resigned May 29, 1786, never having served, because of continued illness.
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The U. S. Constitution
