first continental congress
September 5 - October 26, 1774
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Author: Peter T Young
In 1774, the British Parliament passed a series of laws col-lectively known as the Intolerable Acts, with the intent to suppress unrest in colonial Boston, MA by closing the port and placing it under martial law.
Across North America, colonists rose in solidarity with the people of Massachusetts.
Goods arrived in Massachusetts from as far south as Georgia, and by late spring 1774, nine of the colonies called for a continental congress.
Virginia’s Committee of Corres-pondence is largely credited with originating the invitation. The colony of Connecticut was the first to respond.
Colonial legislatures empowered delegates to attend a Continental Congress which would set terms for a boycott.
The colonies elected delegates to the First Continental Congress in various ways.
Some delegates were elected through their respective colonial legislatures or committees of correspondence.
The Congress first convened in Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia, PA on Sept. 5, 1774, with delegates from each of the 13 colonies except Georgia.
(Georgia was facing a war with Native Amer-ican tribes and the colony did not want to jeopardize British assis-tance.)
On October 14, 1774, the First Continental Con-gress adopted their Declaration & Resolves.
This stated the group’s objections to the Coercive Acts, listed the rights of the colonists, and itemized objections to British rule beyond the Intolerable Acts.
The list of rights insisted that Colonists were “entitled to life, liberty, and property” and “that foundation of English liberty, and of all free government, is a right in the people to participate in their legislative council”.
Finally, at the end of the First Continental Congress, the dele-gates adopted a Petition addressed to “The King's Most Excellent Majesty” on October 26, 1774.
Many delegates were skeptical about changing the king’s attitude towards the colonies, but believed that every opportunity should be exhausted to de-escalate the conflict before taking more radical action.
By the time Congress met again, war was already underway, and thus, the delegates to the Second Continental Congress formed the Continental Army and put George Washington in charge of it.
________________________________________Presented by: The Hawaii Society Sons of the American Revolution
Information here is primarily from US State Department; Mount Vernon Foundation; Massachusetts
Historical Society; US History-org In an effort to provide a brief, informal background summary of various people, places and events related to the American Revolution, I made this informal compilation from a variety of sources. This is not intended to be a technical reference document, nor an exhaustive review of the subject. Rather, it is an assemblage of information and images from various sources on basic background information. For ease in informal reading, in many cases, specific quotations and citations and attributions are often not included – however, sources are noted in the summary. The images and text are from various sources and are presented for personal, noncommercial and/or educational purposes. Thanks, Peter T. Young