First Continental Congress
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The First Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from twelve of the thirteen
North American colonies that met on September 5, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution.It was called in response to the passage of the
Coercive Acts (also known as Intolerable Acts by the Colonial Americans) by the British
Parliament. The Intolerable Acts had punished Boston for the Boston Tea Party. The Congress
was attended by 56 members appointed by the legislatures of twelve of the Thirteen Colonies,
the exception being the Province of Georgia, which did not send delegates. At the time, Georgia
was considered a convict state and was not taken into consideration in the colonies.[1]
The Congress met briefly to consider options, including an economic boycott of British trade;
publishing a list of rights and grievances; and petitioning 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 onset of the American Revolutionary War. The delegates also
urged each colony to set up and train its own militia.
Contents
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1 Background
o 1.1 Convention
o 1.2 Galloway's Plan of Union
o 1.3 Accomplishments
2 List of delegates
3 See also
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links
[edit] Background
[edit] 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 Committee of Correspondence, was selected to be Secretary of the Continental
Congress.[2]
[edit] Galloway's Plan of Union
Patrick Henry already considered the government dissolved, and was seeking a new system.[3]
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.[3] John Jay, Edward Rutledge, and other
conservatives supported Galloway's plan.[4] (Galloway would later join the Loyalists).
[edit] Accomplishments
The Congress had two primary accomplishments. The first was a compact among the colonies to
boycott British goods beginning on December 1, 1774.[5] The West Indies were threatened with a
boycott unless the islands agreed to non importation of British goods.[6] Imports from Britain
dropped by 97 percent in 1775, compared with the previous year.[5] Committees of observation
and inspection were to be formed in each colony for enforcement of the Association. All of the
colonial Houses of Assembly approved the proceedings of the congress with the exception of
New York.[7]
If the "Intolerable Acts" were not repealed, the colonies would also cease exports to Britain after
September 10, 1775.[5] The boycott was successfully implemented, but its potential for altering
British colonial policy was cut off by the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War.
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, the Congress resolved on October 21, 1774 to send letters of invitation to
Quebec, Saint John's Island (now Prince Edward Island), Nova Scotia, Georgia, East Florida, and
West Florida.[8] However, letters appear to have been sent only to Quebec (three letters in all).
None of these other colonies sent delegates to the opening of the second Congress, though a
delegation from Georgia arrived the following July.[9]
[edit] List of delegates
#
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Name
Nathaniel Folsom
John Sullivan
John Adams
Samuel Adams
Thomas Cushing
Robert Treat Paine
Stephen Hopkins
Samuel Ward
Silas Deane
Eliphalet Dyer
Roger Sherman
James Duane
John Jay
Philip Livingston
Isaac Low
Simon Boerum
John Haring
Henry Wisner
William Floyd
John Alsop
Stephen Crane
John De Hart
James Kinsey
William Livingston
Richard Smith
Edward Biddle
John Dickinson
Joseph Galloway
Charles Humphreys
Thomas Mifflin
John Morton
Colony
Notes
New Hampshire
New Hampshire
Massachusetts Lawyer
Massachusetts
Massachusetts
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
Rhode Island
Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut
New York
New York
New York
New York
New York
New York
New York
New York
New York
New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
Samuel Rhoads
Pennsylvania
George Ross
Pennsylvania
Thomas McKean
Delaware
George Read
Delaware
Caesar Rodney
Delaware
Samuel Chase
Maryland
Robert Goldsborough Maryland
Thomas Johnson
Maryland
William Paca
Maryland
Matthew Tilghman Maryland
Richard Bland
Virginia
Benjamin Harrison Virginia
Patrick Henry
Virginia
Richard Henry Lee Virginia
Edmund Pendleton Virginia
Peyton Randolph
Virginia
George Washington Virginia
Richard Caswell
North Carolina
Joseph Hewes
North Carolina
William Hooper
North Carolina
Christopher Gadsden South Carolina
Thomas Lynch, Jr. South Carolina
Henry Middleton
South Carolina
Edward Rutledge
South Carolina
John Rutledge
South Carolina
[edit] See also
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List of delegates to the Continental and Confederation congresses
Papers of the Continental Congress
Timeline of United States revolutionary history (1760–1789)
Second Continental Congress
[edit] Notes
1. ^ Ferling, John. (2003). A Leap in the Dark. Oxford University Press. p. 112.
2. ^ Risjord, Norman K. (2002). Jefferson's America, 1760-1815. Rowman & Littlefield.
p. 114.
3. ^ a b Greene, Evarts Boutell (1922). The Foundations of American Nationality. American
Book Company.. p. . 434.
4. ^ Miller, Marion Mills (1913). Great Debates in American Hist: From the Debates in the
British Parliament on the Colonial Stamp. Current Literature Pub. Butts. Co. p. 91.
5. ^ a b c Kramnick, Isaac (ed); Thomas Paine (1982). Common Sense. Penguin Classics.
p. 21.
6. ^ Ketchum, pg. 262
7. ^ Launitz-Schurer pg. 144
8. ^ Worthington C. Ford, et al., Library of Congress (United States), ed (1774 (printed
1901)). Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. p. 101.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgibin/ampage?collId=lljc&fileName=001/lljc001.db&recNum=109. Retrieved Feb. 7,
2010.
9. ^ Worthington C. Ford, et al., ed. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789.
pp. 2:192–193. http://memory.loc.gov/cgibin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(jc00266)).
[edit] References
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Bancroft, George. History of the United States of America, from the discovery of the
American continent. (1854-78), vol 4-10 online edition
Burnett, Edmund C. (1975) [1941]. The Continental Congress. Greenwood Publishing.
ISBN 0-8371-8386-3.
Henderson, H. James (2002) [1974]. Party Politics in the Continental Congress. Rowman
& Littlefield. ISBN 0-8191-6525-5.
Launitz-Schurer, Loyal Whigs and Revolutionaries, The making of the revolution in New
York, 1765-1776, 1980, ISBN 0-8147-4994-1
Ketchum, Richard, Divided Loyalties, How the American Revolution came to New York,
2002, ISBN 0805061207
Miller, John C. Origins of the American Revolution (1943) online edition
Puls, Mark, Samuel Adams, father of the American Revolution, 2006, ISBN 1403975825
Montross, Lynn (1970) [1950]. The Reluctant Rebels; the Story of the Continental
Congress, 1774–1789. Barnes & Noble. ISBN 0-389-03973-X.
Primary sources
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Peter Force, ed. American Archives, 9 vol 1837-1853, major compilation of documents
1774-1776. online edition
[edit] External links
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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)
[show]
v•d•e
Pennsylvania during the American Revolutionary War
[show]
v•d•e
Location of the capital of the United States and predecessors
Preceded by
-
Legislature of the United States
5 September 1774 to 26 October 1774
Succeeded by
the Second Continental
Congress