Continental Congress

From TheBestLinks.com

The Continental Congress was the federal legislature of the Thirteen Colonies and later of the United States from 1774 to 1789, a period that included the American Revolutionary War and the Articles of Confederation. There were two Continental Congresses.

Table of contents

1 The First Continental Congress 2 The Second Continental Congress 3 Dates and Places of Sessions 4 See also 5 External links 6 Further reading

The First Continental Congress

The Stamp Act Congress, formed by colonials to respond to the unpopular Stamp Act taxes, was the direct precursor of the Continental Congress, which was itself formed largely in response to the so-called Intolerable Acts. The First Continental Congress was planned through the permanent committees of correspondence, which kept the local colonial governments in communication with one another as their common opposition to Britain grew. It lasted only from September 5, 1774, to October 26, 1774, i Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Peyton Randolph served as the first President of the Continental Congress.

One of the major accomplishments of the First Continental Congress was the drafting of the Articles of Association on October 20. The Articles formed a compact among twelve of the thirteen colonies to boycott British goods, and to cease exports to Britain as well if the "Intolerable Acts" were not repealed. The boycott was successfully implemented, but its potential at altering British colonial policy was cut off by the outbreak of open fighting in 1775.

The Second Continental Congress

The Second Continental Congress ran from May 10, 1775, to March 2, 1789, but met in different places at different times. (See the external link below for the daily records of its proceedings.)

In 1775 the Congress began to support actual rebellion. They created the Continental Army and issued currency, (in the form of the Continental Dollar).

Dates and Places of Sessions

First Congress:

• Sept. 5, 1774- Oct. 26, 1774 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Second Congress:

• May 10, 1775- Dec. 12, 1776
• Dec. 20, 1776- Mar. 4, 1777 Baltimore, Maryland
• Mar. 5, 1777- Sept. 18- 1777 Philadelphia
• Sept. 27, 1777 (one day only) Lancaster, Pennsylvania
• Sept. 30, 1777- June 27, 1778 York, Pennsylvania
• July 2, 1778- June 21, 1783 Philadelphia
• June 30, 1783- Nov. 4, 1783 Princeton, New Jersey
• Nov. 26, 1783- June 3, 1784 Annapolis, Maryland
• Nov. 1, 1784- Dec. 24, 1784 Trenton, New Jersey
• Jan 11, 1785- Nov. 4, 1785 New York, New York
• Nov. 7, 1785- Nov. 3, 1786
• Nov. 6, 1786- Oct. 30, 1787
• Nov. 5, 1787- Oct. 21, 1788
• Nov. 3, 1788- Mar. 2, 1789

See also

• History of the United States (1776-1789)
• List of Continental Congress Delegates
• President of the Continental Congress
• Articles of Confederation

External links

• Full text of Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789 (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwjclink.html)

Further reading

• Edmund C. Burnet;"The Continental Congress"; 1941; 1975 reprint, Greenwood Publishing, ISBN 0837183863.
• H. James Henderson; "Party Politics in the Continental Congress"; 1974, McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0070281432; 2002 (paperback) reprint, Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 0819165255.
• Lynn Montross; "The Reluctant Rebels; the Story of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789"; 1950, Harper; 1970 reprint, Barnes & Noble, ISBN 038903973X.

de:Kontinentalkongress pl:Kongres Kontynentalny

Related links

---

Top visited 0 of 0 links

[no links posted yet]

>> place link >>

Discussion

Last posted 0 of 0 messages

[no messages posted yet]

>> post message >>

Watch

You can add this article to your own "watchlist" and receive e-mail notification about all changes in this page.