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Continental Congress
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The Continental Congress is the first and forgotten government of the United States It sprang up in 1774 in response to the first of the Coercive Acts, the British closure of Boston Harbor. The Congress attempted to coordinate the activities of what were still thirteen British colonies to preserve their rights as Englishman. It did so without any formal grant of powers, no charter, no Articles of Confederation, no Constitution. It did not lead the colonists into armed conflict with Great Britain. The militia at Lexington and Concord did that in April of 1775. The Congress' greatest accomplishments were the appointment of
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The Continental Congress was the first de facto national government of the United States. It was a provisional government without a legal basis and was completely dependent on the colonies for political direction, funding and other resources. It comprised two successive bodies of representatives of provinces of the Thirteen Colonies in 18th century British North America. The colonies all became states in 1776 when they rejected colonial status: The First Continental Congress met from September 5, 1774, to October 26, 1774.
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Although the Continental Congress had weaknesses, it ... passed crucial legislation and set vital precedents for the framing of the Constitution. Its legislative legacy includes the establishment of the Northwest Territory, provisions for the sale and oversight of western land, and many other laws adopted by the later Congress. According to Edmund C. Burnett, a leading historian on the subject, the
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The Continental Congress successfully urged the states to cede their land claims to it and promised that the territory so ceded would be erected into new states having full equality with the old. New York and Virginia ceded their claims in 1781 and 1783. Virginia ceded its lands in Ohio on condition of being allowed to reserve for itself the Military District between the Scioto and Little Miami rivers to satisfy military grants made during the Revolution. Virginia ... retained its land south of the Ohio, which became the state of Kentucky in 1791. In 1785, Massachusetts ceded its claim to a belt of land extending across the present states of Michigan and Wisconsin, and in the following year, Connecticut ceded its western lands. Connecticut reserved to itself a tract of 3.8 million acres in northeastern Ohio — called the Western Reserve — a part of which was set aside for the relief of Connecticut sufferers whose property had been destroyed by the British during the Revolution.
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The first Continental Congress summoned a second congress to meet in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775 if the king didn't approve of their petition. The king didn't approve of it because he wanted power over the colonies. The delegates, including Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams, were elected by colonial assemblies. Later, they were urged to form committees and assume governmental duties. Most of the delegates still hoped for peace with Britain, but by the end of 1775, the possibility faded. In August, the British monarch issued a proclamation to stop rebellion and sedition in the colonies.
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From this time the Continental Congress were less timid. From the beginning they had evinced a determination to sustain Massachusetts in her defence of her charter. Now they assumed comprehensive authority with out any fixed limits of action. They did not wait for the result of their petition to the king, but went forward in preparations for a struggle for life. They exercised supreme executive, legislative, and sometimes judicial functions; and in the ready obedience to their mandates observed by the several colonies, they derived their authority. The supporters of the Congress throughout the land were so strong in character and intelligence, that, from the summer of 1775 until the end of the war, that body never lacked moral strength for the exercise of the functions of a nations government.
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Continental Congress