The First Continental Congress, a brazen present of each defiance and union by the American colonies on the street to revolution, met on this present day in historical past, Sept. 5, 1774.
It was the primary time lots of the transformative figures in human historical past often known as the Founding Fathers would meet.
John Adams, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, John Jay and George Washington all attended the conference at Carpenters’ Corridor in Philadelphia.
The gathering of colonial leaders was sparked by the more and more dire battle — a strain cooker of punishments and protests — that was brewing between Parliament and town of Boston.
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“Throughout North America, colonists rose in solidarity with the folks of Massachusetts,” notes the library of George Washington’s Mount Vernon on the origins in regards to the Continental Congress.
The conference got here within the wake of the Boston Tea Celebration of December 1773. Colonists responded to a brand new spherical of parliamentary taxes by dumping shipments of British tea into Boston Harbor.
Parliament doubled down with the Insupportable Acts of Might 1774.
They closed the port of Boston to commerce, revoked the Massachusetts constitution and severely restricted conferences of native authorities, amongst different affronts to a colony that had grown used to self-rule over the earlier 150-plus years.
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Colonial leaders have been surprised by the Insupportable Acts. They realized that Britain’s unchecked energy to financially and politically punish Massachusetts, which had no illustration in Parliament, may quickly strike them.
They demanded a unified colonial response.
“Items arrived in Massachusetts from as far south as Georgia, and by late spring 1774, 9 of the colonies referred to as for a continental congress. Virginia’s Committee of Correspondence is basically credited with originating the invitation,” states Mount Vernon.
The conference was seen throughout New England, and in Massachusetts particularly, as a rousing assertion of American autonomy within the face of rising animosity with Nice Britain.
There had been a rousing send-off for Continental Congress delegates.
“There had been a rousing send-off in Boston, on August 10, 1774, and in full view of British troops,” the late David McCullough wrote of the Massachusetts delegation’s departure for the conference in his 2001 “John Adams” biography.
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“It had been a triumphal, leisurely journey of almost three weeks, with welcoming events driving out to greet them at city after city. They have been feted and toasted, prayers have been stated, church bells rang,” MuCullough additionally wrote.
“At New Haven, ‘each bell was clanging,’ folks have been crowded in doorways and home windows ‘as if to see a coronation.'”
The First Continental Congress consisted of 56 delegates from 12 of the 13 authentic colonies — Georgia didn’t take part. It lasted by means of October 26.
The delegates have been divided on a plan of response to insupportable British insurance policies.
“Some most popular extra defensive and doubtlessly violent programs of motion, such because the Suffolk Resolves, whereas others believed in peaceable protest just like the Declaration of Rights,” writes the Boston Tea Celebration Ships & Museum.
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“Regardless of these difficulties, the delegates overcame such obstacles and produced a number of extremely vital outcomes of the First Continental Congress.”
“This was one of many happiest days of my life.” — John Adams
Probably the most daring resolution made by the Continental Congress was to undertake the Suffolk Resolves, which have been written in Boston, on September 17.
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Amongst different actions, the Resolves referred to as for Massachusetts to boycott British items, resign allegiance to the crown and stockpile army provides.
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“This was one of many happiest days of my life,” John Adams wrote in his diary.
“This present day satisfied me that America will help Massachusetts or perish together with her.”
British Redcoats marched from Boston on Lexington and Harmony on April 19, 1775, in an effort to grab that colonial cache of weapons.
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They have been met by Massachusetts Minutemen on Lexington Inexperienced and a bloody gunfight ensued.
The American Revolution had begun.
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A Second Continental Congress was held in 1776 with the struggle underway.
That second conference would, on July 4, 1776, publicly sever America’s allegiance as soon as and for all to Nice Britain.