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TheContinental Congress was a series oflegislative bodies, with some executive function, who acted as theProvisional Government for theThirteen Colonies ofGreat Britain in North America, and the newly declaredUnited States before, during, and after theAmerican Revolutionary War. The Continental Congress refers to both theFirst andSecond Congresses of 1774–1781 and at the time, also described theCongress of the Confederation of 1781–1789. The Confederation Congress operated as the first federal government until being replaced following ratification of theU.S. Constitution. Until 1785, the Congress met predominantly at what is todayIndependence Hall inPhiladelphia, though it was relocated temporarily on several occasions during the Revolutionary War and thefall of Philadelphia.
The First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia in 1774 in response to escalating tensions between the colonies and the British, which culminated in passage of theIntolerable Acts by theBritish Parliament following theBoston Tea Party. The First Congress met for about six weeks, mainly to try to repair the fraying relationship between Britain and the colonies while asserting therights of colonists, proclaiming and passing theContinental Association, which was a unified trade embargo against Britain, and successfully building consensus for establishment of a second congress. The Second Continental Congress convened in 1775, soon afterhostilities broke out in Massachusetts. Soon after meeting, the Second Congress sent theOlive Branch Petition toKing George III, established theContinental Army, and electedGeorge Washington commander of the new army. After the king issued theProclamation of Rebellion in August 1775 in response to theBattle of Bunker Hill, some members of the Second Congress concluded that peace with Britain would not be forthcoming, and began working towards unifying the colonies into a new nation. The body adopted theLee Resolution for Independence on July 2, 1776, and theDeclaration of Independence two days later, on July 4, 1776, proclaiming that the former colonies were nowindependent sovereign states.
The Second Continental Congress served as theprovisional government of the U.S. during most of the Revolutionary War. In March 1781, the nation's firstFrame of Government, theArticles of Confederationand Perpetual Union,came into force, and thus the body became what later was called the Congress of the Confederation. Thisunicameral governing body would convene in eight sessions before adjourning in 1789, when the1st United States Congress under the new Constitution of the United States took over the role as the nation's legislative branch of government.
Both the First and Second Continental Congresses convened in Philadelphia, though when the city was captured during the Revolutionary War, the Second Congress was forced to meet in other locations for a time. The Congress of Confederation was also established in Philadelphia and later moved toNew York City, which served as theU.S. capital from 1785 to 1790.
Much of what is known today about the daily activities of these congresses comes from the journals kept by the secretary for all three congresses,Charles Thomson. Printed contemporaneously, theJournals of the Continental Congress contain the officialcongressional papers, letters, treaties, reports and records. The delegates to the Continental and Confederation congresses had extensive experience indeliberative bodies, with "a cumulative total of nearly 500 years of experience in theirColonial assemblies, and fully a dozen of them had served asspeakers of the houses of their legislatures."[1]
The initial idea for the development of the Continental Congress, including theThirteen Colonies inBritish America, first arose in 1754 at the start of theFrench and Indian War, which started as theNorth American front of theSeven Years' War betweenBritain andFrance. Initially known as theAlbany Congress, the Congress met inAlbany, New York, from June 18 to July 11, 1754, and representatives from seven of the thirteen colonies attended. Among the delegates wasBenjamin Franklin ofPhiladelphia, who proposed that the colonies join in aconfederation. Though the idea of a confederation was rejected, Franklin and others continued to argue that the colonies should act more cohesively. At the beginning of theAmerican Revolution,committees of correspondence began building the foundation for interaction between the thirteen colonial states.
In 1765, theBritish Parliament passed theStamp Act requiring that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp. The act provoked the ire of merchants inNew York City,Boston, andPhiladelphia, who responded by placing an embargo on British imports until the Stamp Act was repealed. To present a united front in their opposition, delegates from several provinces met in theStamp Act Congress, which convened in New York City from October 7 through 25, 1765. It issued aDeclaration of Rights and Grievances, which it sent toParliament. Under pressure from British companies hurt by the embargo, the government ofPrime MinisterLord Rockingham and KingGeorge III relented, and the Stamp Act was repealed in March 1766.
The colonists' resistance to the Stamp Act served as a catalyst for subsequent acts of resistance. TheTownshend Acts, which imposed indirect taxes on various items not produced within the colonies, and created a more effective means of enforcing compliance with trade regulations, passed by Parliament in 1767 and 1768, sparked renewed animosity in the colonies, which eventually resulted in theBoston Massacre of 1770. Three years later, theTea Act, which granted theBritish East India Company the right to directly ship its tea to North America and the right to the duty-free export of tea from Great Britain, became law, exacerbating the colonists' resentment toward the British government, inciting the December 1773Boston Tea Party,[2] and inspiring the September 1774Suffolk Resolves.[3]
TheFirst Continental Congress met briefly inCarpenter's Hall inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, from September 5 to October 26, 1774. Delegates from twelve of theThirteen Colonies that would ultimately join in theRevolutionary War participated. OnlyGeorgia, whereLoyalist feelings still outweighedPatriotic emotion, and which relied upon Great Britain for military supplies to defend settlers against possibleIndian attacks, did not, nor did East and West Florida, which at the time werealso British colonies. Altogether, 56 delegates attended, includingGeorge Washington,Patrick Henry, andJohn Adams. Other notable delegates includedSamuel Adams fromMassachusetts Bay andJoseph Galloway andJohn Dickinson from thePennsylvania.[4]Peyton Randolph of Virginia was its president.
Benjamin Franklin put forward the idea of such a meeting the year before, but he was unable to convince the colonies of its necessity until theRoyal Navy instituted ablockade ofBoston Harbor and Parliament passed the punitiveIntolerable Acts in 1774, in response to theBoston Tea Party. During the congress, delegates organized aneconomic boycott of Great Britain in protest andpetitioned the King for aredress of grievances. The colonies were united in their effort to demonstrate to themother country their authority by virtue of their common causes and their unity, but their ultimate objectives were inconsistent. Most delegates were not yet ready to break away from Great Britain, but they most definitely wanted the king and parliament to act in what they considered a fairer manner. Delegates from the provinces of Pennsylvania andNew York were given firm instructions to pursue a resolution with Great Britain. While the other colonies all held the idea of colonial rights as paramount, they were split between those who sought legislative equality with Britain and those who instead favored independence and a break fromthe Crown and its excesses.
In London, Parliament debated the merits of meeting the demands made by the colonies; however, it took no official notice of Congress's petitions and addresses. On November 30, 1774,King George III openedParliament with a speech condemning Massachusetts and the Suffolk Resolves, prompting the Continental Congress to convene again.[5]
TheSecond Continental Congress convened on May 10, 1775, at Pennsylvania'sState House inPhiladelphia shortly after the start of theRevolutionary War. Initially, it functioned as ade facto common government by raising armies, directing strategy, appointing diplomats, and making formal treaties. The Thirteen Colonies were represented when in the following year it adopted aresolution for independence on July 2, 1776, and two days later approved theDeclaration of Independence.Thomas Jefferson drafted the declaration, andJohn Adams was a leader in the debates in favor of its adoption. Afterward, the Congress functioned as theprovisional government of the United States of America through March 1, 1781.[6]
To govern the war effort and to foster unity among thestates, Congress created variousstanding committees to handle war-related activities, such as the committee of secret correspondence, the treasury board, the board of war and ordnance, and the navy board. Much work was also done in smallad hoc committees.[7] One such small group was tasked with developing aconstitution toperpetuate the new Union. Such an agreement, theArticles of Confederation was approved by Congress on November 15, 1777, and sent to the states forratification.[8]
The Articles of Confederationcame into force on March 1, 1781, after being ratified by allThirteen Colonies, and theSecond Continental Congress became theCongress of the Confederation, which was officially styled as the "United States in Congress Assembled", aunicameral body composed of delegates from the several states.[9] A guiding principle of the Articles was to preserve theindependence andsovereignty of the states. The weakcentral government established by the Articles received only those powers which the former colonies had recognized as belonging to king and parliament.[10] Congress had the power to declare war, sign treaties, and settle disputes between the states. It could also borrow or print money, but did not have the power to tax.[9] It helped guide the United States through the final stages of the Revolutionary War, but steeply declined in authority afterward.[citation needed]
During peacetime, there were two important, long-lasting acts of the Confederation Congress:[11]
Under the Articles of Confederation, the Confederation Congress had little power to compel the individual states to comply with its decisions. More and more prospective delegates elected to the Confederation Congress declined to serve in it. The leading men in each State preferred to serve in the state governments, and thus the Continental Congress had frequent difficulties in establishing aquorum. This divide made the colonies weak and the purpose of the congress was to make them stronger. When the Articles of Confederation were superseded by theConstitution of the United States, the Confederation Congress was superseded by theUnited States Congress.
The Confederation Congress ultimately established a suitable administrative structure for the Federal government, which placed into operation a federal government comprising three departments (finance, war, and foreign affairs), led by three ministers for each respective department.Robert Morris was selected as the new Superintendent of Finance, and then Morris secured a loan from theFrench government to deal with his empty treasury and also runaway inflation, for a number of years, in the supply of paper money.
As the ambassador to France,Benjamin Franklin secured the loan for a common budget, and also persuaded France to send an army of about 6,000 soldiers to the United States and to dispatch a large squadron of French warships underComte de Grasse to the coasts ofVirginia andNorth Carolina. These French warships were decisive at theBattle of Yorktown along the coast of Virginia by preventingLord Cornwallis's British troops from receiving supplies, reinforcements, or evacuation via theJames River andHampton Roads.[12]
Robert Morris, the Minister of Finance, persuaded Congress to charter theBank of North America on December 31, 1781. Although a private bank, the Federal Government acquired partial ownership with money lent by France. The Bank of North America played a major role in financing the war againstGreat Britain. The combined armies ofGeorge Washington andNathanael Greene, with the help of the French Army and Navy, defeated the British in the Battle of Yorktown during October 1781. Lord Cornwallis was forced to sue for peace and to surrender his entire army to General Washington.
During 1783, the Americans secured the official recognition of the independence of the United States fromGreat Britain following negotiations with British diplomats inParis, which culminated with the signing of theTreaty of Paris on September 3, 1783. The Treaty of Paris was later ratified by the British Parliament.[9]
Both theBritish Parliament and many of their owncolonial assemblies had powerfulspeakers of the house and standing committees with strong chairmen, withexecutive power held by the British Monarch or the colonial Governor. However, the organization of the Continental Congress was based less on the British Parliament or on local colonial assemblies than on the 1765 Stamp Act Congress. Nine delegates to that congress were in attendance at the First Congress in 1774, and their perspective ongovernance influenced the direction of both the Continental Congresses and the later Confederation Congress. Congress took on powers normally held by the BritishKing-in-Council, such as foreign and military affairs. However, the right to tax and regulate trade was reserved for the states, not Congress. Congress had no formal way to enforce its ordinances on the state governments. Delegates were responsible to and reported directly to their home state assemblies; an organizational structure that Neil Olsen has described as "an extreme form ofmatrix management".[13]
Delegates chose a presidingpresident to monitor the debate, maintain order, and make sure journals were kept and documents and letters were published and delivered. After the colonies declared their independence in 1776 and united as a quasi-federation to fight for their freedom, the president functioned ashead of state (not of the country, but of its central government). Otherwise, the office was "more honorable than powerful".[14] Congress also elected a secretary, scribe, doorman, messenger, and Chaplain.
The rules of Congress guaranteed the right to debate and open access to the floor for each delegate. Additionally, to ensure that each state would be on anequal footing with the others, voting on ordinances was doneen bloc, with each state having a single vote. Prior to casting itsyay ornay vote, preliminary votes were taken within each state delegation. The majority vote determined here was considered the vote of the state on the motion; in cases of a tie the vote for the state was marked as divided, and was not counted.
Turnover of delegates was high, with an average year-to-year turnover rate of 37% by one calculation,[15] and 39% by session-to-session.[16] Of the 343 serving delegates, only 55% (187 delegates) spent 12 or more months in attendance.[15] Only 25 of the delegates served longer than 35 months.[17] This high rate of turnover was not just a characteristic, it was due to a deliberate policy ofterm limits. In the Confederation phase of the Congress, "no delegate was permitted to serve more than three years in any six".[18] Attendance was variable: while in session, between 54 and 22 delegates were in attendance at any one time, with an average of only 35.5 members attending between 1774 and 1788.[19]
There is a long-running debate on how effective the Congress was as an organization.[20] The first critic may have been GeneralGeorge Washington. In anaddress to his officers, at Newburgh, New York, on March 15, 1783, responding to complaints that Congress had not funded their pay and pensions, he stated that he believed that Congress would do the army "complete justice" and eventually pay the soldiers. "But, like all other large Bodies, where there is a variety of different Interests to reconcile, their deliberations are slow."
In addition to their slowness, the lack of coercive power in the Continental Congress was harshly criticized byJames Madison when arguing for the need of aFederal Constitution. His comment inVices of the Political System of April 1787 set the conventional wisdom on the historical legacy of the institution for centuries to come:
A sanction is essential to the idea of law, as coercion is to that of Government. The federal system being destitute of both, wants the great vital principles of a Political Cons[ti]tution. Under the form of such a Constitution, it is in fact nothing more than a treaty of amity of commerce and of alliance, between so many independent and Sovereign States. From what cause could so fatal an omission have happened in the Articles of Confederation? From a mistaken confidence that the justice, the good faith, the honor, the sound policy, of the several legislative assemblies would render superfluous any appeal to the ordinary motives by which the laws secure the obedience of individuals: a confidence which does honor to the enthusiastic virtue of the compilers, as much as the inexperience of the crisis apologizes for their errors.
— James Madison,Vices of the Political System
Political scientists Calvin Jillson and Rick Wilson in the 1980s accepted the conventional interpretation on the weakness of the Congress due to the lack of coercive power. They explored the role ofleadership, or rather the lack of it, in the Continental Congress. Going beyond even Madison's harsh critique, they used the "analytical stance of what has come to be called thenew institutionalism"[21] to demonstrate that "the norms, rules, and institutional structures of the Continental Congress" were equally to blame "for the institution's eventual failure", and that the "institutional structure worked against, rather than with, the delegates in tackling the crucial issues of the day."[22]
HistorianRichard P. McCormick suggested that Madison's "extreme judgment" on the Congress was "motivated no doubt by Madison's overriding desire to create a new central government that would be empowered to veto the acts of state legislatures,"[23] but that it fails "to take any notice of the fact that while the authority of the Confederation Congress was ambiguous, it was not a nullity".[24]
Benjamin Irvin in his social and cultural history of the Continental Congress, praised "the invented traditions by which Congress endeavored to fortify the resistance movement and to make meaning of American independence."[25] But he noted that after the war's end, "Rather than passively adopting the Congress's creations, the American people embraced, rejected, reworked, ridiculed, or simply ignored them as they saw fit."[26]
Anorganizational culture analysis of the Continental Congress by Neil Olsen, looking for the values, norms, and underlying assumptions that drive an organization's decisions, noted that "the leaderless Continental Congress outperformed not only the modern congress run by powerful partisan hierarchies, but modern government and corporate entities, for all their coercive power and vaunted skills as 'leaders'."[27] Looking at their mission as defined by state resolutions and petitions entered into theCongressional Journal on its first day,[28] it found that on the common issues of the relief of Boston, securing Colonial rights, eventually restoring harmonious relations with Great Britain, and repealing taxes, they overachieved their mission goals, defeated the largest army and navy in the world, and created two new types of republic.[29] Olsen suggests that the Congress, if slow, when judged by its many achievements – not the least being recognizing its flaws, then replacing and terminating itself – was a success.
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