CONTINENTAL CONGRESS

CONTINENTAL CONGRESS

The first national legislative assembly in the United States, existing from 1774 to 1789.

During its fifteen-year existence, the Continental Congress served as the chief legislative and executive body of the federal government. Although hobbled by provisions such as an inability to raise funds directly through taxation, it nevertheless created a viable, if sometimes ineffective, national union during the earliest years of the United States. The Continental Congress passed the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE and other lasting measures, and it set important precedents for the government instituted under the Constitution in 1789. Some of the most important figures of early American history were members of the Continental Congress, including JOHN ADAMS, Samuel Adams, SAMUEL CHASE, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, ALEXANDER HAMILTON, PATRICK HENRY, JOHN JAY, THOMAS JEFFERSON, JAMES MADISON, and GEORGE WASHINGTON.

The First Continental Congress met in
Philadelphia between September 5 and October
26, 1774. Although it was officially called simply
the Congress, contemporaries referred to it as
the Continental Congress in order to distinguish
it from the various state congresses. Fifty-six
delegates from twelve colonies (Georgia did not
participate) assembled in an attempt to unite the
colonies and restore rights and liberties that had
been curtailed by Great Britain. The Continental
Congress adopted the Declaration of Rights,
agreements regarding common policies toward
Britain, and a resolution that it would meet
again the following year if its grievances were
not settled.

When Britain rebuffed their demands, the
colonists assembled the Second Continental
Congress in May of 1775, again in Philadelphia.
Fighting between Britain and Massachusetts at
the Battles of Lexington and Concord had
already occurred, and the Continental Congress
voted to back Massachusetts. It appointed
George Washington as commander in chief of
colonial armed forces. With this decision, Congress
undertook a vital role directing the Revolutionary
War.

As the war continued, colonial opinion
began to move toward permanent separation
from Great Britain. On July 4, 1776, the Continental
Congress adopted the Declaration of
Independence, which announced the formation
of the United States of America as a new nation.
In succeeding months, the Congress drafted the
ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION, the new country’s
first constitution. The Congress approved the Articles on November 15, 1777, but the
states did not ratify them until 1781.
The Articles contained provisions for a
national legislature designated simply Congress.
Although some historians have called this subsequent
body the Congress of the Confederation,
most group it with its predecessor and call it the
Continental Congress. In this Congress, each
state had from two to seven delegates but only
one vote. Delegates were to serve no more than
“three years in any term of six years” (art. V).
During the struggle to approve and then ratify
the Articles, the advocates of STATES’ RIGHTS
greatly weakened its provisions for a strong federal,
or national, government. As a result, the
Articles did not allow the federal government to
raise its own funds directly through taxation.
Instead, the central government could only requisition
money from the states. The Articles also
required a unanimous vote of Congress to
approve any amendments, a feature that made it
difficult to adapt their provisions to the changing
needs of the nation. In addition, Congress as
it was constituted under the Articles proved ill
suited to tasks that the Constitution later
assigned to the EXECUTIVE BRANCH, including
the conduct of diplomatic, military, and commercial
affairs. For example, Congress fared
poorly in negotiating with Britain and France, in
paying war debts, and in putting down armed
revolts such as SHAYS’S REBELLION.
The problems of the Continental Congress
and the Articles of Confederation led to plans
for a new federal constitution. During the Constitutional
Convention of 1787, leading members
of the Continental Congress joined with
other politicians and lawmakers to create a
framework for a new national government,
including a new Congress. Following ratification
of the Constitution by the states in 1789, the
Continental Congress handed over its legislative
powers to the Congress that continues in form
to the present day.

Although the Continental Congress had weaknesses, it nevertheless 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 Continental Congress . . . developed and formulated many of those fundamental principles of government that have become our national heritage. Indeed it is not too much to say that [a] great part of the materials built into the structure of the Constitution itself were wrought in the forge of the Continental Congress.

FURTHER READINGS
Burnett, Edmund C. 1941. The Continental Congress. New York: Macmillan.

Davis, Derek H. 2000. Religion and the Continental Congress, 1774-1789: Contributions to Original Intent. New York: Oxford Univ. Press

McCormick, Richard P. 1997. “Ambiguous Authority: The Ordinances of the Confederation Congress, 1781-1789.” American Journal of Legal History 41 (October): 411–39.

CROSS-REFERENCES
Congress of the United States; Constitution of the United States; “Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms” (Appendix, Primary Document); Northwest Ordinance.