First Continental Congress

First Continental Congress
Type
Type	Unicameral
History
Established	September 5, 1774
Disbanded	October 26, 1774
Preceded by	Stamp Act Congress
Succeeded by	Second Continental Congress
Leadership
President	Peyton Randolph   (through October 22, 1774) Henry Middleton
Secretary	Charles Thomson
Seats	56 from 12 of the 13 colonies
Meeting place
Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia

This article is part of a series on the
United States Continental Congress
Independence Hall in Philadelphia
Predecessors
Albany Congress Stamp Act Congress
First Continental Congress
Declaration and Resolves Continental Association Petition to the King
Second Continental Congress
United Colonies Olive Branch Petition Committee of Secret Correspondence Necessity of Taking Up Arms Lee Resolution Declaration of Independence Model Treaty Franco-American Treaty Articles of Confederation Perpetual Union Court of Appeals in Cases of Capture
Congress of the Confederation
Bank of North America Land Ordinance of 1784 / of 1785 Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Members
List of delegates Presidents of the Continental Congress Secretary of Foreign Affairs Superintendent of Finance Secretary at War Board of War Marine Committee Secretary of the Continental Congress
Related
Journals of the Continental Congress Carpenters' Hall Independence Hall Henry Fite House Nassau Hall Maryland State House French Arms Tavern Federal Hall
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The First Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates of 12 of the Thirteen Colonies held from September 5 to October 26, 1774 at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia at the beginning of the American Revolution. The meeting was organized by the delegates after the British Navy implemented a blockade of Boston Harbor and the Parliament of Great Britain passed the punitive Intolerable Acts in response to the Boston Tea Party.^[1]

During the opening weeks of the Congress, the delegates conducted a spirited discussion about how the colonies could collectively respond to the British government's coercive actions, and they worked to make a common cause. As a prelude to its decisions, the Congress's first action was the adoption of the Suffolk Resolves, a measure drawn up by several counties in Massachusetts that included a declaration of grievances, called for a trade boycott of British goods, and urged each colony to set up and train its own militia. A less radical plan was then proposed to create a Union of Great Britain and the Colonies, but the delegates tabled the measure and later struck it from the record of their proceedings.

The First Continental Congress agreed on a Declaration and Resolves that included the Continental Association, a proposal for an embargo on British trade. They also drew up a Petition to the King pleading for redress of their grievances and repeal of the Intolerable Acts. That appeal was unsuccessful, leading delegates from the colonies to convene the Second Continental Congress, also held in Philadelphia. the following May, shortly after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, to organize the defense of the colonies as the American Revolutionary War.