1st 1774 - 2nd 1775, 1776

The First Continental Congress was attended by 56 delegates representing 12 colonies. Georgia sent no delegates but agreed to support any plans made at the meeting. Leaders of the Congress included Samuel Adams [1], George Washington, Peyton Randolph, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, John Adams, John Jay, Joseph Galloway, and John Dickinson. Peyton Randolph [2] of Virginia was chosen president of the Congress, and each of the 12 colonies had equal voting power.

The first Congress sought fair treatment from Britain rather than independence. It set forth the position of the colonies toward taxation and trade in a Declaration of Rights, adopted on Oct. 14, 1774. The Congress declared that Parliament had no right to pass laws that affected America, except possibly in the area of foreign trade. It claimed the right of each colonial assembly to regulate its own internal affairs.

Probably the boldest act of the Congress was to set up the Continental Association (below), which bound the colonists not to trade with Great Britain or use British goods until British trade and taxation policies had been changed. The delegates made plans to hold another Congress the following May, if necessary.

[1] Biographies of delegates that signed the DOI and/or the Constitution:
Founders Page

[2] In addition to Peyton Randolph, the presidents of the Congress were:
Henry Middleton, John Hancock, Henry Laurens, John Jay, Samuel Huntington, Thomas McKean, John Hanson, Elias Boudinot, Thomas Mifflin, Richard Henry Lee, Nathaniel Gorham, Arthur St. Clair, and Cyrus Griffin.

See Letter of William Livingston

Contributor: Jack N. Rakove, Ph.D., Prof. of History, Stanford Univ.

Contributor: William Morgan Fowler, Jr., Ph.D., Prof. of History, Northeastern Univ.; Editor, The New England Quarterly.

SOURCE: IBM 1999 WORLD BOOK