May 10, 1775

The British government had ignored the first Congress, and fighting broke out between Massachusetts farmers and British troops at Lexington and Concord in April 1775. The Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775. New delegates of note were Benjamin Franklin [1], Thomas Jefferson, and John Hancock. The Congress took on many governmental duties, uniting the colonies for a fight. An army was organized, and George Washington was appointed commander-in-chief on June 16. On July 8, 1775, the Congress issued a declaration setting forth the need to take up arms and the reasons for doing so. On July 10, it made a final, futile appeal to the king in an effort to right matters without additional fighting.

With the outbreak of war, the Second Continental Congress encouraged the colonies to adopt new republican governments. On July 4, 1776, the Congress approved the Declaration of Independence. Then it drew up an outline for a permanent union of states that resulted in the Articles of Confederation, the first federal constitution of the United States. The second Congress operated under great difficulties, because it depended on the states to carry out many of its decisions. On March 1, 1781, Maryland became the last of the states to ratify the Articles of Confederation. After ratification, the Congress was known as the Congress of the Confederation, but many people continued to call it the Continental Congress.

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

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