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A History | Constitutional Convention and the Continental Congress
Constitutional Convention and the Continental Congress
Britain responded to the Boston Tea Party in 1774 by passing several laws that became known in America as the
Intolerable Acts. One law closed Boston Harbor until Bostonians paid for the destroyed tea. Another law
restricted the activities of the Massachusetts legislature and gave added powers to the post of governor of
Massachusetts. Those powers in effect made him a dictator. The American colonists were very angered by these
forceful acts. In response to these actions and laws, the colonist banded together to fight back. Several
committees of colonists called for a convention of delegates from the colonies to organize resistance to the
Intolerable Acts. The convention was later to be called the Continental Congress.
The First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia from Sept. 5 to Oct. 26, 1774, to protest the Intolerable
Acts. Representatives attended from all the colonies except Georgia. The leaders included Samuel Adams and
John Adams of Massachusetts and George Washington and Patrick Henry of Virginia. The Congress voted to cut off
colonial trade with Great Britain unless Parliament abolished the Intolerable Acts. It approved resolutions
advising the colonies to begin training their citizens for war. They also attempted to define America's rights,
Association to enforce an embargo against England. By the time the first meeting of the Continental Congress
ended, hostilities had begun between Britain and the colonies.
> Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress - October 14, 1774
> The Resolutions and Recommendations of Congress - May 10-15, 1776
Related Resources
Elliot's Debates
(The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution) 5 volumes
The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution were compiled by
Jonathan Elliot in the mid-nineteenth century. They stand today as the best source for materials for the
period between the closing of the Constitutional Convention in September 1787 and the opening of the first
Federal Congress in March 1789.
Farrand's Record (The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787) 3 volumes
One of the great scholarly efforts of the early twentieth century was Max Farrand's gathering of the
documentary records of the Constitutional Convention. Published in 1911, The Records of the Federal Convention
of 1787 contained the materials necessary for a study of the workings of the Constitutional Convention.
Farrand's Records remains the single best source for discussions of the Constitutional Convention.
Journals of the Continental Congress 34 volumes
The Journals of the Continental Congress are the records of the daily proceedings of the Congress as kept by
the office of its secretary, Charles Thomson. The Journals were printed contemporaneously in different editions
and in several subsequent reprint editions.
Thomas Jefferson Papers
The complete Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress consists of approximately 27,000 documents
ranging in date from 1606 to 1827. Correspondence, memoranda, notes, and drafts of documents make up two-thirds
of the Papers. Jefferson's two administrations as president from 1801 to 1809 are well-documented, as are his
activities as a delegate to the second Continental Congress, his drafting of the Declaration of Independence in
June-July 1776, his service as governor of Virginia, 1779-81, his return to Congress as a representative,
1783-84, and his appointment as minister plenipotentiary in Europe and then minister to the Court of Louis XVI,
1784-89. Correspondence, drawings, maps, and notes document the building of Washington, D.C. Some of Jefferson's
legal and literary commonplace books, miscellaneous bound volumes of notes and extracts, and manuscript volumes
relating to seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Virginia history were part of the personal library he sold to
Congress in 1815 and are included in this collection.
George Washington Papers
The online version of the George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress offers access to the complete
collection from the Library's Manuscript Division. This consists of approximately 65,000 items (176,000 pages).
Correspondence, letterbooks, commonplace books, diaries and journals, reports, notes, financial account books,
and military papers accumulated by George Washington from 1741 through 1799 are organized into 8 Series, which
will be published successively.
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