Milestones: 1776–1783 - Office of the Historian
Milestones: 1776–1783
Continental Congress, 1774–1781
The Continental Congress was the governing body by which the American colonial                     governments coordinated their resistance to British rule during the first two                     years of the American Revolution. The Congress balanced the interests of the                     different colonies and also established itself as the official colonial liaison                     to Great Britain. As the war progressed, the Congress                     became the effective national government of the country, and, as such, conducted                     diplomacy on behalf of the new United States.
The Continental Congress
In 1774, the British Parliament passed a series of laws collectively known as the                     Intolerable Acts, with the intent to suppress unrest in colonial Boston by                     closing the port and placing it under martial law. In response, colonial                     protestors led by a group called the Sons of Liberty issued a call for a                     boycott. Merchant communities were reluctant to participate in such a boycott                     unless there were mutually agreed upon terms and a means to enforce the                     boycott’s provisions. Spurred by local pressure groups, colonial legislatures                     empowered delegates to attend a Continental Congress which would set terms for a                     boycott. The colony of Connecticut was the first to respond.
The Congress first met in Philadelphia on September 5,                     1774, with delegates from each of the 13 colonies except Georgia. On October 20,                     the Congress adopted the Articles of Association, which stated that if the                     Intolerable Acts were not repealed by December 1, 1774, a boycott of British                     goods would begin in the colonies. The Articles also outlined plans for an                     embargo on exports if the Intolerable Acts were not repealed before September                     10, 1775.
On October 21, the delegates approved separate statements for the people of Great                     Britain and the North American colonies, explaining the colonial position, and                     on October 26 a similar address was approved for the people of Quebec.
Furthermore, on October 26, the delegates drafted a formal petition outlining the                     colonists' grievances for British King George III. Many                     delegates were skeptical about changing the king’s attitude towards the                     colonies, but believed that every opportunity should be exhausted to de-escalate                     the conflict before taking more radical action. They did not draft such a letter                     to the British Parliament as the colonists viewed the Parliament as the                     aggressor behind the recent Intolerable Acts. Lastly, not fully expecting the                     standoff in Massachusetts to explode into full-scale war, the Congress agreed to                     reconvene in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775.
By the time Congress met again, war was already underway, and thus the delegates                     to the Second Continental Congress formed the Continental Army and dispatched                     George Washington to Massachusetts as its commander. Meanwhile, Congress drafted                     the Olive Branch Petition, which attempted to suggest means of resolving                     disputes between the colonies and Great Britain. Congress sent the petition to                     King George III on July 8, but he refused to receive                     it.
As British authority crumbled in the colonies, the Continental Congress                     effectively took over as the de facto national government, thereby exceeding the                     initial authority granted to it by the individual colonial governments. However,                     the local groups that had formed to enforce the colonial boycott continued to                     support the Congress. The Second Congress continued to meet until March 1, 1781, when the Articles of Confederation that established a new national government                     for the United States took effect.
As the de facto national government, the Continental Congress assumed the role of                     negotiating diplomatic agreements with foreign nations. The British Parliament                     banned trade with the colonies and authorized the seizure                     of colonial vessels on December 23. These actions served to further erode the                     positions of anti-independence moderates in Congress and bolster those of                     pro-independence leaders. On April 6, 1776, Congress responded to Parliament's                     actions by opening American ports to all foreign ships except British vessels.                     Reports from American agent Arthur Lee in London also                     served to support the revolutionary cause. Lee’s reports suggested that France                     was interested in assisting the colonies in their fight against Great                     Britain.
With a peaceful resolution increasingly unlikely in 1775, Congress began to                     explore other diplomatic channels and dispatched congressional delegate Silas Deane to France in April of 1776.
Silas Deane
Deane succeeded in securing informal French support by May. By then, Congress was                     increasingly conducting international diplomacy and had drafted the Model Treaty                     with which it hoped to seek alliances with Spain and France. On July 4, 1776 the                     Congress took the important step of formally declaring the colonies’                         independence from Great Britain . In September, Congress adopted the                     Model Treaty, and then sent commissioners to France to negotiate a formal                     alliance. They entered into a a formal alliance with France in 1778. Congress                     eventually sent diplomats to other European powers to encourage support for the                     American cause and to secure loans for the money-strapped war effort.
Congress and the British government made further attempts to reconcile, but                     negotiations failed when Congress refused to revoke the Declaration of                     Independence, both in a meeting on September 11, 1776, with British Admiral Richard Howe, and when a peace delegation from                     Parliament arrived in Philadelphia in 1778. Instead, Congress spelled out terms                     for peace on August 14, 1779, which demanded British withdrawal, American                     independence, and navigation rights on the Mississippi River. The next month                     Congress appointed John Adams to negotiate such terms with                     England, but British officials were evasive.
Formal peace negotiations would                     have to wait until after the Confederation Congress took over the reins of                     government on March 1, 1781, following American victories at Yorktown that resulted in British willingness to end the war.