Fifty-six delegates, including George Washington, Patrick Henry, and John Adams, met in Philadelphia to respond to Parliament's punitive measures against Massachusetts. Over seven weeks, they drafted the Continental Association, a boycott of British goods, and petitions to King George III. The gathering marked the first time the colonies acted collectively, laying institutional groundwork for the Second Continental Congress and eventual independence.
Carpenters' Hall, a modest brick guild building, filled with delegates who had traveled for weeks by horse and carriage from as far as Georgia (which sent no delegate) and Massachusetts. They arrived angry over the Coercive Acts, Britain's punishment for the Boston Tea Party, which had closed Boston's port and stripped Massachusetts of self-governance.
The delegates were far from unified in their aims. Conservative voices like Joseph Galloway pushed for reconciliation with Britain through a colonial parliament, while firebrands like Patrick Henry and the Adams cousins argued for firmer resistance. The compromise that emerged, the Continental Association, organized a colony-wide boycott of British trade enforced by local committees, an extraordinary act of grassroots political organizing for its time.
They also agreed to reconvene the following May if grievances went unaddressed, a decision that proved prescient. By the time the Second Continental Congress met, Lexington and Concord had already been fought, and the modest trade dispute this first Congress addressed had become armed rebellion.
Key people: George Washington, Patrick Henry, John Adams, Joseph Galloway