Hello, History Friends! I decided to stop doing the podcast version of this. I'll keep up on this blog version because it's helping me with my project. I need to see how much space each mini subject takes up in my brain and in print. It'll also let me add my own family history's stories to these. And I still want to add yours!
Today I'm picking back up at the First Continental Congress. That means we're still in 1774. Here's another note about ADHD. Sometimes, a little particle of your brain will get an idea. And it doesn't matter how wrong that idea is, that particle just can't let it go. The fact that The First Continental Congress is a boring name has told a particle, I'll call him Dwayne, that it means that this congress stuff is boring. As I've learned about it, I've tried desperately to explain to Dwayne that it's fascinating and so important. But Dwayne is being a jerk and actually impeding the progress the rest of my brain has been doing learning about this. So this post is my attempt to shut Dwayne up for a while.
Holding an official Continental Congress was a big deal because it's ALL the colonies coming together to decide what to do. (Well, Georgia didn't show, but that's because they were a little preoccupied. They weren't willing to burn any British bridges as they were on the brink of war with some of their Native American neighbors. But then they had their own mini conference the next year. We'll talk about them then). The colonies needed to decide what should happen next.
The delegates met in Carpenter Hall in Philadelphia, PA. The first day of congress was September 5th. Remember this was technically an illegal gathering and the delegates had zero legal authority, according to Great Britain. As these great men were gathering, Samuel Adams wrote The Suffolk Resolves. We'll talk about that in a second.
The point of the First Continental Congress (I wish I could just call it the FCC, but that is already taken. How about 1st Con Con? HAHA! Yes. The 1st ConCon was to figure out how to govern while they were ignoring the king, but also asking the Crown to please listen to them and stop being stupid jerk faces. They weren't really thinking about independence yet (at least not out loud).Peyton Randolf was voted president of the 1st Con Con. They were writing some resolves of their own when Paul Revere (seriously, why can't I keep him and Patrick Henry straight? They don't have similar last names, they aren't even from the same colony, they don't look alike...) showed up with those Suffolk Resolves- they were pretty much the result of a meeting led by Dr. Warren in a tavern.
The Suffolk Resolves called for a non-importation agreement, strongly suggested that colonial governments maybe stop working for the crown and that they should prolly start ignoring Imperial instructions. Also, if you think the Patriots were going to pay taxes, too dang bad, they wanted to raise a militia instead and form their own city/colony governments- UNLESS the intolerable acts were repealed.
The 1st Con Con took that into consideration as they finished their "Declaration of Resolves" which was pretty much the same thing with some expansions. For example, this non-importation grew into a big, stinkin deal. The United Colonies weren't to trade with England OR the West Indies, they weren't going to send their stuff to those places, and they weren't even going to USE British products. Rice was exempt from the trade gag, though, to make South Carolina happy. Seems that wasn't the only time exemptions were made for South Carolina, was it?
The Declaration Resolves is pretty much an updated version of the "Declaration of Rights and Grievances" that we talked about right after the Stamp Act, so if you're thinking, "This sounds familiar" that's why. The trade boycott was specifically called the Continental Association, but this document was pretty much part of the giant Declaration Resolves.
Alongside the Declaration of Resolves was another document called "A Petition to The King." You've gotta give credit to these founding fathers. They legit gave the benefit of the doubt to the king, whether sincere or not, and continued in action assuming that maybe the king hadn't had much of a say. They pretty much asked him to step in on their behalf in front of Parliament and also to repeal these acts.
They did what they could and agreed to meet the next spring for the 2nd ConCon, giving England and those who had a say theirin plenty of time to respond.
Makes you wonder how much they knew. how much they could visualize the new nation they were going to build, while saying that's not what they wanted?
Now, for my project, I'm going to list here all the people who attended the 1st Con Con:
Mass- John Adams, Samuel Adams, Thomas Cushing, Robert Treat Paine
Virginia- Peyton Randolf, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, Edmund Pendleton
S. Carolina- Edward Rutledge, John Rutledge, Henry Middleton, Thomas Lynch Jr, Christopher Gadsen
N. Carolina- Richard Caswell, Joseph Hewes, William Hooper
Maryland- William Paca, Samuel Chase, Robert Goldsborogh, Matthew Tilghman, Thomas Johnson
PA- John Dickenson, George Ross, Edward Biddle, Joseph Gallaway, Thomas Mifflin, Charles Humphrey, Samuel Rhodes, John Morton
New Hampshire- Nathanial Folsom, John Sullivan
Connecticut- Roger Sherman, Eliphalet Dyer, Silas Dean
Delaware- Caesar Rodney, Thomas McKean, George Read
New Jersey- William Livingston, Stephen Crane, James Kinsey, Richard Smith, John De Hart
New York- John Jay, Phillip Livingston, Isaac Low, Henry Wisner, John Haring, WIlliam Floyd, James Duane, Simon Boerum, John Alsop
Rhode Island- Stephen Hopkins, Samuel Ward
At the meeting at the Raleigh Tavern:
most were anonymous, but Dr Warren and Paul Revere
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