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5 September 1774Primary source · 2 sourcesWell documented

The First Continental Congress Convenes

Twelve colonies send delegates to Philadelphia and agree to a united boycott

On the timeline · around 5 September 1774 · Outbreak of WarOutbreak of WarThe First Continental Congress Convenes1775

Quick facts

Location
Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia
Date
5 September - 26 October 1774
Delegates
56, from 12 colonies (Georgia absent)
Key outcome
Continental Association: colony-wide boycott of British trade

What happened

On 5 September 1774, fifty-six delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies (Georgia sent no one) met at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia to coordinate a response to the Coercive Acts. Meeting until 26 October, the Congress adopted the Continental Association on 20 October, a colony-wide agreement to stop importing British goods starting 1 December 1774, and to halt exports to Britain the following year if grievances were not addressed. Delegates also drafted a petition to King George III laying out their complaints, though many doubted London would answer it peacefully. Local committees in each colony were charged with enforcing the boycott.

Why it matters

This was the first time all the mainland colonies but one acted together as a body against Parliament, turning scattered protests into an organized, continent-wide economic campaign. The enforcement committees it created became a template for the local political structures that would run the colonies once war began.

How we know

The American Battlefield Trust's account and the State Department's Office of the Historian milestone essay both cite the Congress's own record of attendance and the text of the Continental Association adopted 20 October 1774.

Sources

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Part of a timelineThe American Revolution30 events · How a tax dispute among British colonists became a war for independence and a new republicView all →