This America Reaches Two Hundred Forty-Seven
These We Remember
The First and Second Continental Congress
This body of delegates spoke and acted collectively for the
people of America’s (Britain’s) colonies. These colonies later became the
United States of America.
First Continental Congress 1774 - Second Continental
Congress 1775–1781
The First Continental Congress included Patrick Henry,
George Washington, John and Samuel Adams, John Jay, and John Dickinson.
The members met in secret. The body rejected a plan for
reconciling British authority with colonial freedom. They adopted a declaration
of personal rights including life, liberty, property, assembly, and trial by
jury. They denounced taxation without representation and the maintenance of the
British army in the colonies without their consent.
The Colonies
The New England Colonies
|
New Hampshire
|
Massachusetts
|
Rhode Island
|
Connecticut
|
The Middle Colonies
|
New York
|
New Jersey
|
Pennsylvania
|
Delaware
|
The Southern Colonies
|
Maryland
|
Virginia
|
North Carolina,
|
South Carolina
|
Georgia
|
A Brief Chronology included these, but not only these, dates
October 1774, the Congress petitioned the crown for redress
of grievances extending at least to the year 1763.
April 19, 1775, before the seating of the Second Continental
Congress, armed conflict began between Britain and the thirteen colonies (the
nucleus of the future United States).
The Second Congress seated new members Benjamin Franklin and
Thomas Jefferson. John Hancock and John Jay served as president.
June 15, 1775, the Congress endorsed the New England
military forces that had converged upon Boston and appointed George Washington
commander in chief of the American army.
April 12, 1776, the revolutionary convention of North
Carolina authorized its delegates in Congress to vote for independence.
May 15, 1776, the Virginia convention instructed its
deputies to offer the motion. On June 7, British-educated Virginian Richard
Henry Lee brought the motion forward in the Congress.
Lee was a distinguished orator and active member of the
First Continental Congress. In the Second Continental Congress, he introduced three
resolutions for:
- Declaring independence
- Forming foreign alliances and
- Preparing a plan of confederation
On July 2, 1776, Lee’s first resolution was adopted. Twelve
colonies (New York abstained) comprising the Congress resolved without
objection that:
“These United Colonies are, and of
right ought to be, free and independent states.”
Also prepared by the Congress were the Articles of Confederation (precursor of the 1787 Constitution of the United States of America).
Two days later the chains of tyranny came undone in America's Declaration of
Independence
Framers of the DeclarationThe Second Continental Congress appointed a Committee of Five whose responsibility was the drafting and presentation of a document that was originally titled:
“A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America in General Congress assembled”
The five distinguished men of the committee were Adams of Massachusetts, Franklin of Pennsylvania, Jefferson of Virginia, Livingston of New York, and Sherman of Connecticut.
Positions Held by the Committee of Five before and after Second Continental Congress - Alphabetically by surname
John Adams (New Englander) October 30, 1735 - July 4, 1826
- Delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress September 5, 1774 – November 28, 1777
- 12th Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature October 1775 – February 1777 (Provincial Congress appointment)
- Chairman of the Marine Committee October 13, 1775 – October 28, 1779
- United States Envoy to France November 28, 1777 – March 8, 1779
- 1st United States Minister to the Netherlands April 19, 1782 – March 30, 1788 (Congress of the Confederation appointment)
- 1st United States Minister to Great Britain April 1, 1785 – February 20, 1788 (Congress of the Confederation appointment)
- 1st Vice President April 30, 1789 – March 4, 1797
- 2nd President of the United States March 4, 1797 – March 4, 1801
Benjamin Franklin (New Englander at age 17 relocates to Philadelphia) January 17 [Old Style January 6], 1706- April 17, 1790
- Philadelphia offices: member of the City Council 1748, justice of the peace1749, city alderman and a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly 1751
- 2nd President of the University of Pennsylvania 1749–1754
- Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly May 1764 – October 1764
- Postmaster General of British America August 10, 1753 – January 31, 1774
- Delegate from Pennsylvania to Second Continental Congress May 1775 – October 1776
- 1st United States Postmaster General July 26, 1775 – November 7, 1776
- United States Minister to France March 23, 1779 – May 17, 1785 (Continental Congress appointment)
- United States Minister to Sweden September 28, 1782 – April 3, 1783 (Congress of the Confederation appointment)
- 6th President of Pennsylvania* October 18, 1785 – November 5, 1788
- *The office of President of Pennsylvania between 1777 and 1790 referred to “Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” “the collective directorial executive branch of Pennsylvanian state government”
Thomas Jefferson (Virginian) April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826
- Member of the Virginia House of Burgesses May 11, 1769– June 1, 1775
- Delegate from Virginia to the Continental Congress June 20, 1775 – September 26, 1776
- Member of the Virginia House of Delegates October 7, 1776 – May 30, 1779; December 10, 1781 – December 22, 1781
- 2nd Governor of Virginia June 1, 1779 – June 3, 1781
- Delegate from Virginia to the Congress of the Confederation June 6, 1782 – May 7, 1784
- Minister Plenipotentiary for Negotiating Treaties of Amity and Commerce May 7, 1784 – May 11, 1786 (Congress of the Confederation appointment)
- 2nd United States Minister to France May 17, 1785 – September 26, 1789 (Congress of the Confederation appointment)
- 1st United States Secretary of State March 22, 1790 – December 31, 1793
- 2nd Vice President of the United States March 4, 1797 – March 4, 1801
- 3rd President of the United States March 4, 1801 – March 4, 1809
Robert R. Livingston (New Yorker) November 27 [Old Style November 6], 1746 – February 26, 1813
- Member of the Continental Congress at Philadelphia 1775–1776, 1779–1781, 1784–1785 (involved I drafting New York State’s first constitution 1777)
- 1st Chancellor of New York July 30, 1777 – June 30, 1801
- 1st United States Secretary of Foreign Affairs October 20, 1781 – June 4, 1783 (Congress of the Confederation appointment)
- 7th United States Minister to France December 6, 1801 – November 18, 1804
Roger Sherman (New Englander) April 19, 1721 – July 23, 1793
- Justice of the Superior Court of Connecticut 1766- 1789
- Delegate to the Continental Congress from Connecticut 1774–1781
- Member of the Confederation Congress from Connecticut 1784–1784
- Mayor of 1st New Haven, Connecticut 1784–1793 [Also delegate to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia 1787]
- Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut (at-large district) March 4, 1789 – March 3, 1791
- Member of the U.S. Senate from Connecticut June 13, 1791 – July 23, 1793
On June 28, 1776, the committee presented to the Committee of the Whole Congress
“A Declaration by
The Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled.”
Unforgettable
American Revolutionary Women Founders
Mercy Otis Warren (New Englander)
American Revolutionary poet, political playwright, satirist, historian, pamphleteer (pseudonym A Columbian Patriot)
September 25, 1728 – October 19, 1814
Far from the silent and submissive female image of the era,
Mercy Otis Warren, active in the circles of John, Abigail, and Samuel Adams
was, in her own right, “the leading female intellectual of the Revolution and
early republic.”
Born and raised among lawyers and libraries, she was a
self-educated historian and commentator whose exposure to politics began early
and lasted a lifetime. In 1754 she married a political activist and later
Massachusetts lawmaker who encouraged her writing.
At the advent of the American Revolution, she set about
writing its history, part of which was later published in History of the Rise,
Progress and Termination of the American Revolution (1805).
She has been celebrated as an “avid patriot” who relentlessly
denounced British policies, loyalists and lackeys. Well in advance of Mr.
Jefferson, Mrs. Mercy Otis Warren in 1772, 1773 and 1775 was publishing satire
and stage plays (“The Adulator,” “Defeat” and “The Group”) “skewering British
colonial leaders.” She supported the Boston Tea Party and boycotts of British
imports; and encouraged other women to follow suit.
Abigail Smith Adams (New Englander)
Second Lady of the United States
April 21, 1789 – March 4, 1797 (Vice President John Adams)
First Lady of the United States
March 4, 1797 – March 4, 1801 (President John Adams)
November 22 [Old Style November 11], 1744 – October 28, 1818
As with Mercy Otis Warren, Abigail Adams was not “formally”
educated but for more educated—far more than most women—for having been born
and raised among and availed her of libraries.
Abigail Adams was
also an able businesswoman and manager of finance and property. As her husband
John Adams was a constant traveler as a lawyer and political revolutionary and
after the Revolution a diplomat, it was her job to “manage their farm and
business affairs while raising the children.” She is reported to have “made
investment decisions that enhanced the family’s prosperity.” It is worth noting
that Mr. and Mrs. John Adams (except for their son John Quincy) were the only
founding presidents who refused to participate in the business enterprise of
slavery.
Also, not like Mercy Otis Warren but in a different way,
perhaps, Abigail Adams was a correspondent, a writer, a commentator.
Abigail and John Adams were married in 1764 and from the
early years they are said to have carried on extensive correspondence. In 1776,
as John Adams was involved in the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia,
Abigail Adams’ letter to him counseled the Founding Fathers to …
“Remember the ladies.…
“Do not place unlimited power into the hands of the husbands.
“Remember all men would be tyrants if they could.”
Mr. Adams in all of his travels before the White House was
an avid writer of letters as was his wife (not unusual for the era of the mind
detached from “modern” technological gadgets). On entering the White House as
president in 1787, John Adams reportedly implores his wife:
“I have never wanted your Advice and assistance more in my
life.”
At the end of John Adams’ tenure in Washington, Abigail
Adams maintained correspondence with political leaders such as Thomas Jefferson
and James Madison (3rd and 4th U.S. Presidents) and Dolley Todd Madison (4th
First Lady).
Fifty-six listed (seven foreign-born)
Signers of the 1776 American Declaration of Independence
|
Name
|
State
Rep.
|
Date
of Birth
|
Birthplace
|
Age
in 1776
|
Occupation
|
|
1.
Adams, John
|
MA
|
10/30/1735
|
Quincy, MA
|
40
|
Lawyer
|
|
2.
Adams, Samuel
|
MA
|
9/27/1722
|
Boston, MA
|
53
|
Merchant
|
|
3.
Bartlett, Josiah
|
NH
|
11/21/1729
|
Amesbury,MA
|
46
|
Physician
|
|
4.
Braxton, Carter
|
VA
|
9/10/1736
|
Newington, VA
|
39
|
Plantation Owner
|
|
5.
Carroll, Charles of Carrollton
|
MD
|
9/19/1737
|
Annapolis, MD
|
38
|
Merchant,
Plantation Owner
|
|
6.
Chase, Samuel
|
MD
|
4/17/1741
|
Somerset Co., MD
|
35
|
Lawyer
|
|
7.
Clark, Abraham
|
NJ
|
2/15/1726
|
Elizabethtown, NJ
|
50
|
Lawyer, Surveyer
|
|
8.
Clymer, George
|
PA
|
3/16/1739
|
Philadelphia, PA
|
37
|
Merchant
|
|
9.
Ellery, William
|
RI
|
12/22/1727
|
Newport, RI
|
48
|
Lawyer, Merchant
|
|
10.
Floyd, William
|
NY
|
12/17/1734
|
Brookhaven, NY
|
41
|
Land Speculator
|
|
11.
Franklin, Benjamin
|
PA
|
1/17/1706
|
Boston, MA
|
70
|
Scientist, Printer
|
|
12.
Gerry, Elbridge
|
MA
|
7/17/1744
|
Marblehead, MA
|
32
|
Merchant
|
|
13.
Gwinnett, Button
|
GA
|
c. 1735
|
Gloucester, England
|
41
|
Merchant,
Plantation Owner
|
|
14.
Hall, Lyman
|
GA
|
4/12/1724
|
Wallingford, CT
|
52
|
Physician, Minister
|
|
15.
Hancock, John
|
MA
|
1/12/1737
|
Quincy, MA
|
40
|
Merchant
|
|
16.
Harrison, Benjamin
|
VA
|
4/7/1726
|
Charles City Co., VA
|
50
|
Plantation Owner,
Farmer
|
|
17.
Hart, John
|
NJ
|
c. 1711
|
Hunterdon Co., NJ
|
65
|
Land owner
|
|
18.
Hewes, Joseph
|
NC
|
1/23/1730
|
Kingston, NJ
|
46
|
Merchant
|
|
19.
Heyward Jr., Thomas
|
SC
|
7/28/1746
|
St. Helena Parish, SC
|
30
|
Lawyer,
Plantation Owner
|
|
20.
Hooper, William
|
NC
|
6/17/1742
|
Boston, MA
|
34
|
Lawyer
|
|
21.
Hopkins, Stephen
|
RI
|
3/7/1707
|
Providence, RI
|
69
|
Merchant
|
|
22.
Hopkinson, Francis
|
NJ
|
10/2/1737
|
Philadelphia, PA
|
38
|
Lawyer, Musician
|
|
23.
Huntington, Samuel
|
CT
|
7/3/1731
|
Windham, CT
|
45
|
Lawyer
|
|
24.
Jefferson, Thomas
|
VA
|
4/13/1743
|
Albemarle Co., VA
|
33
|
Lawyer,
Plantation Owner,
Scientist
|
|
25.
Lee, Francis Lightfoot
|
VA
|
10/14/1734
|
Mt. Pleasant, VA
|
41
|
Plantation Owner
|
|
26.
Lee, Richard Henry
|
VA
|
1/20/1732
|
Stratford, VA
|
44
|
Plantation Owner,
Merchant
|
|
27.
Lewis, Francis
|
NY
|
3/21/1713
|
Llandaff, Wales
|
63
|
Merchant
|
|
28.
Livingston, Philip
|
NY
|
1/15/1716
|
Albany, NY
|
60
|
Merchant
|
|
29.
Lynch Jr., Thomas
|
SC
|
8/5/1749
|
Prince George’s Parrish, SC
|
26
|
Lawyer
|
|
30.
McKean, Thomas
|
DE
|
3/19/1735
|
Chester Co., PA
|
42
|
Lawyer
|
|
31.
Middleton, Arthur
|
SC
|
6/26/1742
|
Charleston, SC
|
34
|
Plantation Owner
|
|
32.
Morris, Lewis
|
NY
|
4/8/1726
|
West Chester Co.,NY
|
50
|
Plantation Owner
|
|
33.
Morris, Robert
|
PA
|
1/31/1734
|
Liverpool, England
|
42
|
Merchant,
Land Speculator
|
|
34.
Morton, John
|
PA
|
c. 1724
|
Ridley Township, PA
|
52
|
Farmer
|
|
35.
Nelson Jr., Thomas
|
VA
|
12/26/1738
|
Yorktown, VA
|
37
|
Merchant,
Plantation Owner
|
|
36.
Paca, William
|
MD
|
10/31/1740
|
Abington, MD
|
35
|
Lawyer,
Plantation Owner
|
|
37.
Paine, Robert Treat
|
MA
|
3/11/1731
|
Boston, MA
|
45
|
Lawyer, Scientist
|
|
38.
Penn, John
|
NC
|
5/6/1740
|
Carolina Co., VA
|
36
|
Lawyer
|
|
39.
Read, George
|
DE
|
9/18/1733
|
Northeast MD
|
42
|
Lawyer
|
|
40.
Rodney, Caesar
|
DE
|
10/7/1728
|
Dover, DE
|
47
|
Plantation Owner,
Military Officer
|
|
41.
Ross, George
|
PA
|
5/10/1730
|
New Castle, DE
|
46
|
Lawyer
|
|
42.
Rush, Benjamin Dr.
|
PA
|
1/4/1746
|
Philadelphia, PA
|
30
|
Physician
|
|
43.
Rutledge, Edward
|
SC
|
11/23/1749
|
Christ Church Parish, SC
|
26
|
Lawyer,
Plantation Owner
|
|
44.
Sherman, Roger
|
CT
|
4/19/1721
|
Newton, MA
|
55
|
Lawyer
|
|
45.
Smith, James
|
PA
|
c. 1719
|
Northern Ireland
|
57
|
Lawyer
|
|
46.
Stockton, Richard
|
NJ
|
10/1/1730
|
Princeton, NJ
|
45
|
Lawyer
|
|
47.
Stone, Thomas
|
MD
|
c. 1743
|
Charles Co., MD
|
33
|
Lawyer
|
|
48.
Taylor, George
|
PA
|
c. 1716
|
Ireland
|
60
|
Merchant
|
|
49.
Thornton, Matthew
|
NH
|
c. 1714
|
Ireland
|
62
|
Physician
|
|
50.
Walton, George
|
GA
|
c. 1741
|
Cumberland Co., VA
|
35
|
Lawyer
|
|
51.
Whipple, William
|
NH
|
1/14/1730
|
Kittery, ME
|
46
|
Merchant
|
|
52.
Williams, William
|
CT
|
4/18/1731
|
Lebannon, CT
|
45
|
Merchant
|
|
53.
Wilson, James
|
PA
|
9/14/1742
|
Carskerdo, Scotland
|
33
|
Lawyer
|
|
54.
Witherspoon, John
|
NJ
|
2/5/1723
|
Gifford, Scotland
|
53
|
Minister
|
|
55.
Wolcott, Oliver
|
CT
|
11/20/1726
|
Windsor, CT
|
49
|
Lawyer
|
|
56.
Wythe, George
|
VA
|
c. 1726
|
Elizabeth City Co., VA
|
50
|
Lawyer
|
Information obtained from: American Council of Learned Societies. American National Biography. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Who Was Who in America: Historical Volume 1607-1896. Chicago: The A.N. Marquis Company, 1963. https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/signers-factsheet
Foreign-born Signers’ Interesting Career Paths in Government
#13 Button Gwinnett, Gloucester, England (Southwest)
# 33 Robert Morris, Liverpool, England (Northwest)
#45 James Smith, Northern Ireland (Britain)
#48 George Taylor, Ireland (Republic of Ireland: Northwestern Europe, Island in North Atlantic Ocean)
#49 Matthew Thornton, Ireland (Republic of Ireland: Northwestern Europe, Island in North Atlantic Ocean)
# 53 James Wilson, Carskerdo, Scotland (Carskerdo Farm, Near Leven, a seaside town in Fife, east Central Lowlands of Scotland)
#54 John Witherspoon, Gifford, Scotland (village in Yester Parish East Lothian, Southeast Scotland 25 miles east of Edinburgh)
Gwinnett
Member of the Continental Congress from Georgia 1776–1777; 8th Governor of U.S. State of Georgia February 22, 1777 – May 8, 1777
(Georgia ratified Articles of Confederation February 26, 1778; Georgia ratified the U.S. Constitution January 2, 1788)
Morris
Rose and Descended: the richest man lands in debtors’ prison.
Delegate to the Second Continental Congress from Pennsylvania 1775-1778 (member of “Secret Committee of Trade” handling procurement of supplies, “Committee of Correspondence” handling foreign affairs, “Marine Committee” overseeing Continental Navy; election to the Pennsylvania Assembly 1779; United States Superintendent of Finance June 27, 1781 – November 1, 1784; United States Agent of Marine August 29, 1781 – November 1, 1784; Delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia 1787; United States Senator from Pennsylvania March 4, 1789 – March 4, 1795. During and after membership in the Senate, Morris “went deeply into debt through speculating on land, leading into the Panic of 1796–1797.” For failure to pay his debts, he was confined to the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, “Prune Street debtors’ apartment adjacent to Walnut Street Prison 1798-1801.”
Smith
Member by appointment to the provincial convention in Philadelphia (1775), to the state constitutional convention (1776); Elected to the Continental Congress/ signer of the Declaration of Independence; reelected to Congress (1785) but declined because of “his advanced age.”
Taylor
Member, Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly 1763–1769; 1775–1777; Pennsylvania Delegate to the Continental Congress July 20, 1776 – February 17, 1777; Member Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania March 4, 1777 – November 8, 1777
Thornton
President of the New Hampshire Provincial Congress 1775; speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives January to September 1776, elected to the Continental Congress (late arrival November 1776 post-debates in Philadelphia, granted signatory permission four months after the formal July signing); New Hampshire Superior Court judge 1776-1782; Member of New Hampshire House of Representatives 1783; Member of New Hampshire Senate 1784-1787 (simultaneously a state counselor from 1785–1786); Member of New Hampshire House of Representatives1786.
Wilson
Elected to the Continental Congress 1775; delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia1787 (member of the “Committee of Detail” that produced the first draft of the U.S. Constitution); had major role in drafting Pennsylvania Constitution 1790; Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States October 5, 1789 – August 21, 1798
Witherspoon
President of the College of New Jersey (1768–1794) (later named Princeton University), a school conceived as an institution to train clergymen and equip leaders of a new country; Member of New Jersey Committee of Correspondence and Safety 1774; elected to the Continental Congress as part of the New Jersey delegation -Delegate to the Second Continental Congress (appointed congressional chaplain) from New Jersey 1776 (voted yea on adoption of Virginia Resolution for Independence); later signed the Articles of Confederation and supported ratification of the Constitution of the United States
Burned into Memory, Bequeathed to the Young
“We hold these truths to be self-evident— that all … are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
“… [T]o secure these rights, Governments are instituted …, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…
… [W]henever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it; and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to (effectuate) their Safety and Happiness.
“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes. [A]ccordingly, all experience hath shown that (human beings) are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable; than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such Government; and to provide new Guards for their future security.
“Such has been the patient sufferance …. The history of the present (regime) is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny …. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.”
[Minor edits, excerpt from the American Declaration of Independence: A Transcription, in Congress, July 4, 1776, document on display in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum.
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript] What is America to me?
The House I Live in… Children at play …
All races and religions the faces I see … That’s America to me
… The church the school the clubhouse …
The place I work … The workers next to me
A neighborly hello a handshake feeling free…
…The right to speak my mind… That’s America to me
Big things and small … Laughter and tears…
A dream that grows [two hundred and forty-seven] years…
A million lights I see …
Especially the people I see …That’s America to me
Sources General References and Song lyrics websites
Excerpt and edited from “The House I Live In” by Abel Meeropol pseudonym Lewis Allan (February 10, 1903 – October 29, 1986), songwriter and poet; and Earl Hawley Robinson (July 2, 1910 – July 20, 1991), composer, arranger, singer-songwriter Composition and Commentary excluding quoted material and individual images
Copyright © Carolyn LaDelle Bennett
Author’s links: www.BennettsAmericanEpitaph.com
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