Continental Congress Analysis

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Kristen Bodner AMH 4130 10 December 2013 The Continental Congress The American Revolution stands to be one of the most pivotal moments in American history. After about a decade or so of neglect from the British colony’s mother country, Great Britain, the Thirteen Colonies allied together in order to fight against the unjust actions of the British government. Overtime, this led to leaders of the different colonies coming together at Philadelphia during the late months of 1774 to represent their prospective territories in the First Continental Congress. Here, the delegates discussed possible solutions to their quarry against Great Britain. The representatives began with peaceful options, but after the turmoil escalated violently in Massachusetts,…show more content…
First, the Congress sent George Washington to Massachusetts to mobilize troops to fight the British. Whether or not this war would last for long, they needed Washington to attempt to hold the British back. Next, the Congress moved to draft an Olive Branch Petition. This document gave King George III one last chance to resolve the conflict and to stop war from progressing. When King George III refused the petition, the Continental Congress had no choice but to take charge over the war for the colonists. They sent out commissioners all over Europe to try to convince others, like France and Spain, to join their war effort against the British. Meanwhile, delegates of the Congress in Philadelphia drafted the Declaration of Independence in June 1776, and on July 4th, 1776, all delegates at the Congress signed off on the document, which officially ceded any ties the colonists had with Great Britain. This document impressed many onlookers of the American Revolution, and convinced Spain and France to ally with the young nation in order to fight the British (“Declaration of Independence”). When grievances with Great Britain first began, a small minority of people considered declaring themselves an independent nation. In fact,…show more content…
The Congress agreed that they wanted to implement a government that would not be a tyrannical or as powerful as the British Crown had been, and therefore structured the Articles of Confederation to do just that. In 1776, soon after the Declaration of Independence had been ratified, members of Congress began to brainstorm how the new country would run itself. According to the final document, states held most of the power for their prospective territories, and the legislative branch unified the states together as one when applicable (“Articles of Confederation”). Many states expressed their dissatisfaction with the Articles of Confederation throughout its drafting and ratification stages. Disputes over western lands played the largest role, where most states wanted access to lands west of the Appalachian Mountains. Previous to the war, the Proclamation of 1763 forbid the colonists’ permission to cross into these areas. Through many compromises, the document finally passed in in March of 1781. The largest flaw of this document, as the delegates would later realize, discouraged the federal government from taxing the states, which would cause major issues. However, for the time being, the Articles of Confederation provided the United States a system of government to start off with when the war
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