The Continental Congress was a series of representative assemblies of the Thirteen Colonies that met in response to growing conflict with Britain. Delegates were chosen by colonial or state legislatures to act collectively on matters of common interest, especially resistance, war, diplomacy and the creation of national institutions. The bodies are conventionally divided into three phases that together managed the transition from colony to independent nation between 1774 and 1789.

Organization and decision making

Members sat as delegates representing their colonies or states. The Congress operated without a single executive: it met as a plenary assembly and used standing and ad hoc committees to prepare reports and execute instructions. Voting procedures often reflected state delegations rather than individual majority rule, and the body depended on the cooperation of local governments to implement its resolutions.

Phases and principal actions

The First Continental Congress (1774) was primarily consultative, uniting colonial leaders against coercive British measures. The Second Continental Congress (convened in 1775) assumed de facto national authority during the Revolutionary War: it raised armies, appointed George Washington commander in chief, issued currency, and commissioned the drafting and adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. After the Articles of Confederation were ratified, the Congress under the Confederation (effective 1781–1789) served as the national government until replaced by the federal Constitution.

Powers, limits and legacy

  • Coordinated military strategy and logistics and oversaw foreign diplomacy, including alliances and the peace settlement after the war.
  • Adopted foundational documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation.
  • Faced chronic financial and enforcement weaknesses: it could request funds but had limited taxation power, and its paper currency depreciated.

Congress met chiefly in Philadelphia but, after the war, sat in several cities. Its experience demonstrated both the possibilities of intercolonial cooperation and the limits of a weak centralized government. Debates and institutional experiments within the Continental Congress shaped later constitutional thought and the federal system. For lists of delegates and meeting records consult collections of congressional papers, colony records and timelines beginning in 1774. See also curated compilations of letters and resolutions, delegate rosters and state depositions preserved in archival collections (delegate lists, colony records, and reference timelines through 1789).