WEBVTT NOTE 63. The First Continental Congress 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.240 Volume 3, Chapter 63, The First Continental Congress 2 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:15.600 On September 5, 1774, there met at Philadelphia the most fateful and momentous assemblage ever 3 00:00:15.600 --> 00:00:22.200 gathered in the colonies, the Continental Congress. Brilliant and distinguished, the 4 00:00:22.200 --> 00:00:28.440 colonial leaders had come to decide the course of the colonies. They were, besides being 5 00:00:28.440 --> 00:00:52.440 It soon became evident that there were two polar groups at the congress, the radicals, determined on resistance to the British, and the conservatives, bent on more securely fastening the British yoke upon the colonies. 6 00:00:52.440 --> 00:00:59.000 It was sensibly determined that, with the number of delegates varying greatly from each colony, 7 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:02.440 the colonies would vote as separate units. 8 00:01:02.440 --> 00:01:10.040 Leading the radical forces were Massachusetts, headed by the brilliant father of the revolution Sam Adams, 9 00:01:10.040 --> 00:01:14.840 and graced by his rising young distant cousin John Adams, 10 00:01:14.840 --> 00:01:20.840 and Virginia, whose delegation included the eminent young leaders Patrick Henry, 11 00:01:20.840 --> 00:01:27.800 George Washington and Richard Henry Lee. North Carolina and the rest of New England dependably 12 00:01:27.800 --> 00:01:35.000 followed the radical lead, but Rhode Island's inherent split between Hopkins and Ward served 13 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:41.400 to cancel each other's votes, and the blunder of the South Carolina radicals in selecting their 14 00:01:41.400 --> 00:01:47.480 delegates made matters difficult for the revolutionaries. Heading the Tory forces was 15 00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:57.480 This is the wily shrewd Joseph Galloway of Philadelphia, seconded by the New York delegation, especially the young lawyer James Duane. 16 00:01:57.480 --> 00:02:05.480 The Congress conducted its deliberations in secret. It began in committee by debating two vital questions, 17 00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:13.480 the philosophical groundwork of the American stand and how far it would deny the authority of parliament. 18 00:02:13.480 --> 00:02:27.480 The radicals on the committee, led by John Adams and Richard Henry Lee, insisted on grounding the American case on the ultimacy of natural law and natural rights. 19 00:02:27.480 --> 00:02:34.160 The conservatives, on the other hand, were most anxious to ignore natural law and its 20 00:02:34.160 --> 00:02:41.560 profoundly radical implications and to confine the American statement of grievances to legalistic 21 00:02:41.560 --> 00:02:45.280 discussions of the British Constitution. 22 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:51.800 Joseph Galloway, James Dwayne, and Edward Rutledge led this attempt, but the radicals 23 00:02:51.800 --> 00:02:55.680 prevailed in cleaving to natural law. 24 00:02:55.680 --> 00:03:02.400 During this early, formative period of the Congress, Sam Adams engineered a masterstroke 25 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:10.080 that electrified the meeting. Adams had the radicals of Suffolk County, including Boston, 26 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:16.960 meet to draw up county resolves, such as Middlesex and other counties had done. Prevented by 27 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:22.400 the British authorities from meeting in Boston, the radicals met at a village outside the 28 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:30.720 of the Metropolis on September 9 and adopted a set of Resolves drawn up by Dr. Joseph Warren. 29 00:03:30.720 --> 00:03:36.880 Known as the Suffolk Resolves, they were sped down to Philadelphia by Paul Revere, reaching 30 00:03:36.880 --> 00:03:39.480 there on September 16. 31 00:03:39.480 --> 00:03:46.840 The Resolves bitterly opposed the recent Acts of Parliament and called wringingly for mass 32 00:03:46.840 --> 00:03:49.200 civil disobedience. 33 00:03:49.200 --> 00:03:55.880 No obedience is due from this province to either or any part of the coercive acts they 34 00:03:55.880 --> 00:04:02.960 asserted. Furthermore, no taxes would be paid to the constituted government until it became 35 00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:10.040 truly valid. In short, the Resolves implicitly called upon the people of Massachusetts to 36 00:04:10.040 --> 00:04:17.200 set up a dual government that would cease to obey, and indeed ignore, the British-appointed 37 00:04:17.200 --> 00:04:24.640 Authorities. In addition, the resistance would use violence only defensively and only if the British 38 00:04:24.640 --> 00:04:31.760 attempted to enforce the coercive acts upon the people. Besides the specific civil disobedience 39 00:04:31.760 --> 00:04:39.200 in Massachusetts, the Suffolk Resolves urged the Continental Congress to organize a general 40 00:04:39.200 --> 00:04:46.640 voluntary boycott of all trade relations with Britain. The Suffolk Resolves struck the Congress 41 00:04:46.640 --> 00:04:52.080 Congress with Overwhelming Force. The day after they were received, the Congress voted 42 00:04:52.080 --> 00:04:58.440 to endorse them enthusiastically. Adams' brilliant strategy had thus gotten the Congress 43 00:04:58.440 --> 00:05:05.080 committed to civil disobedience in Massachusetts and to the principle of an absolute boycott 44 00:05:05.080 --> 00:05:12.500 of Great Britain. John Adams, deeply moved, wrote in his diary that this was one of the 45 00:05:12.500 --> 00:05:20.020 the happiest days of my life. Now he knew that America will support Massachusetts, or 46 00:05:20.020 --> 00:05:27.940 perish with her. Sam Adams supported that judgment. Five days later, on September 22, 47 00:05:27.940 --> 00:05:35.060 the Congress specifically endorsed the Suffolk Clause for a boycott of Great Britain. But 48 00:05:35.060 --> 00:05:41.700 it soon became clear the radicals had not yet won the day. The Congress was not ready 49 00:05:41.700 --> 00:05:47.600 to endorse dual courts or legislatures to be set up by the people in Massachusetts, much 50 00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:54.400 less to think of absolute independence. Indeed, Joseph Galloway was now ready to play his 51 00:05:54.400 --> 00:06:01.400 last Tory trump. The wily Galloway introduced to the Congress his plan of the proposed union 52 00:06:01.400 --> 00:06:08.760 between Great Britain and the colonies. Galloway's plan pursued the old Tory dream proposed since 53 00:06:08.760 --> 00:06:15.480 Since the late 17th century, of a centralized government for all the colonies, under the 54 00:06:15.480 --> 00:06:22.240 tempting façade of colonial unity, Great Britain was finally to unite the colonies 55 00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:26.000 under one imperial yoke. 56 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:31.480 Each colony was to retain its present form of rule over its local affairs. 57 00:06:31.480 --> 00:06:37.560 The central government for the several colonies was to consist of a president general, appointed 58 00:06:37.560 --> 00:06:44.320 by the King, subject to the King's veto, and holding office at the King's pleasure, 59 00:06:44.320 --> 00:06:50.320 and of a Grand Council chosen by the assembly of each province. The Grand Council's actions 60 00:06:50.320 --> 00:06:57.160 were to be subject to the President-General's veto. This central organ of President and 61 00:06:57.160 --> 00:07:04.160 Council was, furthermore, to constitute an inferior branch of the British legislature, 62 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:11.160 and measures dealing with America could originate either with this body or with the rest of Parliament, 63 00:07:11.160 --> 00:07:15.160 each of which would have to agree with the measure. 64 00:07:15.160 --> 00:07:25.160 The similarities of Galloway's plan to Franklin's Albany Plan at the Albany Congress of 1754 are obvious. 65 00:07:25.160 --> 00:07:32.160 Galloway, however, would have even more solidly cemented the ties between America and Britain. 66 00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:52.160 The Central Authority was to act as a transmission belt of rule between Britain and the separate colonies, and with the new central body inducted, as it were, into the British Parliament, the plea of no taxation without representation would no longer hold. 67 00:07:52.160 --> 00:08:00.160 Joseph Galloway's lethal but sugar-coated pill constituted the big conservative drive of the Congress. 68 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:08.660 Galloway opined that every society must have one Supreme Legislature and Executive as its authority, 69 00:08:08.660 --> 00:08:16.160 that every individual of a society must be subordinate to the supreme will of this authority, 70 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:21.660 and that in the present case this authority was the British Parliament. 71 00:08:21.660 --> 00:08:27.660 Supporting the Galloway Plan were Duane and the two youngest delegates to the Congress, 72 00:08:27.660 --> 00:08:35.660 Edward Rutledge, 25, and New York's John Jay, 29. Leading the opposition were Patrick 73 00:08:35.660 --> 00:08:42.460 Henry and Richard Henry Lee. Galloway's plan was just barely defeated by a vote of six 74 00:08:42.460 --> 00:08:49.680 to five, Rhode Island producing a tie between its two delegates. Although the vote was secret, 75 00:08:49.680 --> 00:08:54.300 it is safe to guess that Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Virginia and North 76 00:08:54.300 --> 00:09:00.620 South Carolina voted Nay, while Pennsylvania, New York, dominated by the conservative New 77 00:09:00.620 --> 00:09:07.620 York City delegates, and South Carolina voted in favor. This means that one of the middle 78 00:09:07.820 --> 00:09:14.820 colonies, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, voted against the plan. This vote was the 79 00:09:15.420 --> 00:09:22.420 high water mark for conservatism at the Congress. The victorious radicals tried to eliminate 80 00:09:22.420 --> 00:09:29.100 all traces of the close balloting. On October 8, the Congress became still more explicit 81 00:09:29.100 --> 00:09:34.380 in support of the Massachusetts resistance, specifically applauding that province's moves 82 00:09:34.380 --> 00:09:40.860 and urging all America to come to the aid of Massachusetts should Britain try to impose 83 00:09:40.860 --> 00:09:48.300 upon it an enforcement of the coercive acts. Galloway and Duane tried unsuccessfully to 84 00:09:48.300 --> 00:09:54.220 to have their opposition to this resolution recorded in the minutes of the Congress. 85 00:09:54.220 --> 00:09:59.800 That the Congress should issue a declaration of grievances and petition Britain for redress 86 00:09:59.800 --> 00:10:05.180 was agreed upon by all, liberal and conservative alike. 87 00:10:05.180 --> 00:10:10.320 The philosophical groundwork of rights and the admitted scope of parliamentary authority 88 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:13.540 had now to be determined. 89 00:10:13.540 --> 00:10:19.620 With Duane largely responsible for its writing, the Declaration of Rights adopted on October 90 00:10:19.620 --> 00:10:28.460 14 played down the inalienable natural rights of life, liberty and property, and stressed 91 00:10:28.460 --> 00:10:36.220 instead the far more restricted rights of petition, assembly and jury trial, as well 92 00:10:36.220 --> 00:10:41.500 as freedom from a standing army without consent of an assembly. 93 00:10:41.500 --> 00:10:48.500 The position taken on parliament was also rather backward for the dynamic situation of the time. 94 00:10:48.500 --> 00:10:53.860 The old orthodox and weak American position was simply reiterated. 95 00:10:53.860 --> 00:10:59.900 Parliament had the right to regulate American trade, but not to tax the colonies internally 96 00:10:59.900 --> 00:11:04.820 or externally, or to govern their domestic affairs. 97 00:11:04.820 --> 00:11:11.940 The coercive acts in the Quebec Act were condemned and repeal was urged of thirteen invasive 98 00:11:11.940 --> 00:11:17.740 parliamentary acts that had been in effect since 1763. 99 00:11:17.740 --> 00:11:23.100 The Congress also requested the termination of British standing armies occupying American 100 00:11:23.100 --> 00:11:30.060 towns, of the dissolutions of colonial assemblies and of the aggrandizement of the vice admiralty 101 00:11:30.060 --> 00:11:31.600 courts. 102 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:36.880 The Congress's address to the King, drawn up by the moderate John Dickinson, carefully 103 00:11:36.880 --> 00:11:43.760 followed the customs of rendering obeisance to the King and pinning the blame on his advisors 104 00:11:43.760 --> 00:11:51.760 and underlings alone. Having endorsed Massachusetts' resistance, urged redress of grievances and 105 00:11:51.760 --> 00:11:59.200 rejected Galloway's plan for a central government, the Congress took up its final and vital matter 106 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:05.880 of Business, Deciding the General American Means of Waging the Struggle Against Britain, 107 00:12:05.880 --> 00:12:09.640 specifically the Question of a Continental Boycott. 108 00:12:09.640 --> 00:12:15.380 On October 18, the Congress agreed to the Continental Association, closely patterned 109 00:12:15.380 --> 00:12:19.320 after the Virginia Association, of early August. 110 00:12:19.320 --> 00:12:25.760 The Colonies jointly pledged an absolute boycott of trade with Great Britain, non-importation 111 00:12:25.760 --> 00:12:32.520 after December 1, including no slave trade after that date, non-consumption of British 112 00:12:32.520 --> 00:12:43.520 products after March 1, 1775, and no exports to Britain after September 1, 1775. Because 113 00:12:43.560 --> 00:12:50.160 of the threat of the South Carolina delegation, with the exception of the redoubtable Gadsden, 114 00:12:50.160 --> 00:13:00.160 The Congress reluctantly agreed to exempt South Carolina's staple rice from the ban on exports to Britain. 115 00:13:00.160 --> 00:13:07.160 Most ardent for total boycott were Thomas Cushing of Massachusetts, young Samuel Chase of Maryland, 116 00:13:07.160 --> 00:13:16.160 and Eliphalet Dyer of Connecticut, who urged immediate non-importation, non-consumption and non-exportation, 117 00:13:16.160 --> 00:13:21.320 Association, but they were overruled by the necessity of gaining the support of Virginia's 118 00:13:21.320 --> 00:13:28.020 tobacco planters. The Continental Association was to remain in effect until all the listed 119 00:13:28.020 --> 00:13:34.340 grievances had been redressed. It was to be enforced by rigorous but nonviolent methods 120 00:13:34.340 --> 00:13:41.340 of persuasion and expression. Any traitor violating the boycott would be ostracized 121 00:13:41.340 --> 00:13:49.300 and boycotted by every colony. As to enforcement, every town, city and county would select committee 122 00:13:49.300 --> 00:13:56.020 to oversee the boycott, publicize the names of violators and then denounce them as enemies 123 00:13:56.020 --> 00:14:03.820 of American liberty. Furthermore, any colony violating or failing to agree to the association 124 00:14:03.820 --> 00:14:10.460 would be denounced and itself be boycotted. The Continental Congress had on the whole 125 00:14:10.460 --> 00:14:40.460 The Federal Reserve has done its work well, despite a lack of enthusiasm, again accepting Christopher Gadson, for taking the offensive against British troops, for American independence, and even for denying the authority of Parliament to regulate trade, and despite the strong conservative bloc and its machinations, the Congress stood squarely behind Massachusetts and took steps to come to its aid. 126 00:14:40.460 --> 00:14:56.460 The intensive resistance by the people of Massachusetts were endorsed, and the Continental Association was pledged to boycott British trade until the grievances of Massachusetts and other Americans should be allayed. 127 00:14:56.460 --> 00:15:05.460 Charles Thompson, the Philadelphia radical leader who had been chosen Secretary of the Congress, expressed a common sentiment upon adjournment. 128 00:15:05.460 --> 00:15:13.420 I hope the administration will be convinced that it is not a little faction, but the whole 129 00:15:13.420 --> 00:15:21.380 body of American freeholders that now complain and apply for redress, and who I am sure will 130 00:15:21.380 --> 00:15:28.900 resist rather than submit, even yet the wound may be healed and peace and law restored. 131 00:15:28.900 --> 00:15:31.980 But we are at the brink of a precipice. 132 00:15:31.980 --> 00:15:38.260 Finally, before adjourning on October 26, the Continental Congress resolved to meet 133 00:15:38.260 --> 00:15:44.140 again the following May 10 if its grievances had not yet been relieved. 134 00:15:44.140 --> 00:15:49.540 Thus, a permanent revolutionary assembly was here created. 135 00:15:49.540 --> 00:15:54.920 It should be noted, however, that since the measures of enforcement of the boycott were 136 00:15:54.920 --> 00:16:01.740 to be purely local and voluntary among the people, the first Continental Congress could 137 00:16:01.740 --> 00:16:08.740 would in no proper sense be regarded as a dual governmental institution.