In Which Year Colonies Created The First Continental Congress?

As the 13 colonies moved toward independence, the First Continental Congress was created in 1774 from 5th September to 26th October.

The First Congress was actually a meeting of 12 of the 13 British North American colonies’ delegates.

Except for the colony of Georgia, all other 12 colonies participated here.

However, it didn’t mean that Georgia had no support for the First Continental Congress; of course, they gave their full moral support to the meeting.

They remained unable to participate here due to the suffering of some internal issues during that time.

This issue was a war.

Yes, at this time, Georgian colonists were busy fighting a war against some Native Americans tribes.

Georgian leaders were afraid that their participation in the Continental Congress would attract British troops’ assistance towards the Indians.

Therefore, they preferred staying away from participating in the meeting.

Although, Georgia participated in the Second Continental Congress the following year, 1775.

[Did You Know? The First Continental Congress Was The First Time When American Colonies Came Together To Counter The Unfair Rules of The British Parliament]

But Why The American Colonies Created The First Continental Congress? – Part 1

The First Continental Congress was the first time when most of the 13 colonies formally came together to counter the British Parliament and King George III’s unjust decisions.

Mainly, they organized the meeting in response to the British Parliament’s imposing 5 Intolerable Acts.

The five acts were:

• The Boston Port Act
• Massachusetts Government Act
• Administration of Justice Act
• Quartering Act
• Quebec Act

These acts were entirely against colonists’ interests, and hence they saw them as a vengeful action from the British authority’s side.

Especially, the English authority became fully vengeful towards the colony of Massachusetts.

But why?

Because it was the place where patriots executed the Boston Tea Party incident.

This incident made huge economic losses to the British government and East India Company.

Hence, in response to the incident or taking revenge on the colonists, they imposed those 5 Intolerable Acts on colonists’ heads.

[Did You Know? During The Boston Tea Party Patriots Tossed Around 90,000 Pounds Tea At Boston Harbor. The Tea’s Current Valuation Is Estimated Around One Million Dollars]

Part 2

The leaders of the colonies already warned the English authority that they were playing with fire, and it would soon burn their own hands.

But the Parliament and the British King became so arrogant over their capability that they saw nothing except their authority on the 13 colonies.

Hence, they gave no importance to the colonists’ warnings.

As a result, for countering the British Parliament’s unjust Intolerable Acts, colonies’ leaders met in the First Continental Congress from 5th September to 26th October 1774.

Here, colonies’ delegates collectively decided that they would not accept these unjust laws under any condition.

So, to counter them and make the English authority obliged for repealing the acts, they also imposed heavy economic sanctions (or boycott) against British goods’ supplies to the colonies.

The sanctions got huge success.

But how?

By the end of 1775, it significantly dropped the British goods’ import to the colonies by over 97 percent.  

The following year (in 1775), the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the Second Continental Congress completely kicked off the Revolutionary War of America’s independence.

So, The 12 Participant North American Colonies Were

• New Hampshire
• Massachusetts
• Connecticut
• Rhode Island
• New York
• New Jersey
• Pennsylvania
• Delaware
• Maryland
• Virginia
• North Carolina
• South Carolina