Second Continental Congress
Convening on 10 May 1775 — three weeks after Lexington and Concord — the Second Continental Congress was the de facto national government of the United States throughout the Revolutionary War. One of its first and most consequential acts was appointing George Washington as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army on 15 June 1775, providing the military force that would prosecute the war. The Congress organised finances, conducted diplomacy, managed supplies, and ultimately adopted the Declaration of Independence on 4 July 1776. The Congress governed under extraordinary difficulty: it had no power to tax, could only request contributions from states, and struggled constantly with currency inflation, army desertion, and the competing political interests of thirteen very different colonies. Benjamin Franklin served as postmaster general and arranged printing; John Adams, the most important single voice in congressional debates, pushed relentlessly for independence and a formal constitution. Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration. The Second Continental Congress operated until it was replaced by the Congress of the Confederation in 1781 following the ratification of the Articles of Confederation. Its seven-year existence produced not only independence but the first sustained experiment in collective self-government by representative assemblies — the practical foundation on which the Constitution of 1787 would be built.
- Year: 1775 CE
- Category: Political
