portrait of
George Washington being appointed commanding general of the
Continental Army 's 1819 painting,
Declaration of Independence, depicting the
Committee of Five presenting the
Declaration of Independence to Congress
De facto government The
First Continental Congress had sent entreaties to King
George III to stop the
Intolerable Acts. They also created the
Continental Association to establish a coordinated protest of these acts, boycotting British goods in protest to them. The Second Continental Congress met on May 10, 1775, to plan further responses if the British government did not repeal or modify the acts; however, the
American Revolutionary War had started by that time with the
Battles of Lexington and Concord, and the Congress was called upon to take charge of the war effort. For the first few months of the Revolutionary War, the
patriots carried on their struggle in a largely ad-hoc and uncoordinated manner. Even so, they had numerous successes, seizing numerous British arsenals, driving royal officials out of several colonies, and launching the
Siege of Boston in order to prevent the movement by land of
British troops stationed there. On June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress voted to create the
Continental Army out of the
militia units around
Boston, and the next day unanimously approved a motion naming
George Washington of
Virginia as its commanding general. On July 6, 1775, Congress approved a
Declaration of Causes outlining the rationale and necessity for taking up arms in the
Thirteen Colonies. Two days later, delegates signed the
Olive Branch Petition to
King George III affirming the colonies' loyalty to
the crown and imploring the king to prevent further conflict. However, by the time British Colonial Secretary
Lord Dartmouth received the petition, King George III had already issued a
proclamation on August 23, 1775, in response to the
Battle of Bunker Hill, declaring elements of
Britain's continental American possessions to be in a state of what he called an "open and avowed
rebellion". As a result, the king refused to receive the petition.
Georgia had not participated in the First Continental Congress and did not initially send delegates to the Second. But with the Revolutionary War escalating, the residents of St. John's Parish in present-day
Liberty County sent
Lyman Hall to the gathering in Philadelphia on their behalf. He participated in debates but did not vote, as he did not represent the entire colony. That changed after July 1775, when a
provincial Congress decided to send delegates to the Continental Congress and to adopt a ban on trade with Britain. but it assumed all the functions of a national government, including appointing ambassadors, signing treaties, raising armies, appointing generals, obtaining loans from Europe, issuing paper money called "
Continentals", and disbursing funds. Congress lacked the authority to levy taxes and was instead compelled to request funds, supplies, and troops from the individual states to sustain the war effort. These requests were frequently disregarded, highlighting the limitations of the central government under the Articles of Confederation. Congress was moving towards declaring independence from the British Empire in 1776, but many delegates lacked the authority from their home governments to take such drastic action. Advocates of independence moved to have reluctant colonial governments revise instructions to their delegations, or even replace those governments which would not authorize independence. On May 10, 1776, Congress passed a resolution recommending that any colony with a government that was not inclined toward independence should form one that was. On May 15, they adopted a more radical preamble to this resolution, drafted by
John Adams, which advised throwing off oaths of allegiance and suppressing the authority of the Crown in any colonial government that still derived its authority from the Crown. That same day, the
Virginia Convention instructed its delegation in Philadelphia to propose a resolution that called for a declaration of independence, the formation of foreign alliances, and a confederation of the states. The
resolution of independence was delayed for several weeks, as advocates of independence consolidated support in their home governments. On June 7, 1776,
Richard Henry Lee offered the resolution before the Congress, declaring the colonies independent. He urged Congress to resolve "to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances" and to prepare a plan of confederation for the newly independent states. Lee argued that independence was the only way to ensure a foreign alliance since no European monarchs would deal with America if they remained Britain's colonies. American leaders had rejected the
divine right of kings in the
New World, but recognized the necessity of proving their credibility in the
Old World. Congress formally adopted the
resolution of independence, but only after creating three overlapping committees to draft the Declaration, a
Model Treaty, and the
Articles of Confederation. The Declaration announced the states' entry into the international system; the model treaty was designed to establish amity and commerce with other states, and the Articles of Confederation established "a firm league" among the thirteen free and independent states. These Another revolved around the issue of
western land claims; states without such claims wanted those with claims to yield them to Congress. As written, western land claims remained in the hands of the individual states. Congress urged the states to give their assent quickly, and most did. The first to ratify was Virginia on December 16, 1777; 12 states had ratified the Articles by February 1779, 14 months into the process. The lone holdout, Maryland, finally ratified the Articles on February 2, 1781, doing so only after Virginia relinquished its claims on land north of the Ohio River to Congress. ==List of sessions==