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Summary: The First Continental Congress

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ic 1763-1787 Following the Proclamation of 1763, American rage toward the British Empire began to aggravate, and one of its earlier manifestations, aside from liberal boycotts of British goods, was the development of committees of correspondence. Started by the outspoken Samuel Adams, leader of the Sons of Liberty, the Committees began in Boston in 1772 and spread to some eighty towns in the colonies. These committees developed into an inter-colonial committee, and allowed supporters of rebellion to plan their activities and communicate, and joined with the American press, the colonists could spread word about such slights as the ill-named and, to the colonists, horrifying, Boston Massacre which wasn’t a real massacre.
For his part, Samuel …show more content…
The Intolerable Acts were passed at the same time as the Quebec Act, however, a law that gave Quebec a new stretch of land that had previously been colonial backwoods. The Quebec Act alarmed colonials, who saw their rights to land as being threatened without a thought to their needs, not to mention depriving land speculators of business. With these laws and the plight of Boston in mind, colonial leaders called the First Continental Congress in 1774. In and of itself, the Congress was not a legislative body, but it drew up a Declaration of Rights, setting a precedent for the Constitution. Even closer to a written Constitution was The Association, a document that called for a complete boycott of British goods. However, despite these achievements, the Americans were still not …show more content…
The Congress began to see things the same way: on July 7, 1776, the Congress passed a motion stating, “These United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states…” Following Congressional approval, Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence. Loyalists, those who supported the crown, numbered some 20% of the population, but revolutionary attitude was enough to drive out 80,000 supporters of King George following the passing of the Declaration. Despite ambivalence on the parts of many colonists, it was the patriots whose feelings on the matter were strongest, and the rest of the colonies fell in

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