The Continental Congress was the governing body of the 13 Colonies during the American Revolution. Each Colony sent representatives to discuss the issue of Parliament's invasion of their rights as Englishmen. Thus, when the Colonists met, they created a weak central government in which the States held power.
First Congress
For years before the French and Indian War, Parliament allowed the Colonists to govern themselves, but this would all change in 1763. Parliament started to take direct control of the Colonial matters by implementing policies designed to shift this power from the Colonial legislators back to Parliament. Parliament wanted the Colonies to begin to pay their fair share in taxes and other duties, mainly to relieve some of the burden that the London merchants were feeling.
These policies were, in the minds of Americans, invasions on their Rights as Englishmen. Consequently, the Americans formed the First Continental Congress to address the issue.
This Congress met at Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia, on September 5, 1774, with 44 delegates in attendance. Latecomers brought the total to 56. The delegates elected Peyton Randolph of Virginia as the President. Among the membership of this Congress were such notables as George Washington, Patrick Henry, John Jay, John Adams, and Samuel Adams. The membership of the 1775 Second Continental Congress was much the same, with the addition of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.
Meeting in secret session, the First Congress rejected a plan by Joseph Galloway of Pennsylvania to blend British authority with Colonial freedom somehow. Members voted instead for a declaration of Rights, including those of life, liberty, property, assembly, and trial by jury. They also demanded reparation for grievances that had been accumulating since 1763.
Second Congress
By the time the Second Continental Congress met in 1775, fighting had begun between the Colonies and Britain in Massachusetts. The Congress took over the new American army and put George Washington in charge.
It also directed the war effort and acted as the provisional government for the Colonies by issuing and borrowing money, setting up a postal service, and creating a navy. By mid-1776, the conflict was so far along that the congress gave up on a peaceful settlement and adopted the Declaration of Independence.