14 Facts About Continental Congress

Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War.

The Second Continental Congress convened in 1775 in the wake of the breakout of hostilities in Massachusetts.

Second Continental Congress served as the provisional government of the U S for most of the War of Independence.

Continental Congress had the power to declare war, sign treaties, and settle disputes between the states.

Under the Articles of Confederation, the Confederation Continental Congress had little power to compel the individual states to comply with its decisions.

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The leading men in each State preferred to serve in the state governments, and thus the Continental Congress had frequent difficulties in establishing a quorum.

Confederation Continental Congress finally set up a suitable administrative structure for the Federal government.

However, the organization of the Continental Congress was based less on the British Parliament or on local colonial assemblies than on the 1765 Stamp Act Congress.

Continental Congress took on powers normally held by the British King-in-Council, such as foreign and military affairs.

Continental Congress had no formal way to enforce its ordinances on the state governments.

Rules of Continental Congress guaranteed the right to debate and open access to the floor for each delegate.

Many commentators take for granted that the leaderless, weak, slow, and small-committee driven, Continental Congress was a failure, largely because after the end of the war the Articles of Confederation no longer suited the needs of a peacetime nation, and the Congress itself, following Madison's recommendations, called for its revision and replacement.

Some suggest that the Continental Congress was inhibited by the formation of contentious partisan alignments based on regional differences.

Olsen suggests that the Continental Congress, if slow, when judged by its many achievements – not the least being recognizing its flaws, then replacing and terminating itself – was a success.