This article traces the history of the Second Continental Congress, from its convening in May 1775 through its dissolution and replacement by the Congress of the Confederation in 1781. For background on the First Continental Congress, see First Continental Congress - History. For the constitutional framework that succeeded it, see Articles of Confederation - History.
The Second Continental Congress convened on May 10, 1775, at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia - the same building that had hosted the First Continental Congress in 1774. Delegates arrived under dramatically altered circumstances: armed conflict had already begun. The Battles of Lexington and Concord had taken place on April 19, 1775, and the Siege of Boston was underway when the Congress opened.
Twelve of the thirteen colonies sent delegates at the outset; Georgia did not send a full delegation until the autumn of 1775. The membership overlapped substantially with the First Continental Congress, though several significant new figures appeared. Benjamin Franklin, recently returned from London, joined the Pennsylvania delegation. John Hancock of Massachusetts was elected President of the Congress on May 24, 1775, succeeding Peyton Randolph. Thomas Jefferson arrived in June 1775 to replace Randolph, who had returned to Virginia.
The Congress had no formal legal authority under British law and no charter granting it powers. It operated by the consent of the colonial assemblies and the practical necessity of coordinated action.
The Congress moved quickly to assume functions of a central government, beginning with military affairs. On June 14, 1775, it voted to establish the Continental Army, consolidating the militia forces then besieging Boston into a unified command. The following day, June 15, it unanimously appointed George Washington of Virginia as Commander-in-Chief. Washington accepted the commission on June 16, declining any salary beyond expenses.
The Congress authorized the printing of paper currency - Continental dollars - beginning in June 1775, to finance military operations. It had no power to tax and relied on requisitions from the colonies, a structural weakness that persisted throughout its existence.
In July 1775, Congress adopted the Olive Branch Petition, drafted primarily by John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, which professed loyalty to King George III and appealed for a negotiated resolution. King George III refused to receive it and proclaimed the colonies in a state of rebellion on August 23, 1775. Parliament followed with the Prohibitory Act in December 1775, declaring American ships and goods subject to seizure.
Through the winter of 1775-1776, delegates remained divided between those seeking reconciliation and those favoring independence. John Dickinson led the conciliatory faction; John Adams, Samuel Adams, Richard Henry Lee, and others pressed for separation.
Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense, published January 10, 1776, argued in plain language for republican independence and reached an estimated 150,000 readers within months. It shifted public debate and gave independence advocates outside the Congress a widely circulated text.
Colonial assemblies began instructing their delegates. On May 15, 1776, Virginia's convention instructed its delegates to propose independence. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee introduced a formal resolution: “That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.” Congress postponed a vote and appointed a Committee of Five to draft a declaration: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. Jefferson wrote the primary draft; Adams and Franklin made substantive revisions.
Congress voted on independence on July 2, 1776, approving Lee's resolution twelve colonies to none, with New York abstaining (its delegates lacked instructions). John Adams wrote to Abigail Adams that July 2 would be the date celebrated by posterity. Congress then debated and revised the draft declaration over July 3-4, removing Jefferson's passage condemning the slave trade at the insistence of South Carolina and Georgia delegates, and making other alterations. The Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776. Most delegates signed the engrossed parchment copy on August 2, 1776.
The Congress functioned as the de facto executive, legislative, and diplomatic authority of the new nation throughout the war. It managed correspondence with Washington, appointed and removed generals, negotiated with foreign powers, and attempted to coordinate supply and finance across thirteen independent state governments.
The military situation deteriorated sharply in the second half of 1776. British forces took New York City in September 1776 and Philadelphia in September 1777, forcing the Congress to relocate - first to Baltimore (December 1776 to February 1777), then to Lancaster, Pennsylvania (September 27, 1777, for a single day), then to York, Pennsylvania, where it sat from September 30, 1777, to June 27, 1778.
At York, Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation on November 15, 1777, and sent them to the states for ratification. Full ratification required unanimous consent and was not completed until March 1, 1781, when Maryland, the final holdout, approved.
The American victory at Saratoga in October 1777 - the surrender of General John Burgoyne's army - provided the leverage for a formal alliance with France. Benjamin Franklin had been conducting negotiations in Paris since late 1776. The Franco-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance were signed on February 6, 1778, and ratified by Congress on May 4, 1778. France entered the war openly, transforming it from a colonial rebellion into a conflict with international dimensions.
During the winter of 1777-1778, a faction within Congress and the army sought to replace Washington as Commander-in-Chief with General Horatio Gates, whose reputation had risen after Saratoga. General Thomas Conway, an Irish-born officer in French service who had joined the Continental Army, wrote a letter critical of Washington that was relayed to Congress and to Gates. Washington learned of it and confronted the matter directly.
The episode - called the Conway Cabal by Washington's supporters - did not produce a formal motion against Washington and dissipated by the spring of 1778. Conway resigned his commission in April 1778. The incident illustrated the friction between the Congress's theoretical authority over the military and Washington's political standing.
With France formally allied, Congress pursued additional European support. John Adams was sent to France in 1778 and later to the Netherlands, where he secured diplomatic recognition and a loan in 1782. John Jay was dispatched to Spain, which never formally recognized American independence but provided covert financial assistance.
The financial situation remained critical throughout this period. Continental currency depreciated severely; by 1780 it had lost most of its face value, giving rise to the phrase “not worth a Continental.” Congress had no power to compel state contributions and could not service its debts reliably. Robert Morris, appointed Superintendent of Finance in 1781, implemented partial reforms, including chartering the Bank of North America in December 1781.
The Articles of Confederation came into force on March 1, 1781, upon Maryland's ratification. The Second Continental Congress formally became the Congress of the Confederation on that date, though membership and location were continuous. The transition was administrative rather than dramatic; the same body continued meeting under a new constitutional framework.
The military phase of the Revolutionary War effectively ended with the British surrender at Yorktown on October 19, 1781. Negotiations for a formal peace began in Paris. The Preliminary Articles of Peace were signed on November 30, 1782; the Treaty of Paris was concluded on September 3, 1783, and ratified by the Congress of the Confederation on January 14, 1784.
Some historians argue that the Congress's inability to tax or compel state compliance was a structural failure that prolonged the war and endangered the alliance with France; others hold that any stronger central authority would have been unacceptable to the colonies and that the Congress performed adequately given its constraints. See Articles of Confederation - Debate.
The extent to which the deletion of Jefferson's anti-slave-trade passage from the Declaration reflects a principled compromise necessary for unity, versus a foundational evasion that shaped subsequent American law, remains contested among historians. See Declaration of Independence Slavery - Debate.
Whether the Conway Cabal constituted an organized conspiracy or an informal convergence of dissatisfied officers and delegates is disputed; Washington's contemporaneous account shaped most early historiography, while later scholars have argued the threat was exaggerated. See Conway Cabal - Debate.