Hello and welcome to a history of the United States.

Episode 138, the First Continental Congress.

On September 5th, 1774, 56 delegates from 12 colonies, all except Georgia, met in Philadelphia

for the First Continental Congress. This was a sequel to the Stempaq Congress of

1765, but was a significant upgrade. Its members were some of the best and brightest from

the American colonies. Not all necessarily radicals, but all experienced in colonial politics.

The Massachusetts delegation included Sam and John Adams, whom we've both already met.

New York's included John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Virginia's included George Washington and Patrick Henry,

both of whom we've already met, as well as Benjamin Harrison, whose son, William Henry Harrison,

and great-grandson Benjamin Harrison, would be president, and Richard Henry Lee, of the famous

Lee family.

Pennsylvania's delegation included John Dickinson, author of the Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania,

which we've discussed already, and John Galloway, a close political ally of Benjamin Franklin

and future loyalist. And South Carolina's delegation included John Rutledge,

the second Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. It was an esteemed collection, and they knew it.

This was a collection of leaders never before seen in the colonies, one which would soon form a core of the American governing class.

No men there favoured complete submission to British will, but there was certainly a spread of opinions.

John and Sam Adams were among the most radical, wanting to fight rather than concede.

Others, like Dickinson and Rutledge, attempted to restrain them.

The Adamses were able to create a declaration which meant that if Gage acted aggressively against Massachusetts,

that would be taken as an act of hostility against

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