Coming Together
In September of 1774, the first Continental Congress, as it has come to be known, was formed to discuss common grievances. The delegates met in Carpenter’s Hall in Philadelphia. The delegates didn’t want to renounce Parliament, and Independence wasn’t even talked about. They discussed the Coercive Acts and found them tyrannical. The Congress adopted the Articles of Association on October 20th and set a deadline for the Coercive Acts to be repealed by December 1, 1774. If they weren’t repealed by September 10, 1775, there would be an embargo of exports to Great Britain. On October 26,
Grievances were drafted in the form of a formal petition to King George III.
In 1775, Parliament passed the Restraining Act. This act allowed New England to trade with England but cut off trade between them and other countries.
On April 19th of 1775, in the towns of Lexington and Concord, American and British troops fired on each other. 700 British soldiers were sent to suppress the rebellious colonists. In the end, 49 colonists were killed, and 39 were wounded. There were 73 British killed and 174 wounded. Those opening shots at the Battles of Lexington and Concord have come to be known as the “Shot Heard Round the World”. Those shots began the War for Independence that lasted 8 yrs.
