Second Continental Congress (1775)
The chief accomplishment of the Second Continental Congress, which convened on May 10, 1775, was the drafting of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. The Second Continental Congress took place in the wake of the Seven Years’ War between Great Britain and France (1756–1763), which left Britain deep in debt. To pay off this debt, the British Parliament passed legislation that increased tax revenues from the American colonies, including the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Revenue Act of 1767. Many colonists, though, objected to these measures, and the purpose of both the First Continental Congress and the Second Continental Congress was to oppose them. The colonists argued that because the colonies were not represented in Parliament, that body had no authority to tax them, a view expressed in the still well-known phrase “no taxation without representation.”
Matters reached a boiling point in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party of late 1773. To restore order in...
