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In 1776, it took the momentous step of declaring America’s independence from Britain. Five years later, the Congress ratified the first national constitution, the Articles of Confederation, under which the country would be governed until 1789, when it was replaced by the current U.S. Constitution.
There were poor roads, the people in charge of delivering the supplies were not always honest, and ships had difficulties getting around British blockades. Army supplies, such as clothing and blankets, arrived late or not at all and food was often spoiled or damaged.
The U.S. Continental Congress endorsed Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, and, with it, the conflict with Britain became a full-fledged War of Independence. Unable to defeat the strong British military on their own, the American colonists required foreign assistance.
What problems did the Continental Congress face in raising an army to fight during the American Revolution? Fear that the Continental Congress would control the colonies as the British Parliament had; thus it had difficulty enlisting soldiers and raising money.
The decisions that the First Continental Congress made were to declare that the laws in the thirteen acts of Parliament violated the colonists’ rights, to boycott all British trade and goods, meaning that no British products could be spent in the colonies, and no colonial goods could be brought into Britain.
The American officials would regulate internal colonial affairs and possess the power to veto parliamentary acts affecting the colonies, but remain subordinate to Parliament and the Crown. Galloway’s moderate proposal was defeated by a vote of six colonies to five.
Americans were not yet demanding independence, but sought the right to participate in a free government that protected their liberties within the British Empire. Before adjourning, the delegates organized the Continental Association that called for a complete boycott of British goods.
Even members of the Continental Congress accepted Paine’s call to action by urging states to form governments and write their own statements of independence. The following month, Congress learned of the Prohibitory Act, closing all colonial ports and defining resistance to the Crown as treason.
For over a year, the Continental Congress supervised a war against a country to which it proclaimed its loyalty. In fact, both the Congress and the people it represented were divided on the question of independence even after a year of open warfare against Great Britain.