The First Continental Congress: The Boston Tea Party

Thomas Fitzsimons was born In 1741, in Ireland (exact date and place unknown) and died August 26th, 1811 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Fitzsimons and his family traveled from Ireland to Philadelphia, in the mid 1750’s. In 1763 Thomas went into the trading business, with his new brother in law, George Meade. When Parliament reacted to the 1773 Boston Tea Party with punitive measures, which the Americans called the Coercive Acts, Fitzsimons felt that if British warships could close the port of Boston, no city in America was truly safe. These concerns forced Thomas into the patriotic cause and politics.

The colonists abruptly became enraged by these acts passed by Parliament. This was exhibited through how they referred to the acts. While Britain regarded these as the “Coercive Acts”, meaning they enforced stricter laws on the colonists so they obeyed the rules, the colonists referred to them as the “Intolerable Acts”, meaning these acts should not be enforced or allowed. These acts provided consequences for the Boston Tea Party, allowed for convicted British soldiers to be tried in biased ways, excluded numerous colonies from their own claimed territory, alarmed Protestants, and threatened the prospect of “self-government.” Specifically the Massachusetts Government Act and the Quebec Act prompted them to propose they did not hold as much

The Coercive Acts were a series of acts set up as a consequence of the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea Party was a “famed act of American colonial defiance served as a protest against taxation. Seeking to boost the troubled East India Company, British Parliament adjusted import duties with the passage of the Tea Act in 1773. While consignees in Charleston, New York, and Philadelphia rejected tea shipments, merchants in Boston refused to concede to Patriot pressure.” (History Channel)

It was two years later after the Boston Tea Party the war began. Parliament passed four Acts collectively known as The Coercive Acts between the two, which made them angry. the Tea Party was a key trigger but not the only one, the war had been long brewing. There were many arguments over religion and government. Here are some other reasons The Revolutionary War started, the British (redcoats) were starting to take over, and the Americans didn 't like it.

On September 5th, 1774, the First Continental Congress, representing twelve American Colonies, came together to discuss the proceedings of their Union. The reason, was to confer about documents enforced by the Parliament and the King that violated the Union’s rights. Thus collaborating about their violated rights and creating a solution for their grievances. The First Continental Congress was the fuel for the raging fire between Britain and the American Colonies, and without this council America would not cherish the ideals of liberty, freedom, and justice for all as much as it does today.

to make the Articles of Confederation work. George Washington didn’t like this idea of revising the Articles at first, but the news of the rebellion made him change his mind. After he agreed to attend the convention, it took on greater significance. The meeting took place in Philadelphia in May 1787, with fifty-five delegates that had occupation such as planters, merchants, lawyers, physicians, generals, governors, and a college president. Taking Thomas Jefferson’s place from Virginia were Edmund Randolph and James Madison.

Prior to the American revolution, America was a cluster of colonies mainly ruled by the British government. Additionally, tea was very popular than coffee in the colonies at that time. Back in 1773, the British government ceased the Townshend Act on its American colonies but the Tea act; which was not accepted by the residents of the colonies as they still had to pay taxes to consume tea. This led to the famous incident, the so called “Boston Tea Party”, which inevitably led to the American revolution. Since then Americans switched to coffee instead of tea, as tea was distributed to the world from England via importing it from India and China.

What- The Second Continental Congress followed the First Continental Congress and took place in Philadelphia, May 5th, 1775. It took charge of the Colonies’ war attempts and would eventually lead to the United States Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. Who- Some people who were involved in this included, John Hancock from Massachusetts, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, and Benjamin Franklin from Pennsylvania along with Patrick Henry, George Washington, and John Adams. Many of the 56 delegates who had attended the First Continental Congress were at the second.

To start off, the Boston tea party was one of the causes of the American Revolution But before we get into the Boston tea party, we have to know a few things about the French and Indian War. Basically Britain and France fight a war for control over North America from 1756 to 1763. Britain wins, however they went into a big amount of debt fighting in it. After the war, the government of the British decided that the American colonist had to help pay that debt.

The first and second Continental Congress were made up of delegates from each colony to discuss and handle matters, without the consent of British government. In Document 5, the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms displayed their irritation with Parliament; “They have undertaken to give and grant our money without our consent.” The conflicts between Great Britain and the colonies were tragic, however it led to a more stable government which was founded on the principles of “for the people, by the

The First Continental Congress also sent a letter to King George III stating that they were unhappy with the way they were being treated and that the King must repeal the Coercive Acts or else all trade with England will be halted. In the autumn of 1774 Delegates from all the colonies, except for Georgia, who was dealing

The colonist didn’t like the laws the British made so they did many disastrous things the British didn’t like so as things kept getting worse it led to the American Revolution. The two British laws that the colonists thought were unfair are being taxed on sugar and paper, and the amount of taxes increasing. “ The madness begin in 1764 when Parliament passed taxes on sugar and paper”(unknown,1774).

The Continental of Congress meetings played important parts of the Revolution. The First Continental of Congress and the Second Continental of Congress have many similarities and differences. For starters, both of them were discussed in Philadelphia. Every colony sent a representative there except for the state of Georgia in both meetings. (there were no western states)

The Boston Tea Party Have you ever wondered what it would be like if an iconic moment in history had never happened? Although The Boston Tea Party cost Great Britain a great deal of important resources it was a necessary event for the Colonists to get their freedom. The British Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts to punish the Colonies for dumping British goods in the harbor. The Boston Tea Party also paved the way for the Revolutionary War. Therefore the American way of life would be extremely different today had the Boston Tea Party never happened.

Leanna Kontos APUSH Per.4 9/30/15 Main Ideas of Unit One: Question #6 The First Continental Congress happened during the period of September 5, 1774 to October 26, 1774. This marked the first time that the all of the colonies, except Georgia, were together. The purpose of this meeting was to address the issues they had with Britain.