Continental Charter

Examples of Continental Charter in the following topics:

• Paine's Common Sense

  • Paine proposed a Continental Charter (or Charter of the United Colonies) that would be an American Magna Carta and he wrote that a Continental Charter "should come from some intermediate body between the Congress and the people" and outlines a Continental Conference that could draft a Continental Charter.
  • Each colony would hold elections for five representatives; these five would be accompanied by two members of the colonies' assembly, for a total of seven representatives from each colony in the Continental Conference.
  • The Continental Conference would then meet and draft a Continental Charter that would secure "freedom and property to all men, and… the free exercise of religion. " The Continental Charter would also outline a new national government, which Paine thought would take the form of a Congress.

• State Constitutions

  • New constitutions were used in each colony to supersede royal charters, and the colonies declared themselves states.
  • Rhode Island and Connecticut simply took their existing royal charters and deleted all references to the crown.
  • While the state constitutions were being created, the Continental Congress continued to meet as a general political body.
  • New Hampshire was the first state to create a new constitution, in 1776, at the urging of the Continental Congress.

• The Continental System

• The Second Continental Congress

  • It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met between September and October of 1774.
  • The First Congress established that the Second Continental Congress would convene on May 10, 1775.
  • Many of the same 56 delegates present at the First Continental Congress were in attendance at the Second Congress.
  • By the time the Second Continental Congress met, the American Revolutionary War was already underway.
  • On June 14, 1775, Congress voted to create the Continental Army from Boston militia units.

• The Coercive Acts

  • In 1774, they organized the First Continental Congress to coordinate a protest.
  • Many colonists saw the Coercive Acts as a violation of their constitutional rights, their natural rights, and their colonial charters.
  • However, the acts unintentionally promoted sympathy for Massachusetts and encouraged colonists from the otherwise diverse colonies to form the First Continental Congress.

• The American Military Forces

  • The Second Continental Congress established the Continental Army in June 1775 and elected George Washington as Commander-in-Chief.
  • On June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress established the Continental Army, raising 22,000 troops from the Boston area and 5,000 from New York.
  • As the Continental Congress increasingly adopted the responsibilities and posture of a legislature for a sovereign state, the role of the Continental Army was the subject of considerable debate.
  • Congress also created a Continental Navy in 1775.
  • Identify the challenges that the Continental Congress faced in establishing an army.

• The Atlantic Charter

  • The Charter stated the ideal goals of the war.
  • The eight principal points of the Charter were:
  • The Atlantic Charter made clear that America was supporting Britain in the war.
  • Winston Churchill's edited copy of the final draft of the Atlantic Charter.
  • Explain what the Atlantic Charter promised, and who committed to it

• The Spreading Conflict

  • By the time of the Second Continental Congress, fighting was underway .
  • The Continental Association was a system created by the First Continental Congress in 1774 for implementing a trade boycott with Great Britain.
  • On June 14, 1775, the Congress voted to create the Continental Army out of the militia units around Boston, and quickly appointed Congressman George Washington of Virginia as commanding general of the Continental Army.
  • The Association adopted by the Continental Congress was published and often signed by local leaders.
  • Examine how the approach of the Second Continental Congress differed from the First

• The Second Continental Congress

  • The Second Continental Congress was ushered in at the beginning of the Revolution and eventually decided American independence.
  • When the Second Continental Congress came together on May 10, 1775 it was, in effect, a reconvening of the First Continental Congress .
  • By the time the Second Continental Congress met, the American Revolutionary War had already started with the battles of Lexington and Concord.
  • On June 14, 1775, the Congress voted to create the Continental Army out of the militia units around Boston and quickly appointed Congressman George Washington of Virginia as commanding general of the Continental Army.
  • Discuss the role of the Second Continental Congress during the American Revolutionary war

• English Administration of the Colonies

  • Britain's 13 North American colonies reflected different structures of government: provincial, proprietary, and charter.
  • By 1776, Britain had evolved three different forms of government for its North American colonies: provincial, proprietary, and charter.
  • Massachusetts began as a charter colony in 1684 but became a provincial colony in 1691.
  • In a charter colony, Britain granted a charter to the colonial government establishing the rules under which the colony was to be governed.
  • The charters of Rhode Island and Connecticut granted the colonists significantly more political liberty than other colonies.