Twelve colonies sent delegates to the First Continental Congress, a key prelude to the founding era remembered by America250. Georgia was the only one of the Thirteen Colonies that did not attend.
The Congress met in Philadelphia from September 5 to October 26, 1774. Its delegates gathered in response to the Intolerable Acts, punitive measures passed by the British Parliament after the Boston Tea Party. The meeting sought coordinated colonial action while many delegates still hoped to repair the relationship with Britain.
The convention included 56 delegates, among them George Washington, John Adams, Samuel Adams, and Patrick Henry. It adopted the Continental Association, which organized a boycott of British goods, and sent petitions to the king. These actions helped establish cooperation among colonies that previously had separate governments and interests.
The number is often confused with thirteen because all thirteen colonies eventually joined the revolutionary movement. The Second Continental Congress, which convened in 1775, included delegates from all thirteen colonies and later adopted the Declaration of Independence.