The First Continental Congress met at Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia before America’s independence.
Delegates from 12 of the 13 British colonies gathered there from September 5 to October 26, 1774. Georgia did not send delegates because Loyalist sentiment remained strong there and the colony depended on British military supplies. The meeting was organized in response to growing conflict with Parliament, especially the Intolerable Acts imposed after the Boston Tea Party.
The congress did not declare independence. Instead, it sought to coordinate colonial resistance, defend colonial rights, and establish a boycott of British goods through the Continental Association. Peyton Randolph of Virginia served as its president.
Carpenters’ Hall is often confused with Independence Hall, then called the Pennsylvania State House. The Second Continental Congress met at the State House beginning in 1775 and later adopted the Declaration of Independence there in 1776. Thus, the two congresses used different Philadelphia buildings.