In which city did the Continental Congress meet in 1774?

The First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in 1774. Delegates gathered at Carpenters’ Hall from September 5 through October 26 to coordinate the colonies’ response to Britain’s increasingly punitive policies.

Twelve of the thirteen colonies sent delegates; Georgia did not participate in the First Congress. The meeting followed the Boston Tea Party and Parliament’s passage of the Coercive Acts, called the Intolerable Acts by many colonists. Delegates debated colonial rights, agreed to boycott British goods through the Continental Association, and petitioned King George III.

Philadelphia was a natural meeting place because it was centrally located among the colonies and already an important commercial and political center. The city’s political institutions and communication networks made it suitable for a gathering intended to build intercolonial cooperation.

The First Continental Congress did not immediately declare independence. That step came in 1776, after the Second Continental Congress convened—also in Philadelphia. The Second Congress created the Continental Army, selected George Washington as commander, and eventually adopted the Declaration of Independence.