The First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in 1774, during the founding era commemorated by America250.
Delegates gathered at Carpenters' Hall from September 5 to October 26, 1774. The meeting was called in response to Parliament's Coercive Acts, which the colonists called the Intolerable Acts, imposed after the Boston Tea Party.
Fifty-six delegates represented 12 of the 13 colonies. Georgia did not attend, largely because Loyalist sentiment remained strong there and the colony depended on British military support. Peyton Randolph of Virginia presided over the Congress.
The First Continental Congress did not declare independence. Instead, it adopted the Continental Association, a coordinated boycott of British goods, and sent a petition to King George III. The Second Continental Congress also met in Philadelphia beginning in May 1775, but it assembled at the Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall. That later body established the Continental Army and moved toward independence.