The First Continental Congress met at Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia from September 5 to October 26, 1774.
Delegates from twelve of the thirteen American colonies gathered there to coordinate a response to Britain’s Coercive Acts, called the Intolerable Acts by many colonists. Georgia did not send delegates to this first congress, although it later joined the revolutionary movement.
The meeting took place before the colonies formally declared independence. Its major actions included approving the Continental Association, which organized a boycott of British goods, and sending a petition to King George III. The delegates also agreed to meet again if their grievances were not addressed.
Carpenters’ Hall is often confused with the building now known as Independence Hall, where the Second Continental Congress later met and where the Declaration of Independence was adopted. The First Continental Congress’s meeting at Carpenters’ Hall therefore marks an earlier stage of intercolonial cooperation, before the creation of the United States.