Peyton Randolph was the first president of the First Continental Congress, which met in Philadelphia in 1774.
Randolph was a Virginia lawyer and political leader who had served as speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses. Delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies gathered at Carpenter’s Hall in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774, to coordinate a response to Britain’s Coercive Acts, called the Intolerable Acts by many colonists.
As president, Randolph presided over debates that produced the Continental Association, a coordinated boycott of British goods, and a petition to King George III. The Congress did not yet declare independence or create a permanent national government. Its initial purpose was to organize colonial resistance and seek redress while many delegates still hoped for reconciliation.
Randolph later presided over the Second Continental Congress briefly in 1775, but ill health forced him to return to Virginia. John Hancock then became president of the Second Congress. This is why Randolph and Hancock are both associated with early Continental Congress leadership, but Randolph holds the “first president” distinction.