Essay On The First Continental Congress

Words: 685
Pages: 3

By the meeting of the First Continental Congress in September, 1774, it was clear that the relationship between the 13 colonies and the British empire was heading for major change. As the colonists felt increasing imperial control by the British, and Parliament saw increasing disobedience by the colonists, the two groups began to conflict with one another over a multitude of issues, including taxation. Many colonists felt that the only way to secure and protect their rights was to break from Empire. However, many colonists felt that, with changes on both sides, the relationship between the colonies and the Empire could be saved. At the First and Second Continental Congress, conflict between radicals and moderates plagued the meetings as both proposed their ideas, as most notably demonstrated by Galloway’s Plan and The Declaration for the Causes and Necessities for Taking Up Arms.
At the First Continental Congress, a plan for keeping the colonies under the British rule was proposed by Joseph Galloway. Called “Galloway's Plan,” it stated that a separate colonial legislature would be created as an addition to the British Parliament; the colonial legislature would be overseen by a President-General, appointed
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This document explains why the colonies decided to take up arms against the British, incorporating specific events that triggered the war. Policies such as “taxation without representation,” the Intolerable Acts, and the Declaratory Act were addressed in the Documents as grievances that the colonists felt. It even states that that colonists prefered, “to die free men rather than live as slaves.” Though the colonists did not declare that they wanted to seek independence, it was made clear that they would protect their rights and liberties to the greatest