<P> The First Continental Congress met briefly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1774, consisting of fifty - six delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies (excluding Georgia) that became the United States of America . Among them was George Washington, who would soon be drawn out of military retirement to command the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War . Also in attendance was Patrick Henry, and John Adams, who like all delegates were elected by their respective colonial assemblies . Other delegates included Samuel Adams from Massachusetts, John Dickinson from Pennsylvania and New York's John Jay . This congress in addition to formulating appeals to the British crown, established the Continental Association to administer boycott actions against Britain . </P> <P> When the Second Continental Congress convened on May 10, 1775, it essentially reconstituted the First Congress . Many of the same 56 delegates who attended the first meeting participated in the second . New arrivals included Benjamin Franklin and Robert Morris of Pennsylvania, John Hancock of Massachusetts, and John Witherspoon of New Jersey . Hancock was elected Congress President two weeks into the session when Peyton Randolph was recalled to Virginia to preside over the House of Burgesses . Thomas Jefferson replaced Randolph in the Virginia congressional delegation . The second Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence . Witherspoon was the only active clergyman to sign the Declaration . He also signed the Articles of Confederation and attended the New Jersey (1787) convention that ratified the Federal Constitution . </P> <P> The newly founded country of the United States had to create a new government to replace the British Parliament . The U.S. adopted the Articles of Confederation, a declaration that established a national government with a one - house legislature . Its ratification by all thirteen colonies gave the second Congress a new name: the Congress of the Confederation, which met from 1781 to 1789 . The Constitutional Convention took place during the summer of 1787, in Philadelphia . Although the Convention was called to revise the Articles of Confederation, the intention from the outset for some including James Madison and Alexander Hamilton was to create a new frame of government rather than amending the existing one . The delegates elected George Washington to preside over the Convention . The result of the Convention was the United States Constitution and the replacement of the Continental Congress with the United States Congress . </P> <P> The Founding Fathers represented a cross-section of 18th - century U.S. leadership . Almost all of them were well - educated men of means who were leaders in their communities . Many were also prominent in national affairs . Virtually every one had taken part in the American Revolution; at least 29 had served in the Continental Army, most of them in positions of command . Scholars have examined the collective biography of them as well as the signers of the Declaration and the Constitution . </P>

When did the founding fathers write the constitution