<P> The Continental Congress, also known as the Philadelphia Congress, was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies . It became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution . </P> <P> The Congress met from 1774 to 1789 in three incarnations . The first call for a convention was made over issues of the blockade and the Intolerable Acts penalizing the Province of Massachusetts, which in 1774 enabled Benjamin Franklin to convince the colonies to form a representative body . Much of what we know today comes from the yearly log books printed by the Continental Congress called Resolutions, Acts and Orders of Congress, which gives a day to day description of debates and issues . </P> <P> Although the delegates were divided early on as to whether to break from Crown rule, the second Continental Congress on July 2, 1776, passed a resolution asserting independence, with no opposing vote recorded . The Declaration of Independence was issued two days later declaring themselves a new nation: the United States of America . It established a Continental Army, giving command to one of its members, George Washington of Virginia . It waged war with Great Britain, made a militia treaty with France, and funded the war effort with loans and paper money . </P> <P> The third Continental Congress was the Congress of the Confederation, under the Articles of Confederation . </P>

Declaration of independence first or second continental congress
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