<P> The Congress met briefly to consider options, including an economic boycott of British trade and drawing up a list of rights and grievances; in the end, they petitioned King George III for redress of those grievances . </P> <P> The Congress also called for another Continental Congress in the event that their petition was unsuccessful in halting enforcement of the Intolerable Acts . Their appeal to the Crown had no effect, and so the Second Continental Congress was convened the following year to organize the defense of the colonies at the onset of the American Revolutionary War . The delegates also urged each colony to set up and train its own militia . </P> <P> The Congress met from September 5 to October 26, 1774 . Peyton Randolph presided over the proceedings; Henry Middleton took over as President of the Congress from October 22 to 26 . Charles Thomson, leader of Philadelphia Committee of Correspondence, was selected to be Secretary of the Continental Congress . </P> <P> The delegates who attended were not of one mind concerning why they were there . Conservatives such as Joseph Galloway, John Dickinson, John Jay, and Edward Rutledge believed their task to be forging policies to pressure Parliament to rescind its unreasonable acts . Their ultimate goal was to develop a reasonable solution to the difficulties and bring about reconciliation between the Colonies and Great Britain . Others such as Patrick Henry, Roger Sherman, Samuel Adams, and John Adams believed their task to be developing a decisive statement of the rights and liberties of the Colonies . Their ultimate goal was to end what they felt to be the abuses of parliamentary authority, and to retain their rights which had been guaranteed under both Colonial charters and the English constitution . </P>

Who was asked to oversee the philadelphia convention