<P> On October 26, 1774, the First Continental Congress adjourned; but it agreed to reconvene in May 1775, if Parliament still had not addressed their grievances . </P> <P> In London, Parliament debated the merits of meeting the demands made by the colonies; however, it took no official notice of Congress's petitions and addresses . On November 30, 1774, King George III opened Parliament with a speech condemning Massachusetts and the Suffolk Resolves . At that point it became clear that the Continental Congress would have to convene once again . </P> <P> The Second Continental Congress convened on May 10, 1775, at Philadelphia's State House, passing the resolution for independence the following year on July 2, 1776, and publicly asserting the decision two days later with the Declaration of Independence . Thomas Jefferson of Virginia drafted the declaration, and John Adams was a leader in the debates in favor of its adoption . John Hancock of Massachusetts was the president during those debates . To govern during the American Revolutionary War, the Second Continental Congress continued, meeting at various locations, until it became the Congress of the Confederation when the Articles of Confederation were ratified on March 1, 1781 . </P> <P> The newly founded country of the United States next had to create a new government to replace the British Parliament / 13 colonies government that it was in rebellion against . After much debate, the Americans adopted the Articles of Confederation, a declaration that established a national government made up of a one - house legislature known as the Congress of the Confederation . It met from 1781 to 1789 . The Confederation Congress helped guide the United States through the final stages of the Revolutionary War, but during peacetime, the Continental Congress steeply declined in importance . </P>

Who proposed the idea of independence to the continental congress