Second Continental Congress

Second Continental Congress
Thirteen Colonies United States
Type
Type	Unicameral
History
Established	May 10, 1775
Disbanded	March 1, 1781
Preceded by	First Continental Congress
Succeeded by	1st Confederation Congress
Leadership
President of Congress	Peyton Randolph (first) Samuel Huntington (last)
Secretary	Charles Thomson
Structure
Seats	Variable; ~60
Authority	President of the Continental Congress
Meeting place
mainly at Pennsylvania State House, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from December 1776 to July 1778 various locations, see below
Footnotes
Though there were about 50 members of the Congress at a given time, it was the states that had votes, so there were effectively only 13 seats.

The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting in the spring of 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met between September 5, 1774 and October 26, 1774, also in Philadelphia. The second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved incrementally towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. By raising armies, directing strategy, appointing diplomats, and making formal treaties such as the Olive Branch Petition, the Congress acted as the de facto national government of what became the United States.

When the Second Continental Congress came together on May 10, 1775 it was, in effect, a reconvening of the First Continental Congress. Many of the same 56 delegates who attended the first meeting were in attendance at the second, and the delegates appointed the same president (Peyton Randolph) and secretary (Charles Thomson). Notable new arrivals included Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and John Hancock of Massachusetts. Within two weeks, Randolph was summoned back to Virginia to preside over the House of Burgesses; he was replaced in the Virginia delegation by Thomas Jefferson, who arrived several weeks later. Henry Middleton was elected as president to replace Randolph, but he declined. Hancock was elected president on May 24.

Delegates from twelve of the Thirteen Colonies were present when the Second Continental Congress convened. Georgia had not participated in the First Continental Congress and did not initially send delegates to the Second Continental Congress. On May 13, 1775, Lyman Hall was admitted as a delegate from the Parish of St. John's in the Colony of Georgia, not as a delegate from the colony itself. On July 4, 1775, revolutionary Georgians held a Provincial Congress to decide how to respond to the American Revolution, and that congress decided on July 8 to send delegates to the Continental Congress. They arrived on July 20.