From September 5th to October 26th, delegates from 12 of the 13 colonies met in Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia to respond to what was seen as increasingly intolerable actions by the British crown which usurped American liberties. 

For details about the delegates’ journeys and the start of the Congress, please click here.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Nathaniel Folsom (1726-1790)  

Served as a Major General of the New Hampshire Militia during the American Revolution. Signer of the Continental Association. 

John Sullivan (1740-1795)

Brigadier General serving under Washington. Was captured during the Battle of Long Island but later released as part of a prisoner exchange. Signer of the Continental Association. 

MASSACHUSETTS

John Adams (1735-1826)

Lawyer and part of the 23-member Grand Committee tasked with drafting a letter of grievances to King George III. Signer of the Continental Association and the Declaration of Independence.  

Samuel Adams (1722- 1803)

Politician and Stateman. Devised a Committee of Correspondence system in 1772 to coordinate resistance to British policies. Promoted colonial unity at the Continental Congress. Signer of the Continental Association and the Declaration of Independence.  

Thomas Cushing (1725-1788)

Lawyer and merchant. Elected to the First Continental Congress and signer of the Continental Association but voted out of the Second Continental Congress when he opposed independence. Became commissioner of Marine Affairs. 

Robert Treat Paine (1731-1814)

Lawyer (prosecuted the British Soldiers in the Boston Massacre but lost the case to John Adams, lawyer for the defendants). Helped frame the Rules for Debate during the congress. Signer of the Continental Association and the Declaration of Independence.  

ODE ISLAND

Stephen Hopkins (1707-1785) 

Merchant and Politician. At 68, he was the oldest delegate at the congress. He told his fellow delegates: "Powder and ball will decide this question. The gun and bayonet alone will finish the contest in which we are engaged, and any of you who cannot bring your minds to this mode of adjusting the quarrel, had better retire in time." Signer of the Continental Association and the Declaration of Independence.  

Samuel Ward (1725-1776)

Farmer and politician, he stated: “Heaven save my country, is my first, my last, and almost my only prayer." Signer of the Continental Association but died of smallpox three months before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 

CONNECTICUT

Silas Deane (1738-1789)

Signed the Continental Association and then became the first foreign diplomat from the United States to France, where he helped negotiate the 1778 Treaty of Alliance that allied France with the United States during the American Revolutionary War. He was then recalled to America and investigated for financial misconduct. His name was not cleared until 60 years after his death. 

Eliphalet Dyer (1721-1807)

Lawyer who John Adams characterized as "...longwinded and roundabout, obscure and cloudy, very talkative and very tedious, yet an honest, worthy man; means and judges well." Signer of the Continental Association. 

Roger Sherman (1721-1793)

Lawyer and the only person to sign all four great state papers of the United States: the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution. He also signed the 1774 Petition to the King. 

NEW YORK

John Alsop (1724-1794)

Merchant and signer of the Continental Association. Alsop favored reconciliation with Great Britain and so resigned as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress rather than sign the Declaration of Independence. Acted as an agent of Congress through his business to acquire supplies, and particularly powder for the Continental Army.  

Simon Boerum (1724-1775)

Farmer and signer of the Continental Association. He was elected to the Second Continental Congress but died several months before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He helped to defeat the Galloway Plan of Union for reconciliation with England. 

James Duane (1733-1797)

Lawyer and signer of the Continental Association. He was one of the many who were most disposed to reconciliation with Britain and supported the Galloway Plan of Union which was rejected by the majority of the delegates. Despite his initial reservations he later supported independence. 

William Floyd (1734-1821)

Wealthy farmer and signer of the Continental Association and the Declaration of Independence. The British Army confiscated Floyd’s Long Island house and estate and used the property as a base for its cavalry over the next seven years.  

John Haring (1739-1809)

Lawyer and one of the three delegates to not sign the Continental Association.  He was elected to the New York Revolutionary Government five times and he and a daughter attended the hanging of John André, a British Army Major executed as a spy. 

John Jay (1745-1829) 

Lawyer and signer of the Continental Association.  He would later serve as president of the Second Continental Congress. Jay was appointed by President George Washington as the first Chief Justice of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1795.  

Philip Livingston (1716-1778) 

Merchant, slave trader, and signer of the Continental Association and the Declaration of Independence. When the British occupied Manhattan, Livingston fled and many of his slaves sought freedom fighting for thr British. 

Isaac Low (1735-1791)

Merchant and signer of the Continental Association. However, after Independence was declared in 1776, Low quit the patriot cause and his property was confiscated. He eventually moved to England. 

Henry Wisner (1720-1790)

Miller and signer of the Continental Association. When he returned home, he built three gunpowder mills in Orange and Ulster Counties. At their height he was shipping 1,000 pounds of gunpowder each week to Washington’s army.  

NEW JERSEY

Stephen Crane (1709-1780)

Politician and signer of the Continental Association. He was mayor of Elizabethtown and was bayoneted in 1780 by Hessian soldiers passing through on their way to the Battle of Springfield. He died of his wounds. 

John De Hart (1727-1795)

Lawyer and signer of the Continental Association. He returned to the Second Continental Congress but remained in favor of reconciliation and resigned in late 1775.  

James Kinsey (1731-1802)

Lawyer and signer of the Continental Association. He returned to the Second Continental Congress but resigned in late 1775. Kinsey was a Quaker and not in favor of war. 

William Livingston (1723-1790)

Politician, lawyer, and signer of the Continental Association. William had a large estate in Elizabethtown which was frequently raided and looted by the British as they looked to capture him. Historians say a young Alexander Hamilton stayed with Livingston one winter when we was attending school. 

Richard Smith (1735-1803)

Lawyer and signer of the Continental Association. He returned to the Second Continental Congress but resigned in June 1776. He returned to New Jersey and was elected New Jersey Treasurer. 

PENNSYLVANIA

Edward Biddle (1738-1779)

Lawyer and signer of the Continental Association. A member of the “radical” (vs “conservative”) group of PA delegates. In 1775, when PA Governor John Penn called a special Assembly, Biddle led a group to defeat Galloway who was speaker and create a more radical majority for the next PA congressional delegation. 

John Dickinson (1732-1808)

Lawyer and signer of the Continental Association. Dickinson drafted most of the 1774 Petition to the King, and then, as a member of the Second Continental Congress, he wrote the 1775 Olive Branch Petition. Both of these attempts to negotiate with King George III failed. He either abstained or was absent from the vote on the Declaration of Independence and refused to sign the document after its passage. Nevertheless, he served as a Militia Officer during the war. 

Joseph Galloway (1731-1803) 

Lawyer and signer of the Continental Association. As the leading conservative on the PA delegation, he proposed a Plan of Union with Great Britain which failed. Remaining loyal to the King, he refused reelection to the Second Continental Congress. In 1776, Galloway fled to New York to join the British. 

Charles Humphreys (1714-1786)

Miller and signer of the Continental Association. He voted against the Declaration of Independence because he felt the action would place him into conflict with his Quaker beliefs because he believed the Declaration's passage could escalate into war. He withdrew from the Congress soon afterwards.  

Thomas Mifflin (1744-1800)

Merchant and signer of the Continental Association. Mifflin left congress to serve in the Continental Army. He was commissioned as a major and then became an aide-de-camp of George Washington. He was appointed as the army’s first Quartermaster General.  

John Morton (1725-1777)

Farmer and signer of the Continental Association and Declaration of Independence. Morton was said to have cast the deciding vote allowing the PA delegation to vote for independence. In 1777, Morton’s illness made him the first signer of the Declaration of Independence to die. 

Samuel Rhoads (1711-1784)

Architect, Merchant, Quaker, and Mayor of Philadelphia in 1774. He was a delegate to the First Continental Congress but one of three that did not sign the Continental Association. He was a Master of the Carpenters’ Company of the City and County of Philadelphia. 

George Ross (1730-1779)

Lawyer and signer of the Continental Association and Declaration of Independence. A member of the PA delegation that were known to be the radicals. He resigned from congress in 1777 due to poor health and died two years later. He was the uncle-in-law to Betsy Ross. 

DELAWARE

Thomas McKean (1734-1817)

Lawyer and signer of the Continental Association and Declaration of Independence. After he cast his vote for independence, McKean left Congress to serve as a Colonel in the Army. He was unavialible to sign the declaration in August 1776 and many historians believe he was the last delegate to finally sign the parchment copy. 

George Read (1733-1798) 

Politician and signer of the Continental Association and Declaration of Independence. As a delegate, Read actually voted against independence in 1776 but later did sign the document. In 1777, Read became President of the Delaware General Assembly and occupied his time recruiting soldiers to protect Delaware from the British raiders from Philadelphia. 

Caesar Rodney (1728-1784)

Lawyer and signer of the Continental Association and Declaration of Independence. Rodney was not in Philadelphia when the delegates were casting their votes for independence. When George Read surprisingly voted against it, McKean got word to Rodney who then rode all night through a storm to make it in time to cast his DE delegate vote for independence making the Delaware vote in favor of independence. 

MARYLAND

Samuel Chase (1741-1811)

Lawyer and signer of the Continental Association and Declaration of Independence. Nominated by George Washington as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. In 1804 he was impeached by the House of Representatives but was acquitted by the Senate. He is the only US Supreme Justice to have been impeached. 

Robert Goldsborough (1733-1788)

Lawyer and one of three delegates that did not sign the Continental Association. He was elected to the Second Continental Congress but left before the debate for independence began. He was a representative to the US Constitutional Convention but left due to poor health. 

Thomas Johnson (1732-1819)

Lawyer and signer of the Continental Association. In 1775 he became a member of the Committee of Secret Correspondence trying to seek foreign support for the war. He was a member of the Second Continental Congress but left before the debate for independence began. 

William Paca (1740-1799)

Lawyer and signer of the Continental Association and Declaration of Independence. In 1789, George Washington appointed Paca to the United States District Court of Maryland. Paca wrote the first district court opinion to be published. 

Matthew Tilghman (1718-1790)

Planter and signer of the Continental Association. He was elected to the Second Continental Congress and was an advocate for independence, but he was replaced before the final vote.  

VIRGINIA

Richard Bland (1710-1776)

Planter, lawyer, and signer of the Continental Association. He was elected to the Second Continental Congress but retired in 1775 due to his age. He was considered one of the most influential and productive burgesses in colonial history. 

Benjamin Harrison (1726-1791)

Planter, Merchant, and signer of the Continental Association and Declaration of Independence. Harrison chaired the Committee of the Whole and presided over the final debate of the Declaration of Independence. He left two decedents who became presidents of the Untied States. 

Patrick Henry (1736-1799)

Planter, orator, and signer of the Continental Association. Charles Thomson wrote that when Henry rose “ he evinced such an unusual force of argument, and such novel and impassioned eloquence as soon electrified the whole house.” Henry prepared two Petition to the King drafts, but neither were accepted.  

Richard Henry Lee (1732-1794) 

Statesman and signer of the Continental Association and Declaration of Independence. Best known for his Lee Resolution, the motion in the Second Continental Congress that called for independence. 

Edmund Pendleton (1721-1803)

Planter, lawyer, judge, and signer of the Continental Association. Pendleton served as the president of the Virginia Convention which authorized the Virginia delegates to vote for independence. 

Peyton Randolph (1721-1775)

Planter, politician, and president of the First Continental Congress and briefly president of the Second Continental Congress. He signed the Continental Association. The Continental Congress honored Randolph by naming one of the first navel frigates after him. 

George Washington (1732-1799) 

Planter, military officer, and signer of the Continental Association. He co-authored the Fairfax Resolves which laid out colonial rights and grievances against the King. Washington was in VA in 1775 when shots were fired in MA. He departed his home to join the Second Continental Congress where he was nominated to be the army’s Commander-in-Chief. 

NORTH CAROLINA

Richard Caswell (1729-1789)

Lawyer and signer of the Continental Association. He was commissioned major general of the NC militia. His troops participated in the American’s defeat at the Battle of Camden Court House.  

Joseph Hewes (1730-1779)

Merchant and signer of the Continental Association and Declaration of Independence. While talking to other delegates, Hewes became increasingly aware that NC lacked patriotic fervor and was far behind in military readiness. In early 1775, Hewes began promoting more training for the NC militia. 

William Hooper (1742-1790)

Lawyer and signer of the Continental Association and Declaration of Independence. Hooper split his time between Philadelphia and NC where he was assisting in forming their new government. The British burned his NC houses attempting to capture him. He was separated from his family for a year relying on friends to take care of him as he hid and recovered from malaria. 

SOUTH CAROLINA

Christopher Gadsden (1724-1805)

Politician and signer of the Continental Association. He was elected to the Second Continental Congress but left early in 1776 to assume command of the 1st South Carolina Regiment. As the British prepared to attack Sullivan Island, Gadsden, rather than withdraw, paid for his troops to build a bridge that would allow escape if their position was threatened. The British attack was repulsed. After Charleston fell, city officials were taken as prisoners to St. Augustine, Florida were Gadsden spent 42 weeks in solitary confinement. 

Thomas Lynch (1727-1776)

Planter and signer of the Continental Association. He was elected to the Second Continental Congress and was a member of the committee sent to MA to confer with Washington on ‘the most effectual method to support the continental army’. Following Lynch’s death from a stroke, his son Thomas Lynch Jr. was appointed to his seat in congress. 

Henry Middleton (1717-1784)

Planter and signer of the Continental Association. He served as congress president for 4 days in 1774. He was elected to the Second Continental Congress but resigned because he did not support independence. When Charleston fell to the British, he accepted the status as a British subject. However his former patriotic service kept his estate from being confiscated after the war as was the fate of many loyalists. 

Edward Rutledge (1749-1800)

Lawyer and signer of the Continental Association. He was the youngest signatory of the Declaration of Independence. He served as a captain of artillery in the SC militia. He was captured during the siege of Charleston and taken to St. Augustine, Florida. He was released during a prisoner exchange in 1781. 

John Rutledge (1739-1800)

Lawyer and signer of the Continental Association. The Rutledge brothers are given credit for promoting One Colony One Vote in lieu of votes apportioned by population. He was elected to the Second Continental Congress but left in early 1776 to form a new government in SC and prepare defense against British attack. 

Charles Thomson (1729-1824)

Secretary to the Continental Congress 

Patriot leader in Philadelphia during the American Revolution and the secretary of the Continental Congress (1774–1789) throughout its existence. As secretary, Thomson, a Founding Father of the United States, prepared the Journals of the Continental Congress, and his and John Hancock’s names were the only two to appear on the first printing of the United States Declaration of Independence. 

The Reverend Jacob Duché (1737-1798) 

1st Chaplain Continental Congress 

When a motion to open with prayer was suggested to start the Continental Congress, several delegates protested that there were so many religious denominations present it would be impossible for all to join together in worship. Samuel Adams then spoke in favor of the motion saying he was no bigot, and he could hear a prayer from a Gentleman of Piety and Virtue, who at the same time was a Friend to his Country. Adams recommend the Rev. Jacob Duché, a prominent Episcopal clergyman. The motion was seconded and approved and Payton Randolph summoned Rev. Duché to congress on September 7th at 9:00 o’clock to lead prayer. The Reverend opened with Psalm 35 and then broken into an extemporaneous prayer that John Adams later wrote, ‘had a profound effect on all the delegates’. 

When the British occupied Philadelphia in 1777, Duché was arrested. He was later released and immerged a Loyalist and wrote a famous letter to General Washington at Valley Forge begging him to lay down his arms. Duché was convicted of high treason and his estate confiscated. He fled to England.