[Sidenote: First Continental Congress, 1774]
Agitators in the other colonies feared that their turn would come next,
and rallied to the aid of Massachusetts. The first Continental Congress
of delegations from all the colonies [Footnote: Except Georgia.] met in
1774 in Philadelphia "to deliberate and determine upon wise and proper
measures, to be by them recommended to all the colonies, for the
recovery and establishment of their just rights and liberties, civil
and religious, and the restoration of union and harmony between Great
Britain and the colonies." The Congress dispatched a petition to the
king and urged the colonists to be faithful to the "American
Association" for the non-importation of British goods.
THE WAR OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, 1775-1783
[Sidenote: Revolt of the Thirteen Colonies]
Neither king nor colonies would yield a single point. William Pitt, now
earl of Chatham, in vain proposed conciliatory measures. The colonies
fast drifted into actual revolt. In May, 1775, the second Continental
Congress met at Philadelphia, but already blood had been shed at
Lexington (Massachusetts), 19 April, 1775, and New England was a hotbed
of rebellion.
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