The Second Continental Congress first met in May of 1775. A previous convention of delegates representing the thirteen colonies met in 1774 and sent to King George III (1738-1820) of England a list of grievances against British authority in the colonies they wanted the king to remove. By the time the Second Continental Congress met, King George had not responded, and the first battles of the American Revolution (1775-83) had occurred. The Congress, which would essentially serve as the national government from 1775 to 1788 (when it was replaced by the Constitution), established the Continental Army and a national currency.

By the summer of 1776, colonial sentiment clearly favored independence from Great Britain. England had already declared that American colonists were engaging in "open and avowed rebellion," and England had hired German mercenaries (soldiers hired to serve a foreign country) to fight in America. On June 7, 1776, Richard...