First Continental Congress
https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/browse/?cuecard=401
General Information
Source:
NBC News
Resource Type:
Creator:
N/A
Copyright:
Event Date:
Air/Publish Date:
09/05/1774
10/12/2007
Copyright Date:
Clip Length
Video MiniDocumentary
NBCUniversal Media,
LLC.
2007
00:02:28
Description
Samuel Adams of Boston encourages Committees of Correspondence, which are letter-writing campaigns
to monitor British activities in the colonies.
Keywords
American Revolution, Samuel Adams, Boston, British Rule, Massachusetts, Committees of
Correspondence, Colonies, Intolerable Acts, Philadelphia, Taxes, Boycott, Continental Association,
Second Continental Congress, Battle of Lexington, Battle of Concord, Thomas Fleming
Citation
MLA
© 2008-2015 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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"First Continental Congress." NBC News. NBCUniversal Media. 12 Oct. 2007. NBC Learn. Web. 2 April
2015
APA
2007, October 12. First Continental Congress. [Television series episode]. NBC News. Retrieved from
https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/browse/?cuecard=401
CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE
"First Continental Congress" NBC News, New York, NY: NBC Universal, 10/12/2007. Accessed Thu
Apr 2 2015 from NBC Learn: https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/browse/?cuecard=401
Transcript
First Continental Congress
NARRATOR: Throughout the 1770s, Samuel Adams led Boston’s resistance to British rule. Adams was
aggressive, courageous but slovenly. His friends often bought him presentable clothes when he left
Massachusetts on business. In 1772, Adams organized committees of correspondence, which were groups
of people who wrote letters to each other chronicling British abuses.
Mr. THOMAS FLEMING (author): They started writing back and forth in the different colonies saying
we must stop this and blah, blah, blah. And he worked up the whole, he worked everybody up into quite a
state of anger.
NARRATOR: Massachusetts boasted 80 of these committees. And by 1773, nearly every colony had a
central committee to exchange ideas and information about the British with other colonies. These letterwriting committees formed the basis of the first American Congress. After the Intolerable Acts of 1774,
which the colonists found unfair and punitive, the committees of correspondence sent representatives from
each colony to Philadelphia to decide how to respond. This meeting would become the First Continental
Congress.
FLEMING: The First Continental Congress was formed basically to affirm the union of the Americans
and the united front against the British attempt to punish and tax them. And they would all stick together,
you might say, and maintain a united front against this attempt to impose second class citizenship on
Americans. That's what that's what they felt was happening to them.
NARRATOR: The first step, they all agreed, was a boycott.
FLEMING: What came out of the First Continental Congress was a boycott of British goods. That was
one way of making the British knuckle under, they thought. And also an agreement that there would be a
Continental Association.
NARRATOR: The Continental Association formed a pact among the Colonies to start the boycott, to get
England to repeal the Intolerable Acts and return to more peaceful times. The delegates set a date to meet
again. The Second Continental Congress was scheduled for May 10, 1775. But fate would intervene
before that second meeting. The Battles of Lexington and Concord would spark the American Revolution.
© 2008-2015 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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© 2008-2015 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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