The Congress that declared independence could not collect a single tax
The Second Continental Congress raised an army, named George Washington its commander, printed money, signed treaties and declared independence. Yet it had no power to levy taxes. To fund the war it could only ask the states for money, supplies and troops, and those requests were frequently ignored.
Delegates first gathered in what is now Independence Hall in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775, weeks after the fighting at Lexington and Concord on April 19. Twelve of the thirteen colonies took part; Georgia joined in July 1775, having earlier been represented unofficially by Lyman Hall, sent by a single parish, who could debate but not vote. Peyton Randolph presided until Virginia recalled him within two weeks, and John Hancock replaced him, while Thomas Jefferson took Randolph's Virginia seat.
Congress moved on two tracks in 1775. On June 14 it created the Continental Army from militia around Boston and the next day chose Washington to lead it. In early July it both justified taking up arms and signed the Olive Branch Petition affirming loyalty to George III. The king refused to receive it: on August 23 he had already proclaimed the colonies in open rebellion after Bunker Hill.
Independence required political manoeuvring, since many delegates lacked authority from home. In May 1776 Congress urged colonies to form governments willing to break with Britain, adding a radical preamble by John Adams, and on June 7 Richard Henry Lee moved the resolution declaring independence. Congress paired it with committees to draft the Declaration, a model treaty for foreign alliances, and the Articles of Confederation. The federation first called itself the United Colonies of North America and became the United States of America in 1776.
War kept Congress on the move, first to Henry Fite's tavern in Baltimore in the winter of 1776–77 and then to York, Pennsylvania, after the British seized Philadelphia in September 1777. It passed the Articles on November 15, 1777, giving each state one vote after small states outmanoeuvred large ones; Virginia ratified first that December. On March 1, 1781, the body became what is often called the Confederation Congress.
Source: Second Continental Congress
