Page 33 - ASM Book 9/2020

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• MAY 10 - AMERICAN ACTION: American forces led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold captured Fort Ticonderoga in New York. The captured military equipment and cannons were moved to Boston and used during the Boston siege.
• MAY 10 - AMERICAN ACTION: The Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia with John Hancock elected as president.
• JUNE 14 - AMERICAN ACTION: Congress established the Continental Army.
• JUNE 15 - AMERICAN ACTION: Congress unanimously voted to appoint George Washington to the post of Commander-in-Chief of the new Continental Army.
• JUNE 17 - BRITISH ACTION: The first major battle between British and American troops took place at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
2nd Continental Congress . . .
Oversaw the War and Declared Independence
The Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania State House on May 10, 1775, six months after the First Continental Congress adjourned.
As with the First Congress, the Second Continental Congress brought representatives from all 13 colonies together to lead a united resistance
against the taxes, abuses and military threats of the British government. They were meeting right after the battles at Lexington and Concord, so the decision was still unclear as to what should
be done.
Their major responsibilities
were to unify and prepare
the colonies for revolution; manage and finance the war; and encourage the colonies
to contribute men, supplies
and money. Congress’s major achievements were to declare the colonies free and independent states, and the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
This is the actual ground floor Assembly Room in the Pennsylvania State House where the Second Continental Congress met and made decisions that still affect our lives today. The delegates from each colony sat together at the green covered tables. President John Hancock presided from the raised table in the background. Congressional secretary, Charles Thomson, worked at the table near the door. (The Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall, is open to the public.)