French and Indian War colonial political resistance lack of representation in the British government that extracted taxes from them First Continental Congress Philadelphia Continental Association American Revolutionary War Battles of Lexington and Concord Second Continental Congress George Washington Continental Army American patriot British Army committee of five John Adams Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson Robert R. Livingston Roger Sherman Declaration of Independence political American Revolution Revolutionary War
After the British victory in the French and Indian War that was won largely through the support in men and materiel from the colonies, the British began to assert greater control in local colonial affairs, fomenting colonial political resistance. In 1774, to demonstrate colonial dissatisfaction with the lack of representation in the British government that extracted taxes from them, the First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia and passed the Continental Association, which mandated a colonies-wide boycott of British goods. The American Revolutionary War began the following year, on April 19, 1775, at the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The colonies responded by again convening in Philadelphia in the Second Continental Congress, where, in June 1775, they appointed George Washington as commander of the Continental Army, which was initially comprised of various American patriot militias resisting the British Army. In June 1776, the Second Continental Congress charged a committee of five of its delegates−John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman−with writing a draft of the Declaration of Independence. The five delegates, in turn, asked Jefferson to author its first draft. While Jefferson consulted with the other four delegates.
