The government of the First and Second Continental Congress, the period from September 1774 to March 1, 1781 is referred to as the Revolutionary Congress. Beginning in 1777, the substantial powers assumed by Congress "made the league of states as cohesive and strong as any similar sort of republican confederation in history ''. The process created the United States "by the people in collectivity, rather than by the individual states '', because only four had state constitutions at the time of the Declaration of Independence founding the nation, and three of those were provisional. Prior to the Articles of Confederation, and the Articles Congress, the Supreme Court in Ware v. Hylton and again in Penhallow v. Doane 's Administrators, perceived Congress as exercising powers derived from the people, expressly conferred through the medium of state conventions or legislatures, and, once exercised, "impliedly ratified by the acquiescence and obedience of the people ''.
when did our first form of government began to govern the united states
September 1774