Twelve colonies convene in Philadelphia; no army, no treasury, a war already begun
Three weeks after the shots at Lexington and Concord, delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies gathered at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775. They had no legal authority from the British Crown, no army, no navy, and no treasury — only a war already in progress. Within five weeks, they had appointed George Washington commander-in-chief of a Continental Army that did not yet exist.
The Second Continental Congress invented American national government from scratch: raising armies, issuing currency, appointing ambassadors, and ultimately declaring independence — all without a single line of authorizing law. The institutions it improvised, including civilian supremacy over the military and a legislative body empowered to direct a war, became load-bearing elements of the republic that followed.
QWhy did Congress flee Philadelphia to a tavern in Baltimore — and how long were they gone?
In December 1776, with British forces advancing on Philadelphia after Washington's defeats in New York and New Jersey, Congress abandoned the revolutionary capital and reconvened at Henry Fite's tavern in Baltimore — described as the largest building in town, chosen partly because its location at the western edge of the city put it beyond easy reach of Royal Navy guns should British ships attempt to shell the harbor. Congress remained there until February 27, 1777, roughly ten weeks. The flight was a low moment: the Continental Army had dwindled to fewer than 5,000 men and Loyalist activity was surging across New York state. Washington's crossing of the Delaware and the subsequent victories at Trenton and Princeton happened during this same period, which is the only reason Congress had a city to return to.
QWhich colony sent only a single parish representative to the Second Continental Congress — and what was his voting status?
Georgia declined to send a full delegation when the Second Continental Congress opened in May 1775. Only St. John's Parish, in present-day Liberty County, sent a representative: Lyman Hall. Because he did not represent the entire colony, Hall participated in debates but was not permitted to vote. Georgia finally committed to the Congress in July 1775, when a provincial congress voted to send full delegates and adopt a ban on trade with Britain. It was the last of the thirteen colonies to do so, and its absence at the outset was a visible reminder of how far from unanimous the revolutionary coalition actually was.
QHow much of his total military budget did Washington spend on intelligence — and what did it buy him?
Throughout the Revolutionary War, George Washington spent more than ten percent of his total military funds on intelligence operations. The most famous product of that investment was the Culper Spy Ring, a six-man network built with the help of Benjamin Tallmadge after Washington was driven off Long Island in 1776 and concluded he needed to professionalize his information-gathering. The ring's work substantially improved the deployment of Continental regiments in the field. Washington's intelligence operation had begun even earlier: on August 12, 1776, he ordered Thomas Knowlton to form an elite reconnaissance unit — Knowlton's Rangers, which included Nathan Hale — making it the Continental Army's first formal intelligence unit.
