Flickr - USCapitol - The First Continental Congress, 1774

Allyn Cox Mural in oil on Canvas 1973-1974 Great Experiment Hall Cox Corridors

Delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies that would ultimately join in the American Revolutionary War met from September 5 to October 26, 1774 at Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia to discuss responses to increased British oppression. This convention, the First Continental Congress, formally declared that colonists should have the same rights as Englishmen; they also agreed to form the Continental Association, which called for the suspension of trade with Great Britain. The mural depicts an oration by Patrick Henry in Carpenters' Hall.

Left: A colonist is shown making a tax payment. Taxation without representation was a major complaint against the royal government.

Right: A soldier blocks the path of a woman and child, symbolizing the armed occupation that incensed many colonists.

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