In response to the Intolerable Acts, America's first Continental Congress met on September 5, 1774. 56 delegates from 12 colonies met at Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia to discuss a unified position and Parliament's assertion that it could control the colonies. Georgia was the only colony that refused to send a delegate.

As part of the convention, John Adams drafted the Declaration of Rights which countered that America need not respect decisions by Parliament that involved domestic affairs within America. Furthermore, the delegates agreed to resume the boycott on British goods until the Intolerable Acts were repealed. During the two-month long convention, delegates also agreed that if the new royal governor of Massachusetts attempted to rule by force, the residents had a right to defend themselves, and that colonists from througout America would come to their aid. The congress agreed to meet again in May of 1775.