all right this is open stocks u.s history chapter 5 section 5 disaffection the first continental congress and american identity so in this section we are primarily looking at the colonial response to the coercive acts cursive acts of course these are also called by the colonists the intolerable acts and we gave last section a whole sort of laundry list of the different laws that parliament passed on the colony of massachusetts in an effort to punish them now massachusetts had had its colonial assembly dissolved this government essentially made illegal by great britain and so the people of massachusetts instead met in the provis provincial congress and these provincial congresses you know do begin to sprout up really around the colonial world they're sort of like we're just going to call them popular quote unquote shadow governments they're not legal at least from the eyes of the british but you know they're groups of people who don't trust british authority and they're meeting off the grid so to speak in an effort to try and you know communicate and continue to pass laws that are in their best interests and the massachusetts provincial congress puts for the suffolk resolves which is a plan of action in response to coercive acts right so it's the plan of action or the course of acts it eventually becomes adopted by the first continental congress so maybe we'll go ahead and make note of that later adopted by the first continental congress right so that's going on in massachusetts meanwhile the other colonies see what's happening in massachusetts and there's been a very important shift in the way that other colonies think you know previously especially before the seven years war anything that had happened to massachusetts from the perspective of the other colonies they would say well look that is massachusetts problem uh let them deal with it we're here in our own colony and you know we're kind of more focused on what we're doing but with events like the boston massacre and especially now with the coercive acts that became a real turning point and in the other colonial assemblies there was a debate about whether or not what happens in massachusetts is their problem and not our problem or the other side of it which was winning at this time or did win at this time was that if they can do that to massachusetts they can do that to us and so therefore we need to take action and that's eventually the argument that won out in most other colonies they said look if great britain can pass these types of laws against the colony of massachusetts they can pass them on us here in virginia or maryland or georgia or delaware or wherever it was therefore we need to come together and do something about it and that's exactly what they did the first continental congress was a meeting of the 12 or of 12 colonies in philadelphia right that was where they met the first continental congress is a colonial meeting in response to coercive acts and there wasn't really a strong agreement on exactly what to do however the suffolk resolve seemed to be a pretty reasonable solution so eventually the first continental congress did adopt that and what they decided was a number of things first they demanded the repeal of the coercive act so we might say you know demand a repeal the course of acts this was great britain going too far in an effort to try and put more pressure on the british in doing so something that was successful in the past was to promote and engage in non-importation or non-consumption of british goods this worked with the stamp act it would work again right to boycott and something that was a little bit different because remember since the stamp act there had been violent episodes like the boston massacre and so just in case because violence is now a real possibility um the first continental congress encouraged each colony to prepare their militias right so we might say about militias colonies to prepare militias right kind of you know just in case kind of uh sort of situation and in fact at this point you also found people who were in these militias that were a little bit too loyal to great britain were being expelled at this point and so the militias themselves preparing for what sort of response it might have additionally the first continental congress also created the continental association and this was a body to enforce boycotting and really what you have here with the first continental congress is again sort of a very very early version of what could be a united states at least in the sense of passing a sort of uniform it's not formally a law but it's kind of like a law right you know this was meant to enforce the boycotting of british goods in all colonies it wasn't just each individual colony that that promoted that so this is kind of a a slow sort of step by step to a more united colonial government emerging out of this particular conflict now the members are those who were at the first continents of congress again sent this demand to britain it would take a little while for it to get there and for the british to respond and send a response back so they did all these things right demand a repeal send that back to britain boycott goods prepare your militias enforce the boycotting and they said that they would meet one year later at a second continental congress and by that time by that meeting you know everything had really gone haywire so to speak however an important point to take note of is that here in 1774 the first continental congress there was a very strong insistence that the members of the continental congress were still british subjects in other words they were still very strongly loyal only with a very small percentage of people there advocating for something like separation so in the meantime while congress awaits britain britain's response again think about it from the colonial perspective they're doing pretty much the same thing they did during the stamp act come together send a petition boycott british goods and they were met with the repeal the stamp act they're hoping for a similar outcome right come together demand a repeal of the coercive acts boycott british goods wait one year later and then hopefully at the second continental congress right everybody bring the champagne bottles and they'll be a huge celebration however one year later the circumstances turn out to be dramatically different