Scope and Content Note
The records of the United States Continental Congress span the years 1765-1825, with the bulk of the material from 1774 to 1790. The collection consists of original and reproduction documents of the United States Continental Congress acquired by the Library from many sources.
Included are letters and extracts from letters, circular letters, orders, resolutions, contracts, oaths of allegiance to the United States, financial documents, extracts from journals and minutes of the Congress and its committees, committee reports, lists, and requisitions. Among the topics are finance, supplies, intelligence, personnel, political affairs, legislation, military matters, and Indian affairs. Charles Thomson, as secretary of the Continental Congress, is the signer of many of these documents. Other names represented include John Adams, John Dickinson, Horatio Gates, John Hancock, John Jay, John Paul Jones, Henry Laurens, Richard Henry Lee, James Madison, Robert Morris.
Of note in the collection is a bundle of forty-six bills of exchange payable to Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799), supplier of arms and military stores to the United States, June 15, 1779; a group of fifteen letters, January 17, 1777-November 17, 1781, to the Secret Committee of Congress and Robert Morris from William Bingham (1752-1804), merchant and agent for Congress in St. Pierre, Martinique, and after his return to the United States; and an incomplete set of monthly attendance reports for delegates to the Congress, September, 1785-May, 1788.