250 Years Declaration of Independence: The First Continental Congress of 1774

Den USA steht in diesem Jahr ein großes Jubiläum ins Haus: 250 Jahre Unabhängigkeitserklärung. Anlässlich dieses bedeutsamen Jahrestags gibt es in der Read On jeden Monat einen Artikel, der die Geschehnisse, die zur Gründung der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika führten, genauer beleuchtet. In der aktuellen Ausgabe der Read On geht es um den Ersten Kontinentalkongress, eine Versammlung der amerikanischen Kolonien, die das Einigkeitsgefühl erweckte und mit ihren Begrifflichkeiten einen nachhaltigen Einfluss auf das politische System der USA hatte.

The First Continental Congress of 1774

This meeting helped lay the foundations for America’s political system as we know it today.

By John Bilstein

1                 At the First Continental Congress, the American colonies called a boycott on Britain and joined together to end British dominance.

2                 It took place from September of 1774 in Philadelphia and was the beginning of something huge: a growing sense of American unity and empowerment.

3                 Britain’s colonial administration at the time had no clear masterplan for improving life in America, and everything appeared to be getting worse as far as the colonists were concerned.

4                 In March of 1774, the British government had made several strict laws officially called the Coercive Acts.

5                 These were a reaction to the famous pro-democratic anti-taxation protest organised by Boston’s Sons of Liberty some months earlier, called the “Boston Tea Party” (see Read On, April 2026).

6                 Known as the Intolerable Acts among the colonists, Britain’s new punitive laws shut down Boston Harbour and brought the entire colony of Massachusetts under direct British rule.

7                 As might be expected, these undemocratic and uneconomical laws only made the colonists even angrier. Something needed to be done to make England see sense!

8                 News of the Boston Tea Party and England’s reaction to it had already reached all 13 colonies. Most of them supported Massachusetts, but 66 years before the telegraph came into use, it was hard to organise mass protests across a huge and thinly populated land.

9                 Between 1772 and 1774, however, the Committee of Correspondence was created. This new body allowed the colonies to communicate more effectively via letters and newspapers.

10               After the Coercive Acts, that committee then organised a conference for influential colonists to meet and develop strategies to keep Britain in check.

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Den vollständigen Artikel lesen Sie in der aktuellen Ausgabe der Read On.

Vocabulary

0–2             Continental Congress Kontinentalkongress — to lay the foundations for s.th. (fig) den Grundstein für etw. legen — to call s.th. etw. ausrufen — dominance Herrschaft — sense Gefühl, Bewusstsein — unity Einheit — empowerment h.: Stärke, Autonomie

3–5             colonial administration Kolonialverwaltung — as far as s.o. is concerned aus jds. Sicht — Coercive Act Zwangsgesetz — anti-taxation … … gegen Steuererhebungen — liberty Freiheit

6–8             intolerable unerträglich — punitive law Strafgesetz — rule Herrschaft — uneconomical unwirtschaftlich — to make s.o. see sense (fig) jdn. zur Vernunft bringen — to come into use eingeführt werden — thinly populated dünn besiedelt

9–11          Committee of Correspondence Korrespondenzausschuss — body Organ — influential einflussreich — to keep s.o. in check (fig) jdn. in Schach halten

Bild: Wikimedia Commons