USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The First Continental Congress included Patrick Henry, George Washington, John and Samuel Adams, John Jay, and John Dickinson. Meeting in secret session, the body rejected a plan for reconciling British authority with colonial freedom.

Detailed explanation-2: -Adams was elected to the Continental Congress in 1774. In that body, he became a champion of American independence. Adams served on the committee that drafted the new Massachusetts Constitution of 1780. As a member of the Continental Congress, he also helped write and signed the Articles of Confederation.

Detailed explanation-3: -Adams was a Massachusetts delegate to both the First and Second Continental Congresses. He was a leading proponent of independence from Great Britain, and served on the five-man committee (which included Thomas Jefferson) assigned to draft the Declaration of Independence.

Detailed explanation-4: -Before the American Revolution, Hancock was one of the wealthiest men in the Thirteen Colonies, having inherited a profitable mercantile business from his uncle. He began his political career in Boston as a protégé of Samuel Adams, an influential local politician, though the two men later became estranged.

Detailed explanation-5: -Almost every significant political figure of the American Revolution served in the Continental Congress, including Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Hancock, John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Patrick Henry and George Washington.