Editing Second Continental Congress (section)

== Convening Amid Crisis ==

When the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia, the colonies were already at war. Fighting had broken out at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, three weeks before the scheduled reconvening of Congress. Militia forces from throughout New England had besieged British troops in Boston, and the conflict showed no signs of resolution. The delegates who gathered at the State House faced a fundamentally different situation than their predecessors at the [[First Continental Congress]]: they were no longer seeking to pressure Parliament into policy changes but managing an armed rebellion against the world's most powerful empire.<ref name="middlekauff">{{cite book |last=Middlekauff |first=Robert |title=The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 |year=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York}}</ref>

The Congress included many veterans of the First Continental Congress along with newcomers who would shape the revolutionary movement. Benjamin Franklin, recently returned from London where he had served as Pennsylvania's colonial agent, brought decades of political experience and international connections. Thomas Jefferson, a young Virginia lawyer, arrived with a reputation as a skilled writer. John Hancock of Massachusetts was elected president of the Congress, replacing Peyton Randolph of Virginia. The delegates represented the full spectrum of colonial opinion, from those ready to declare independence to conservatives who still hoped for reconciliation with Britain. Navigating between these factions while prosecuting a war would test the Congress's political skills to their limits.<ref name="ferling">{{cite book |last=Ferling |first=John |title=A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic |year=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York}}</ref>