Second Continental Congress

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/second-continental-congress

1. What is the location of meetings?
2. What is the duration of congress?
3. When did the Second Continental Congress start meeting in Philadelphia?
4. What was the main job of the Second Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War?

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the location of meetings?Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Independence Hall)
2. What is the duration of congress?May 10, 1775 – March 1, 1781
3. When did the Second Continental Congress start meeting in Philadelphia?It began on May 10, 1775, just a month after the Battles of Lexington and Concord.
4. What was the main job of the Second Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War?It acted as the de facto government, raising militias, directing military strategy, and handling foreign diplomacy.

De facto government: A government that exists and exercises power in reality, even if not legally established.
Diplomatic Recognition: The formal acknowledgment by one state of the existence and legitimacy of another state.
Federalism: A system of government where power is divided between a central authority and constituent political units.
Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union: The first governing document of the United States, establishing a confederation of states.