WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.899 You know, usually when you walk into a major 00:00:01.899 --> 00:00:03.480 planning meeting, you have an agenda. Right, 00:00:03.480 --> 00:00:05.679 yeah, you have your action items. Exactly. Maybe 00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:07.700 a slide deck. And you generally know what the 00:00:07.700 --> 00:00:10.259 debate is going to be about. Yeah, I mean, a 00:00:10.259 --> 00:00:12.160 predictable environment is really the foundation 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:15.580 of any normal organization. Right. You walk in 00:00:15.580 --> 00:00:18.260 understanding the exact parameters of the problem 00:00:18.260 --> 00:00:21.640 and, well, you know who has the authority to 00:00:21.640 --> 00:00:24.460 make the final call. But imagine showing up to 00:00:24.460 --> 00:00:27.879 a meeting where you intend to plan a coordinated, 00:00:27.879 --> 00:00:31.469 like, strongly worded protest. And when you open 00:00:31.469 --> 00:00:34.189 the conference room door, someone hands you the 00:00:34.189 --> 00:00:37.710 keys to an active bloody war. It's just it's 00:00:37.710 --> 00:00:40.130 unimaginable. You expected a debate over trade 00:00:40.130 --> 00:00:42.570 policy and suddenly you have to be a general, 00:00:42.710 --> 00:00:44.969 a financier and a head of state all at once. 00:00:45.070 --> 00:00:47.750 All at the exact same time. Yeah. Welcome to 00:00:47.750 --> 00:00:50.299 our deep dive for today. For you, the learner 00:00:50.299 --> 00:00:53.000 tuning in, we have a custom exploration lined 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:55.740 up. We're looking at a massive stack of notes 00:00:55.740 --> 00:00:58.719 and historical wiki data about the Second Continental 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:01.659 Congress. It's quite a stack. It really is. And 00:01:01.659 --> 00:01:05.620 our mission today, to figure out how an ad hoc, 00:01:05.900 --> 00:01:08.480 completely illegal assembly with absolutely no 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:11.879 real authority managed to run a war, forge foreign 00:01:11.879 --> 00:01:15.409 alliances, and um... accidentally build a nation 00:01:15.409 --> 00:01:17.370 from scratch? Accidentally being the operative 00:01:17.370 --> 00:01:20.170 word there. OK, let's unpack this because the 00:01:20.170 --> 00:01:25.930 sheer panic of May 10th, 1775 is just wild. Absolutely. 00:01:26.150 --> 00:01:28.090 The delegates arrive in Philadelphia, but the 00:01:28.090 --> 00:01:30.250 battles of Lexington and Concord had literally 00:01:30.250 --> 00:01:34.269 just happened weeks prior, right? On April 19th. 00:01:34.290 --> 00:01:36.750 Yeah, the magnitude of that pivot cannot be overstated. 00:01:36.950 --> 00:01:39.090 To grasp it. We really have to look at their 00:01:39.090 --> 00:01:40.810 original mandate. Right. What were they supposed 00:01:40.810 --> 00:01:43.250 to be doing? Well, the first Continental Congress, 00:01:43.269 --> 00:01:44.890 which had met the previous year, was essentially 00:01:44.890 --> 00:01:47.069 just a grievance committee. A grievance committee. 00:01:47.269 --> 00:01:50.569 Exactly. They were trying to pressure King George 00:01:50.569 --> 00:01:53.629 III to stop the intolerable acts. Which were, 00:01:53.629 --> 00:01:55.129 just to remind everyone, those were a series 00:01:55.129 --> 00:01:58.569 of brutal punishing laws, right? Yeah. Laws and 00:01:58.569 --> 00:02:01.510 military blockades meant to basically crush Massachusetts 00:02:01.510 --> 00:02:04.230 into submission after the Boston Tea Party. Right. 00:02:04.390 --> 00:02:07.140 So they set up boycotts. And they thought this 00:02:07.140 --> 00:02:10.439 second Congress would just be a follow -up meeting 00:02:10.439 --> 00:02:12.639 to see if those boycotts were working. But Lexington 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:15.500 and Concord changed all that. Completely changed 00:02:15.500 --> 00:02:17.979 the fundamental reality on the ground. The shooting 00:02:17.979 --> 00:02:21.020 had started. So because the war was already happening, 00:02:21.479 --> 00:02:24.419 this Congress instantly morphed from a grievance 00:02:24.419 --> 00:02:27.360 committee into a de facto government. Wow. They 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:30.439 had to figure out how to govern when, legally 00:02:30.439 --> 00:02:32.740 speaking, they were just a bunch of guys in a 00:02:32.740 --> 00:02:35.189 room. Literally just guys in a room. I mean, 00:02:35.250 --> 00:02:37.909 they had no explicit legal authority from the 00:02:37.909 --> 00:02:40.830 British to govern anything. They are British 00:02:40.830 --> 00:02:43.590 subjects in a state of Sutter rebellion, yet 00:02:43.590 --> 00:02:46.050 they immediately had to start acting like a sovereign 00:02:46.050 --> 00:02:48.810 nation. They had to move fast. Right. By June 00:02:48.810 --> 00:02:52.210 14, 1775, they're raising the Continental Army 00:02:52.210 --> 00:02:54.830 out of the local Boston militias. And the very 00:02:54.830 --> 00:02:58.199 next day, they unanimously make George Washington 00:02:58.199 --> 00:03:00.180 the commanding general. Which is a huge move. 00:03:00.439 --> 00:03:02.939 Oh, massive. And they start obtaining European 00:03:02.939 --> 00:03:04.919 loans, appointing ambassadors. They even start 00:03:04.919 --> 00:03:07.539 printing their own paper money, right? Yes. Called 00:03:07.539 --> 00:03:10.280 Continentals. They're just inventing government 00:03:10.280 --> 00:03:13.520 functions out of thin air. Which is... crazy 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:15.639 to think about. But inventing those functions 00:03:15.639 --> 00:03:18.599 came with severe, almost fatal consequences. 00:03:18.900 --> 00:03:21.060 How so? Take the printing of the continentals. 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:23.580 You can't just fire up a printing press and declare 00:03:23.580 --> 00:03:26.280 that pieces of paper have value without backing 00:03:26.280 --> 00:03:28.280 them up with gold or silver. Right. You need 00:03:28.280 --> 00:03:30.840 actual wealth behind it. Exactly. And because 00:03:30.840 --> 00:03:32.919 they lacked the structural authority to actually 00:03:32.919 --> 00:03:35.699 levy taxes, they couldn't pull that printed money 00:03:35.699 --> 00:03:38.340 back out of circulation. Oh, I see. So it just 00:03:38.340 --> 00:03:41.060 flooded the market. Right. Which created a staggering 00:03:41.060 --> 00:03:45.180 mechanism of hyperinflation. The currency devalued 00:03:45.180 --> 00:03:48.780 so rapidly that it spawned the phrase not worth 00:03:48.780 --> 00:03:51.240 a continental. Wow, I've heard that phrase, but 00:03:51.240 --> 00:03:52.840 I didn't realize that's exactly where it came 00:03:52.840 --> 00:03:55.819 from. Yeah. If you are going to fight the entire 00:03:55.819 --> 00:03:58.259 British Empire, you need a tremendous amount 00:03:58.259 --> 00:04:01.180 of stable capital. But the Congress could not 00:04:01.180 --> 00:04:03.180 force the colonies to pay for anything. So what 00:04:03.180 --> 00:04:06.439 did they do? They could only request funds, supplies, 00:04:06.620 --> 00:04:08.800 and troops from the individual states. And let 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:11.199 me guess. As you might imagine, those polite 00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:13.819 requests were frequently ignored. It's like going 00:04:13.819 --> 00:04:16.139 out for a massive group dinner where everyone 00:04:16.139 --> 00:04:18.160 happily orders the lobster and the expensive 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:20.600 wine, but when the bill comes, nobody wants to 00:04:20.600 --> 00:04:23.339 chip in. That is a perfect analogy. Everyone 00:04:23.339 --> 00:04:26.620 agrees the army is necessary, but no state wants 00:04:26.620 --> 00:04:29.399 to be the one to... you know, empty its own treasury 00:04:29.399 --> 00:04:31.639 to pay for it. Right. And what blows my mind 00:04:31.639 --> 00:04:33.540 is that while they are desperately trying to 00:04:33.540 --> 00:04:36.439 fund a war they are already fighting, they are 00:04:36.439 --> 00:04:39.899 simultaneously trying to beg for peace. Like 00:04:39.899 --> 00:04:44.660 on July 8th, 1775, they signed the olive branch 00:04:44.660 --> 00:04:48.120 petition to King George III, swearing their loyalty 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:50.639 to the crown. What's fascinating here is that 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:53.980 bizarre, almost cognitive dissonance they were 00:04:53.980 --> 00:04:56.680 living in. Yeah. I mean, they are actively shooting 00:04:56.680 --> 00:04:59.600 at British soldiers in North America while politely 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:02.000 writing letters to the king in London, begging 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:04.620 him to stop the madness so they can remain loyal 00:05:04.620 --> 00:05:06.779 subjects. It's so weird to picture. It reveals 00:05:06.779 --> 00:05:09.339 how deeply reluctant most of these delegates 00:05:09.339 --> 00:05:12.399 were to actually break away. They viewed themselves 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:15.699 as British citizens fighting for their constitutional 00:05:15.699 --> 00:05:17.980 rights, not revolutionaries trying to build a 00:05:17.980 --> 00:05:20.579 new country. But the timeline of 18th century 00:05:20.579 --> 00:05:23.100 transatlantic shipping was their absolute worst 00:05:23.100 --> 00:05:25.360 enemy here, wasn't it? Oh, completely. Wait, 00:05:25.540 --> 00:05:27.899 why was it useless? Did the ship carrying the 00:05:27.899 --> 00:05:30.759 petition sink or had the king just stopped caring 00:05:30.759 --> 00:05:33.779 about what they had to say? Worse. By the time 00:05:33.779 --> 00:05:35.980 the British colonial secretary, Lord Dartmouth, 00:05:36.540 --> 00:05:38.519 actually received that olive branch petition, 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:41.439 the king was already staring at the blood soaked 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:43.540 casualty reports from the Battle of Bunker Hill. 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:46.939 Oh, wow. So the timing was just awful. The worst. 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:49.339 The king's reaction to that level of violence 00:05:49.339 --> 00:05:52.100 effectively closed the door on reconciliation. 00:05:52.319 --> 00:05:55.540 He was done. Completely done. On August 23, King 00:05:55.540 --> 00:05:58.519 George III issued a proclamation declaring the 00:05:58.519 --> 00:06:00.579 colonies to be in a state of open and avowed 00:06:00.579 --> 00:06:03.300 rebellion. Oh, man. He flat out refused to even 00:06:03.300 --> 00:06:05.199 look at the olive branch petition. So they are 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:07.720 officially recognized as enemies of the state 00:06:07.720 --> 00:06:10.000 by the very monarch they are writing letters 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:14.100 to. Exactly. traitors. And even as this monumental 00:06:14.100 --> 00:06:16.699 shift is happening, you have these incredibly 00:06:16.699 --> 00:06:19.879 quirky logistical realities of a makeshift government 00:06:19.879 --> 00:06:22.560 trying to figure out who is even allowed to be 00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:25.279 in the room. Yes, the logistics were a nightmare. 00:06:25.480 --> 00:06:27.800 Take the colony of Georgia, for example. Oh, 00:06:27.819 --> 00:06:29.519 Georgia. Right. They didn't even participate 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:31.870 in the first Continental Congress and Initially, 00:06:31.870 --> 00:06:34.009 they didn't send anyone to the second. No, they 00:06:34.009 --> 00:06:36.889 held out. But the residents of just one single 00:06:36.889 --> 00:06:40.410 parish, St. John's Parish, decided to send a 00:06:40.410 --> 00:06:43.509 guy named Lyman Hall to Philadelphia on their 00:06:43.509 --> 00:06:45.529 behalf. Yeah, Lyman Hall travels all the way 00:06:45.529 --> 00:06:47.269 to Philadelphia, and he's allowed to sit in the 00:06:47.269 --> 00:06:49.449 room and participate in the debates. But he couldn't 00:06:49.449 --> 00:06:51.490 actually vote on anything. Because he didn't 00:06:51.490 --> 00:06:53.629 represent the whole state. Right. He didn't represent 00:06:53.629 --> 00:06:56.209 the entire colony of Georgia. He just represented 00:06:56.209 --> 00:06:59.069 his neighbors back in one local parish. That's 00:06:59.069 --> 00:07:04.139 hilarious. It wasn't until July of 1775 that 00:07:04.139 --> 00:07:07.680 Georgia finally held a provincial Congress, adopted 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:10.639 the ban on British trade, and officially sent 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:13.939 delegates. Which just highlights how piecemeal, 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:17.199 improvised, and disjointed this entire assembly 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:19.519 was. Very much so. They were trying to act as 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:22.139 a unified front when they couldn't even get all 00:07:22.139 --> 00:07:26.470 13 colonies to... RSVP to the meeting. Exactly. 00:07:26.829 --> 00:07:29.310 So Georgia finally shows up. They ban British 00:07:29.310 --> 00:07:32.709 trade and the Congress is finally somewhat unified. 00:07:33.230 --> 00:07:35.290 But it doesn't matter because while they are 00:07:35.290 --> 00:07:38.069 figuring out their internal logistics. the external 00:07:38.069 --> 00:07:40.769 reality crashes down on them. The reality of 00:07:40.769 --> 00:07:43.870 the war. Right. With the king officially declaring 00:07:43.870 --> 00:07:47.149 them an open rebellion, that peace option just 00:07:47.149 --> 00:07:49.709 vanished into thin air. It was gone. If they 00:07:49.709 --> 00:07:52.029 were going to actually fight and survive against 00:07:52.029 --> 00:07:55.310 the British Empire, they desperately needed European 00:07:55.310 --> 00:07:58.029 allies. They needed a massive influx of cash, 00:07:58.550 --> 00:08:01.300 weapons and naval support. And this raises an 00:08:01.300 --> 00:08:03.220 important question about international diplomacy 00:08:03.220 --> 00:08:05.819 at the time. What's that? Well, European monarchs 00:08:05.819 --> 00:08:08.300 don't make treaties with rebellious, traitorous 00:08:08.300 --> 00:08:11.360 colonies. They only deal with other cyber nations. 00:08:12.439 --> 00:08:14.399 France and Spain looked across the Atlantic and 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:16.819 they didn't see a beacon of liberty. They saw 00:08:16.819 --> 00:08:19.540 a geopolitical opportunity. A chance to mess 00:08:19.540 --> 00:08:22.639 with Britain. Exactly. They didn't care about 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:25.819 Thomas Jefferson's views on human rights or the 00:08:25.819 --> 00:08:27.540 Enlightenment. They just wanted to bleed the 00:08:27.540 --> 00:08:29.959 British Empire dry. Makes sense. But they wouldn't 00:08:29.959 --> 00:08:32.740 spend a dime or send a single ship unless they 00:08:32.740 --> 00:08:34.980 knew the colonies were fully committed to a permanent 00:08:34.980 --> 00:08:37.139 break. Right. They needed a guarantee. They weren't 00:08:37.139 --> 00:08:39.960 going to invest in a temporary tantrum that might 00:08:39.960 --> 00:08:43.360 end in reconciliation with London. Wait. So the 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:45.600 Declaration of Independence wasn't just a sudden 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:48.659 burst of patriotic inspiration. It was essentially 00:08:48.659 --> 00:08:53.090 an international PR move, a required resume to 00:08:53.090 --> 00:08:56.350 get European military funding. Yes. It was a 00:08:56.350 --> 00:08:59.049 strict, practical foreign policy requirement. 00:08:59.230 --> 00:09:01.490 That totally shifts how I think about it. We 00:09:01.490 --> 00:09:03.710 often view the Declaration of Independence through 00:09:03.710 --> 00:09:06.110 this romantic lens of Enlightenment philosophy. 00:09:06.730 --> 00:09:08.429 And I mean, the philosophy is certainly embedded 00:09:08.429 --> 00:09:12.080 in the text. Sure. Pragmatically, many delegates 00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:14.759 in that room didn't even have the legal authority 00:09:14.759 --> 00:09:17.440 from their home governments to declare independence. 00:09:17.960 --> 00:09:20.759 Really? Yeah. The Congress had to actively push 00:09:20.759 --> 00:09:23.720 reluctant colonial governments to revise their 00:09:23.720 --> 00:09:26.220 instructions to their delegates. In some cases, 00:09:26.580 --> 00:09:28.960 they suggested replacing the colonial governments 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:31.440 entirely if they wouldn't get on board. That 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:36.679 is aggressive. Very. On May 15, 1776, John Adams 00:09:36.679 --> 00:09:40.259 drafted this incredibly radical preamble advising 00:09:40.259 --> 00:09:42.820 the colonies to throw off their oaths of allegiance 00:09:42.820 --> 00:09:46.789 to the crown. That is a massive escalation to 00:09:46.789 --> 00:09:49.330 force the issue. And then it all comes to a head 00:09:49.330 --> 00:09:53.610 on June 7th, 1776 with Richard Henry Lee's resolution. 00:09:53.889 --> 00:09:56.070 Yes. He essentially stands up and says, look, 00:09:56.090 --> 00:09:58.129 we have to declare ourselves independent and 00:09:58.129 --> 00:10:00.210 we have to do it right now because it is the 00:10:00.210 --> 00:10:02.649 only way to get a foreign alliance. That was 00:10:02.649 --> 00:10:04.730 the core argument. They had rejected the divine 00:10:04.730 --> 00:10:07.490 right of kings, but they had to prove their credibility 00:10:07.490 --> 00:10:10.090 to the old world powers. The Lee resolution actually 00:10:10.090 --> 00:10:12.809 called for three overlapping committees to be 00:10:12.809 --> 00:10:15.509 formed simultaneously. OK. One to draft the declaration, 00:10:15.970 --> 00:10:18.169 one to draft a model treaty, and one to draft 00:10:18.169 --> 00:10:20.049 the Articles of Confederation. You have to look 00:10:20.049 --> 00:10:22.830 at those three documents as a single cohesive 00:10:22.830 --> 00:10:25.169 package. Interesting. What was the model treaty? 00:10:25.470 --> 00:10:26.970 The model treaty, by the way, was essentially 00:10:26.970 --> 00:10:29.570 a standardized template for doing business and 00:10:29.570 --> 00:10:32.669 trading goods with other countries. Ah, OK. Together, 00:10:33.269 --> 00:10:35.929 these three documents constituted an international 00:10:35.929 --> 00:10:38.809 agreement to set up central institutions for 00:10:38.809 --> 00:10:42.659 domestic and foreign affairs. Entering the international 00:10:42.659 --> 00:10:45.059 system was the primary goal. They had to look 00:10:45.059 --> 00:10:47.919 legitimate. Right. They needed to say to France, 00:10:48.379 --> 00:10:50.440 we are a real country with a real government 00:10:50.440 --> 00:10:53.179 and a real trade policy. Now please send us ships 00:10:53.179 --> 00:10:57.440 and guns. And it worked? It did. Congress formally 00:10:57.440 --> 00:10:59.720 approved the resolution of independence on July 00:10:59.720 --> 00:11:03.559 2, 1776, and then approved the formal written 00:11:03.559 --> 00:11:06.710 declaration on July 4. It completely changes 00:11:06.710 --> 00:11:08.970 how you view the Fourth of July. It's not just 00:11:08.970 --> 00:11:11.070 a birthday party. It was the submission of an 00:11:11.070 --> 00:11:13.370 application to join the global stage. That's 00:11:13.370 --> 00:11:15.330 a great way to put it. But the reality of signing 00:11:15.330 --> 00:11:18.470 that document brings massive immediate consequences. 00:11:18.610 --> 00:11:20.389 Oh, absolutely. By putting their names on that 00:11:20.389 --> 00:11:22.990 parchment, they officially made themselves traitors 00:11:22.990 --> 00:11:25.350 to the crown. They are now high value targets. 00:11:25.669 --> 00:11:28.490 Wanted men. Yeah. For you, the learner listening 00:11:28.490 --> 00:11:31.470 to this, imagine trying to do your daily remote 00:11:31.470 --> 00:11:34.019 work. But every few weeks, you have to pack up 00:11:34.019 --> 00:11:36.919 your entire office into a wooden wagon because 00:11:36.919 --> 00:11:40.580 a hostile, highly trained military force is a 00:11:40.580 --> 00:11:42.940 few miles down the road actively trying to capture 00:11:42.940 --> 00:11:45.360 and hang you. It sounds like a movie. It does. 00:11:45.820 --> 00:11:48.600 How does a newly minted provisional government 00:11:48.600 --> 00:11:51.679 actually hold committee meetings and pass resolutions 00:11:51.679 --> 00:11:55.000 under those conditions? Well, by staying highly 00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:57.580 mobile and living in a constant state of paranoia, 00:11:58.159 --> 00:12:00.379 the British army advanced onto Philadelphia. 00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:02.480 which is essentially the revolutionary capital, 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:05.200 forcing the Congress to flee multiple times. 00:12:05.799 --> 00:12:07.679 This was a government quite literally on the 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:09.259 run. And they went to a few different places, 00:12:09.259 --> 00:12:12.919 right? Yeah. During the winter of 1776 to 1777, 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:16.299 they fled to Baltimore. In September 1777, they 00:12:16.299 --> 00:12:18.600 had to flee to Lancaster, Pennsylvania for a 00:12:18.600 --> 00:12:21.240 single day. Just one day. Just one day, and then 00:12:21.240 --> 00:12:23.480 cross the Susquehanna River to York, Pennsylvania, 00:12:23.899 --> 00:12:25.820 just to put a body of water between themselves 00:12:25.820 --> 00:12:28.200 and the British cavalry. The disruption to their 00:12:28.200 --> 00:12:30.720 work must have been absolute chaos. Utter chaos. 00:12:30.940 --> 00:12:33.379 I mean, how do you maintain a consistent foreign 00:12:33.379 --> 00:12:36.299 policy or run a military when your executive 00:12:36.299 --> 00:12:38.899 leadership keeps resigning, getting recalled, 00:12:39.379 --> 00:12:42.000 or fleeing for their lives? You really don't. 00:12:42.179 --> 00:12:44.379 It's a miracle it held together. Like Peyton 00:12:44.379 --> 00:12:46.379 Randolph is the first president, but he gets 00:12:46.379 --> 00:12:49.299 called back to Virginia. So John Hancock steps 00:12:49.299 --> 00:12:51.340 in, the guy with the famous signature. Right. 00:12:51.659 --> 00:12:53.960 Thomas Jefferson comes in to replace Randolph 00:12:53.960 --> 00:12:56.960 in the Virginia delegation. Ben Franklin shows 00:12:56.960 --> 00:12:59.740 up after spending years in London. It's the revolving 00:12:59.740 --> 00:13:02.940 door. Exactly. The only constant through this 00:13:02.940 --> 00:13:06.240 entire chaotic game of musical chairs is a guy 00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:08.720 named Charles Thompson. Good old Charles Thompson. 00:13:08.820 --> 00:13:11.639 Yeah, he remains the secretary, holding the actual 00:13:11.639 --> 00:13:14.220 physical records of the nation together while 00:13:14.220 --> 00:13:16.679 they are throwing boxes of state secrets into 00:13:16.679 --> 00:13:18.539 wagons in the middle of the night. He was the 00:13:18.539 --> 00:13:20.919 glue. Definitely. Here's where it gets really 00:13:20.919 --> 00:13:23.080 interesting. Let's talk about where they actually 00:13:23.080 --> 00:13:25.500 set up shop when they fled to Baltimore in the 00:13:25.500 --> 00:13:28.059 winter of 76. Oh, this is a great detail. They 00:13:28.059 --> 00:13:30.559 held the Continental Congress at Henry Fite's 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:34.139 Tavern. The Henry Fite House reveals the tactical 00:13:34.139 --> 00:13:37.039 logistics of trying to survive as a rogue government. 00:13:37.240 --> 00:13:39.840 Why did they pick a tavern? Well, it was the 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:42.509 largest building in Baltimore at the time. which 00:13:42.509 --> 00:13:44.950 provided enough physical space for the delegates 00:13:44.950 --> 00:13:47.529 to actually sit and debate. Okay, that makes 00:13:47.529 --> 00:13:49.830 practical sense. But more importantly, if you 00:13:49.830 --> 00:13:52.269 look at the geography, the tavern was located 00:13:52.269 --> 00:13:55.090 on the extreme western edge of the town. Why 00:13:55.090 --> 00:13:57.789 does the western edge matter? This matters deeply 00:13:57.789 --> 00:14:00.649 because it put them beyond the easy reach of 00:14:00.649 --> 00:14:03.669 the British Royal Navy. Ah, the ships. Right. 00:14:04.049 --> 00:14:06.409 The British ships could theoretically sail up 00:14:06.409 --> 00:14:08.789 the harbor and the Patapsco River to shell the 00:14:08.789 --> 00:14:11.309 town. By putting themselves on the western edge 00:14:11.309 --> 00:14:13.529 out of cannon range, they were buying themselves 00:14:13.529 --> 00:14:16.809 crucial hours to evacuate if the masts of the 00:14:16.809 --> 00:14:19.240 British fleet appeared on the horizon. The sheer 00:14:19.240 --> 00:14:22.200 grit required for that is unbelievable. It really 00:14:22.200 --> 00:14:25.039 is. You are running a continental war trying 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:27.440 to secure millions in loans from the King of 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:30.220 France, and you're doing it out of tavern while 00:14:30.220 --> 00:14:32.440 constantly looking out the window to see if British 00:14:32.440 --> 00:14:34.519 warships are coming up the river to bombard your 00:14:34.519 --> 00:14:37.340 meeting room. It's incredibly stressful. It really 00:14:37.340 --> 00:14:40.159 strips away the powdered wig formality we usually 00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:42.480 associate with these historical figures. Oh, 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:45.059 completely. It was a chaotic, terrifying existence. 00:14:45.620 --> 00:14:46.919 And, you know, the stress of the environment 00:14:46.919 --> 00:14:49.250 was matched only by the internal friction of 00:14:49.250 --> 00:14:50.990 the group. Meaning they were fighting each other 00:14:50.990 --> 00:14:53.690 too? Yes, surviving the British Army was really 00:14:53.690 --> 00:14:56.990 only half the battle for these delegates. As 00:14:56.990 --> 00:14:59.690 the war dragged on, the adrenaline of the initial 00:14:59.690 --> 00:15:02.340 rebellion wore off. the Congress had to figure 00:15:02.340 --> 00:15:04.360 out how to survive each other. Right, because 00:15:04.360 --> 00:15:06.399 they're from totally different regions with different 00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:08.899 interests. Exactly. They realized they needed 00:15:08.899 --> 00:15:12.600 a permanent constitution to legally bind these 00:15:12.600 --> 00:15:16.019 13 wildly different states together into something 00:15:16.019 --> 00:15:18.980 resembling a single entity. Which brings us to 00:15:18.980 --> 00:15:21.860 the grueling drafting of the Articles of Confederation. 00:15:21.960 --> 00:15:24.419 Yes. The document that proves that herding cats 00:15:24.419 --> 00:15:27.299 is an ancient American tradition. Truly. They 00:15:27.299 --> 00:15:29.620 debated this thing for over a year before finally 00:15:29.620 --> 00:15:32.220 passing it in York, Pennsylvania on November 00:15:32.220 --> 00:15:37.539 15th, 1777. And the rivalries were intense. Extremely 00:15:37.539 --> 00:15:40.700 intense. You had large states wanting more say 00:15:40.700 --> 00:15:43.360 and small states terrified of being tyrannized 00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:46.639 by the large ones. Like who? If you are Delaware, 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:49.279 for instance, you have a tiny population and 00:15:49.279 --> 00:15:51.830 a tiny geographical footprint. Right. If you 00:15:51.830 --> 00:15:54.309 enter a proportional government with Virginia, 00:15:55.090 --> 00:15:57.090 whose borders at the time stretched all the way 00:15:57.090 --> 00:15:59.429 to the Mississippi River, you are essentially 00:15:59.429 --> 00:16:01.730 voting to make yourself a colony of Virginia. 00:16:02.169 --> 00:16:03.769 Because Virginia would just outvote them every 00:16:03.769 --> 00:16:06.090 time. Precisely. Virginia's population would 00:16:06.090 --> 00:16:08.009 allow them to dictate all the laws and all the 00:16:08.009 --> 00:16:10.509 taxes. The small states fought tooth and nail 00:16:10.509 --> 00:16:13.149 to prevent that. And who won that fight? In the 00:16:13.149 --> 00:16:15.470 end, the small states won that specific battle, 00:16:15.470 --> 00:16:18.730 and the Articles mandated that every state got 00:16:18.730 --> 00:16:22.039 exactly one vote. regardless of population. Which 00:16:22.039 --> 00:16:24.759 is a massive structural decision. It is. And 00:16:24.759 --> 00:16:27.240 you can see the seeds of our current system being 00:16:27.240 --> 00:16:29.679 planted and initially rejected during these debates. 00:16:29.799 --> 00:16:33.080 Oh, really? Like... For instance, Thomas Jefferson 00:16:33.080 --> 00:16:36.120 actually proposed a bicameral legislature to 00:16:36.120 --> 00:16:38.940 solve this exact problem, a Senate to represent 00:16:38.940 --> 00:16:41.980 the states equally, and a House to represent 00:16:41.980 --> 00:16:45.080 the people based on population. Oh, so he had 00:16:45.080 --> 00:16:48.539 the modern idea way back then. He did, but Congress 00:16:48.539 --> 00:16:50.580 rejected it for the Articles of Confederation, 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:53.360 opting for that unicameral one vote per state 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:55.899 system instead. Ascinating. Jefferson's idea 00:16:55.899 --> 00:16:58.320 obviously became the exact blueprint for the 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:00.480 later United States Constitution, but at the 00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:02.980 time, they just couldn't agree on it. Even after 00:17:02.980 --> 00:17:05.900 they managed to agree on the text in 1777, it 00:17:05.900 --> 00:17:08.420 took years to get all the states to actually 00:17:08.420 --> 00:17:10.859 ratify it. It dragged on forever. And the massive 00:17:10.859 --> 00:17:13.640 roadblock wasn't about taxes or armies, it was 00:17:13.640 --> 00:17:16.660 about real estate. Yes, specifically western 00:17:16.660 --> 00:17:20.160 land claims. Right. States that didn't have claims 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:22.480 to western lands refused to sign the articles 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:25.319 until the states that did have claims, like Virginia, 00:17:25.960 --> 00:17:28.259 yielded that land to the central congress. That's 00:17:28.259 --> 00:17:30.519 a huge sticking point. It's like starting a business 00:17:30.519 --> 00:17:33.930 with partners. But one partner refuses to sign 00:17:33.930 --> 00:17:37.150 the operating agreement until you let them keep 00:17:37.150 --> 00:17:40.769 100 % of the profits from a massive side hustle 00:17:40.769 --> 00:17:42.609 they are running out of the back room. That's 00:17:42.609 --> 00:17:44.769 exactly what it was. Maryland is the partner 00:17:44.769 --> 00:17:46.549 standing in the doorway with their arms crossed 00:17:46.549 --> 00:17:48.789 saying, I am not signing this contract until 00:17:48.789 --> 00:17:51.430 you put all of those assets into the shared company 00:17:51.430 --> 00:17:54.069 pool. That captures the geopolitical standoff 00:17:54.069 --> 00:17:57.630 of the late 1770s perfectly. It's wild. Virginia 00:17:57.630 --> 00:18:01.170 ratified the articles first in December 1777, 00:18:01.670 --> 00:18:04.289 assuming others would follow. But Maryland was 00:18:04.289 --> 00:18:07.049 the lone holdout. They stubbornly refused to 00:18:07.049 --> 00:18:09.430 ratify year after year. Just holding the whole 00:18:09.430 --> 00:18:12.210 country hostage? Pretty much. They held out until 00:18:12.210 --> 00:18:16.000 February 2, 1781. That was the date Virginia 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:18.559 finally yielded. Wow, took that long. Yeah. They 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:20.240 agreed to give up their claims on the massive 00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:22.759 territory north of the Ohio River, handing it 00:18:22.759 --> 00:18:25.880 over to the authority of the Congress. Only then 00:18:25.880 --> 00:18:28.519 did Maryland sign, officially bringing the Articles 00:18:28.519 --> 00:18:31.140 of Confederation into force. It is genuinely 00:18:31.140 --> 00:18:33.640 miraculous they agreed to anything at all, considering 00:18:33.640 --> 00:18:35.460 they're trying to build a nation while fighting 00:18:35.460 --> 00:18:38.900 a war and bickering over real estate. If we connect 00:18:38.900 --> 00:18:42.059 this to the bigger picture, what you are seeing 00:18:42.059 --> 00:18:44.839 in that tavern in Baltimore and the courthouse 00:18:45.240 --> 00:18:48.380 in York are the literal fault lines that define 00:18:48.380 --> 00:18:50.799 American politics to this very day. The same 00:18:50.799 --> 00:18:53.359 debates. The exact same. The profound tension 00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:56.599 between big states and small states, the relentless 00:18:56.599 --> 00:18:59.599 push and pull between central federal power and 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:01.960 individual state sovereignty. It hasn't changed. 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:04.440 Not really. The arguments they were having while 00:19:04.440 --> 00:19:07.059 dodging British cannonballs are the exact same 00:19:07.059 --> 00:19:08.680 structural arguments that happen in Washington, 00:19:08.700 --> 00:19:11.079 D .C. right now. They didn't just fight a war. 00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:13.559 They mapped out the psychological and political 00:19:13.559 --> 00:19:16.299 complexities of new kind of nation. Which brings 00:19:16.299 --> 00:19:19.140 us to the ultimate takeaway for you, the learner, 00:19:19.460 --> 00:19:21.440 listening to this deep dive. Right. The next 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:23.619 time you are faced with a massive, seemingly 00:19:23.619 --> 00:19:26.500 impossible project at work, or you feel completely 00:19:26.500 --> 00:19:28.579 overwhelmed by shifting circumstances in your 00:19:28.579 --> 00:19:31.180 life, take a moment to channel the energy of 00:19:31.180 --> 00:19:33.660 the Second Continental Congress. Good advice. 00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:36.339 Think about their starting position. They had 00:19:36.339 --> 00:19:39.400 zero legal authority. They had no money. And 00:19:39.400 --> 00:19:41.900 then? Their office kept getting chased from city 00:19:41.900 --> 00:19:45.319 to city by the world's most legal military. Their 00:19:45.319 --> 00:19:47.960 team members bickered constantly over resources, 00:19:48.440 --> 00:19:50.880 land, and power. The worst working conditions 00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:54.359 imaginable. Exactly. And yet, against all logical 00:19:54.359 --> 00:19:57.279 odds, they successfully managed a war, secured 00:19:57.279 --> 00:19:59.339 the foreign alliances they desperately needed, 00:19:59.700 --> 00:20:02.619 and birthed a nation. So what does this all mean? 00:20:02.839 --> 00:20:05.619 It means that knowledge is most valuable when 00:20:05.619 --> 00:20:08.740 we can strip away the mythology and see the human 00:20:08.740 --> 00:20:10.960 reality behind the history. Yeah. The founding 00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:13.420 of the United States wasn't just a group of serene 00:20:13.420 --> 00:20:16.099 men in powdered wigs signing parchment in a quiet 00:20:16.099 --> 00:20:19.700 room. It was a chaotic, high stakes improvisation. 00:20:20.099 --> 00:20:22.759 Absolutely. It was people making massive, terrifying 00:20:22.759 --> 00:20:25.279 leaps of faith, adjusting to realities on the 00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:28.220 ground and forging institutions out of pure necessity. 00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:30.660 They built the plane while they were flying it 00:20:30.660 --> 00:20:32.369 and someone was actively shooting at the playing 00:20:32.369 --> 00:20:34.869 the entire time. What an image. And I want to 00:20:34.869 --> 00:20:37.349 leave you with one final slightly provocative 00:20:37.349 --> 00:20:40.049 thought to mull over as you go about your day. 00:20:40.130 --> 00:20:42.410 Let's hear it. Think about the fact that for 00:20:42.410 --> 00:20:46.009 almost its entire existence, this Congress functioned 00:20:46.009 --> 00:20:48.569 purely on the voluntary compliance of the states. 00:20:48.849 --> 00:20:51.410 They had no teeth. Right. They had no enforcement 00:20:51.410 --> 00:20:53.710 mechanism. They couldn't force anyone to pay 00:20:53.710 --> 00:20:56.069 taxes, and they couldn't force states to send 00:20:56.069 --> 00:20:58.289 troops. It's polite letters. Exactly. It makes 00:20:58.289 --> 00:21:02.150 you wonder. How long can any organization, whether 00:21:02.150 --> 00:21:04.789 it's a massive corporation, a local community 00:21:04.789 --> 00:21:08.549 group, or even a government, truly survive when 00:21:08.549 --> 00:21:11.450 its only real power is just asking nicely? That's 00:21:11.450 --> 00:21:13.750 a great question. It's a testament to the shared 00:21:13.750 --> 00:21:16.009 belief in the cause that they didn't entirely 00:21:16.009 --> 00:21:17.990 collapse under the weight of their own structure. 00:21:18.130 --> 00:21:19.769 Really is. Well, thanks for joining us on this 00:21:19.769 --> 00:21:22.089 custom journey. Keep questioning, keep exploring, 00:21:22.289 --> 00:21:24.230 and as always, keep diving deep.