First Provincial Congress Memorial

On October 7, 1774, delegates from across Massachusetts met in Concord to organize a response to the mounting political tensions between the colonies and the British crown. The resulting “First Provincial Congress” was a bold first step toward an independent American political system.

British forces had recently seized gunpowder from a magazine near Boston, prompting the First Provincial Congress to establish a stockpile of military supplies and organize militias in anticipation of the impending war.

A bronze plaque on a granite base erected in 1885 near First Parish in Concord during the Town’s 250th anniversary celebrations commemorates that event, reading:

THE FIRST PROVINCIAL CONGRESS
OF DELEGATES OF THE TOWNS OF
MASSACHUSETTS
WAS CALLED BY CONVENTIONS OF
THE PEOPLE TO MEET AT CONCORD ON THE
ELEVENTH DAY OF OCTOBER 1774

THE DELEGATES ASSEMBLE HERE
IN THE MEETING HOUSE ON THAT DAY
AND ORGANIZED
WITH JOHN HANCOCK AS PRESIDENT
AND BENJAMIN LINCOLN AS SECRETARY

CALLED TOGETHER TO MAINTAIN
THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE
THIS CONGRESS
ASSUMED THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PROVINCE
AND BY ITS MEASURES PREPARED THE WAY
FOR THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION