Massachusetts Provincial Congress
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The Massachusetts Provincial Congress (1774–1776) was a provisional government created in the Province of Massachusetts Bay after Parliament passed the Massachusetts Government Act.
The Massachusetts government act of May 20, 1774 in addition to annulling the provincial charter, prescribed that effective August 1, the members of the Council would be appointed by the King and hold office at his pleasure. The members of the assembly adjourned to Concord and organized themselves as a Provincial Congress on October 7, 1774. With John Hancock as its president this extralegal body became the de facto government of Massachusetts outside of Boston. It assumed all powers to rule the province, collect taxes, buy supplies, and raise a militia. Hancock sent Paul Revere to the Continental Congress with the news that Massachusetts had established America's first autonomous government. (More exactly, the first autonomous government by European-descended people in North America -- the aboriginal American peoples certainly had had autonomous governments for thousands of years before 1774)
The congress had to frequently move from town to town to avoid capture. It was superseded by the independent Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
