The Albany Congress Albany Conference |
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Congress of seven British American Colonies | |
Delegates converse outside the Stadt Huys during the Albany Congress
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Type | |
Type | |
History | |
Established | June 19, 1754 |
Disbanded | July 11, 1754 |
Succeeded by | Stamp Act Congress |
Leadership | |
Governor
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Secretary
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Seats | 21 from 7 colonies |
Meeting place | |
Stadt Huys, Albany, New York |
The Albany Congress (1754) (also known as "The Conference of Albany") was a meeting of representatives sent by the legislatures of seven of the thirteen British colonies in British America: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. Northernmost Newfoundland and Nova Scotia were not in attendance. Representatives met daily at the Stadt Huys in Albany, New York from June 18 to July 11, 1754 to discuss better relations with the American Indian tribes and common defensive measures against the French threat from Canada in the opening stage of the French and Indian War, the North American front of the Seven Years' War between Great Britain and France.
Delegates did not have the goal of creating an American nation; rather, they were colonists with the more limited mission of pursuing a treaty with the Mohawks and other major Iroquois tribes. This was the first time that American colonists had met together, and it provided a model that came into use in setting up the Stamp Act Congress in 1765, as well as the First Continental Congress in 1774, which were preludes to the American Revolution.