Continental Congress Advises Suppression of Diversions

Background. The Continental Congress acted as the provisional government for the newly declared United States during most of the Revolutionary War, functioning in that capacity through March 1, 1781. Both the First and Second Congresses convened in Philadelphia, though the Second Congress met elsewhere for a time when the city was captured during the war. Until 1785, the Congress met predominantly at what is today Independence Hall in Philadelphia, though it was relocated temporarily on several occasions during the Revolutionary War and the fall of Philadelphia.

The Advice on Diversions. A legacy record holds that on October 12, 1778, the Continental Congress advised the thirteen member states to suppress "theatrical entertainments, horse-racing, gaming, and such other diversions as are productive of idleness, dissipation, and general depravity of principles and manners." The supplied passages describe the Congress as a legislative body with some executive function but do not mention this advice, its date, or its location, so the record remains uncorroborated here.

Context and Significance. The advice is attributed to the period when the Second Continental Congress served as the provisional government of the United States during the Revolutionary War. Benjamin Irvin's social and cultural history of the Congress praised the invented traditions by which it endeavored to fortify the resistance movement and make meaning of American independence, though he noted that the American people embraced, rejected, reworked, ridiculed, or ignored such creations as they saw fit. Whether the diversions advice belongs to this pattern cannot be confirmed from the supplied passages.