African Americans suffered a disproportionate share of combat deaths
When the Second Continental Congress met in June 1775, they were not prepared for what they found. Several months earlier on April 19 the war of words with Great Britain had become a shooting war. The individual colonies found themselves at war with one of the greatest military powers of the age. It would fall on the delegates of the Continental Congress to lead them the best they could with a strong united voice that would see them through the crisis, or maybe not. Congress was not really prepared to become a governmental body. These men who were sent to discuss issues and send petitions suddenly found themselves placed in the position of having to create a united front from thirteen separate entities. They would be tasked with coming up with a military response, building an army, and finding some way to pay for all of it. They were, to say the least, not always up to that task. While many of the men that served in congress had experience running business or even colonial government, the task set ahead of them was more than they had ever done before. In many of the tasks set before it, Congress either failed or nearly failed, nearly causing the still birth of the great republic.
Nowhere did Congress fail as abysmally as it did in trying to create some way to generate money that would support the war. There were several sources they would look to in an effort to pay the bills. Getting support from the states and foreign powers was one path they took. Steps were even taken to try and build a real economy that would see them through the war and perhaps thereafter. Each came with its own set of difficulties.
