Lord Dalhousie was a Governor General of India when it was under the rule of the British and widely pursued the "Doctrine of Lapse'". By this doctrine, the British were to be consulted when a monarch of a dependent state wanted to pass on leadership to an heir.
The British were to decide if the heir was competent enough to take the throne and if the British ruled that they weren't, the state would see its leadership lapsed and the British would take over to administer it.
Delegates gave the continential congress, the power to request money from the states make appropriations, regulate the armed forces, appoint civil servants, and declare war.