Modeled after the assembly of colonial leaders that formed the original governing body of the U.S., a grass-roots organization has concluded a "new Continental Congress" it hopes will be a catalyst for citizen action that will help return the nation to its roots.

Meeting Nov. 11-21 in St. Charles, Ill., delegates from across the nation gathered to publicly debate the government's "abuses of the Constitution and to consider practical strategies which can bring about compliance with our Freedom documents, not only in our government at all levels, but in our individual lives."

The delegates produced Articles of Freedom which assert "the time has come to reassert our God-given natural rights and cast off tyranny."

"Let the facts reveal – the Federal Government of the United States of America, which was instituted to protect the rights of individual citizens, instead – threatens our life, liberty and property through usurpations of the Constitution; and emboldened by our own lack of responsibility and due diligence in these matters, has exceeded its mandate, and abandoned those founding principles which have made our nation exceptional," the document declares.

The organizers emphasized their "grass-roots proceedings" are not a Constitutional Convention, which the delegates strongly oppose, because it would "only serve to limit our unalienable rights."

The Congress passed a number of resolutions, including measures against the income tax – recognizing it as unconstitutional – and against federal gun-control legislation.

The president of the session was Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian Party's candidate for president in 2004. Dan Gonzales, the Constitution Party's Florida chairman, was the session's vice president.

Robert Schulz Sr., chairman of the We The People Foundation for Constitutional Education, was a chief organizer.

The organizers, who state they seek to "legally end certain violations of the federal Constitution," said their next step is to hold their state and federal elected officials accountable to the federal Constitution.

They say they have "exhausted their administrative and judicial remedies" and now wish to "exhaust their constitutional remedies, as guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence and the Accountability Clause of the First Amendment."

"When the People are up against unjust and uncivil government and laws and they are entitled to reform they will achieve it if they are pro-active, non-violent and have a mass-movement," they declare.

Charging the government has violated the Constitution's tax, money, war, general welfare, privacy and other clauses, the organizers have posted petitions for redress regarding the war powers clauses, gun control laws, federal income tax, federal reserve, USA Patriot Act and illegal immigration and a North American Union.

The organizers emphasize the Constitution affords citizens much more than the right to merely send "complaints" to the government, which are usually ignored.

"The Right of Petition embodies the profound Right to enforce the Right to Petition by withdrawing support from the Government until Redress is secured," they state.

The Continental Congress 2009 sought to "take the process of holding Government accountable and restoring the Constitution to the next level by first creating a formal record of the vast violations of the Constitution and Individual Rights now suffered by the People."

The members debated and decided on a series of practical "Civic Actions" citizens can undertake to restore their liberty.

The assembly adopted, for example, formal "Remedial Instructions" to be served on federal and state officials, ordering them to cease and desist their official abuses and giving them formal notice as to the "Civic Actions" of peaceful resistance the people can carry out if their petitions are ignored.

The Income Tax Instruction to the United States Congress adopted by the assembly cites "irrefutable documentation" establishing that the 16th Amendment is void because it was not properly ratified and arguing any direct, unapportioned tax on the labor of any American is unconstitutional.

The resolution cites the U.S. Supreme Court holding that labor and its fruits are "the most sacred and inviolable" property of the citizens of the nation.

The tax resolution also calls for Congress to immediately stop imposition of the withholding of earnings from citizens' paychecks.