The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1900-12-21
OUR FORMER CApITRLS.
Meeting Place Of Congress in Penn
sylVania.
MANY HOUSES WERE so USED
Chased Out of Philadelphia, tie
Nation-Builders Sat in Raltl-
more, York and Princeton.
The Choice of Wash
ington.

From the hall of the "Company
of Carpenters. " where the nation
makers first met in Philadelphia.
to the present magnificent marble
pile at Washington. is truly "A far
cry. 'Lest We forget" in the
pride of our AmericaniSm. it will
be good for us to recall the days
when our congressman were sent
scurrying from one town to an
other by hostile British, by bug
aboo stories and by the antics of
rowdy soldiers. Like the temple
which grew from the covering
of skins to that splendid crea-
ton of Solomon's time, the capitol
of our country, whose centenary
was celebrated recently, had also
an humble origin-and the puzzle
once was to find the place.
During four Of the years Of its
existence, the Continental Con-
gress skipped about at a lively
gait. Philadelphia, Princeton,
Annapolis, Trenton, New York.
and then, after an interval of
four years, Philadelphia, again
were visited by these "birdS of
passage" One man said Of it.:
"Verily, the Lord shall make this
government like unto a wheel,
and keep it rolling back and forth
betwiXt Dan and BeerSheba, and
grant it no rest this side of Jor-
dan"
CONGRESS IN BALTIMORE AND
PHILADELPHIA.
But before this, when, late in
1916, Ilowe's army was marching
across New Jersey and the invas-
ion of Pennsylvania seemed i'm
mimeut, Congress fled from Phiia
delphia and went to Baltimore.
The members met there for the
first time in a building which
stood at Baltimore and Liberty
streets. Their SittingS there
lasted from December 20, f776,
until February -, HI. Then
Congress returned to PhiIadel
phia, and on the 2nd of the fol-
lowing month sat in the State
House, where it remained until
the British actually did get into
Philadelphia.
CONGRESS in YORK.
For nearly nine months after
Howe's entry into Philadelphia,
on September %, 1777, Congress
met at York, having arrived there
late that month after a rather
hasty exit from Philadelphia.
Bancroft says that Alexander
Hamilton, who had been sent
to secure the supplies and stores
in public the private warehouses
in Philadelphia, gave a false
alarm about the dangers of the
situation and it scared the Con-
gressmen out of their beds to
take the first conveyance York ,
ward. The sessions Of Congress
were held in the old court house
which stood in the centre of the
public square at York. The build
ing was demolished in 1871. 1t
was while Congress was at York
that the notorious Conway cabel
was aired and the cOnspiratorS
held up to the contempt they so
richly deserved. Burgoyne's sur
render, Valley Forge, the French
Alliance-these were events the
rapidly decadent Congress had to
consider there also.
BACK IN PHILADELPHIA.
Upon the evacuation of Phila.
delphia by the British Congress
occupied for a short time, it is
said, one of the buildings of the
Academy-now the University of
PennSylvania-then located on
Fourth street below Arch. The
red coats who had crowded the
delegates from the stately build
ing on Chestnut street during that
fall and winter of Hits, it
seems, had left the Congressional
halls in such disreputable condi,
ton that other quarters Lad to
be found temporarily. Congress
resumed its sessions in the State
House July >, 177S. and one OF
the earliest pieces of work it at
tended to in the old headquarters
was the Articles of Confederation.
For several years thereafter it
continued to meet in the same
place.
CONGRESS AND THE MUTINEERS.
An exciting event which mark
ed the closing days of Congress
sional meeting in the State House,
was the appearance, on June u,
1888, Of a mob Of about so mutt.
nous PENNSYLVANIA soldiers who