page_title: Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783
section_title: Effect
hierarchical_section_title: Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783 / Effect
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of John Dickinson, American politician (November 8, 1732 – February 14, 1808)
context_page_description: The Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783 was an anti-government protest by nearly 400 soldiers of the Continental Army in June 1783. The mutiny, and the refusal of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania to stop it, ultimately resulted in Congress of the Confederation vacating Philadelphia and the creation of a federal district to serve as the national capital.
context_section_description: There are three reasons put forth as to why Dickinson and the Pennsylvania Council did not act. The council's official reasoning was that they were unsure that the local militiamen would actually protect Congress from their fellow soldiers. Further, the council may have thought that the conflict was not as serious as Congress believed and that the mutiny could be resolved peacefully. The second theory put forth is that Dickinson, having been an officer in the militia, was sympathetic to the soldiers' grievances. The third theory is that the council refused to allow Pennsylvania, a sovereign state, to be subjugated by the demands of a few members of Congress.
  After Congress completed its business at Princeton in early November 1783, the capital was moved later that month to Annapolis, Maryland, then to Trenton, New Jersey, in November 1784, and finally to New York City in January 1785. It was not until the Constitutional Convention in 1787 that delegates decided to meet again in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania's failure to protect the United States Congress was a primary reason why the framers of the Constitution decided to create a federal district, distinct from the states, where Congress could provide for its own security. 
  The delegates therefore agreed in Article One, Section 8, of the United States Constitution to give the Congress the power "to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States".
  Following the ratification of the United States Constitution by New York in 1788, the delegates agreed to keep New York City as the temporary federal capital. In 1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which created the District of Columbia, located on the banks of the Potomac River from land belonging to the states of Maryland and Virginia to serve as the new federal capital.
  Robert Morris, a representative from Pennsylvania, convinced Congress to return to Philadelphia while the new permanent capital was being built. As a result, the Residence Act declared Philadelphia to be the temporary capital for a period of 10 years. In a final attempt to convince Congress to keep the capital in Philadelphia, the city began construction on a new presidential palace and an expansion to Congress Hall. Their efforts failed, and the federal government relocated from Philadelphia for the final time on May 14, 1800.
caption: John Dickinson, President of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania.
exif: {}