During the Revolutionary War, the U.S. Congress met and did business at the Pennsylvania State House a.k.a. Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The building is better known as the building where the Declaration of Independence and Consitution was debated and signed at. Under the Articles of Confederation, which was the supreme law at the time (the U.S. Consitution was not yet passed), Congress did not have direct control over the military, except in times of war. The country was reliant on state militias to enforce laws and keep order.
On June 17, 1783, Congress received a message from soldiers of the Continental Army. In the message, the soldiers demanded payment for their services during the American Revolutionary War. The Soldiers threatened to take action if they did not address their complaints. Two days later, Congress received word that 80 soldiers left their post in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and had joined with the Philadelphia soldiers at the city barracks. The soldiers numbered 500 men and now had control over the weapons and ammunition stored in the city.
On June 20, 400 soldiers mobbed Independence Hall demanding payment. The soldiers blocked the front door and refused to allow Congress to leave. Alexander Hamilton, persuaded the soldiers to allow Congress to meet later to address their concerns. That evening, a small congressional committee headed by Hamilton met in secret to draft a letter to Pennsylvania Executive Council (similar to the Governor today), asking them to protect Congress from the soldiers. The letter threatened it would force Congress to move elsewhere if the Council did not act.
The next day, Congress met at Independence Hall with Members of the Pennsylvania Executive Council. Congress asked the Council to do more to protect the federal government. The Council agreed to talk to the soldiers and fix the concern. On the next morning, the Council told Congress it would not intervene in the matter with the soldiers! Congress felt they could not assure their safety in Philadelphia and they left the city to convene in Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton now became the temporary capitol of the United States.
When George Washington, the military commander of the U.S. Army, heard of the mutiny, he sent 1,500 troops to suppress it. Some soldiers were arrested, and Congress called for an investigation of the entire event.
After Princeton, Congress met in Annapolis, Maryland and Trenton, New Jersey before ending up in New York City (NYC). Congress stayed in NYC until July 1790 when the Residence Act was passed. The law paved the way for a permanent capitol. Hamilton helped broker a compromise between the Northern States to have the capitol placed along the Potomac River (which was located along Virginia and Maryland both southern states).
As part of the new law, Philadelphia was chosen as the temporary capitol for 10 years (until December 1800), until the nation’s capitol would be ready. Philadelphia tried to convince Congress to stay in the city by beginning construction of a new presidential palace and an expansion wing to Congress Hall. The efforts failed, and the capitol ended up becoming what we know as Washington, D.C. today.
After the War of 1812, the U.S. Capitol was burned down and Congress temporarily met at the then US Post Office/ Patent office for a year. Congress then met at the Old Brick Capitol building from 1815 to 1819 until the original U.S. Capitol building was rebuilt. The Old Brick Capitol is now the site of the U.S. Supreme Court building.
Mistakes were Made:
Pennsylvania’s “failure” to protect Congress was the main reason the framers of the Constitution created a federal district, where Congress could provide its own security.
The million dollar question is why didn’t Pennsylvania agree to protect Congress? There are three theories on why they choose not to intervene:
1. The Council was unsure the State’s militiamen would actually protect Congress, they also thought the matter wasn’t as serious as Congress was making it to be. Essentially, the Council thought the soldiers were bluffing and the situation would resolve itself peacefully.
2. The Council, led by John Dickinson who was a former militia man himself, was sympathetic to the soldiers’ grievances.
3. Pennsylvania viewed itself as a sovereign state and wouldn’t bend to the demands of a few members of Congress.
I think the Council assumed Congress wasn’t serious about moving if they did not meet their demands, but they were dead serious. This story conveys the lesson of not seeing the forest from the trees. Even if the three theories above were true, they weren’t enough justification to risk the bigger goal of Philadelphia being the permanent capitol of the U.S. Philadelphia essentially won the battle on the matter but lost the bigger war, and for what? Did standing up for a few soldiers end up benefiting Pennsylvania in the long term or end up hurting them? We know the answer to that.
That Pennslyvania later tried to apologize and persuade Congress to stay, shows it knows it messed up. When the Council had the chance to make a statement, it stood idly by and did nothing and blew their shot. It’s the equivalent of being in a relationship and asking your partner to standup or do something for you and they refuse and you break it off with them because of the act. Later they try to come back and woo you back but that prior nonaction always sticks in your mind and you refuse to reconcile.
In the end, given the complex dynamics of dual federalism between the federal and state governments, it was for the best they created a Federal District. It’s crazy to think, if not for this inaction by Pennsylvania; Congress, The White House and the Supreme Court would likely be in Philadelphia instead of Washington D.C. today. Imagine the U.S. with no D.C.? Depending on your perspective, imagine how much more interesting or worse Philadelphia would be if the U.S. government was located there? It’s a future we will never know all because Pennsylvania stayed neutral and did not help Congress when it asked for protection.
