OTD in History: Capital for a Day

Weird things that happen in a fast war

From my Pennsylvania trip, but not to Lancaster, I don’t think…

No video today, just a quickie post about this one. I thought this was kind of cool: we know that Washington, D.C. wasn’t the original U.S. capital, but I didn’t know how many other places served that purpose during the Revolutionary War.

In 1777, on September 27th, the town of Lancaster, PA briefly served that role. In fact, it was just for a day.

At the end of 1776, the British entered Philadelphia, so the Americans had to pound pavement:

As the British closed in on Philadelphia, members of the Continental Congress fled the city for Baltimore, Maryland. There they met at Henry Fite’s tavern, which was later renamed Congress Hall…they reconvened at Independence Hall on March 4, 1777.

The Brits continued harassing the Continental Army throughout that spring and summer, so occasionally Congress had to hoof it elsewhere to keep the political side of the war going.

On September 27, 1777, Continental Congress held its one and only meeting in the Lancaster county courthouse. There were minimal lodgings in town and Congress felt they weren’t far enough away from the British, so they spent part of their meeting contemplating where to go next. However, one important decision they made that day was selecting Benjamin Franklin as a representative to go to France to negotiate a treaty.

(Source: Mystic Stamp)

So it wasn’t just some random place where minor issues relating to the war were addressed; Franklin’s mission to France was instrumental in securing a strong ally for the war effort. At least they got SOMETHING done that day.

Anyway, America rules and is better than other countries which are not as good. Drive safe, see you out there!