If you ’ve visited Lancaster , Penn . , you probably think back it as a prissy mid - sized city right in the essence of Pennsylvania ’s Amish land . What you might not have intercourse is that on this date in 1777 , it became our young country ’s third capital metropolis , a place it held only briefly . Very , very briefly . Let ’s take a aspect at how Lancaster became our capital for a unmarried Clarence Shepard Day Jr. .
Get Out of Town
Things began look ghastly for Philadelphia , the previous capital metropolis , in September 1777 .
British forces under General William Howe had been advancing northwards from the Chesapeake Bay in an travail to capture the radical Washington , and American forces lead by George Washington had moved south of Philadelphia to intercept the invading force . On September 11 , Washington ’s man clashed with Howe ’s troop in the Battle of Brandywine .
The engagement was a catastrophe for the Continental Army . Howe outmanoeuvre Washington , and the malcontent settler had little choice but to retreat after the British appeared on their flank . Although Washington ’s forces would sporadically plight the advancing British soldiers over the next two weeks , the expiration at Brandywine effectively cease the chances of successfully fight back Philadelphia . On September 26 , 1777 , the British waltz around unopposed into the City of Brotherly Love .
The crushing military defeat was obviously uncollectible news for the compound cause , but it had political repercussion , too . As the capture of Philadelphia became a foregone end , the Second Continental Congress realize that it needed to feel a unexampled revolutionary capital pronto . The delegates packed up their gear and leg it it 60 miles west of Philly to Lancaster . On September 27 , 1777 , just one sidereal day after the British stroll into Philadelphia , the Continental Congress met in Lancaster ’s county courthouse , a building that had been construct in the townsfolk square in 1737 .
Just like that , Lancaster became the third upper-case letter of the fledgling commonwealth . ( Baltimore had also in short serve as the capital between December 20 , 1776 and February 27 , 1777 . ) The Continental Congress got some piece of work done that day , including electing Benjamin Franklin as commissioner to negociate a treaty with France , but the delegates did n’t have much time to get comfortable .
On the Road Again
Even a 60 - mile buffer from the British forces in Philadelphia seemed a bit slender given the well-fixed march the blood-red coats had just made into the erstwhile capital , so after one Clarence Day in Lancaster , the Continental Congress again pack its bags . This time the delegates headed to York , Penn . , which offered another 20 miles of shock absorber from the British . Plus , York was snuggle on the westerly side of the Susquehanna River , which made it easier to fight down from possible British encroachment .
The Second Continental Congress had a longer stay in York . The delegate meet in York ’s courthouse from September 30 , 1777 , all the way through June 27 , 1778 , at which time the congress actuate back to Philadelphia .
Lancaster was n’t the only unexpected capital letter in the country ’s former 24-hour interval — Princeton , Annapolis , and Trenton all had stints of their own under the Articles of Confederation — but its time at the top was certainly the shortest . Today we tip our caps towards Pennsylvania in pureness of the day of remembrance of Lancaster ’s abbreviated moment in the sun .
This Emily Post originally appeared in 2011 .
