Princeton 1783: The Nation’s Capital

Congressional Delegates in Princeton – Congress was constrained in its authority by the Articles of Confederation, which did not specify executive or taxing power and required a complicated voting system. Delegates came from 12 states. (Georgia did not attend.) Attendance was erratic, and a quorum – a minimum of seven or nine states each with two delegates present depending upon the issue – was difficult to achieve. Furthermore, Congress was factious (rural New England and southern states frequently opposed the more commercial central states), which made for close decisions.

Washington at Rockingham – On July 26, 1783, Congress summoned General George Washington to Princeton to discuss the future of the army, which it had recently authorized him to discharge. He arrived on August 23, taking up residence at Rockingham, a private home five miles from town, with his wife Martha. During his stay, Washington and Annis Boudinot Stockton of Morven exchanged visits and correspondence. While at Rockingham, Washington penned his famous “Farewell Orders to the Armies of the United States,” a seminal document that led to the peaceful disbandment of the military. Among his many visitors was Thomas Paine, author of “Common Sense.” At Rockingham, Washington also sat for two portraits by Joseph Wright and William Dunlap and paid for a third by Charles Willson Peale.

Meanwhile in Paris – While in Princeton, Congress waited as the negotiations to end the American Revolution dragged on for months in Paris. Benjamin Franklin, John Jay and John Adams had been appointed by Congress to negotiate the treaty ending the war. The American peace commission was fraught with problems. Correspondence between Congress and its diplomats was frequently intercepted or lost at sea. Three of the delegates’ secretaries were English spies. American currency plummeted to 1/40th its original value, further undermining international confidence. And the riot in Philadelphia that drove Congress to Princeton made the governing body the brunt of jokes in Europe. Finally, on September 3, 1783, the representatives of Britain and America met at the British ambassador’s lodging at the Hôtel de York and signed the Treaty of Paris.

The Congressional Record – October 1783, the end of the annual legislative session, turned into the most productive month of Congress’s stay. After much debate about where it should meet next, Congress voted to select two sites for the federal capital – the falls of the Delaware River (Trenton) and falls of the Potomac River. (Congress never returned to Philadelphia and did not settle on a final site for the capital until 1790.) Congress made significant progress on the cession of western lands by Virginia, which resulted in the 1787 legislation forming the Northwest Territory. News of the signing of the final Treaty of Paris reached Congress in Princeton through Colonel Matthias Ogden who arrived on October 31, 1783. The same day, Congress granted an audience to Ambassador Peter John Van Berckel from the Netherlands, the first official visit to the new country by a foreign minister. Although Congress had survived its exodus from Philadelphia with its governing authority intact, albeit limited, the Princeton experience made manifest the need to revise or abandon the Articles of Confederation. With the American Revolution finally over, Congress could turn its attention to domestic matters and the need for a constitution.