While Washington, D.C., is the U.S. capitol we’re most familiar with today, it’s far from the country’s first. In fact, it came at the end of a long road. When the Second Continental Congress declared the independence of the United States of America in 1776, its home base at the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall) made Philadelphia the first capital of the new nation. Early losses by the Continental Army and the huge naval superiority of the British made life dangerous in the major coastal cities forcing the Continental Congress had to move frequently during the Revolutionary War.  The Congress retired to Baltimore for two months when Washington was retreating across New Jersey but, returned to Philadelphia following victories at Trenton and Princeton.  When Howe began his push toward Philadelphia in September 1777 day the Congress retreated first to Lancaster, Pennsylvania then further west to York for nine months, before going back to Philadelphia again.

While the American Revolution was effectively over by summer 1783, a domestic threat from Continental Army soldiers seeking overdue wages again sent congressional delegates scurrying, this time to the campus of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). From there, it was on to Annapolis, Maryland, and then to the future New Jersey capital of Trenton through late 1784. 

With the acceptance of the new U.S. Constitution in 1787, the capitol moved to New York City but this was untenable for the southern most states.  A compromise was reached with the passage of the Residence Act in 1790, and the seat of government again temporarily returned to Philadelphia while a new federal city was built on land excised from Maryland and Virginia around the Potomac River creating the federal District of Columbia which is not a state. Congress met for the first time in the brand-new U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., in November 1800 and has not been forced to move again since.

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