The American Revolutionary War, officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in September of 1783 but most of the fighting ended with the Siege of Yorktown in October of 1781. Because of the treaty negotiations, the Continental Army did not fully disband until 1783. Army service does not pay well and in 1781 they often went unpaid.

The thirteen American states were collectively organized under the Articles of Confederation, a precursor to the Constitution. Under the Articles, Congress was not allowed to tax the citizens or the member states; while it could ask the states for money, the states were free to refuse (and often did). When Congress passed laws, it could not enforce those laws without unanimous support from all 13 states.  It quickly became clear that the Articles did not provide the government with the tools needed to govern. Add to this that the United States Congress, not its member states, was on the hook for many of the outstanding war debts, including payments to the soldiers who were still serving their country.

On the morning of January 20, 1783, about 400 soldiers, armed, arrived at the Pennsylvania State House (now called Independence Hall).  The soldiers took over the building and refused to let the members of Congress leave until they were paid. Eventually, Alexander Hamilton, then a delegate from New York to Congress, convinced the soldiers to give Congress more time to find a resolution, and they agreed. 

Hamilton didn’t use the additional time to address the issue. Instead, he and a committee of other delegates demanded that John Dickinson, the President of Pennsylvania at the time, mobilize the Pennsylvania militia to quash the insurrection. Dickinson declined, not want to provoke the soldiers.  Two days later, Congress again appealed to Dickinson for help, and again, Dickinson refused to order Pennsylvania’s militia to intervene. They sent a letter to George Washington, who was still commanding the Continental Army, asking for help and fled to Princeton, New Jersey.

Ultimately, Washington sent 1,500 troops to Philly to put down the rebellion and arrest the ringleaders. But the damage was done — the federal government realized that they could not rely on state governments to protect them during times of civil unrest. When delegates convened in 1787 to write a new constitution, the events of the winter of 1783 — by then called the “Philadelphia Mutiny” — were still fresh in their minds. The new Constitution did not stipulate the location of the capital, but it did state clearly that it would be located in its own Federal District — congress shall have the sole and exclusive government of what is called the federal city, a place not exceeding ten miles square, and of all places ceded for forts, dock-yards. This ensured that the Federal Government would never again have to depend on the state that the capital was located within to protect the Federal Government. This new district would ultimately become Washington DC.

Recently there has been a push to grant Statehood to Washington, DC and Puerto Rico. While the case for Puerto Rican statehood is clear. The case for Washington DC is not and granting them statehood will create a constitutional crisis.

Published by Michael Carver

My goal is to bring history alive through interactive portrayal of ordinary American life in the late 18th Century (1750—1799) My persona are: Journeyman Brewer; Cordwainer (leather tradesman but not cobbler), Statesman and Orator; Chandler (candle and soap maker); Gentleman Scientist; and, Soldier in either the British Regular Army, the Centennial Army, or one of the various Militia. Let me help you experience history 1st hand!