U.S. Capitol For A Day

Lancaster, Pennsylvania, September 27, 1777:

By September 1777 the British were again approaching Philadelphia and threatening the safety, of the Congress. On September 14 the Congress resolved that if it "shall be obliged to remove from Philadelphia, Lancaster shall be the place at which they shall meet." ²⁰ 20. Journals, VIII, 742. Further pressure by the British finally forced the Congress to leave Philadelphia on September 18. ²¹ 21. Ibid., p. 754. Tо avoid the enemy, the delegates took a round-about way to Lancaster, generally arriving there September 26. ²² 22. Fortenbaugh, op. cit., p. 33. Court House, Lancaster
Congress held only one session in Lancaster, on September 27, 1777, in the Court House. ²³ 23. Most authorities assert that the meeting place was at the Court House; however, the documentary evidence is not conclusive on this point. The record of this session indicates that all of the business conducted on that day in Lancaster related to military matters. ²⁴ 24. Journals, VIII, 755. At the end of the day, Congress resolved to adjourn to York, across the Susquehanna River, "there to meet on Tuesday next, at 10 o'clock." ²⁵ 25. Ibid.