where did the us locate the first national government
History of Washington, D.C. The United States capital was originally located in Philadelphia, beginning with the First and Second Continental Congress, followed by the Congress of the Confederation upon gaining independence. In June 1783, a mob of angry soldiers converged upon Independence Hall to demand payment for their service during the American Revolutionary War. Congress requested that John Dickinson, the governor of Pennsylvania, call up the militia to defend Congress from attacks by the protesters. In what became known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, Dickinson sympathized with the protesters and refused to remove them from Philadelphia. As a result, Congress was forced to flee to Princeton, New Jersey, on June 21, 1783.[13] Dickinson's failure to protect the institutions of the national government was discussed at the Philadelphia Convention in 1787[citation needed]. The delegates therefore agreed in Article One, Section 8, of the United States Constitution to give the Congress the power: