Background
Philadelphia served as the capital of the United States both during and immediately after the American Revolutionary War. Independence Hall, located next door, served as the meeting place of the Continental Congress until the Pennsylvania Mutiny in June 1783. The failure of the Pennsylvania government to protect Congress from a mob of angry mutineers caused the representatives to withdraw to Princeton, New Jersey. The national capital then moved to Annapolis, Maryland in November 1783, then to Trenton, New Jersey in November 1784 before finally moving to New York City in January 1785. State delegates did not return to Independence Hall in Philadelphia until the United States Constitutional Convention in 1787; however, New York City remained the official capital even during the convention. Designed by architect Samuel Lewis, Congress Hall was originally built to serve as the Philadelphia County Courthouse; construction began in 1787 and was completed two years later.
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Famous quotes containing the word background:
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
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“In the true sense one’s native land, with its background of tradition, early impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not enough to make sensitive human beings feel at home.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)