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The French Arms Tavern (also known as the Thirteen Stars, Blazing Star Tavern, City Tavern and City Hotel) was a structure in Trenton, New Jersey, that served as the capitol of the United States and meeting place of the Congress of the Confederation from November 1, 1784, to December 24, 1784. [1] The building was located at the southwest corner of King (now Warren) and Second (now State) Streets from 1730 until 1837 when it was torn down.
Historian William Backes described the original building as "a stone house two stories high with gable roof. The building measured 45 feet front by 53 feet in depth, with a kitchen in the rear containing rooms for servants on the second floor. It was the handsomest and most commodious house in Trenton in its day." [2] From 1740 until 1742 it was the official residence of Royal Governor Lewis Morris. [2]
During the Second Battle of Trenton, it was involved in "one of the most brutal military murders" of the New Jersey campaign when Reverend John Rosburgh was bayonetted to death by Hessian troops. [3]
From April 1, 1780, until February 1781 it was known as the Thirteen Stars and run by Jacob Bergen. In 1781, John Cape, upon becoming the proprietor, changed the name to the French and Indian Arms, commonly referred to as the French Arms Tavern. In 1783, Jacob Bergen returned to operate the tavern again. It was extensively renovated in 1784, combining the rooms on the first floor into one room known as the Long Room. [4] Moore Furman, James Ewing, and Conrad Knotts signed a lease with Bergen for annual payment of 150 pounds for "the use and purpose of Congress of the United States to set in." [5]
It continued to be known as the French Arms Tavern until being leased to Francis Witt on January 4, 1785 and renamed the Blazing Star.
From December 11 to December 18, 1787, it served as the meeting location for the New Jersey ratification convention for the United States Constitution. [6]
On April 1, 1789, Henry Drake took over the tavern and renamed it the City Tavern. It was here on April 21, 1789, that George Washington, journeying to New York for his inauguration, dined after being received by the citizens of Trenton at the Assunpink Creek Bridge. [5] [7]
In 1836, the First Mechanics and Manufacturers Bank purchased the property, tore down the tavern and constructed a new two-story building on the site. [8] The building is currently occupied by a branch of Wells Fargo.
Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 until December 24, 1784. Trenton and Princeton are the two principal cities of the Trenton–Princeton metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses those cities and all of Mercer County for statistical purposes and constitutes part of the New York combined statistical area by the U.S. Census Bureau. However, Trenton directly borders the Philadelphia metropolitan area to its west, and the city was part of the Philadelphia combined statistical area from 1990 until 2000.
Lawrenceville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) within Lawrence Township in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The community is situated roughly halfway between Princeton and Trenton. Lawrenceville is part of the Trenton–Princeton metropolitan area within the New York combined statistical area; however, the CDP actually is located approximately 15 miles closer to Philadelphia than to New York City, and as with the remainder of Mercer County, lies within the Federal Communications Commission's Philadelphia Designated Market Area. As of the 2020 census, the CDP's population was 3,751, a decrease of 136 (−3.5%) from the 3,887 recorded at the 2010 census, which in turn had reflected a decrease of 194 (−4.8%) from the 4,081 counted in the 2000 census.
Thomas Edison State University (TESU) is a public university in Trenton, New Jersey. The university is one of New Jersey's 11 senior public institutions of higher education. Thomas Edison State University offers degrees at the undergraduate and graduate level.
Joseph Platt Cooke was an American military officer in the Revolutionary War, a Connecticut politician, and twice a delegate to the Congress of the Confederation. He was born in Stratford, Connecticut and graduated from Yale College in 1750. He died in Danbury, Connecticut.
John Beatty was an American physician, statesman and slaveowner from Princeton, New Jersey.
The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey is a federal court in the Third Circuit.
Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO) is the commonly used name for modern-day Conrail, an American railroad company. It operates three networks, the North Jersey, South Jersey/Philadelphia, and Detroit Shared Assets Areas, where it serves as a contract local carrier and switching company for its owners, CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway. When most of the former Conrail's track was split between these two railroads, the three shared assets areas were kept separate to avoid giving one railroad an advantage in those areas. The company operates using its own employees and infrastructure but owns no equipment outside MOW equipment.
The Residence Act of 1790, officially titled An Act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the Government of the United States, is a United States federal statute adopted during the second session of the 1st United States Congress and signed into law by President George Washington on July 16, 1790. The Act provides for a national capital and permanent seat of government to be established at a site along the Potomac River and empowered President Washington to appoint commissioners to oversee the project. It also set a deadline of December 1800 for the capital to be ready, and designated Philadelphia as the nation's temporary capital while the new seat of government was being built. At the time, the federal government operated out of New York City.
The Congress of the Confederation, or the Confederation Congress, formally referred to as the United States in Congress Assembled, was the governing body of the United States from March 1, 1781, until March 3, 1789, during the Confederation period. A unicameral body with legislative and executive function, it was composed of delegates appointed by the legislatures of the several states. Each state delegation had one vote. The Congress was created by the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union upon its ratification in 1781, formally replacing the Second Continental Congress.
New Jersey played a central role in the American Revolution both politically and militarily. It was the site of more than 90 military engagements, including the pivotal battles of Trenton, Princeton, and Monmouth. George Washington led his army across the state four times and encamped there during three hard winters, enduring some of the greatest's setbacks of the war as well as seminal victories. New Jersey's decisive role in the conflict earned it the title, "Crossroads of the American Revolution".
New Jersey's 12th congressional district is represented by Democrat Bonnie Watson Coleman, who has served in Congress since 2015. The district is known for its research centers and educational institutions such as Princeton University, Rider University, The College of New Jersey, Institute for Advanced Study, Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb. The district is primarily suburban in character, covering portions of Mercer, Somerset, Union, and Middlesex counties, although the district contains the state capital of Trenton as well as the smaller city of Plainfield.
Franklin Park is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Franklin Township, in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the CDP's population was 13,295. Route 27 bisects the village and serves as the dividing line between the two counties. The adjacent sections of South Brunswick and North Brunswick, Middlesex County on the east side of Route 27 are also known as Franklin Park, but are not included within the CDP's boundaries.
Friends Burying Ground is a cemetery in Trenton in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The cemetery is located on the west side of North Montgomery Street north of East Hanover Street, adjacent to the Trenton Friends Meeting House.
The Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary Route is a 680-mile (1,090 km) series of roads used in 1781 by the Continental Army under the command of George Washington and the Expédition Particulière under the command of Jean-Baptiste de Rochambeau during their 14-week march from Newport, Rhode Island, to Yorktown, Virginia.
The Trenton Battle Monument is a massive column-type structure in the Battle Monument section of Trenton, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It commemorates the December 26, 1776, Battle of Trenton, a pivotal victory for the Continental forces and commander George Washington during the American Revolutionary War.
Samuel Tucker (1721–1789) was an American colonial politician who served as a Freeholder in Hunterdon County, New Jersey during the colonial period, and later as President and Treasurer of the Provincial Congress of New Jersey during the American Revolutionary War. During this period, the colony converted to an independent state in 1776 after the ouster of Royal Governor William Franklin and the election of the independent state's first governor, William Livingston.
George Washington's reception at Trenton was a celebration hosted by the Ladies of Trenton social club on April 21, 1789, in Trenton, New Jersey, as George Washington, then president-elect, journeyed from his home at Mount Vernon to his first inauguration in the then capital of the United States, New York City. A ceremonial triumphal arch was erected on the bridge over the Assunpink Creek to commemorate his two victories here, the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776 and the Battle of the Assunpink Creek on January 2, 1777.
Reception to Washington on April 21, 1789, at Trenton on his way to New York to Assume the Duties of the Presidency of the United States is a large-scale oil painting completed in 1930 by American artist N. C. Wyeth of president-elect George Washington at his reception in Trenton, New Jersey during his journey to the 1789 inauguration in New York City. The mural was commissioned by the First Mechanics National Bank of Trenton, now part of Wells Fargo. It has been on display in the lobby of Thomas Edison State University since 2013. Wells Fargo donated the painting to the university in 2019, the most expensive gift ever given to the university.
Abraham Hunt (1741–1821) was a wealthy American merchant and farmer in Trenton, New Jersey, first Postmaster of Trenton, and served in the American Revolutionary War as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Hunterton County militia. He was a prominent member of the First Presbyterian Church in Trenton. Early in the revolution he was a member of the Provincial Congress that held some of its sessions in Trenton. He played the host and placated the German Hessian commander Johann Rall before the Battle of Trenton. Suspected of duplicity for his accommodation to the Hessians, Hunt was charged with treason, but was acquitted and went on to serve in the cause for American independence. After the war, Hunt became involved in the politics and business interests of Trenton and New Jersey overall.