York
Manchester Township, York County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Laid out in 1741, by order of the Proprietors; the first Pennsylvania town west of the Susquehanna River. Seat of the Continental Congress, 1777-78; birthplace of the Articles of Confederation.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Laid out in 1741 on William Penn's proprietary land, this was the first Pennsylvania town planted west of the Susquehanna River, an outpost of colonial settlement pushing toward the frontier. Its greatest hour came in the fall of 1777, when the Continental Congress fled British-occupied Philadelphia and made this county seat the temporary capital of a young nation at war. In the months that followed, the delegates here debated and adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first framework binding the thirteen states into a union.
Why it matters
For nine anxious months this river town served as the capital of the United States and the cradle of its first national charter — a reminder that American government was forged on the run, in modest county seats far from any grand hall.
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Related events
- · Continental Congress at York
- · Articles of Confederation
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Philip Livingston
North York, PA · est. 1949
Philip Livingston, a wealthy New York merchant, put his name to the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and continued to serve in the Continental Congress until his death in June 1778, while Congress was meeting in York. He was buried here, hundreds of miles from home, a casualty of the demands of wartime public service. His grave lies about 300 feet west of this spot.
York Liberty Bell
North York, PA · est. 1949
This old bell once hung in York's Provincial Courthouse, where the Continental Congress met during the Revolution. Tradition holds that it rang out to announce the signing of the Declaration of Independence and to summon the delegates to their sessions when the seat of government stood in York. It now rests in the vestibule of this church.
James Smith
York, PA · est. 1949
James Smith, who lies buried in this churchyard, was one of Pennsylvania's signers of the Declaration of Independence. A York lawyer of Irish birth, he raised a company of Associators—citizen-soldiers—early in the Revolution and served in the Continental Congress. He was also an ironmaster, part of the frontier industry that helped arm the American cause.
McClean House
York, PA · est. 1949
For roughly nine months in 1777–1778, York stood in for Philadelphia as the capital of the United States after the British seized the larger city. Archibald McClean, who surveyed lands for the Penn family and served as a county officer, was a committed patriot whose home is remembered as a place where the fledgling nation's treasury was kept during that anxious interlude.