presidents of the continental congress, and the various seats of government from 1774 to 1789.
peyton randolph, virginia 5th sept., 1774
henry middleton, south carolina 22d oct., 1774
peyton randolph, virginia 10th may, 1775
john hancock, massachusetts 24th may, 1775
henry laurens, south carolina 1st nov., 1777
john jay, new york 10th dec., 1778
samuel huntingdon, connecticut 28th sept., 1779
thomas mckean, delaware 10th july, 1781
john hanson, maryland 5th nov., 1781
elias boudinot, new jersey 4th ” 1782
thomas mifflin, pennsylvania 3d ” 1783
richard henry lee, virginia 30th ” 1784
nathaniel gorham, massachusetts 6th jan., 1786
arthur st. clair, pennsylvania 2d feb., 1787
cyrus griffin, virginia 22d jan., 1788
the seat of government was established as follows: at philadelphia, pa., commencing september 5th, 1774, and may 10th, 1775; at baltimore, md., december 20th, 1776; at philadelphia, pa., march 4th, 1777; at lancaster, pa., september 27th, 1777; at york, pa., september 30th, 1777; at philadelphia, pa., july 2d, 1778; at princeton, n. j., june 30th, 1783; at annapolis, md., november 26th, 1783; at trenton, n. j., november 1st, 1784; and at new york city, n. y., january 11th, 1785.
on the 4th of march, 1789, the present constitution, which had been adopted by a convention and ratified by the requisite number of states, went into operation.
