[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 154 (Friday, September 26, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2012-E2013]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    HONORING THE 225TH ANNIVERSARY OF CONGRESS MEETING IN PRINCETON

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 25, 2008

  Mr. HOLT. Madam Speaker, I rise today to thank my colleagues for 
supporting my resolution, H. Con. Res. 351, commemorating the 225th 
Anniversary of the Continental Congress meeting at Nassau Hall in 
Princeton, New Jersey.
  On June 19, 1783, 80 soldiers defected from the Third Pennsylvania 
Regiment stationed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in order to ``obtain 
justice'' from the Continental Congress. Outraged by the lack of 
compensation for their service during the Revolutionary War, these 
soldiers marched to the Nation's capital recruiting new troops to join 
them in their cause. By the time they reached Philadelphia two days 
later, the number of disaffected troops had swollen to 300. The 
Continental Congress held an emergency meeting at the Philadelphia 
Statehouse to decide how to counter this uprising only to emerge to an 
angry and armed mob ready to take by force the back-pay owed to them by 
their government.
  With the Nation's finances in disarray, the Continental Congress took 
refuge from the riot, and Continental Congress President Elias Boudinot 
ordered the body to reassemble in Princeton, New Jersey, on June 26 
``in order that further and more effective methods may be taken for 
suppressing the current revolt, and maintaining the Dignity and 
Authority of the United States.''
  Congress descended upon the small town of Princeton, a village with 
little more than 60 homes, 300 residents, and three taverns which 
doubled as churches. In regard to the commotion brought to town by 
Congress, 19-year-old Princeton University student Ashbel Green, who 
would go on to serve as the President of the University, remarked ``The 
pace of things is inconceivably altered in Princeton within a 
fortnight. From a little obscure village, we have become the capital of 
America.''

[[Page E2013]]

  The College offered Congress the use of Nassau Hall, where it met in 
the second floor library to conduct the essential business of our 
fledgling Nation. It was in these rooms that the foreign policy of our 
country began to be formed. However, Congress's time in Princeton was 
not all hard work. At Princeton's Fourth of July Celebration, members 
of the Continental Congress joined students of the University and 
townsfolk in celebration. According to Samuel Beach, a student at the 
college, at the end of the evening ``some were drunken and all were 
tired.'' Congress did not reconvene for five days.
  In August, the Continental Congress summoned General George 
Washington to Princeton to receive the formal thanks of the Nation for 
his dedicated service as commander-in-chief. Leaving Major General John 
Knox in charge of the encamped army at Newburgh, New York, General 
Washington traveled to the Rockingham estate in Rocky Hill, New Jersey 
with his wife Martha and a guard of dragoons. General Washington stayed 
at the Rockingham estate for the next three months, advising the 
Continental Congress on the creation of a peacetime military and 
pondering his military career. It is at Rockingham that General 
Washington completed writing his Farewell Orders to the Armies of the 
United States dismissing the troops and announcing his retirement.
  During the time that Congress met there Nassau Hall and the town of 
Princeton played host to three future Presidents of the United States, 
seven signers of the Declaration of Independence, nine signatories of 
the Articles of Confederation, and 11 signers of the Constitution. It 
is where the seat of government was located when John Adams, John Jay, 
and Benjamin Franklin signed the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783, 
marking the end of the American Revolution and establishing the 
boundaries of the new Nation. Although Congress's tenure at Princeton 
was brief, this community played a pivotal role in the formation of the 
United States of America.
  I would like to take a moment to recognize the unique role that New 
Jersey played in the American Revolution. In 2006, my colleagues in the 
New Jersey Delegation took action to help protect the battlefields and 
historic sites where this conflict took place. We passed legislation 
that created the Crossroads of the American Revolution National 
Heritage Area linking together 14 counties in New Jersey where the War 
of Independence took place. New Jersey was truly the Crossroads of the 
American Revolution for a number of reasons, as thousands of troops 
marched through the State and fought on our soil. The State's strategic 
location between the British stronghold of New York and the rebel 
capital in Philadelphia meant that New Jersey and New Jersey citizens 
were at the crossroads of the founding of our new Nation. In fact, New 
Jersey had more military engagements during the Revolutionary War than 
any other State. Crossroads has proved to be an exceptional way to 
preserve New Jersey's unique history for future generations.
  I am pleased that the House of Representatives has passed H. Con. 
Res. 351 today commemorating the 225th Anniversary of the Continental 
Congress meeting in Nassau Hall in Princeton, New Jersey.

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