Philadelphia hosted the Continental Congress when the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776, the event commemorated by America250.
The Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, then the largest city in the American colonies and a major center of trade and printing. Congress conducted its most famous independence debates there and adopted the Declaration on July 4, 1776.
The meeting took place in the Pennsylvania State House, the building now known as Independence Hall. Philadelphia’s role makes it one of the principal historical locations associated with the Semiquincentennial, alongside sites connected with the Revolution throughout the thirteen colonies.
Philadelphia was not permanently the national capital at that time. Congress moved between several locations during the Revolutionary War. The federal capital later moved from New York City to Philadelphia before Washington, D.C., became the permanent capital in 1800.