Annapolis was the site of the 1786 Annapolis Convention, a meeting that helped lead to the U.S. Constitutional Convention.
Annapolis is Maryland’s capital and stands on the Severn River near Chesapeake Bay. The city was founded in the seventeenth century and was originally called Providence. It was renamed Annapolis in honor of Princess Anne, who later became Queen Anne of Great Britain.
The Annapolis Convention met from September 11 to 14, 1786. Delegates from only five states attended, so they did not attempt a broad constitutional overhaul. Instead, they issued a report calling for a larger meeting to address problems involving interstate commerce and the Articles of Confederation. That later meeting became the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787.
Annapolis is sometimes mistaken for Baltimore because Baltimore is Maryland’s largest city. Baltimore, however, has never been the state capital; Annapolis has served that role since 1695, apart from a brief period when the colonial government met elsewhere.