George Washington Papers

[Diary entry: 16 September 1774]

16. Dined at the State House at an Entertainment given by the City to the Members of the Congress.

The State House, later called Independence Hall, was to become the meeting place for the Second Continental Congress in 1775. “On Friday last the Honourable Delegates, now met in General Congress, were elegantly entertained by the gentlemen of this city. Having met at the City Tavern about 3 o’clock, they were conducted from thence to the State House by the Managers of the entertainment, where they were received by a very large company composed of the Clergy, such genteel strangers as happened to be in town, and a number of respectable citizens, making in the whole near 500. After dinner . . . toasts were drunk, accompanied by musick and a discharge of cannon” (Pa. Packet, 19 Sept. 1774).

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