2008 is the 225th anniversary of the 6-month period in 1783 during which the Continental Congress was meeting at Nassau Hall in Princeton, thus briefly making Princeton the nation's capital. On May 27th the Drumthwacket Foundation was delighted to host the kick-off event for an area-wide series of exhibits, lectures and events that is scheduled from June through November 2008 to celebrate the significance of 1783.

Although the major military operations of the American Revolution had concluded in 1781 with the surrender at Yorktown, the fate of the new nation was in jeopardy in 1783 when a revolt occurred among the Pennsylvania military forces. The Congress, then in session in Philadelphia, felt insulted and threatened when armed troops demanded back pay. Elias Boudinot, president of Congress, composed an urgent letter on June 23rd, 1783 to New Jersey’s Governor William Livingston requesting safe haven for the delegates. Livingston replied immediately in the affirmative. As a result, Congress convened in Nassau Hall at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) on June 30th and set to work determining how to pay and disband the troops, choosing the site of the permanent national capital, and planning for the signing of the Treaty of Paris (signed in September but the news did not arrive in Princeton till October 31st).

Chris Johnson as Governor Livingston and Joe Doyle as Congress President Elias Boudinot re-enact the urgent plan to move the Continental Congress from Philadelphia to Princeton. Both are from the American Historical Theatre.

On May 27th here at Drumthwacket, Governor Corzine and re-enactors portraying Governor William Livingston and 1783 Congress President Elias Boudinot had a fun and lively exchange about taxation and mutiny in 1783 vs. 2008, and our guests also enjoyed admiring a distinguished portrait of Governor Livingston (served 1776-1790) now on loan from Liberty Hall Museum in Union, New Jersey. It’s a 1968 copy by Adrian Lamb of the original circa 1750 portrait by John Wollaston.

Portrait of William Livingston (1723-1790) who served as New Jersey's first elected Governor from 1776 to 1790. On display at Drumthwacket from May through November 2008.

Please refer to the website for the complete series of events and exhibits, www.revolutionaryprinceton.org, and plan to visit Drumthwacket and all of Princeton in 2008!

For more photos of the May 27th event at Drumthwacket, click here

Governor Corzine chats with General George Washington, a.k.a. Bill Agress, Trustee of the Lawrence Historical Society.

New Jersey Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells serves as the Honorary Chairperson of the 1783 committee.