My recent York Sunday News column outlined York’s enthusiastic proposal to become the permanent capital of the United States.
Motions, debates, and votes for one location or another flew in 1789 during the first Congress under the United States Constitution. (The new Congress, which convened March 4, 1789, replaced the Continental Congress, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation.)
Thomas Hartley was one of the four Congressmen from Pennsylvania seated that first day, and he took a vigorous role in the discussions that followed on choosing the capital site.
Even though Hartley lived in York, he first made a push for Wright’s Ferry (Columbia).
Why?
