Chapter X Presidents of the Continental Congress, and the Various Seats of Government From 1774 to 1789
| Peyton Randolph, Virginia | 5th Sept., | 1774 |
| Henry Middleton, South Carolina | 22d Oct., | 1774 |
| Peyton Randolph, Virginia | 10th May, | 1775 |
| John Hancock, Massachusetts | 24th May, | 1775 |
| Henry Laurens, South Carolina | 1st Nov., | 1777 |
| John Jay, New York | 10th Dec., | 1778 |
| Samuel Huntingdon, Connecticut | 28th Sept., | 1779 |
| Thomas McKean, Delaware | 10th July, | 1781 |
| John Hanson, Maryland | 5th Nov., | 1781 |
| Elias Boudinot, New Jersey | 4th ″ | 1782 |
| Thomas Mifflin, Pennsylvania | 3d ″ | 1783 |
| Richard Henry Lee, Virginia | 30th ″ | 1784 |
| Nathaniel Gorham, Massachusetts | 6th Jan., | 1786 |
| Arthur St. Clair, Pennsylvania | 2d Feb., | 1787 |
| Cyrus Griffin, Virginia | 22d Jan., | 1788 |
The seat of government was established as follows: At Philadelphia, Pa., commencing September 5th, 1774, and May 10th, 1775; at Baltimore, Md., December 20th, 1776; at Philadelphia, Pa., March 4th, 1777; at Lancaster, Pa., September 27th, 1777; at York, Pa., September 30th, 1777; at Philadelphia, Pa., July 2d, 1778; at Princeton, N. J., June 30th, 1783; at Annapolis, Md., November 26th, 1783; at Trenton, N. J., November 1st, 1784; and at New York City, N. Y., January 11th, 1785.
On the 4th of March, 1789, the present Constitution, which had been adopted by a convention and ratified by the requisite number of States, went into operation.