that was once the capitol of the United States. None of the other
49 governors can make this claim and none of them has the special
honor of performing his duties in a building where George Washington
resigned his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary
Army and where the American Revolution came to an official close.
Maryland may be a little State, but some big events have occurred
here, not least of which were the two which I have just mentioned.
It was on December 23, 1783, that General Washington laid down
his sword to become plain George Washington, Esquire; and some
weeks later, on January 14, 1784, the United States in Congress as-
sembled signed the Treaty of Paris, right here in the Old Senate
Chamber.
All of you present today are, I am sure, familiar with the thrilling
story of those happenings. But I cannot resist restating that this very
building in which we are assembled was the first peacetime capitol
of the United States, thus making Annapolis our nation's first peace-
time capital city.
Prior to January 14, 1784, the United States existed as an indepen-
dent nation only by virtue of the Declaration of Independence. By
1784 Cornwallis had, of course, surrendered and England had accepted
defeat by signing the Treaty of Paris. But the treaty was not legally
in force because it lacked final approval by the American Congress.
One can only speculate on what might have happened had that Con-
gress been unable to assemble a quorum to sign the treaty. However,
we do know that Thomas Jefferson was deeply worried that it would
not be ratified because several delegates were absent. It took all of
his energy to keep the Congress in session and finally gather enough
delegates together to approve it. And so it was that on January 14,
1784, here in this venerable building, that the curtain was rung down
on the final act in that great drama—the American Revolution.
With the signing of the Treaty of Paris, the first peacetime govern-
ment of the United States took up the problems facing it. And they
were indeed multitudinous. There were matters of trade, commerce,
foreign relation, administrations of public lands, military establish-
ments, and, not least of all, finance—all of which had to be handled.
The Congress that met here in Annapolis, however, was a Congress
without real power, although the delegates did not lack the power of
speech and, as the records show, there was plenty of talk. Jefferson
was the guiding hand of that Congress and due to his genius some things
were accomplished. He drew up a treaty of amity and commerce to
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