The British occupation of Philadelphia forced the Continental Congress to move its work elsewhere in Pennsylvania. After a brief stop in Lancaster, Congress began meeting in York on September 30, 1777. The county courthouse in Centre Square became its principal meeting place. Congress remained in York until June 1778, directing national affairs while the Continental Army fought to preserve independence and then endured its winter encampment at Valley Forge.

On November 15, 1777, Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation. The document provided a written framework for the union of the thirteen states, defining the powers of Congress and the relationship between the states and the confederation. Adoption in York did not put the Articles immediately into effect. All thirteen states had to ratify them, and disagreements over western lands delayed completion of that process until 1781.

The Articles reflected the states’ determination to preserve considerable authority for themselves. Congress could conduct diplomacy and manage common military affairs, but it lacked a direct power to tax and depended on the states for resources. Each state had one vote in Congress. The framework helped formalize cooperation during the Revolution, while its limitations later contributed to demands for a stronger national government and the drafting of the Constitution in 1787.

York’s courthouse was therefore both a local civic building and a temporary national political center. Its wartime role belongs to the wider history of a government that had to move as military conditions changed. The later demolition removed the original structure from Centre Square. Bicentennial reconstruction in 1976 created a place to interpret the congressional episode, while the original location and surviving documentary record anchor the story in the town where Congress actually worked.