Storming the Capitol: Jan. 6 and the Forgotten Philadelphia Mutiny of 1783

When the District of Columbia government and the D.C. National Guard came to the rescue of Congress as a mob of Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol building Jan. 6, history came full circle. The same city that stepped in to bring order to a divided federal government was created as a federal refuge from local interference following a largely forgotten incident known as the Philadelphia Mutiny of 1783.

The angry mob that gathered around the Pennsylvania State House, now Independence Hall, in 1783 stopped short of breaking windows and infiltrating the building, but only because negotiators held them back long enough for the Continental Congress to flee the city.

After his improbable victory in the Revolution, George Washington insisted that his armed forces remain intact and ready until a peace treaty with Great Britain was finalized and signed. Gen. Washington feared that if he let his guard down before securing a treaty, the British would see a chance to resume hostilities. The negotiations dragged on in Paris for two years.

Thousands of soldiers, already owed back pay and unable to make a living at home, sat unpaid as they waited for word from Paris. Cash was tight at war’s end, but sorting out who owed what to whom, and whether the states owed certain…