John Adams, Master Manipulator
How the First Continental Congress
really ended up in Carpenters’ Hall
Carpenter’s Hall, Philadelphia, where the First Continental Congress met in 1774. Photo by Jim Murphy, author of Real Philly History, Real Fast.
Let’s face it: Like most of us human beings, Massachusetts’ John Adams was a mixed bag.
He gets huge credit for both his courage and integrity in defending the British soldiers who fired on the Americans during the Boston Massacre. Plus, he was a strong, early proponent of the U.S. Navy.
He was also a very difficult personality.
Author Ron Chernow in his book “Alexander Hamilton” lists these adjectives about John Adams, says the “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”:
“Crotchety, opinionated, endearing, temperamental, frank, erudite, outspoken, generous, eccentric, restless, petty, choleric, philosophical, plucky, quirky, pugnacious, fanciful, stubborn and whimsical.”
Chernow did not mention manipulator. But Adams certainly showed that side of his personality when it came to choosing the location of the First Continental Congress here in Philly in September 1774.
The Back Story
Philadelphia was chosen as the site for this gathering for several reasons: It was centrally located, and the largest and most important city in North America. It also was the second-largest English-speaking city in the entire British Empire.
However, Carpenters’ Hall, where the meetings took place, was not even finished when the Congress was held.
Carpenters’ Hall was incomplete
A fire insurance survey from 1773 referred to the interior as “very plain.” The arch for the fanlight window would remain boarded over for 18 years, says Carl G. Karsch, a now-deceased Carpenters’ Hall historian. “Fireplaces had only plaster surrounding the openings.” And the budget was so tight that its president, Joseph Fox, loaned the company 300 pounds just to complete the building.
Despite these shortcomings, many delegates preferred Carpenters’ Hall to the nearby Pennsylvania State House (now named Independence Hall.)
Why? They felt Joseph Galloway, the President of the Pennsylvania Assembly and a loyalist, would more easily pressure them toward his views in what would be “his” building. He probably would have. (More on him below.)
If you believe John Adams, a Founding Father and American statesman, the Congress rejected the idea of meeting in the State House on Sept. 5, 1774 and chose Carpenters’ Hall.
Here’s what Adams wrote:
“The members met at the City (or Smith’s) Tavern at ten o’clock, and walked to the Carpenters’ Hall, where they took a view of the room, and of the chamber where is an excellent library; there is also a long entry where gentlemen may walk, and a convenient chamber opposite to the library.
“The general cry was, that this was a good room, and the question was put, whether we were satisfied with this room? and it passed in the affirmative. A very few were for the negative, and they were chiefly from Pennsylvania and New York.”
But a closer look at Adams’ earlier
journal entries tells a very different story
Adams reports he arrived from Massachusetts on August 29, 1774 and took a stroll around the city the next day, says Charles E. Peterson. In his journal, Adams notes that he had seen Carpenters’ Hall “where the Congress is to sit.”
So, it sure looks as if the location had been secretly selected ahead of time by unknown parties … and that Adams manipulated the Congress into doing what he and other members from Massachusetts wanted all along.
Interesting Oddity:
When the British occupied Philadelphia in September 1777, Pennsylvania Assembly President Joseph Galloway provided the British army with information and intelligence. On December 4, 1777, he was appointed Superintendent General of Philadelphia. In 1779, he fled the country, and died in exile in England.
Some Sources:
https://diglib.amphilsoc.org/islandora/object/text:148374#page/27/mode/1up
https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/buildings/section2
https://h2g2.com/approved_entry/A10083935
http://npshistory.com/brochures/inde/1962ch.pdf
https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/continental-congresses/
https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1326&context=hp_theses
http://www.archive.org/stream/reminiscencesofc00carp/reminiscencesofc00carp_djvu.tx
https://www.carpentershall.org/story
https://www.carpentershall.org/the-first-continental-congress
https://www.c-span.org/video/?424495-2/carpenters-hall
https://www.jlconline.com/business/the-carpenters-company_o
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/SpeakerBios/SpeakerBio.cfm?id=90
Peterson, Charles E. “Carpenters’ Hall.” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 43, no. 1 (1953): 96–128. https://doi.org/10.2307/1005666.
Portrait of John Adams by Charles Willson Peale. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Wikimedia). Credit: Independence National Historical Park.