The First Congress faced a unique challenge, and those congressmen and senators who gathered in New York in the spring of 1789 were awed by what lay ahead of them. Not only would members of the Congress have to pass some promised amendments to the new Constitution, but they would have to fill out the bare framework of a government that the Philadelphia Convention had created, including the organization of the executive and judicial departments. Some therefore saw the First Congress as something in the nature of a second constitutional convention.
| Place | City | |
|---|---|---|
| Charles Carroll House | Annapolis | Charles Carroll of Carrollton was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The house was begun in 1725 by his father and expanded several times through 1790. |
| Crypt of John Paul Jones | Annapolis | Completed in 1913, the remains of John Paul Jones are interred in a marble sarcophagus in a crypt located in the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel. |
| Hammond-Harwood House | Annapolis | Brick house in the Georgian style begun in 1774; now a museum with period furnishings and fine arts. |
| Maryland State House | Annapolis | Built 1772—79, it served as the U.S Capitol 1783—84, and is the site where George Washington resigned his commission. |
| St. John’s College | Annapolis | Established in 1696 as King William’s School, it is the third oldest college in the U.S.; includes a monument to French troops who died in the war. |
| William Paca House and Garden | Annapolis | Built 1763—65 by William Paca, lawyer, patriot, and delegate to Continental Congress. The 37 room house has been restored to it's eighteenth century appearance. |
| Fort Frederick State Park | Big Pool | Completed in 1756 to protect the colonists during the French and Indian War. The Fort's stone wall and two barracks have been restored to their 1758 appearance. |
| Thomas Stone National Historic Site | Port Tobacco | Five-part mansion completed in 1773 called Haberdeventure. Thomas Stone was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. |
| Smallwood State Park | Rison | Named for General William Smallwood, fourth governor of Maryland. The 628-acre park includes Smallwood's retreat house, fully restored. |
Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815 (2009)