Big York County birthdays on horizon: ‘Doing something with the Articles of Confederation’

(This is another in a series of occasional columns about York County’s role in the American Revolution, with two upcoming American foundational 250th anniversaries in 2026-27 in view.)

When a group of York County leaders gathered to plan for the 225th anniversary of the adoption of the Articles of Confederation in 2002, they set priorities.

Goal No. 1? Increasing community literacy about York County in the American Revolution.

There would be an educational emphasis about the county’s nine-month moment in the national spotlight, the period in 1777-78 in which York hosted Continental Congress.

That visit from America’s founders came at a crucial point in our nation’s history, a moment that coincided with George Washington’s Army encampment in Valley Forge. Statesmen John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock and 61 other delegates convened here and did the work, laboring through the remaining sticky issues in adopting the Articles, the new nation’s first constitution.

The 225th anniversary planners, led by Tom Norris of P.H. Glatfelter, believed “Nine Months in York Town” captured the celebration’s educational theme.

These organizers were intentional in not using the “First Capital of the United States” slogan, a Colonial York Tourist Bureau marketing campaign with no basis in history that was promoted in York starting in the early 1960s.

The 2002 group’s emphasis of teaching good history was taken so seriously that the planners contracted with local polling firm Polk-Lepson to measure the 225th anniversary’s effectiveness in elevating the community’s knowledge about the county’s role in the Revolution.

Would all the anniversary’s work — the books, a video documentary, curriculum, historian David McCullough’s visit — move the literacy needle?

We’ll see the results in a minute.

3 ‘EPIC’ birthdays on tap

A conversation about seizing anniversaries as moments to educate the community about York County’s rich and diverse past is relevant today.

We’re within just a few years from several marquee celebrations starting with the 275th birthday of York County in 2024. The 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence comes in 2026 and the 250th of the adoption of the Articles in York in 2027.

A committee is forming in the county to coordinate the three anniversaries and to tie in with state and national 250th initiatives. York County Register of Wills Bryan Tate is leading the group, the initiative soon to be approved by the county commissioners.

In an interview, Tate pointed to an “EPIC” framework that has been put forth nationally and in Pennsylvania that could be adapted to the county level. The emphases of EPIC? Education, Preservation, Innovation and Celebration.

That framework, indeed, could set the right priorities for the three bundled celebrations.

Love affair with anniversaries

In its long history, York County has shown prowess for celebrating big moments.

The Articles 225 in 2002 came amid a small flurry of large turn-of-the millennium commemorations: the Louis J. Appell Jr.- and Dan Meckley-led York County 250 in 1999 and the Michael Newsome-chaired 25th annual Conference on Black History in Pennsylvania in 2002.

These three events in 1999 and 2002 were informed by then-recent historical scholarship. Organizers put education about the county’s past at the forefront.

Yet they did not choke the life and fun out of the events, continuing the tradition of parades and parties and adding documentary films to the education mix. As part of the celebration in 1999, the distinguished Louis Appell swayed on Continental Square’s stage as the large crowd sang the celebration’s theme song, “Never to be Forgotten.”

We have not been invigorated by communitywide celebrations of major events since. In 2016, the 275th anniversary of the founding of York, for example, barely raised attention.

But opportunity is ahead to use three anniversaries for York County to educate and celebrate. They provide a moment to take a fresh look at our communities: what has worked over the centuries and what still needs work. And to cast a vision for the future.

Clearly, we have the bricks-and-mortar historical and cultural projects on tap that will add to the celebration, almost 30 such projects by my count.

They include a new York County History Center Museum, a Black history and culture center on Crispus Attucks’ campus and a Susquehanna welcome center with an Underground Railroad component in Hellam Township.

A public sculpture exploring the story of the adoption of the Articles in York will be unveiled. Its working title is “Hard Bargains.”

Themes to try on

Our communities are changing, as the county has done for almost 275 years. How do we tell this story of living and dying and undaunted heroism and unaddressed challenges?

The county’s demographics are far different today than even in 2010, with the Black population up by 15% and Latinos by 61%. How do we include those stories?

And how do we avoid infusing marketing into our history, as we did in the 1960s with that “first capital” myth. “Creation of a Nation” and “America Started (or Made) Here” and other such themes only perpetuate that myth.

You still hear echoes of that old thinking, even though no known local or national historian holds to the First Capital or Creation of a Nation idea.

For example, a recent Facebook post stated: “Did you know that York acted as the nation’s first capital? York, PA, was the birthplace of the Articles of Confederation, and it was here that the words ‘The United States of America’ were first spoken.”

Really? Those words appeared in the Declaration of Independence about 16 months before the Articles.

Well, what are some possibilities for a theme?

Philadelphia 250 is using “By the People, For all People,” a play on a phrase in Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

Foundational documents could inform York County’s theme, too, playing off the EPIC model. For example, a cover letter from Continental Congress urging ratification of the Articles used the words “to form a permanent union.”

The U.S. Constitution, successor to the Articles, stated in its preamble “to form a more perfect union.”

You can see the teaching moments here. Continental Congress, meeting in York and desperate for France as an ally, sought a constitution — a union.

Twelve years later, U.S. Congress wanted to build on the Articles’ strengths and clean up its weaknesses, forming a more perfect union.

Understanding history

So can an anniversary celebration increase literacy?

Polk-Lepson tracked responses about York’s role in the American Revolution from the York County 250 in 1999 to the Articles 225 in 2002.

The polling results indicated the emphasis on the Articles increased public literacy.

From 1997 to 2003, the percentage of respondents naming the Articles in response to York’s role about doubled: 11.3% to 20.3%.

“First capital” as a response declined from 46.1% to 38.4%. Those knowing nothing about York’s role declined by about 10 percentage points.

These three upcoming anniversaries must be seen as opportunities to educate, enlighten and celebrate.

They must be shaped to aid in understanding this historical — and complex — place in which we live.

Before his death in 2016, Appell, discussing the “Hard Bargains” sculpture with project manager Genevieve Ray, asked, “(W)hy aren't we doing something with the Articles of Confederation?”

These anniversaries provide that opportunity.

Sources: James McClure’s “Never to be Forgotten” and “Nine Months in York Town.” Themes from York County 250 and Articles 225 came from these books.

Jim McClure is the retired editor of the York Daily Record and has authored or co-authored nine books on York County history. Reach him at jimmcclure21@outlook.com.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Big York County birthdays on horizon