United States History Student Edition

A New Nation and a New Government The United States of America was now an independent nation, but the government that had been created during the Revolutionary War had many shortcomings. In 1787, a select group of Americans met to create the government we know today. 01 Introducing First Governments and the Constitution

Wigs, Royalty, and Presidents George Washington became president in 1789. Unlike many of his fellow patriots, he did not wear a wig, but tied and powdered his hair. Powdered wigs were popular and a sign of upper-class status. The wigs were powdered to deal with the bad odor and the lice often present in the hairpieces.

U.S. Capital History • Before Washington, D.C., became the nation's permanent capital, eight other cities served in that role. • Philadelphia served as the U.S. capital on four different occasions. • The old county courthouse in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, shown here, served as the U.S. Capitol for one day on September 27, 1777.

“ I have . . . often . . . in the course of the session . . . looked at [the sun decoration on the chair] behind the President, without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting: but now at length, I have the happiness to know, that it is a rising and not a setting Sun. ” —Benjamin Franklin, September 17, 1787

PHOTOS: (t)The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1907, (c)LancasterHistory, (b)National Park Service. TEXT: Franklin, Benjamin. Quoted by James Madison at the close of the Constitutional Convention, Sept. 17, 1787, in The Papers of James Madison, Vol. 3. Mobile: Allston Mygatt, 1842.

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