9781422287477

11 The Paper Money Riot

Gordon to hold the next assembly meeting outside Philadelphia, in a safer place. Before this time, there had been no actual meeting hall for the Pennsylvania’s assembly. Philadelphia was the largest city in America, but there were few public buildings. Occasionally, the assembly met in the city’s courthouse or Quaker meeting houses. Sometimes, the assembly members were forced to decide the colony’s business in private homes. And so, while the assembly members searched for a safe place to meet outside the city, a group of law- abiding Philadelphians approached Andrew Hamilton and asked him to keep the government in Philadelphia. As assembly speaker, Hamilton led the legislature and was responsible for setting the agenda of the govern- ment. He decided which issues should be taken up by the members and oversaw various administrative duties. The citizens of Philadelphia told Hamilton that if he moved the assembly meeting somewhere else, he would send a message that roughnecks were in charge. They submitted a petition to Hamilton, asking the assembly to set aside money to build a government meeting hall—a State House. Meanwhile, the paper money agitators were not through causing trouble. Some members of the assembly who favored the Paper Money Act asked Governor Gordon to approve £50,000 in new currency. (A pound, shown by the symbol £, was the unit of paper money