YORK, Pa. — The city of York has a whole lot of history.
It's even where a drafting of the Articles of Confederation took place before its adoption on Nov. 15, 1777.
"The Articles of Confederation were the first Constitution of this country; they gave us a way to live in this new United States of America. 13 colonies coming together and it really was an interesting dynamic, it was a first experiment in government for this country - states' rights versus federal government, a conversation we still have today," said Joan Mummert, President and CEO of the York County History Center.
"Here in York, they really took the original draft, they debated the various elements, how the government would work here, they annotated that draft," said Mummert.
The reasoning behind why the Second Continental Congress came to York was because, "essentially they were committing treason against the crown and so they fled Philadelphia when the British were occupying Philadelphia and landed in Lancaster for a day, didn't feel safe there, they felt the river between here and Philadelphia made a lot of sense," Mummert explained.
To mark the anniversary of the document's adoption, the York County History Center is hosting all sorts of family-friendly activities on Saturday, November 16, to share how the nation's first form of federal government was developed.
"I think it's an interesting thing to look backwards to understand where we are today, and I think for little ones it's important to get them to think about how this country did function and maybe give them some context to how we function now. It gets them interested in history and that's what we're all about," Mummert said.
The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday at the Colonial Complex and History Center Museum.
Articles of Confederation Day is free and open to the public.
For a full list of the activities, click here.