the supreme executive council and asked the president the governor of pennsylvania the great john dickinson to call up philadelphia militia to drive the continental soldiers away from the building. dickinson looked at the congressman who had come up and said "are you nuts? do you think the militia of philadelphia is going to take up arms against the men that won independence for them? it is not going to happen." nobody has been harmed. this is just a political demonstration. and indeed, congress left the building and a huff. the soldiers went back to their barracks. that night, congress held an emergency session at which there was a quorum and voted that it pennsylvania -- is pennsylvania did not defend the congress of the united states, the congress of the united states was going to lose. the last one to move -- it was going to move. it was going to move to princeton, new jersey, and that is what it did you. what happened was quickly there were op-ed pieces in the newspapers saying this should never happen again. what congress needs is an exclusive jurisdiction, some territory where the fe

. >> guest: two quakers, john dickinson being the one that everyone knows about. and many other researchers have shown the same thing. but the formal church affiliations don't tell you a lot. i have a note, also, there from daniel bushton, i think, who points out that, of the more than 100 members of the virginia -- what was in essence was their constitutional convention in '76, although it wasn't really a constitutional convention, that only three out of more than 100 were not vestrymen of the church of england. and in virginia, in that day vestrymen were basically the people who ran the society. the whole -- the church and the political system of virginia were run by vestrymen of the church of england. c-span: how long did you work on this book? >> guest: about 30 years. well, and i say that somewhat jokingly, but really the reading and thought of 30 years have gone into it. the writing of it took about a year. c-span: that's the longest number of years i've ever gotten in answer to that question. if i saw you in your environment and had all around you the books

executive council and asked the president or governor if you will, of pennsylvania, the great john dickinson to call on the philadelphia militia and drive the continental soldiers away from the building.