You're listening to an airwave media podcast.

You know, the Washington Post, their tagline is Democracy Dives in Darkness and

if you kind of take that as a starting point, I asked, well, how do we explain then that it was born in darkness Oh, We live here in a convent. We converse with only one another. So said Benjamin Rush, a member of the Continental Congress in 1777,

when that body was moved from Philadelphia to Baltimore during the war. We are precluded from all opportunities

of feeling the pulse of the public upon our measures. Indeed the capital was moved for two months to the city of Baltimore to the Henry

Fight House located on what was then Market Street now West Baltimore Street in

Baltimore from December 1776 to the end of February 1777.

They met in an inn, a tavern built red brick building with white wood trim,

about 14 rooms big enough to house the Congress, far enough away

from the harbor and the nearby Patapsko River, so they didn't have to worry about being

shelled by British naval ships.

But that very security of having the capital in Baltimore now led to the feeling that

Dr. Benjamin Rush was talking about that, they also felt isolated.

Like, how are we going to know what people in Pennsylvania are thinking about or in New York when we're stuck here in

Baltimore. And nonetheless they conducted their business, they made decisions such

as appointing George Washington the commander-in-chief of all armies, increasing the power and effectiveness

that he had as a general, but they did it entirely in secret.

Openness and transparency appear to be parts of the normal functioning of American

government, but as our guest today, we'll get into detail on, they're not necessarily part of the

beginning of American government at all.

One of the first things that the Continental Congress does when they meet in the spring of 1775 is to retain secrecy.

Continental Congress is not meeting in a place that's open to the public.

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