The history of New York City (1784–1854) started with the creation of the city as the capital of the United States under the Congress of the Confederation from January 11, 1785, to Autumn 1788, and then under the United States Constitution from its ratification in 1789 until moving to Philadelphia in 1790. The city grew as an economic center with the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825; the growth of its railroads added to its dominance. Tammany Hall began to grow in influence with the support of many Irish immigrants, culminating in the election of the first Tammany mayor, Fernando Wood, in 1854. The city had become the nation's most important port and financial center and competed with Boston as the center of high culture. Status As a capital city With the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 and the resulting withdrawal of British troops from the city, the Congress of the Confederation moved to Federal Hall on Wall Street in 1785. The first government of the United States, operating under the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union since its ratification in 1781, was soon found inadequate for the needs of the new nation. However, certain successes were achieved while in New York, including the passage of the Northwest Ordinance, which laid the framework for the addition of new states into the Union. A call for revision to the Articles was led by New Yorker Alexander Hamilton, and the Annapolis Convention was convened with representatives from the states to discuss the necessary changes. Lacking representation from all of the states, the convention made no suggestions for changing the Articles but instead drafted a report that led to the creation of a Constitutional Convention in 1787 to create an entirely new governing document. As a federal city The city's and state's status within the new union under the United States Constitution written in 1787 was under question when Governor George Clinton proved reluctant to submit state power to a strong national government and was opposed to ratification. Some New York City businessmen proposed New York City secession as an alternative to joining the union separately, but Alexander Hamilton and others argued persuasively in the Federalist Papers, published in city newspapers, for state ratification, which after much dispute finally passed in 1788. George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States on the balcony of Federal