Trenton is the capital city of New Jersey, in the north-eastern United States. It sits on the Delaware River, roughly between Philadelphia and New York, and it is small for a capital — well under 100,000 people — which surprises learners who expect a state capital to be the state's biggest city. In America that is often not true: the capital is frequently a modest inland town chosen for its position, while the famous big city is somewhere else. Trenton matters in American history for the Battle of Trenton, when Washington crossed the icy Delaware on the night after Christmas 1776 and surprised the soldiers stationed there; it is one of the best-known moments in the story Americans tell about their revolution. The city was also a manufacturing centre, and a famous old sign on its bridge still reads 'Trenton Makes, The World Takes'. Like most American place names, it takes no 'the': 'in Trenton', 'we drove to Trenton'.