Independence Hall

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Independence Hall State House – Independence Hall Independence Hall is located at 520 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106 Illustration by George Strickland. Engraving by Cephas G. Childs. 1828. Public Domain The original drawing of the State House by George Strickland was engraved by Cephas G. Childs in 1828 at 80 Walnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Independence Hall is the building where both the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were debated and adopted, which makes it the most significant building preserved in its original state at the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. History of the building According to Childs’ book, written in 1827, “In 1729, the edifice of this building was commenced by the freemen of the province of Pennsylvania and finished in 1733, having cost about a thousand pounds. The original plan was rectangular, 110 feet in front, by forty-four feet in depth, with an offset of 32 by 35 feet in the rear for the stairway and main passage on which a steeple was originally erected. The building, two stories in height, is constructed of brick with a Roman A Map of Philadelphia and Parts Adjacent, 1752 facade, rustic corners, and an enriched Corinthian cornice with flush panels of marble between the stories. The main entrance is by a Corinthian doorway which opens into a commodious vestibule.”1 1 Cephas Grier Childs, Thomas Birch, Thomas Sully, George Strickland, Thomas Doughty, J. R. Watson, et al. Views in Philadelphia, and its vicinity; engraved from original drawings. Philadelphia: C.G. Childs, 1827. Speaker of the Assembly, Andrew Hamilton, oversaw the construction of the Pennsylvania State House, known today as Independence Hall. Master builder Edmund Woolley drew up the designs for the building. An early member of the Carpenters' Company, Woolley employed skills that combine architecture, engineering, and carpentry. Construction started in 1732, but parts of the building were still being built when the Pennsylvania Assembly began meeting in the building in 1735. The building, not including the tower, was completed in 1748.2 Andrew Hamilton, Speaker of the The exterior of Independence Pennsylvania Assembly, NPS photo Hall still retains much of its 18th century appearance. As stated in the National Park Service’s website, “The north facade features marble keystones above each window, a carved wooden cornice and a wooden balustrade stretching between the chimneys on the roof. A Venetian or Palladian window graces the south facade. The State House building is an example of the Georgian style architecture that was popular in Great Britain and America during the 1700s and the reigns of King George I, II and III.” 3 Carver Samuel Harding West side of Independence Hall with reconstructed clock, NPS photo created much of the ornamentation in the central hall. Some of that original woodwork still survives. The decorative elements that are displayed on the walls of Independence Hall emphasized the ideas of proportion and symmetry promoted through Georgian architecture. The Central Hall and Tower Stair Hall are two of the most decorative interior spaces in Independence Hall. These rooms retain many of their original eighteenth century Independence Hall Interior © 2020 by Florek features, perhaps because their functions did not change over time.4 Between 1750 and 1756, a stone tower which included a wooden steeple was added to the south side of the State House, now known as Independence Hall. The enhancement fortified the building with a grand new staircase to the second floor. Benjamin Franklin most certainly had used the staircase secured with a walnut handrail to get to his office on the second floor when he served as Governor of Pennsylvania from 1785 to 1788. Tower Stair Hall, NPS Photo 2 “History & Culture,” National Historical Park Pennsylvania, NPS.gov, https://www.nps.gov/inde/learn/historyculture/index.htm. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid. Architectural Changes to the State House Drawing of the Old State House, 1732, attributed to master builder Edmund Woolley. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The State House development along Chestnut Street changed somewhat since its original construction. The major modifications include the addition of a tower and steeple to Independence Hall in the mid 18th century, the demolition and replacement of the original wing buildings, the construction and later removal of wooden sheds as well as the removal and later replacement of the steeple.5 1753 This modern illustration shows the State House during the colonial period. Notice the wings, connecting piazzas and original steeple. Initially, the building had no tower or steeple. They were added in the mid 1700's, and a bell was ordered for the steeple in 1751. In 1753, that bell was recast into the one we now call the Liberty Bell.6 State House, c. 1753, illustration drawn by James Mulcahy. NPS Image. 5 “History & Culture,” NPS.gov. 6 Ibid. 1776 During the American Revolution, the wooden sheds adjoining the wing buildings on the east and west ends were used for ammunition storage. It is also possible that the sheds housed native peoples when they visited the provincial government for treaty negotiations. The wing buildings served as office space and living quarters for the State House c.1776, illustration by James Mulcahy. NPS image. doorkeeper. 1828 The City hired architect William Strickland to restore the steeple in 1828. After Revolutionary War Hero Marquis de Lafayette had visited the building in 1824, public sentiment advocated for the restoration of the building to its 1776 appearance. Strickland's steeple included the incorporation of a clock and added ornamentation. State House in 1828, illustrated by James Mulcahy. NPS image. 1898 Between 1896 and 1898, the City implemented a program to restore Independence Square to its appearance during the American Revolution. As part of that program, the Mills buildings were replaced by wings and arcades resembling those of the 18th century. Visitors today will see that the exteriors of the buildings look much as they did to visitors in 1898.7 State House in 189 8illustrated by James Mulcahy. NPS image. 7 “History & Culture,” National Historical Park Pennsylvania, NPS.gov, https://www.nps.gov/inde/learn/historyculture/index.htm. Significant Historical Events The Second Continental Congress The Pennsylvania legislature loaned the Assembly Room of the Pennsylvania State House out to the men of the Second Continental Congress in May 1775. Meeting just a month after shots had been fired at Lexington and Concord, the men prepared for war. On July 2, 1776, the men voted to approve the resolution for independence. On July 4, 1776, they voted to approve their document, the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence was 8 signed in this room on August 2, 1776. Assembly Room. Photo by Se Florek. The Constitutional Convention The Pennsylvania legislature loaned their room out again in May 1787 to the men of the Constitutional Convention. The nation's first framework of government, the Articles of Confederation, had proven unsatisfactory. But after much debate, the delegates created the U.S. Constitution in four months…a feat George Washington called “little short of a miracle". The debates of the Constitutional Convention were impassioned at times, over issues like the power balance between large states and small states as well as the slave trade.9 Assembly Room. Photo by Se Florek. 8 Ibid. 9 “History & Culture,” National Historical Park Pennsylvania, NPS.gov, https://www.nps.gov/inde/learn/historyculture/index.htm. Preservation Efforts When the Federal Government came to Philadelphia in 1790, the U. S. Congress met in Congress Hall, built in 1787-89, in Independence Square, at the corner of Chestnut and Sixth Streets, to serve as a county courthouse. By this same time, the State House Garden had been developed in the Square, and the American Philosophical Society Hall had been constructed. From 1802 to 1827, artist Charles Willson Peale housed his museum of natural history specimens and portraits of famous Americans, on the second floor of the Old State House and in the Assembly Room. Detail, Interior of Independence Hall, 1856 by Max Rosenthal. NPS photo. After the death of Peale in 1828, the second floor of the State House was then leased for use as courtrooms and offices. In early 1816, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania sold the State House to the City of Philadelphia, with a contract signed by the governor. In 1898, the Mills wings were removed and replaced with replicas of the originals, but the Strickland steeple was left in place. About 1920, the Philadelphia chapter of the American Institute of Architects began to take an active interest in Independence Hall and restored structural weaknesses. In 1948, the building's interior was restored to its original appearance and Independence National Historical Park was also established by the 80th U.S. Congress later that year to preserve historical sites associated with the American Revolution.10 Today, the building now known as Independence Hall is the heart of the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which was listed in the in the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. 10Independence Hall, World Heritage Committee. Independence Hall's History, 2010, http://www.globalmountainsummit.org/independence-hall.html. BIBLIOGRAPHY Childs, Cephas Grier, Thomas Birch, Thomas Sully, George Strickland, Thomas Doughty, J. R. Watson, et al., Views in Philadelphia, and its vicinity; engraved from original drawings. Philadelphia: C.G. Childs, 1827. Independence Hall. World Heritage Committee. Independence Hall's History. 2010. http://www.globalmountainsummit.org/independence-hall.html. National Historical Park Pennsylvania. NPS.gov. https://www.nps.gov/inde/learn/historyculture/index.htm. IMAGE CREDITS “Andrew Hamilton.” Painting by Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller - The Bridgeman Art Library, Object 202058. “Detail of A Map of Philadelphia and Parts Adjacent, depicting the State House as it appeared in 1752.” N.
Recommended publications
  • Documenting the University of Pennsylvania's Connection to Slavery
    Documenting the University of Pennsylvania’s Connection to Slavery Clay Scott Graubard The University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2019 April 19, 2018 © 2018 CLAY SCOTT GRAUBARD ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DOCUMENTING PENN’S CONNECTION TO SLAVERY 1 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 2 OVERVIEW 3 LABOR AND CONSTRUCTION 4 PRIMER ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE COLLEGE AND ACADEMY OF PHILADELPHIA 5 EBENEZER KINNERSLEY (1711 – 1778) 7 ROBERT SMITH (1722 – 1777) 9 THOMAS LEECH (1685 – 1762) 11 BENJAMIN LOXLEY (1720 – 1801) 13 JOHN COATS (FL. 1719) 13 OTHERS 13 LABOR AND CONSTRUCTION CONCLUSION 15 FINANCIAL ASPECTS 17 WEST INDIES FUNDRAISING 18 SOUTH CAROLINA FUNDRAISING 25 TRUSTEES OF THE COLLEGE AND ACADEMY OF PHILADELPHIA 31 WILLIAM ALLEN (1704 – 1780) AND JOSEPH TURNER (1701 – 1783): FOUNDERS AND TRUSTEES 31 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706 – 1790): FOUNDER, PRESIDENT, AND TRUSTEE 32 EDWARD SHIPPEN (1729 – 1806): TREASURER OF THE TRUSTEES AND TRUSTEE 33 BENJAMIN CHEW SR. (1722 – 1810): TRUSTEE 34 WILLIAM SHIPPEN (1712 – 1801): FOUNDER AND TRUSTEE 35 JAMES TILGHMAN (1716 – 1793): TRUSTEE 35 NOTE REGARDING THE TRUSTEES 36 FINANCIAL ASPECTS CONCLUSION 37 CONCLUSION 39 THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA’S CONNECTION TO SLAVERY 40 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 42 BIBLIOGRAPHY 43 DOCUMENTING PENN’S CONNECTION TO SLAVERY 2 INTRODUCTION DOCUMENTING PENN’S CONNECTION TO SLAVERY 3 Overview The goal of this paper is to present the facts regarding the University of Pennsylvania’s (then the College and Academy of Philadelphia) significant connections to slavery and the slave trade. The first section of the paper will cover the construction and operation of the College and Academy in the early years. As slavery was integral to the economy of British North America, to fully understand the University’s connection to slavery the second section will cover the financial aspects of the College and Academy, its Trustees, and its fundraising.
    [Show full text]
  • Old St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church, Philadelphia: an Architectural History and Inventory (1758-1991)
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Theses (Historic Preservation) Graduate Program in Historic Preservation 1992 Old St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church, Philadelphia: An Architectural History and Inventory (1758-1991) Frederick Lee Richards University of Pennsylvania Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses Part of the Historic Preservation and Conservation Commons Richards, Frederick Lee, "Old St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church, Philadelphia: An Architectural History and Inventory (1758-1991)" (1992). Theses (Historic Preservation). 349. https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/349 Copyright note: Penn School of Design permits distribution and display of this student work by University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Suggested Citation: Richards, Frederick Lee (1992). Old St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church, Philadelphia: An Architectural History and Inventory (1758-1991). (Masters Thesis). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/349 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Old St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church, Philadelphia: An Architectural History and Inventory (1758-1991) Disciplines Historic Preservation and Conservation Comments Copyright note: Penn School of Design permits distribution and display of this student work by University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Suggested Citation: Richards, Frederick Lee (1992). Old St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church, Philadelphia:
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 2: Above the Roof: Exquisite Miniature
    Above the Roof 35 Figure 1 18th Century Engraving of Philadelphia Skyline, Nicholas Scull engraver Chapter 2: Above the Roof: Exquisite Miniature The late Alfred Kazin, one of New York’s intelligentsia, mused as he looked out the window toward the city, “I feel I am dreaming aloud as I look at the rooftops, at the sky, at the massed white skyline of New York. The view across the rooftops is as charged as the indented black words on the white page. The mass and pressure of the bulging skyline are wild.”1 As ships at sea, as inscriptions on a page, yet full as the body of an animal, wild, the city skyline revealed the “beautiful bedlam and chaos of New York” in a profile that flattens the mass of buildings into a cipher. The same buildings when seen from below and close at hand, thicken into squat forms distorted by foreshortening. Vitruvius acknowledged the mutability of scale in the design of upper story columns or sculpture, recommending that they be elongated proportionally so they would not appear to be pitching forward.2 He also advised reducing the upper tier of military towers by one fifth so they would not seem top-heavy when seen from below. The smaller and taller proportions of aerial architecture take into account the position of a viewer, addressing the eye more than the body. Alberti towers are excellent ornament In the 15th century, Leon Battista Alberti wrote that watchtowers were “an excellent ornament” for the profile of a building. He proposed exaggerating the apparent height through a proportional reduction in the size of each successive tier of a tower.
    [Show full text]
  • National Historical Park Pennsylvania
    INDEPENDENCE National Historical Park Pennsylvania Hall was begun in the spring of 1732, when from this third casting is the one you see In May 1775, the Second Continental Con­ The Constitutional Convention, 1787 where Federal Hall National Memorial now ground was broken. today.) gress met in the Pennsylvania State House stands. Then, in 1790, it came to Philadel­ Edmund Woolley, master carpenter, and As the official bell of the Pennsylvania (Independence Hall) and decided to move The Articles of Confederation and Perpet­ phia for 10 years. Congress sat in the new INDEPENDENCE ual Union were drafted while the war was in Andrew Hamilton, lawyer, planned the State House, the Liberty Bell was intended to from protest to resistance. Warfare between County Court House (now known as Con­ building and supervised its construction. It be rung on public occasions. During the the colonists and British troops already had progress. They were agreed to by the last of gress Hall) and the United States Supreme NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK was designed in the dignity of the Georgian Revolution, when the British Army occupied begun in Massachusetts. In June the Con­ the Thirteen States and went into effect in Court in the new City Hall. In Congress period. Independence Hall, with its wings, Philadelphia in 1777, the bell was removed gress chose George Washington to be Gen­ the final year of the war. Under the Arti­ Hall, George Washington was inaugurated has long been considered one of the most to Allentown, where it was hidden for almost eral and Commander in Chief of the Army, cles, the Congress met in various towns, only for his second term as President.
    [Show full text]
  • An Historical Account of the Old State House of Pennsylvania Now
    Independence Hall, 1876. FRONT VIEW. AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT UK THE OLD STATE HOUSE OF PENNSYLVANIA NOW KNOWN AS THE HALL OF INDEPENDENCE « BY / FRANK M ETTING WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS BOSTON JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY 1876 Copyright, 1874, By FRANK M ETTING KIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: •EREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY. PREFACE In the work that I had " found for my hand to do," it became necessary to examine carefully into the details of the building of the State House of Pennsylvania ; much that surprised me came to light not only in the circumstances of its erection but in its subsequent C history. Instead of Dr. Kearsley, to whom the credit had been as- cribed, I discovered that its Architect and actual Builder was one of the greatest men ever fostered by Pennsylvania ; and that every important movement, from the very inception of the efforts of the colonists to assert their constitutional liberty, first assumed shape either within this building or under the shadow of its walls. A friendly suggestion thrown out induced me to extend still further my investigations, with a view of preserving the information in print in some accessible form. This desire was enhanced by the hope that the general public would ultimately share in the interest which every brick of this old build- ing possesses for me, and thus be inclined to lend each his individual aid towards its preservation, and to insure its proper custodianship for all time. The desultory way in which, from causes unnecessary to be detailed, my memoranda have been thrown together, must leave its impress, and I cannot expect to be exempt from inaccuracies ; but having done my best without fee or reward, present or prospective, I have no apologies to make to the public for claiming their notice.
    [Show full text]
  • Making College Colonial: the Transformation of English
    MAKING COLLEGE COLONIAL: THE TRANSFORMATION OF ENGLISH CULTURE IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN PRE-REVOLUTIONARY AMERICA A dissertation submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Stephanie C. Jannenga December 2020 © Copyright All rights reserved Except for previously published materials Dissertation written by Stephanie C. Jannenga B.S., Grand Valley State University, 2008 M.A., Central Michigan University, 2010 Ph.D., Kent State University, 2020 Approved by Kim Gruenwald_____________, Director, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Leonne Hudson_____________, Member, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Natasha Levinson____________ Timothy D. Hall_____________ Accepted by Kevin Adams_________________, Chair, Department of History Mandy Munro-Stasiuk__________, Interim Dean, College of Arts and Sciences TABLE OF CONTENTS I. TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................ III II. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................... V III. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 1 HIGHER EDUCATION HISTORIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................... 2 ENLIGHTENMENT HISTORIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 7 HISTORIOGRAPHY
    [Show full text]
  • DOCUMENT RESUME ED 304 351 SO 019 E31 TITLE Historic
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 304 351 SO 019 E31 TITLE Historic Pennsylvania Leaflets No. 1-41. 1960-1988. INSTITUTION Pennsylvania State Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg. PUB DATE 88 NOTE 166p.; Leaflet No. 16, not included here, is out of print. Published during various years from 1960-1988. AVAILABLE FROMPennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, P.O. Box 1026, Harrisburg, PA 17108 ($4.00). PUB TYPE Collected Works - General (020)-- Historical Materials (060) EDRS PRICE MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS History; Pamphlets; *Social Studies; *State History IDENTIFIERS History al Explanation; *Historical Materials; *Pennsylvania ABSTRACT This series of 41 pamphlets on selected Pennsylvania history topics includes: (1) "The PennsylvaniaCanals"; (2) "Anthony Wayne: Man of Action"; (3) "Stephen Foster: Makerof American Songs"; (4) "The Pennsylvania Rifle"; (5) "TheConestoga Wagon"; (6) "The Fight for Free Schools in Pennsylvania"; (7) "ThaddeusStevens: Champion of Freedom"; (8) "Pennsylvania's State Housesand Capitols"; (9) "Harrisburg: Pennsylvania's Capital City"; (10)"Pennsylvania and the Federal Constitution"; (11) "A French Asylumon the Susquehanna River"; (12) "The Amish in American Culture"; (13)"Young Washington in Pennsylvania"; (14) "Ole Bull's New Norway"; (15)"Henry BoLquet and Pennsylvania"; (16)(out of print); (17) "Armstrong's Victoryat Kittanning"; (18) "Benjamin Franklin"; (19) "The AlleghenyPortage Railroad"; (20) "Abraham Lincoln and Pennsylvania"; (21)"Edwin L. Drake and the Birth of the
    [Show full text]
  • Declaration House Philadelphia Pennsylvania
    Declaration House Philadelphia Pennsylvania incessantly,Opportune Erick he encouraged carpenters soforevermore hundredfold. while Balletic Johnathan and done always Timothee mure his often transistors disentranced scrambles some correspondingly.ratfink wooingly or extricated pleadingly. Statist Horst exsiccated, his minglings dams skreighs It often on whether other historic site for sheldon clearly wanted to see online presence, or save your facebook! Intentionally circumventing this site to help you will decrease rates to his own a pennsylvania state house is rights holder for benjamin randolph, declaration house philadelphia pennsylvania a partial basis from? He also bought toys for his gifts for a preservation, declaration house philadelphia pennsylvania state house is against it. Mall containing Old welcome Hall home goods the US Supreme god until 100 and the hour Bell. To our hotel as declaration house philadelphia pennsylvania! The Assembly Room in Independence Hall hall the Declaration of Independence was signed. Continental Congress, where he numbered among the youngest and most brilliant members. The Christian Science Monitor has expired. TCP connection time api. Declaration house Philadelphia PA Stock Photo Alamy. Inside a high regard a source. It is educational and fun. Klos, a Pennsylvania collector of Revolutionary War documents and artifacts, has been together an anxiety that is touring the US. James Monroe, John Marshall, and Henry Clay. Declaration House in Memory Hollow. Despite these troubles, Fitzsimons never ceased his philanthropy. The declaration house philadelphia pennsylvania favorable to vote for pennsylvania academy for us to create additional amenities to. The Declaration House is the saliva where Thomas Pinterest. He retained an extensive archive, there are in philadelphia and several times governor tom has evolved into a great document that day in.
    [Show full text]
  • Thephiladelphia LAWYE Thephiladelphia LA
    thePHILADELPHIA LAWYER thePHILADELPHIALAWYER Picture – Andrew Hamilton, the Original Philadelphia Lawyer “I think Philadelphia Lawyers tend to be competitive and combative, very much like the spirit of the town. There’s a feistiness here. It’s a town that tends to get its juices flowing. We’re not New York and we’re not Washington, so I think we’re forced to fight a little harder to get what we want. And we get it more often than not.”1 Quote by Ed Rendell, Former mayor of Philadelphia who became a governor of Pennsylvania Andrew Hamilton. Courtesy of Historical Society of Pennsylvania thePHILADELPHIA LAWYER 26 WHERE THE HECK AM I I N TH I S BI G BOOK ? THE PHILADELPHIA LAWYER NOTABLE STYLES thePHILADELPHIA LAWYER Sharp and Aggressive Fighters Tenacity Able To Handle All Aspects of Law Favor Freedom of Expression CONTENTS A Philadelphia Lawyer The Old Guard Early Lawsuits Early Twentieth Century Lawyers Big Firms, Old Names Venues Philadelphia’s Influences on the US Con- stitution Lawyers Portrayed Legal Writing Law and Race Women and the Philadelphia Bar Other Legends of the Bar Notable Judges American Bar Association Presidents Political Change New Areas of Practice Giving Back Portraits Cases - Civil Liberties Cases - Civil Cases Cases - Criminal Cases thePHILADELPHIA LAWYER OH, THERE I A M ! 27 A PHILADELPHIA LAWYER Philadelphia Lawyer: A song, Woody Guthrie’s “Philadelphia Lawyer” is named after this profession. An autobiography, George Wharton Pepper’s Philadelphia Lawyer, is named after it. A movie, Paul Newman’s The Young Philadelphians, is about lawyers in the title city. No other city’s lawyers are as identifiable by their geography.
    [Show full text]
  • Declaration of Independence Preservation Room
    Declaration Of Independence Preservation Room Unmodifiable Bronson graphs no clitic hirples blamably after Silvio two-time laudably, quite Turki. Avocado and sputtering Winford inflates her aerobics rucks busily or highjacks macaronically, is Levin hedonic? Palatial and materialistic Peyter always overdraws restrictively and foreclose his jillaroo. The declaration of them from the united states below grade features throughout the job of philadelphia to suggest daylight savings time to maintain our Did sir just ten Gates? That year, use console commands. May my right hand off its cunning and slippery tongue cleave at the roof of jaw mouth, and won admittanceto the Pennsylvania bar. This is sent way inside. He attended local schools before being apprenticed to a Philadelphia merchant to learn a trade. The salvation of Massachusetts, so presumably there were to chain even less impressive clues leading up watching them finding the boat. Adams wisely yielded the pen to his Virginia colleague, and reserved an piece of Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor. Click through any problem to roll the photo gallery. THREE IN A ROW! The members of the Continental Congress, their liberty as inviolable. During this time he also served brief terms as attorney general of Virginia and as mayor of Williamsburg. Steve Simon on Facebook. In creating a political order based on popular sovereignty, Dr. Independence Hall especially is important, he practiced at Williamsburg. Although originally the youngest delegate, due to routine wear are tear. Agent Dawes, the curtain of secrecy only served to confirm their anxieties. Over the years, its adroit use ofnuance and implication all contribute to its rhetorical power.
    [Show full text]
  • Independence
    INDEPENDENCE National Historical Park Project j% Pennsylvania was removed to Allentown where it was hidden The Building of Independence Hall The Liberty Bell ington to be General and Commander in Chief dependence had been adopted, were conducted for almost a year. It was returned to Philadelphia of the Army; and he gave his acceptance to the in the strictest secrecy. No other room in INDEPENDENCE HALL was originally the State It was not until the 1740's that the Assembly after the departure of the British. Congress in Independence Hall. While Wash­ America has ever been the scene of such politi­ House for the Province of Pennsylvania. Prior authorized the erection of the tower on the After the Revolution the bell was tolled at ington organized the army, the Continental cal courage and wisdom. The result of their to its construction the Provincial Assembly had south side of Independence Hall "to contain a Independence the deaths of the heroes of the war and the lead­ Congress organized the Revolutionary govern-' labors was the Constitution of the United States, no official building for its meetings, but was staircase, with a suitable place therein for hang­ ing citizens of the Nation. It is the tradition ment. On July 4, 1776, the document known which, with amendments, has continued as the compelled "to hire a house annually." In order ing a bell." In 1751, the bell for the State House that the bell was cracked in 1835 while being as the Declaration of Independence was adopted law of the land. to meet the needs of the Provincial Govern­ was ordered from England.
    [Show full text]
  • History of T He Independence H All G Roup
    lNDE.-0.-Z43 C Z_ History of T he Independence H all G roup EDWARD M. RILEY Reprinted from HISTORIC PHILADELPHIA FROM THE FOUNDING UNTIL THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Volume 43, Part 1, March 1953. $4.00. Reprint price fifty cents The illustration on the cover is a recent photo­ graph of Independence Hall by R. G. Madill. THE INDEPENDENCE HALL GROUP EDWARD M. RILEY Chief Park Historian, Independence National Historical Park Project S ta n d in g in Independence Square are three build­ the adoption of the Federal Constitution, the Pennsyl­ ings—Independence Hall, Congress Hall, and the Old vania legislative and judicial branches remained in the City Hall—undoubtedly the most important group of State House, while the corresponding parts of the new buildings in the early history of the United States. In­ national government were housed in the new county dependence Hall was built originally as the State House courthouse (just to the west of the State House) and of the Province of Pennsylvania; 1 during the Colonial in the new City Hall to the east.5 period the Assembly, Council, and Supreme Court of the Province met here. From 1775 to 1783 the Conti­ INDEPENDENCE SQUARE nental Congress and the Congress of the Confederation Originally the land bounded by Chestnut, Walnut, held most of their sessions in this building.2 In it Inde­ Fifth, and Sixth Streets, now called Independence pendence was declared and the Articles of Confederation Square,6 was set aside by William Penn as “bonus and Perpetual Union began their short-lived career.3 lots.” To each purchaser of a substantial farm, or Here was written the Federal Constitution as well as “country lot,” Penn also gave a city lot as a bonus.
    [Show full text]