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. The famous "Pro­ tolled on the occasion of the death of Chief by the Congress in Independence Hall. This NATIONAL HISTORICAL ment, funds were appropriated for the construc­ claim Liberty" inscription was intended as a Justice Marshall, the great interpreter of the document, largely written by Thomas Jefferson, tion of a State House in 1729. The next year the fiftieth anniversary memorial to William Penn's Philadelphia, the Capital, 1790-1800 Federal Constitution. Although efforts were is the finest statement of democratic principles AAAAAAAA committee of the Assembly, having selected the Charter of Privileges of 1701, and the bell re­ PARK PROJECT made to restore its tone, they were unsuccessful. in history, and stands today as the basis of the Just prior to Philadelphia's becoming the south side of Chestnut Street between Fifth and ceived its present name from this inscription. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Now located in Independence Hall, the free government of the United States. capital, Independence Hall acquired two new Sixth Streets as a site,.began to purchase the Although designed as a memorial, the associa­ Douglas McKay, Secretary Liberty Bell is the most venerated symbol of Following the Declaration of Independence neighbors of destiny—the City Hall on the east necessary land. Although the Assembly may tion of the Liberty Bell with the most significant patriotism in America and its reputation as an came the long hard years of war. Philadelphia and the County Court Building on the west. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, Conrad L. Wirth, Director have contemplated buying all of the land which events of the American Revolution has led to emblem of liberty is world-wide. was occupied by the British for the winter of These fulfilled the original plan of a city govern­ finally became Independence Square, the Prov­ the belief that the inscription foretold these 1778 while Washington's army kept watch at mental center as conceived by Andrew Hamil­ Congress Hall. Scene of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the meeting place of the Continental Congress ince did not secure all of the property south to later happenings. The Declaration of Independence and of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and the seat of Government Valley Forge. After the departure of the British, ton. About the same time, the American Philo­ Walnut Street until the 1760's. After consider­ The bell arrived in Philadelphia in 1752, but As opposition towards England's colonial Subsequent History of the United States from 1790 to 1800 Philadelphia again became the seat of govern­ sophical Society, the oldest learned society in able delay, construction was commenced in the was cracked while being tested. John Pass and policy developed in the American colonies, ment. On November 3, 1781, the Congress the United States, was granted a lot in the With Philadelphia no longer the capital spring of 1732 when ground was broken for the Charles Stow, Jr., "two ingenious workmen" of Philadelphia, the metropolis of the English officially received the news of the surrender of Square. Its building, Philosophical Hall, com­ either of the United States or of Pennsylvania, present building. Philadelphia, recast the bell. The tone was not colonies in America, naturally became the center "THE UNITED STATES was created in Philadelphia on July 4, Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Va., and was pleted in 1789 and the only privately owned the Supreme Court Building reverted to its Edmund Woolley, master carpenter, and satisfactory, and it was cast again by Pass and of government. In Carpenters' Hall, which is 1776, when the Continental Congress voted the final form of the presented with the captured colors. This event building in the Square, harmonizes in its archi­ original purpose as a City Hall, and Congress Andrew Hamilton, lawyer, planned the building Stow in 1753. Today, the visitor looks upon the still standing near Independence Square, the signified the end of the long war. American tectural design with the other structures. Hall was used as the County Court House. Declaration of Independence. The United States was perpetuated on and supervised its construction. Designed in the bell from this third casting of the original metal. First Continental Congress met in September independence had been won. The Federal Government under the new In 1802, Independence Hall entered into a September 17, 1787, when the Federal Convention completed its work dignity of the Georgian period, Independence As the official bell of the Pennsylvania State 1774 to protest against the American policies of Constitution first met in New York where new phase of its history. Charles Willson Peale, on the Constitution and referred it, through Congress, to the individual Hall, with its wings, has long been considered House, the Liberty Bell was intended to be rung Great Britain. The Constitutional Convention, 1787 Federal Hall Memorial National Historic Site the eminent artist, was granted permission to one of the most beautiful administrative build­ on public occasions, such as the times of meet­ In May 1775, the Second Continental Con­ states for ratification. Both these great decisions were made in the now stands; then, in 1790, it came to Philadel­ use most of the building for his famous mu­ ings of the Colonial period. Its construction re­ ings of the Assembly and of the courts of gress met in the Pennsylvania State House The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual same chamber in what is now called Independence Hall, but was then phia for 10 years. Congress sat in the new seum. The museum remained there until Peale's quired more than 25 years. Delays originating justice. (Independence Hall) and moved from protest Union were drafted while the war was in the Pennsylvania State House. It would still be merely the old State County Court House (now known as Congress death in 1826, and his paintings, purchased by from various causes, and the alterations needed For many years the bell fulfilled its routine to resistance. In view of the fact that warfare progress, and were agreed to by the thirteenth Hall) and the United States Supreme Court in the city of Philadelphia, form the basis of the House if independence had not been achieved and if the Constitution to fit the building as the capitol of the Province, duties. During the Revolution, when the British had broken out in Massachusetts, the Congress State and went into effect in the last year of the the new City Hall (now known as the Supreme present collection of portraits of Revolutionary had not been ratified and put into effect. The noble building, so prevented its completion until the 1750's. Army occupied Philadelphia in 1777, the bell in the following month chose George Wash- war. Under the Articles, the Congress met in heroes still in Independence Hall. various towns, only about half the time in Court Building). In Congress Hall, George venerable to later ages, might not even have survived, but might have Washington was inaugurated for his second North Front of State House, c. 1776. Engraved by J. Rogers after The Congress Voting Independence, 1776. Painted by Robert Edge Pine and Philadelphia. But Philadelphia remained the In 1818, the city of Philadelphia purchased been swept away in the surging growth of a modern city. In that Peale's Painting. Courtesy of Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Edward Savage. Courtesy of Historical Society of Pennsylvania. metropolis of the United States and here in term as President. John Adams, his successor, Independence Hall from the Commonwealth case, a few students of history would sometimes remember the site Independence Hall, in the summer of 1787, the was also inaugurated here. Meanwhile, few of Pennsylvania —a financial and spiritual in­ as the stage of those lost causes. Instead, Pennsylvania's State House Federal Convention sat to draft the Constitution cases were presented to the Supreme Court for vestment unequalled in the history of American decision, but some were quite important. During cities. A latet proposal to sell the Square fortu­ has become Independence Hall for the entire United States. Nor is which was to make the weak confederation into nately came to nothing, and the city still holds a strong Federal state.