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. John United States Department of the Interior beautiful public buildings of the colonial a year. It was returned to Philadelphia after and he gave his acceptance in Independence about half the time in Philadelphia. But Adams, his successor, was also inaugurated Stewart L. Udall, Secretary period. Its construction required more than the departure of the British. Hall. While Washington organized the Philadelphia remained the chief city of the here. Meanwhile, several important cases 25 years, delays preventing its completion It is the tradition that the bell was cracked army, the Congress organized the Revolu­ United States. Here in Independence Hall, were presented to the Supreme Court for National Park Service, Conrad L. Wirth, Director until the 1750's. in 1835 while being tolled on the death of tionary government. On July 4, 1776, the in the summer of 1787, the Federal Conven­ decision. During this period, therefore, the Chief Justice John Marshall, the great inter­ Declaration of Independence was adopted by tion sat to draft the Constitution. It was to governments of the Commonwealth and the Scene of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the meeting The Liberty Bell preter of the Federal Constitution. Efforts the Congress in Independence Hall. This make the weak Confederation into a strong Nation were both located in the Independ­ Federal State. Washington, the hero of the ence Hall group of buildings. With the close place of the Continental Congress and of the Constitutional Convention of It was not until January 1750 that the as­ to restore the bell's tone were unsuccessful. document was largely written by Thomas 1787, and the seat of Government of the United States from 1790 to 1800 new nation, was President of the Convention. of the century, however, both capitals were sembly authorized the erection of the tower The Liberty Bell is now located in Inde­ Jefferson. Perhaps the finest statement of Congress Hall. The other 54 delegates included Benjamin taken from Philadelphia. In 1799, the State on the south side of Independence Hall. It pendence Hall. Its traditional association democratic principles and rights ever penned, Franklin, James Madison, Alexander Hamil­ government was moved to Lancaster and later was "to contain a staircase, with a suitable with the leading events of the Revolution the Declaration stands today as the basis of Independence Hall into a Mall. When com­ "THE UNITED STATES was created in United States. Nor is that all. On account ton, and men of like caliber. The Conven­ to Harrisburg. In the following year the place therein for hanging a bell." In 1751, has made the Liberty Bell the most vener­ the free government of the United States. pleted, it will greatly enhance the entire Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, when the Con­ of the Declaration of Independence, it is a tion opened on May 25 and labored 4 Federal Government left Philadelphia for the bell for the State House was ordered from ated symbol of patriotism in America, and Following the Declaration of Independ­ the new capital at Washington, D.C. setting of this area. tinental Congress voted the final form of the shrine honored wherever the rights of men months. The meetings, held in the same England. The famous "Proclaim Liberty" its reputation as an emblem of liberty is ence came the long hard years of war. The Declaration of Independence. The United are honored. On account of the Constitution, chamber in which the Declaration of Inde­ inscription was intended as a 50th anniver­ worldwide. British occupied Philadelphia during the The Park States was perpetuated on September 17, it is a shrine cherished wherever the princi­ pendence had been adopted, were conducted Later History sary memorial to William Penn's Charter of winter of 1777-78 while Washington's Army 1787, when the Federal Convention com­ ples of self-government on a federal scale are The Declaration of Independence in the strictest secrecy. No other room in Independence National Historical Park Privileges of 1701. The bell received its kept watch at Valley Forge. After the de­ With Philadelphia no longer the capital pleted its work on the Constitution and re­ cherished."—CARL VAN DOREN. As opposition toward England's colonial America has ever been the scene of such was authorized by act of Congress in 1948 present name from this inscription. parture of the British, Phiadelphia again be­ either of the United States or of Pennsyl­ ferred it, through Congress, to the individual policy developed, Philadelphia, the principal political courage and wisdom. Out of the upon the recommendation of the Philadelphia came the seat of government. On November vania, Congress Hall was again used as the The Building of Independence Hall The bell arrived in Philadelphia in 1752, city of the English colonies in America, Convention came the Constitution of the National Shrines Park Commission. The States for ratification. Both these great de­ 3, 1781, the Congress officially received the County Court House. but was cracked while being tested. John naturally became the center of government. cisions were made in the same chamber in Independence Hall was originally the State United States. With amendments, it has In 1802, Independence Hall entered into purpose of this act was to provide for the Pass and Charles Stow, Jr., "two ingenious In Carpenters' Hall, near Independence news of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis what is now called Independence Hall, but House for the Province of Pennsylvania. Be­ continued as the law of the land. a new phase of its history. Charles Willson Federal Government's part in the preserva­ workmen" of Philadelphia, recast the bell. Square, the First Continental Congress met at Yorktown, Va., and was presented with was then the Pennsylvania State House. It fore it was built, the Provincial Assembly had Peale, the eminent artist, was granted per­ tion and commemoration of Independence The tone was not satisfactory, and it was cast in September 1774, to protest Great Britain's the captured colors. American independence would still be merely the old State House if no official place for its meetings, but was com­ mission to use most of the building for a Hall, Carpenters' Hall, Christ Church, and again by Pass and Stow in 1753. (The bell American policies. had been won. Philadelphia, the Capital, independence had not been achieved and if pelled "to hire a house annually." To pro­ 1790-1800 museum. This famous museum remained surrounding historic sites and buildings in the Constitution had not been ratified and put vide a regular meeting place, funds were set there until Peale's death in 1826. His paint­ Philadelphia. This activity includes coopera­ North front of State House, c. 1776. Engraved by J. Rogers after into effect. The noble building, so venerable aside for the building of a state house in The Congress Voting Independence, 1776. Painting by Robert Edge Pine and Just before Philadelphia became the Fed­ ings, purchased by the City of Philadelphia, tive agreements with three groups, which own Peale's Painting. Courtesy of Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Edward Savage. Courtesy of Historical Society of Pennsylvania. to later ages, might not even have survived, 1729. The next year the committee of the eral Capital, Independence Hall acquired form the basis for the park's present por­ major structures, and the acquisition and in­ two new neighbors of destiny. These were but might have been swept away in the surg­ assembly, having selected the south side of trait collection of Revolutionary heroes. terpretation of additional significant sites and the City Hall on the east and the County ing growth of a modern city. In that case, a Chestnut Street between Fifth and Sixth In 1818, the City of Philadelphia bought buildings east of Independence Square. The Court Building on the west. About the same few students of history would sometimes re­ Streets as a site, began to purchase the neces­ Independence Hall from the Commonwealth entire undertaking is guided by an advisory time, the American Philosophical Society, the member the site as the stage of those lost sary land.