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Independence Hall
The national landmark building
that is known as the Independence Hall is found in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, on Chestnut Street, between 5th and 6th Streets; and
is famous throughout the land as the place where the Declaration of
Independence and the United States Constitution were talked about
and adopted. The building was finished in 1753 as the Pennsylvania
State House for the province of Pennsylvania and was the meeting
place for the Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1783 and also
the site of the Constitution Convention in 1787. Today, it is part
of the Independence National Historical Park and listed as a World
Heritage Site. It is a red brick building, constructed between 1732
and 1753 in the Georgian style of architecture by Andrew Hamilton
and Edmund Woolley and built by Woolley. The highest peak is 135
feet and the construction was commissioned by the Pennsylvania
colonial legislature and was their state house. There are two
smaller buildings that are next to the hall, the Congress Hall on
the west and the old City Hall on the east, with all three sitting
on a city block called Independence Square, along with Philosophical
Hall, the first home of the American Philosophical Society. There is
a picture of the hall on the back of the $100 dollar bill and the
Kennedy bicentennial half dollar. The Assembly Room is shown on the
back side of the $2 dollar bill from an original painting by John
Trumbull, titled "Declaration of Independence". The bell tower held
the famous bell, called the Liberty Bell, but now holds a Centennial
Bell that was made for the country's centennial celebration in 1876.
The Liberty Bell and its infamous crack sit across the street in the
Liberty Bell center. In 1976, Queen Elizabeth II brought the bell on
her visit to the city to give it as a gift to the people of this
country, called the Centennial Bell, and was made in the same
foundry that the Liberty Bell was made. From 1775 to 1783, the
hall was the main meeting place of the Second Continental Congress,
with representatives from all thirteen original colonies. The
Declaration of Independence was approved on July 4, 1776, and then
read aloud in the square out front; documenting the unification of
the colonies in this country that declared their independence from
the Kingdom of Great Britain; as well as telling the Brits why.
These exciting historical events are celebrated every year, on the
fourth of July in every town, city, county, state and district of
Columbia in this fantastic nation. The delegates of the Continental
Congress elected George Washington as commander of the Continental
Army in 1775, on June 14th, in the Assembly Room of this great hall.
Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first Postmaster General of the
colonies, which was the prelude to the United States Post Office
Department. The British army came to the city in September, 1777 and
occupied the city, forcing the Congress to move to York,
Pennsylvania, where the famous Articles of Confederation were
approved in November of 1777. The Congress was able to return to
Independence Hall in July, 1778 after the British were pushed out.
In 1783, the Congress was forced to flee once more when the
Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783 occurred.
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