A Photographic Tour of Independence Hall

Lynn ShradleySocial Studies in the Elementary

Dr. Randall Pellow December 2, 2002

Why is Independence Hall so important?

• “Most ambitious public building in the 13 colonies” at the time• “The birthplace of the United States”•Until 1799 the building served as the meeting place of the provincial and state governments.•Second Continental Congress met there•Declaration of Independence was adopted there•The Articles of Confederation drafted and ratified• Constitution of the United States were debated, drafted and signed there.

•In Independence Hall, George Washington presided over the debate which ran from May to September 1787. On June 21, 1788, it was approved and it became effective in March 1789.

The Basics...•Built in 1732 as the Pennsylvania State House•Not completed until 1753 as it was built and paid for in pieces•Architects were Edmund Woolley and Andrew Hamilton•Andrew Hamilton, the original “Philadelphia Lawyer,” oversaw the planning and worked to guarantee its completion•Built in Gregorian style•Located on Chestnut Street between 5th and 6th Streets

Features of the Hall

The Spire•The present spire which tops the tower proper was added by William Strickland in the restoration of 1828 -- a fact not generally known.

Features of the Hall

The Clock•From the square on the south side of the building, the great outdoor clock can be seen. In 1972 the National Park Service replaced the clock, which was originally set into the west wall in 1752 and removed in 1828. A 14-foot carved replica of the remarkable clock head was installed on top of the 40-foot soapstone case structure.

Features of the Hall•Outside the front of the hall, two bronze markers are set in the flagstone pavement. One commemorates the flag-raising here by Abraham Lincoln (pictured), February 22, 1861. The flag he raised had 34 stars, the last one for Kansas, which had just been admitted to the Union. The other marker is to John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who spoke on the spot July 4, 1962.

Features of the Hall

The Statue•In front of the entrance is a statue of George Washington, erected in 1869. It was paid for by schoolchildren who started saving and donating their pennies starting in 1860.

Features of the HallThe Pennsylvania Assembly RoomTo the left of the entrance hall is the Pennsylvania Assembly Room. Here the delegates from the thirteen colonies gathered and by July 4, 1776, had adopted the Declaration of Independence.The most important treasures in the room are the chair used by Washington during the Constitutional Convention, with its rising sun carved on its back and the silver inkstand used for the signing of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Features of the Hall

Across the hall from the Assembly Room is the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chamber with the coat of arms of the Commonwealth above the bench. There are a prisoner's dock and jury boxes. Prisoners stood in the dock throughout the course of their court proceedings -- hence the expression “to stand trial."

Features of the Hall

The Governor’s Council Chamber

To the left on the second floor is the Governor's Council Chamber. In it, there are eight chairs and an armchair surrounding a table. This is the chamber where William Penn's sons and grandsons, or their appointed representatives, presided over the Provincial Council, the highest legislative body in the colony. It was a working council room, with its grandfather's clock, telescope and two terrestrial globes.

Features of the HallThe Long Gallery dominates the second floor.• The chamber, when completed in 1745, was the largest public room in the Province of Pennsylvania. •Suppers, balls and Grand Illuminations were held here to honor the great or mark public events.

The other room on this floor is the Committee or Assembly's Chamber. •From 1747 to 1752 it served as a combined committee room and library for the Pennsylvania Assembly. It was then given over to the militia of the city of Philadelphia for the storage of supplies and small arms. •1775 the Pennsylvania Assembly temporarily convened here, while the first floor chamber was occupied by the Continental Congress.

In 1777 the British occupied the state house and converted these rooms into hospital wards for captured and wounded soldiers.

Other interesting facts•Independence Hall was used for parties in the 19th century. Among the guests of honor were Presidents Jackson, Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Fillmore, Pierce and Buchanan. Among those illustrious Americans who have lain in state here are Abraham Lincoln, Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams and the Arctic explorer Elisha Kent Kane.

•The basement once served as the city's dog pound.

•The second floor was once home to Charles Willson Peale's museum of natural history.

Independence Hall has undergone many restorations through the year. It was notably

renovated by Greek revival architect John Haviland in 1830, and by a committee from the National Park

Service in 1950 to return it to its original 1776 appearance.