In our last blog post we kicked off our tour of Revolutionary Philadelphia, with an overview of the city’s history from Native American peoples to Colonial era and founding of America. Philadelphia’s Independence Hall is arguably the birthplace of The United States, as it is the location where The Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, and played host to The Constitutional Convention of 1787. These two documents helped laid the groundwork for the ideals of freedom, aspiration of equality and democracy for the whole world.
In this edition of American Nomad, we’re going to take a visit to Independence Hall, traveling through time to learn about the events leading up to the Revolutionary War and tour Independence Hall.
As we journey through these historical moments, let us remember that the events of 1776 and 1787 are not merely relics of the past; they are living inspirations that should drive all Americans to engaged citizenship.
For me, this trip to Independence Hall held special significance. As a descendant of Thomas Heyward Jr., a signer of the Declaration of Independence from South Carolina, I’ve long felt a pull towards the very ground where the seeds of independence were sown. And, adding another layer to my connection, I’m also a cousin of Thomas Jefferson on my father’s side. The opportunity to walk in the footsteps of my ancestors, to connect with their legacy and the birth of our nation, was truly profound.
Destination: Independence National Historical Park…
Nicknamed “America’s Most Historic Square Mile” and “The Birthplace of the United States,” Independence National Historical Park, nestled in the heart of Philadelphia’s Old City and Society Hill districts, spans 55 acres of pivotal American history. At its core stands Independence Hall, where both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were debated, adopted, and signed.
Managed by the National Park Service, the park invites visitors to explore a wealth of significant buildings and artifacts that embody the founding ideals of American democracy and the pursuit of freedom. Highlights include the iconic Liberty Bell, a meticulously reconstructed Declaration House (where Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence), and the historic Congress Hall, among many others. Learn more about park highlights here.
Start at the Independence Visitor Center…
I recommend starting your revolutionary adventures at the Independence Visitor Center, which is located steps away from Independence Hall. This state of the art visitor center provides interactive exhibits, an orientation video and trip planning assistance. Rangers are on-site to answer historical and park questions, while local Philly tour experts can provide insight into other fun activities and museums in the area. Official website
The Philly tour expert who assisted us was extremely helpful, cluing up into must see exhibits at The Museum of the American Revolution and National Constitution Center. You can reserve and purchase tickets for a number of park sites and area museums within the visitor’s center, but I recommend in planning your trip to purchase tickets in advance online if possible. This way you don’t have to worry about tours of Independence Hall and other historical hotspots selling out of timed entry tickets.
The tour of Independence Hall takes about twenty minutes and you can purchase tickets online here.
After our tour of the visitor center, my mom and I made our way to the twelve p.m. tour of Independence Hall. A veteran ranger tour guide led us on a journey through time as we stepped through the hallowed halls that witnessed the birth of American independence and democracy.
As you step instead, the presence of history comes alive. Our guide led us down a corridor, turning left to a large space that once served as a courtroom.
“The original name of the building you are standing in was not Independence Hall, but rather The State House of Pennsylvania,” The ranger explained. “The building was originally constructed in 1732, and finally completed in 1753 to serve as the state legislative building for Pennsylvania’s democratically elected assembly. The room we are currently standing in was used as a courtroom. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania heard their cases in this room beginning around 1743. Criminals accused of capital offenses, piracy and admiralty cases and civil cases such as divorce were tried by a jury of their peers.”
He drew our attention to the courtroom’s highlights: the judge’s bench, the jury boxes, the prisoner’s dock, and the lawyer’s table. He told us that back then, criminals had to stand in the prisoner’s dock, right in front of the jury, and couldn’t sit with their lawyers. He explained how this changed over time, as the justice system realized it could unfairly prejudice the jury against the accused.
Other courts later used this room, and it even served as a museum in the late 1800s. Read more about the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chamber through time.
The Pennsylvania Coat of Arms above the judges’ bench was placed there in 1785. Originally the Coat of Arms of King George III of Great Britain hung over the judges’ bench, until on July 8th, 1776, following The Declaration of Independence, members of the Pennsylvania Associators removed the symbol of the King from the wall and later destroyed it.
Having absorbed the history of the courtroom, we walked across the hall to the Assembly Room, where American democracy itself was conceived. Within these sacred walls, the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were debated, approved, and ultimately forged.
“The room is set up to resemble how it would have looked during The Constitutional Convention of 1787,” The ranger explained as we crowded into the room. I felt a chill ripple down my spine as I realized the magnitude of the space I was standing in. The simple Georgian architecture didn’t have any pomp or revealing characteristics that in this room, democracy was formed for a new nation…and in a strange way the ordinariness of the room made it all the more meaningful.
The ranger proceeded to give us a brief history of the events leading up to the signing of The Declaration of Independence, followed by a summary of the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
The Declaration of Independence:
Why Independence?
Between 1607 to 1733, the British Empire established thirteen colonies along the Atlantic Coast of North America, Each of these colonies had slightly different forms of self-government, but were all loyal and under the jurisdiction of The British crown.
For years this arrangement worked out well, as the colonies would help British trade, while under the protection of the British Empire. In 1756, a global war in Europe, found its way onto American soil with the outbreak of the French and Indian War (also known as the Seven Years War). This war pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against the French colonists (Canada and the western frontier). Each side formed alliances with various Native American tribes. The French had a population of 60,000 settlers, against nearly 2 million British colonists. The outnumbered French heavily relied on their native allies. The war was arduous and extremely expensive for both sides. Britain ended up winning, with the French ceding all of its lands east of The Mississippi, including Quebec to England.
Even though the French and Indian War, or the Seven Years’ War as it was known in Europe, was a worldwide war fought across North America, Europe, and India, Britain insisted that the colonists share the financial burden, arguing that the empire’s protection justified their contribution. Britain believed its involvement in the war enabled colonists to expand into the Ohio Valley, previously held by France.
Despite its apparent logic, Britain’s decision to recover that debt through exorbitant taxes, levied without granting the colonies direct representation in Parliament, would ignite the flames of the American Revolution.
When Parliament enacted the infamous Stamp Act in 1765, two years after the end of the French-Indian War, colonists felt betrayed. The colonists resisted insisting that Parliament could not tax them as British subjects were only allowed to be taxed with representation. Colonial boycotts of British imports pressured Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act in March 1766. However, in a display of resentment, Parliament simultaneously passed the Declaratory Act, asserting its absolute authority over the colonies. The realization that colonists were not afforded the same privileges as other British citizens infuriated many colonials, who unp to that point had been proud of their British citizenship.
Though deeply angered by this treatment, the colonists initially held onto hopes for reconciliation. Yet, as their rights were increasingly violated, they became more receptive to the cause of independence.
Eventually this tension erupted into war, with the shots fired between American patriots and The British at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775.
At this time, the idea of independence and full out war with Britain still seemed rash and impossible, and yet those shots ignited a storm of freedom that started the American Revolution.
In response to Lexington and Concord, on May 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania State House to address the escalating hostilities. Delegates elected John Hancock of Massachusetts as presiding officer, and John Adams nominated George Washington to command the Continental Army.
They had an army and fighting would continue, but still the Continental Congress initially sought peace. In July 1775, they sent King George III the Olive Branch Petition, a plea for peace and an end to the fighting. However, King George III rejected it, declaring the colonies in open rebellion.
January 1776 saw the arrival in Philadelphia of Thomas Paine, a newly arrived Englishman, just as the Continental Congress grappled with the colonies’ relationship with England. Thomas Paine published a pamphlet called ‘Common Sense,’ that would help inspire Thomas Jefferson and others in their quest to declare independence. Paine urged Americans to create a new form of government – a modern republic, based entirely on popular consent. Within a few months of its publication, Common Sense had 200,000 copies in circulation.
Capitalizing on the burgeoning public support, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a resolution for independence from England on June 7th. Though the delegates remained divided, they agreed to appoint a committee to draft a declaration justifying the American colonies’ right to form an independent nation.
The committee consisted of five delegates: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston and Roger Sherman. The Declaration was written mostly by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia in a rented room, now called The Declaration House.
On July 2nd, 1776, the Continental Congress passed The Lee Resolution for Independence, and for the next two days tweaked the final Declaration before approving it formally on July 4th 1776.
*Fun fact, while The Declaration was approved on July 4th, it wasn’t signed until August 2nd as it had to be prepared and embossed.
- It is important to consider what each of the delegates risked in signing the Declaration of Independence – it would be considered treason against King George III and could lead to possibly hanging.
- Benjamin Franklin voiced this need for unity even in the face of reprisal with his quote: “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately”
- My ancestor, Thomas Heyward Jr. Along with fellow South Carolina delegate Edward Rutledge were both captured by The British after the fall of Charleston in 1780. They were then imprisoned in St. Augustine. Learn more here: https://www.dsdi1776.com/signer/thomas-heyward-jr/
Once the Declaration was formally released, it was most likely filed in the Philadelphia office of Charles Thomson, who served as the Secretary of the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1789, until on December 12, threatened by the British, Congress adjourned and reconvened 8 days later in Baltimore, MD. A light wagon carried the Declaration to Baltimore, where it remained until its return to Philadelphia in March of 1777.
On January 18, 1777, while in Baltimore, Congress ordered the second official printing of the document. In the first printing, only the names of John Hancock and Charles Thomson were included.
On January 18, 1777, while the Declaration was still in Baltimore, Congress, bolstered by military successes at Trenton and Princeton, ordered the second official printing of the document. The July 4 printing had included only the names of John Hancock and Charles Thomson, and even though the first printing had been promptly circulated to the states, the names of subsequent signers were kept secret for a time because of fear of British reprisals. By its order of January 18, however, Congress required that “an authentic copy of the Declaration of Independency (as they called it), with the names of the members of Congress subscribing to the same, be sent to each of the United States, and that they be desired to have the same put upon record.” The “authentic copy” was duly printed, complete with signers’ names, by Mary Katherine Goddard in Baltimore.
Throughout the war, the original Declaration traveled with The Continental Congress from Baltimore to Lancaster, PA and York PA
While the original embossed signed copy is on display in The National Archives in DC, Independence Park has a copy on display in the West Wing of Independence Hall. The American Philosophical Society and Museum of American Revolution, also have original copies of The Declaration of Independence on display in Philadelphia.
Did you know?
When British troops occupied Philadelphia during The American Revolution they used the upstairs of Independence Hall (The Long Gallery) as a hospital for American Prisoners of War.
Thomas Jefferson on The Declaration of Independence:
Thomas Jefferson to Henry Lee, 8 May 1825 (abridged)
“When forced, therefore, to resort to arms for redress, an appeal to the tribunal of the world was deemed proper for our justification. This was the object of the Declaration of Independence. Not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we are compelled to take. Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion…All its authority rests then on the harmonizing sentiments of the day, whether expressed in conversation, in letters, printed essays, or in the elementary books of public right, as Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Sidney, &c. …” source
Constitutional Convention of 1787:
Following the Declaration of Independence, The Continental Congress set about to create a new government in 1777 in York Pennsylvania, known as The Articles of Confederation. It was formally adopted after the war, but quickly proved to be too weak to unite the colonies, especially on matters of commerce, currency (each colony had their own money) , trade, and foreign policy (federal government had control but states went against it at times, causing problems).
In May 1787, delegates from twelve states (Rhode Island did not attend) met at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia (aka Independence Hall) in the same location where the Declaration was signed 11 years earlier.
General George Washington was asked to preside over the Convention as it would provide legitimacy given his esteem as the war hero of The American Revolution.
The initial goal was to simply revise The Articles of Confederation, but it became apparent that the current system of government was too flawed to be fixed.
Edmund Randolph of Virginia proposed The Virginia Plan, which called for a new frame of government rather than modifying the Articles of Confederation. Under this plan, the government would have three branches:
- Legislative branch with a Congress to make laws
- Executive Branch with a president to execute the laws
- Judicial Branch with a court system to enforce laws.
Fellow Virginian, James Madison authored this new plan.
Over the coming months Congress debated and worked out a series of compromises to finalize this Constitution. One of the major concerns was the power of large states over smaller states, this is one of the reasons Rhode Island didn’t even show up. The compromise ended up being that The House of Representatives would be by population, whereas each state would have equal representation (two senators) in the Senate.
Some delegates like George Mason of Virginia, were mostly in favor of the Constitution but didn’t believe it went far enough. He advocated for a Bill of Rights and did not approve the Constitution as it lacked a Bill of Rights. Eventually The Bill of Rights was added in 1791.
Once the constitution was approved on September 17th, 1787, the real battle began. Each state had to ratify the Constitution and in order to draw support a series of Federalist papers (now known to be written by Madison, Jay and Hamilton) were published.
Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution and is thus known as ‘the first state in the U.S.’
We’ll dive deeper into The Constitution during our visit to The National Constitution Center in a future post.
More than ever, Americans must prioritize studying the Constitution to ensure they fully comprehend their rights as citizens. A visit to Independence Hall renewed my passion for Civics and revisiting The Constitution and its importance today.
The moment of the tour that ignited a flame as a citizen was when the ranger pointed to the chair that George Washington used during The Constitutional Convention. This chair has an emblem of a sun.
As the delegates departed the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin, observing the emblem on the back of George Washington’s chair, concluded that the United States was a rising sun, symbolizing a new dawn for the nation.
When leaving the convention on September 17, 1787 after its approval, Franklin was stopped by Philadelphian Elizabeth Willing Powel, who asked: “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”
Franklin answered: “A republic if you can keep it.”
Those words should also inspire us today to our active role in citizenship. The Constitution, though written by our founding fathers nearly 250 years ago, is not a stale set of rules, but a living document and form of government for and by the people.
The forming of a Democratic Republic…
Once the Constitution was approved, Congress held the first national election. The electoral college unanimously voted for George Washington as the first president of the United States, with John Adams serving as Vice President.
A decision was made to construct a new capital for the nation, which would ultimately become Washington D.C. In the interim from 1790 to 1800, Philadelphia served as the capital. The buildings attached to Independence Hall, where the early Supreme Court and Congress convened, are still open to the public.
Nearby you can also explore an open air museum located where the original President’s House stood. The home was torn down in 1830. More about President’s House here.
Next to the ‘President’s House,’ you can enter the iconic Liberty Bell museum.
I will dedicate my next post specifically to The Liberty Bell, but here is a quick summary:
In 1751, the Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly ordered a new bell for the State House. He asked that a Bible verse be placed on the bell: Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land Unto all the inhabitants thereof—Leviticus 25:10. As the official bell of the Pennsylvania State House, today called Independence Hall, it rang many times for the public announcements, but we remember times like July 8, 1776 when it may have announced the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.
Other must see sites in Independence Historical Park…we will continue to explore additional park sites in the coming weeks, but here is a snapshot of must see spots NPS run sites in the vicinity of Independence Hall:
Declaration House – reconstruction of the building where Thomas Jefferson wrote The Declaration of Independence
Old City Hall – where the first Supreme Court met from 1790- to 1800
Dolley Payne Todd (later Madison) House…Home of future first lady Dolley Madison. She lived here with her first husband Mr. Todd, until he and her young child died from the Yellow Fever Epidemic that terrorized the city in 1793.
Second National Bank – Portrait Gallery
For a complete list of Independence Park sites click here
Next time on American Nomad, we’ll be exploring the Liberty Bell…Don’t forget to subscribe for the latest blog updates:
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About American Nomad: Written by travel and history lover Adele Lassiter…Adele is also a singer-songwriter who released her debut EP, also titled American Nomad, in 2024. Available for purchase here:
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