National Constitution Center - We the People Today
Photo: ajay_suresh, CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
A stop on Philadelphia Independence Walk, a free self-guided tour.
You've walked through the places where the Constitution was born. This modern museum, opened on July 4, 2003, is where you can see how it still works.
The Constitution Center is a private, nonprofit museum focused entirely on the Constitution. Inside, exhibits trace how the document grew over two centuries through amendments and court cases. The original 1787 version counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person and said nothing about women voting. It took a civil war and later amendments, along with generations of people who demanded change, to widen the meaning of We the People.
The most popular room is Signers' Hall, where life-size bronze figures of the delegates stand around the room. You can walk among them and see who was tall, who was short and who refused to sign.
From the front steps you can look straight down the Mall to Independence Hall, which brings your walk full circle.
Getting here: Walk west on Arch Street to 6th Street; the National Constitution Center fills the block on the north end of Independence Mall. To finish the loop, walk south across the Mall back to the Visitor Center.
Did you know?: Signers' Hall has 42 bronze statues: the 39 men who signed the Constitution and the three delegates who stayed but refused to sign.
Photo op: From the front steps, look south down Independence Mall to frame the lawn leading to the Independence Hall tower.
More on Wikipedia: National Constitution Center · Constitution of the United States · Three-fifths Compromise
Stops on this tour
- Independence Visitor Center - Your Starting Line
- The President's House Site - Freedom and Slavery Side by Side
- Liberty Bell - A Crack Heard Round the World
- Independence Hall - Where Two Documents Were Born
- Congress Hall - Where the Capital Did Its Work
- Carpenters' Hall - The First Continental Congress
- Franklin Court - The Ghost of Ben Franklin's House
- Christ Church - The Nation's Church
- Elfreth's Alley - A Street Where People Still Live
- Betsy Ross House - The Seamstress and the Story
- Christ Church Burial Ground - A Penny for Ben Franklin
- National Constitution Center - We the People Today