Independence Hall - Where Two Documents Were Born

A stop on Philadelphia Independence Walk, a free self-guided tour.

This red brick building with the white tower began as the Pennsylvania State House, finished in the 1750s. It's where the colonies, and then the young country, made their biggest decisions.

In 1775 the Second Continental Congress met here and named George Washington to lead the army. On July 2, 1776, the delegates voted for independence, and on July 4 they approved the wording of the Declaration of Independence, mostly written by Thomas Jefferson.

Eleven years later, in the summer of 1787, delegates returned to the same room to write the Constitution. They worked in secret with the windows often closed in the heat, and signed it on September 17. That document created the government the country still uses, but it also protected slavery and left out women and Native nations.

If you tour the Assembly Room, look for the chair Washington used, with a half sun carved on its back.

Getting here: Cross Chestnut Street from the Liberty Bell Center; Independence Hall is directly in front of you.

Did you know?: At the end of the Convention, Benjamin Franklin reportedly said he had decided the sun carved on Washington's chair was a rising sun, not a setting one.

Photo op: Stand on the north side of Chestnut Street to frame the full facade and its tall clock tower.

More on Wikipedia: Independence Hall · United States Declaration of Independence · Constitutional Convention · Thomas Jefferson

Independence Hall - Where Two Documents Were Born

Stops on this tour