And now... time to tour Philly! My coworker, Paul, and I decided to make the most of our time here and set out in search of historic Philadelphia! We found it, as you can see in the pictures:
Pictures (Same as in the last post, in case you didn't see the last post) HERE.
Our hotel is only six blocks or so from Independence Hall, so that was a natural place to start! We had a bit of an adventure getting tickets, but the folks at the Visitor Center were very helpful, and gave us plenty of information on where to go and what to see to get the most out of our day. Definitely stop at the Independence Visitor Center first... you have to so you can get a ticket to Independence Hall. =)
Anyway, we went inside with a big group and a park ranger, and the first thing we found out was that... we had no idea what building we were in! We all thought we were in Independence Hall, but nooooo! We were actually in the Pennsylvania State House! It was built in 1732, the same year my boy George Washington was born. What's interesting is that it wasn't even called Independence Hall till 1824 when the Marquis de Lafayette called it that on a trip to Philadelphia. The park ranger who was our guide gave us a whole spill about the importance of Philadelphia in the Revolution, and he talked a lot about the events leading up to the Revolution--starting with the French and Indian War in 1753. That's when tensions really started coming up because the King of England decided to tax the Colonies to make up for the money England lost on the war. Well, we obviously didn't like that! The three main things that happened over the years that pushed us over the edge were the Quartering Act, the Boston Massacre (John Adams actually defended the British soldiers who killed the Colonists and got them off the hook--Adams knew what kind of backlash they'd get if the Colonists killed the British soldiers, guilty or not!), and the Boston Tea Party (which, by the way, would have cost over $1 million in today's dollars!).
So those events and several others led us up to the "Committee of 5" (aka: Jefferson's writing the Declaration of Independence pretty much on his own). The Continental Congress basically said we needed to make a stand, but no one knew how to go about telling the King about it... so they shoved it off on 32-year old Jeff--the second youngest person there!
And the next order of business to get straight... there are several important dates associated with the Declaration of Independence, not just July 4--that's just the day they approved it! June 28 was the day Jefferson presented it; the others scrutinized it for several days; July 2 is the day Independence was actually DECLARED! The British army and naval fleet arrived in New York that day, and we were having none of that! The fourth was the day Congress agreed on it and officially adopted it. John Dunlap printed up copies and distributed them, and July 8 was the very first time the Declaration of Independence was ever read in public--in the courtyard of the PA State House!
Fancy that! We moved to the room next door: the court room. Most of these folks were lawyers, same as today. But the room is set up quite different from ours nowadays. All the lawyers sat together at one table, instead of the prosecution at one table and the defense at the other. And the person on trial was locked up in a "prisoner's Dock" in the middle of the floor! The jury could see him locked up, and of course that made people think he was guilty, even if he wasn't. (That's why we don't have court rooms set up that way anymore.) Another interesting thing about the court room is the seal of PA above the judge's chair. You know what used to be there? The King's coat of arms! And you know what happened to it? They burned it on July 8, 1776, the day the Declaration of Independence was read! Take that! =)
And then we came to the very place where both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were drafted, deliberated, and signed: the Assembly Room! I'm such a nerd for being impressed and excited about this stuff, but I love it! It makes me feel like an American to be in the same rooms and buildings as these people and think about what happened and what kinds of things must have been going through their minds. Ben Franklin felt the need to remind his comrades that "We must all hang together, gentlemen, else we shall most assuredly hang separately." What must Jefferson have been thinking when they were scrutinizing and "correcting" his writing? Was he sure he wanted to sign it with all the changes that had been made? Did he feel better about it and have confidence in his own writing? Did they know the effect this would have on the future generations?
Onward we went! Next up we saw Congress Hall, which was the first building similar to our Capitol building. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate met there and had offices upstairs. There's a bust of Ben Franklin above the door to Congress Hall, and so of course I had to ask why him and not someone else? The park ranger said that was actually the first order of business when the building started to be used. Ben Franklin died in 1790, the same year that the capitol moved from New York to Philly. The congressmen wanted a way to commemorate Dr. Franklin, so the first thing they did was raise money for a statue of Ben. And there he sat, overlooking their every move for the next 10 years! The park ranger on duty in there was excellent. He made a great point saying that Congress Hall is just as important as, if not more important than, Independence Hall. If the things that took place in Congress Hall had not been successful, all the things that started in Independence Hall never would have mattered. It's true!
Next stop: The Supreme Court! It's on the other side of Independence Hall from Congress Hall, and it's surprisingly small inside. Lots of things were debated and decided there, too. To be a fly on the wall...
And on we went to see the Liberty Bell! I found out that it's not a "crack"; it's a "gap." I found out no one really knows how it cracked at first, but after they fixed it, the thing cracked again: bigger and better than before! People noticed it started making a buzzing sound instead of a ringing sound, and not long afterward, it split that second time. So of course, philosophical types found all kinds of symbolism in the fact that it now had a gap in it. It is enduring, yet it's imperfect, like our young nation, they would say. I didn't realize this before, but after the Civil War, the Liberty Bell actually made a cross-country trip to encourage people and rouse their feelings of liberty. Nice. =)
Next stop, the National Constitution Center. Honestly, save your money. Paul and I weren't all that impressed. It was ok, and it was air conditioned, but there was a definite agenda going on in there. The coolest part was at the ver end. There's a room called Signers' Hall, and there are life-sized, bronze statues there of everyone who signed the Declaration of Independence! I got pictures with a few of them, and we were off to visit with Betsy Ross!
The house is pretty cool, given its age, and Betsy Ross was really there! ;) I even got my picture with her. It's a small museum, but I liked seeing the way she would have lived and learning about the things that impacted her. She couldn't tell anyone that she sewed a flag (perhaps the first, perhaps not), but we learned that George Washington did, in fact come to her house personally and ask her to make one! He told her what he wanted, but Betsy didn't think a 6-pointed star would look as good as a 5-pointed star (and the 5-pointed one was easier for her to make, too!), so she convinced him to let her do the stars in the same way we still have them now! She's buried out beside the house with her third husband--she survived three husbands, by the way... she was a trooper for sure! She was also a Quaker, until she married a man who was not and was read out, just like many others were back in the day. She then attended Christ Church (Episcopal), which is just a couple of blocks from her house! Anyway, like I said, she had to keep it a secret that she had made a flag during the Revolution, and afterward she still didn't talk about it. It wasn't until after her death that her nephew started telling people the story--and that's how we got the information we know today! It's all very conspicuous, but it's a good story, and it might be true! =)
And now we were hungry! Just a couple blocks down was the City Tavern, which is a Colonial restaurant much like Gadsby's, so of course I had to try it out! I got the duckling, which was awesome! The waitstaff dresses up all Colonial like we do at Gadsby's, and they do the whole fine dining thing with pretty place settings and all that. And they have amazing desserts! =) I got the blueberry cobbler with cinnamon ice cream. Hooray. =) I got a lot of info on the history of their tavern, which is part of the reason I wanted to go!
And by this time, we were pooped! We both needed a little bit of a rest before going to work that night--whew! Stay tuned for the next day, when we ventured out for a walking tour with a native Philly guide!
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