Second Street north from Market showing old City
Hall in left foreground, one of the meeting places of the Assembly until
the completion of the State House. Christ Church is in the
background. Engraving by William Birch, 1799. Courtesy Historical
Society of Pennsylvania.
The State House and Independence
Philadelphia, the metropolis of English America, was
destined to become even more prominent during the American Revolution.
As opposition to England's colonial policy developed in America, the
city's location near the center of colonial America naturally made it
the focal point of government. The long tension between the American
colonies and the mother country, which had led to occasional acts of
violence in the past, again erupted in 1773 when a group of Bostonians
destroyed a shipment of tea. Instead of making an effort to discover the
nature of the Americans' opposition, the English Government attempted to
punish them by closing the port of Boston.
The Americans promptly chose representatives to an
intercolonial congress which was to become known as the First
Continental Congress. This body, composed of leading citizens of the
colonies, gathered on September 5, 1774, at the City Tavern before
convening formally at Carpenters' Hall, a new building erected by the
Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia. Reluctant to adopt a course of open
defiance, the Congress sent a petition to the King asking him to restore
those rights of Englishmen which Parliament seemed determined to take
away. In answer to the English acts of coercion, the Congress turned to
economic pressure by calling upon Americans to boycott English goods.
Although the First Continental Congress protested strongly against
violations of the "rights of Englishmen" claimed for the American
colonists, no demand for independence was made.
Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Wilson, 1759. Upon
the evacuation of Philadelphia by the British, this portrait was removed
from Franklin's house by Captain Andre and carried to England. It was
returned to America in 1906 by Earl Grey and is now in the White House,
Washington, D. C.
After the first Congress adjourned on October 26,
1774, relations between the colonies and the mother country grew
steadily worse. On April 19, 1775, the Minute Men of Massachusetts
fought the British forces at Lexington and Concord, thus challenging the
armed might of the British Empire. About a month later, on May 10, the
Second Continental Congress met in an atmosphere of tension in the
Assembly Room of the State House. The governing body, forced by events,
moved from protest to resistance. Under the Presidency of John Hancock,
the Congress (in June) chose George Washington to be General and
Commander in Chief of the Army. The latter, "from his usual modesty,
darted into the library-room" when his name was first suggested by John
Adams. But after a unanimous election, Washington accepted that
commission in the Assembly Room and left shortly thereafter to assume
his most difficult duties. Despite the outbreak of warfare, this session
of the Continental Congress adjourned on August 1, 1775, without a
demand for independence.
Silver inkstand, still preserved in Independence
Hall, used during the signing of the Declaration of
Independence.
When the Congress reconvened on May 10, 1775, in the
State House. King George III had already issued a proclamation (August
23, 1775) declaring that "open and avowed rebellion" existed in the
colonies. This and other actions of the King, as well as the publication
in Philadelphia of Thomas Paine's Common Sense, caused public
sentiment in favor of independence to grow rapidly in 1776. It was a
difficult task, however, to overcome the reluctance of the conservative
delegates to make an open break.
City Tavern, where the delegates to the First
Continental Congress gathered, on the morning of September 5, 1774,
prior to their formal assembly at nearby Carpenters'
Hall. Engraving after William Birch, 1799. Courtesy Philadelphia
Free Library.
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John Hancock, president of the
Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1777. Painting
attributed to Charles Willson Peale, date unknown. Copy in Independence
National Historical Park collection.
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Not until June 7, 1776, did Richard Henry Lee, of
Virginia, acting on instructions from the Virginia Convention, offer a
resolution declaring, "That these United Colonies are, and of right
ought to be, free and independent States," and that foreign alliances
and a plan of confederation ought to be created. Then, after 2 days of
debate, consideration of the resolution was postponed for several weeks.
Meanwhile, a committee, composed of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams,
Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston was named to
draft a declaration "setting forth the causes which impelled us to this
mighty resolution." On July 2, 1776, Lee's resolution was adopted after
a heated debate in which Adams played a dominant role. Two days later,
the Congress formalized this act by adopting the Declaration of
Independence. On August 2, after it had been engrossed, the document was
signed by most members of Congress. These drastic and irrevocable
actions, in effect, marked the end of British authority in the American
colonies and the birth of the United States of America.
The Declaration of Independence is one of the
greatest statements of the principles of democracy ever penned. Written
largely by Thomas Jefferson, it expressed the thoughts and feelings not
only of the assembled delegates but also of that part of the American
people bent on freedom and independence. These thoughts, expressed in
the measured cadence of Jefferson's lines, gave the colonists a creed to
be triumphantly established: "That to secure these rights [Life, Liberty
and the pursuit of Happiness], Governments are instituted among Men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Here is
the continuing principle now permanently entrenched as the heart of
American democracy.
Carpenters' Hall, built by the Carpenters' Company
of Philadelphia, where the First Continental Congress met in
1774. Courtesy Philadelphia Free Library.
To institute such a government required the agonies
of a long, often indecisive and frequently discouraging war. Throughout
the many and hard years of the Revolution, the Congress sat in the State
House, except for periods of danger such as the occupation of
Philadelphia by the British forces from September 1777 to June 1778.
During that winter, Washington's small army endured untold hardships
while keeping watch at Valley Forge when the American cause appeared
almost hopeless.
In 1778, however, the cause received new strength.
Largely through the astute diplomacy of Benjamin Franklin, an alliance
was formed with France; and, on August 6, 1778, Conrad Alexandre Gerard,
the first French Minister to this Nation, formally presented his
credentials to Congress in the Assembly Room.
With the flow of men, money, and supplies from
France, the war was brought to a virtual conclusion at Yorktown, Va., in
1781. When Washington's dispatches reporting this victory were received
by the Congress in the State House, on October 24, celebrations and
general rejoicing were held throughout Philadelphia. About a week later,
Congress was presented with 24 stands of colors captured at
Yorktown.
Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of
Independence. Painting by Charles Willson Peale (c. 1791).
Independence National Historical Park collection.
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Richard Henry Lee, whose momentous resolution
adopted on July 2, 1776, was, in the words of John Adams, "the greatest
question . . . ever . . . debated in America, and a greater, perhaps,
never was nor will be decided among men." Painting by Charles
Willson Peale, 1784 Independence National Historical Park
collection.
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The formation of a confederation for the new nation
was an even more difficult task than obtaining agreement to the
Declaration of Independence, and steps to form such a confederation were
taken very early in the Revolution. As a matter of fact, only 8 days
after the Declaration was adopted, a draft constitution, called the
Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was first reported by a
committee to the Congress. In spite of the need for unity to meet the
enemy's threat, the States were not willing to commit themselves to the
various obligations (small though they now seem) required in the
proposed confederation. Maryland, in particular, insisted that, as a
condition of her acquiescence, certain other States first surrender
their claims to western lands. On July 9, 1778, eight States signed the
Articles of Confederation in the Pennsylvania State House. Maryland did
not accede until 4 years later, after Virginia, Massachusetts, and
Connecticut gave up their claims to the region which became known as the
Northwest Territory. However, the new Articles of Confederation, giving
the revolutionary government constitutional standing, did not begin
their short period of effectiveness until March 1, 1781.
This first frame of government did not attempt to
form a powerful national government; under the Articles of Confederation
the States retained almost the power of independent nations. However,
the Articles did create a Congress which could consider and legislate
matters affecting the Nation as a whole. Although they contained certain
weaknesses, they held together the 13 States long enough for responsible
leaders to discover the kind of government the United States must
have.
George Washington. Painting by James Peale
(c. 1787). Independence National Historical Park
collection.
During those critical years, the State House had
served the new nation well as a capitol. As already noted, it was in
this building that Congress had organized the national administration
and made the necessary plans for carrying the war through to its
successful conclusion. The Provincial Assembly of Pennsylvania,
meanwhile, having graciously relinquished its accustomed room to
Congress, had carried on as best it could in a crowded space on the
second floor of the State House.
State House as it appeared about 1776.
Lithograph based on detail from painting by Charles Willson Peale (c.
1779). Courtesy Philadelphia Free Library.
John Adams, one of the most active members of the
Continental Congress, and the "ablest advocate and defender" of the
Declaration of Independence, played a major role in the achievement of
independence. Painting by Charles Willson Peale, before 1795.
Independence National Historical Park collection.
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The occupation of Philadelphia by the British had
been a period of distress not only for the American cause but for the
State House as well. The building had first been 'used as quarters for
British troops. After the battle of Germantown, it served as a hospital
for wounded American soldiers.
These uses of the building had left it, in the words
of a member of the Congress, in "a most filthy and sordid situation,"
with "the inside torn much to pieces." Extensive cleaning and repairs
were required to refit the building for meetings of the State Government
and the Congress. The Assembly took advantage of this need for repairs
to enlarge their temporary quarters in the southeast corner of the upper
floor. This was done by removing the partition between their chamber and
the "long room." The new space then became approximately the same size
as the Assembly Room on the first floor.
The Revolutionary period also saw an alteration on
the exterior of the State Housethe removal of the badly decayed
wooden steeple above the brick tower. The Assembly considered this step
as early as 1773, but the project was not carried out until 1781. After
the steeple was removed, the brick tower was covered with a low,
sloping, hipped roof, surmounted by a slender finial.
In 1783, a body of mutinous soldiers surrounded the
State House and demanded back pay from Congress. Although the members of
Congress were unharmed, the incident led to their moving to Princeton.
The Congress of the Confederation never returned to the State House.
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