Independence Hall is a historic building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were debated and adopted by the Founding Fathers. The building is the main attraction of Independence National Historical Park and was named a World Heritage Site in 1979. It is an example of American Georgian architecture, which has symmetrical design, classical shapes, and brick walls with stone details.

Independence Hall was originally called Pennsylvania State House and was completed in 1733. It was the first capitol building of the Province of Pennsylvania and was considered "the greatest ornament in the town" at the time. The building became a symbol of freedom, democracy, and the founding of the United States. During the American Revolutionary War, the Second Continental Congress met in Independence Hall from 1775 to 1781. The Continental Army was created there on June 14, 1775, and the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776. The Constitutional Convention took place in Independence Hall from May 25 to September 17, 1787, where the U.S. Constitution was debated, written, and approved. In 1915, former U.S. president William Howard Taft led a meeting at Independence Hall where the League to Enforce Peace was formed.

The National Park, which includes Independence Hall, surrounds the building and separates it from nearby modern buildings. Security checks at the entrance help protect the building. The biggest challenges to preserving the building include the large number of visitors, damage from air pollution and acid rain, and development in the surrounding area.

Legal framework

Both the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the Constitution of the United States in 1787 were discussed, adopted, and signed at this building. Because of this, the building became a symbol of freedom and democracy and a significant step in American history. These events influenced lawmakers, political thinkers, and governmental documents worldwide. This importance led to the building being linked to events and ideas of great global value, meeting UNESCO’s criteria and earning its designation as a World Heritage Site in 1979.

The site is managed by the National Park Service, as part of Independence National Historical Park, under the National Park Service Organic Act of 1916. This law unified the management of national parks and historic sites, aiming to preserve them for public education and enjoyment for future generations.

In 1948, President Harry S. Truman established Independence National Historical Park, which includes Independence Hall, Congress Hall, the Liberty Bell, and other historic buildings. This addition strengthened the protection of Independence Hall and its World Heritage status, as the park is managed by the federal government.

The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 provides guidelines for preserving historic places and requires federal agencies to consider how their actions might affect these sites. It states that the public should have access to all parts of the property at reasonable times and that changes to the buildings or grounds must be approved by the Secretary of the Interior and the City of Philadelphia.

A General Management Plan created by the National Park Service outlines how to interpret the site, manage visitors, protect the environment, and maintain the historical value of the area. The plan balances public access with the need to preserve the building’s physical and historical features.

To keep the building’s integrity, authenticity, and global significance, as UNESCO emphasizes, it is necessary to address challenges such as pollution, the number of visitors, urban development, and limited changes to the structure. These efforts focus on stabilizing the building and protecting it from damage.

Preparation for construction

In spring 1729, plans were made to build a state house in Philadelphia, which was then the capital of the Province of Pennsylvania. About 2,000 British pounds were set aside for the project. A group of people, including Thomas Lawrence, John Kearsley, and Andrew Hamilton, was assigned to choose a building site, find construction plans, and hire a company to build the house. Hamilton and William Allen, who later became the chief justice of the Province of Pennsylvania, were chosen as trustees. They were allowed to buy land for the state house. By October 1730, they purchased land on Chestnut Street for the building. The area was a slightly sloping, grassy place on the edge of the city that had once been a camp for American Indians. The State House was located in a more suburban area rather than the city center.

By 1732, Hamilton received the official ownership papers for Lot no. 2 from surveyor David Powell, who was paid for his work. However, disagreements began among the committee members. Kearsley and Hamilton had different ideas about the state house. Kearsley, who designed Christ Church and St. Peter’s Church in Philadelphia, had his own plans for the building’s design. Hamilton also had plans. They also disagreed about where the building should be built. Kearsley wanted it on High Street, now called Market Street, while Hamilton preferred Chestnut Street. Lawrence did not share his opinion on the matter.

The disagreements grew so serious that a decision-making process was needed. On August 8, 1733, Hamilton presented the issue to the Provincial Assembly. He explained that Kearsley disagreed with his plans for the building’s location and design and said the assembly had not agreed to these choices. Three days later, Hamilton showed his plans to the assembly, and they approved them. On August 14, the assembly supported Hamilton, giving him full control over the project. The building was to be constructed on the south side of Chestnut Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets, its current location. Construction began shortly after. Workers built a foundation using rubble stone and lime mortar in the sandy clay soil. Then, wooden girders and beams were used to create the interior frame and roof. Reinforced joints, iron plates, and pins were added for strength. The outer walls were made of hard-burned bricks that were 22 to 23 inches thick.

Structure

Independence Hall has a red brick front, designed in the Georgian style. It includes a central building with a bell tower and steeple, connected to two smaller wings by arched passageways. The highest point of the steeple’s tip is 168 feet 7 + 1⁄4 inches (51.391 m) above the ground.

The State House was built between 1732 and 1753, designed by Edmund Woolley and Andrew Hamilton, and constructed by Woolley. The Pennsylvania colonial legislature paid for the building as funds became available, so it was completed in parts over time. The colonial government of Pennsylvania used the building as its State House from 1732 to 1799.

In 1752, Isaac Norris chose Thomas Stretch, the son of his friend Peter Stretch, to build the first clock for the State House. In 1753, Stretch placed a large clock at the building’s west end, resembling a tall clock (grandfather clock). The 40-foot-tall (12 m) limestone base had a 14-foot (4.3 m) wooden case around the clock’s face, carved by cabinetmaker Samuel Harding. The clock was removed around 1830. The clock’s dials were placed at the east and west ends of the main building, connected by rods to the clock’s movement in the center. A new clock, designed by Isaiah Lukens, was installed in 1828. This clock ran nonstop for eight days, with four copper dials on each side, each eight feet in diameter, and clockworks that powered a four-thousand-pound bell made by John Wilbank. The Lukens clock remained in Independence Hall until 1877.

The original clock and bell were acquired by the Pennsylvania Colonial Assembly, which is connected to the Liberty Bell’s history. By mid-1753, the clock was installed in the State House attic, but Thomas Stretch did not receive payment for it until six years later.

While the central part of the building’s shell is original, the side wings, steeple, and much of the interior were rebuilt later. In 1781, the Pennsylvania Assembly removed the wooden steeple from the main building because it had become weak and unsafe by 1773. The steeple was replaced with a brick tower covered by a hipped roof. A more detailed steeple, designed by William Strickland, was added in 1828.

The original wings and connecting corridors were demolished and replaced in 1812. These were later removed in 1898 and replaced with copies of the original wings.

The building was renovated many times during the 19th and 20th centuries. The current interior is a mid-20th-century reconstruction by the National Park Service, with public rooms restored to their 18th-century appearance.

In the summer of 1973, a replica of the Thomas Stretch clock was restored to Independence Hall.

The second-floor Governor’s Council Chamber, furnished by the National Park Service, includes a musical tall case clock made by Peter Stretch, c. 1740. Peter Stretch was a well-known clockmaker in early America and the father of Thomas Stretch.

Two smaller buildings are next to the wings of Independence Hall: Old City Hall to the east and Congress Hall to the west. These three buildings, along with Philosophical Hall, are located on a city block called Independence Square. To the north of this area is Independence Mall, which includes the current home of the Liberty Bell.

The lowest room of the original wooden steeple was the first home of the Liberty Bell. When the steeple was removed in the 1780s, the bell was moved to the highest room of the brick tower, where it stayed until the 1850s. A larger bell, the Centennial Bell, created for the 1876 Centennial Exposition, now hangs in the cupola of the 1828 steeple. The Liberty Bell, known for its crack, was displayed on the ground floor of the hall from the 1850s until 1976. It is now on display across the street in the Liberty Bell Center.

The Assembly Room is the most important room in Independence Hall. It is where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed.

Historical events

The history of Independence Hall can be divided into four main time periods. First, it was built and used as the Pennsylvania State House from 1732 to 1799. Then, it was used as a museum from 1802 to 1828. From 1818 to 1895, it became a municipal building. Finally, it has been an important historical landmark since 1898.

From May 10, 1775, to 1783, the Pennsylvania State House was the main meeting place for the Second Continental Congress, a group of representatives from the thirteen British North American colonies.

On June 14, 1775, members of the Continental Congress met in the Assembly Room of the Pennsylvania State House. They created the Continental Army and chose George Washington as its leader. A month later, on July 26, the Congress also named Benjamin Franklin as the first Postmaster General of what would later become the United States Post Office Department.

On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was officially approved in what is now called Independence Hall. The document was read aloud to the public in an area now known as Independence Square. This declaration announced that the American colonies were breaking away from the Kingdom of Great Britain and explained why they were doing so. These events are celebrated each year on U.S. Independence Day. The Declaration has 56 signatures, including John Hancock, who signed first with a very large name. His signature became a common term in the United States for a person’s name.

The Congress met in the Pennsylvania State House until December 12, 1776, when it had to leave Philadelphia because of the British occupation. During the British occupation, the Congress met in Baltimore, Maryland, from December 20, 1776, to February 27, 1777. It returned to Philadelphia from March 4, 1777, to September 18, 1777.

In September 1777, the British occupied Philadelphia again, forcing the Congress to leave once more. The Congress met briefly in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on September 27, 1777, and then in York, Pennsylvania, for nine months, from September 30, 1777, to June 27, 1778. In November 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved in York. The Congress returned to Independence Hall for its final meetings from July 2, 1778, to March 1, 1781.

Under the Articles of Confederation, the Congress of the Confederation met in Independence Hall from March 1, 1781, to June 21, 1783. After the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, Congress moved to Princeton, New Jersey, and later to other cities until the national capital, Washington, D.C., was completed in 1800.

In September 1786, leaders from five states met in the Annapolis Convention to discuss changes to the Articles of Confederation that would improve trade. They asked other states to meet in Philadelphia to improve the federal government. On February 21, 1787, the Congress of the Confederation agreed to revise the Articles. Twelve states, except Rhode Island, sent delegates to meet in June 1787 at Independence Hall.

The meeting was meant to suggest changes to the Articles, but the group decided to create a new Constitution instead. The Philadelphia Convention kept its discussions secret and closed the windows of Independence Hall during the hot summer. The result was the creation of a new government plan. On September 17, 1787, the Constitution was completed. It became effective on March 4, 1789, when the new Congress first met in New York’s Federal Hall.

Article One, Section Eight, of the United States Constitution gave Congress the power to create a federal district to serve as the national capital. After the Constitution was approved, Congress, while meeting in New York, passed the Residence Act of 1790. This law established the District of Columbia as the new capital. However, a Pennsylvania representative, Robert Morris, convinced Congress to return to Philadelphia temporarily while the new capital was being built. As a result, Philadelphia was declared the temporary capital for ten years. Congress returned to Philadelphia on December 6, 1790, and met at Congress Hall, near Independence Hall, until moving to Washington, D.C., in 1800.

After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, Lincoln’s body and the coffin of his son Willie, who had died in 1862, were taken by train from Washington, D.C., to Springfield, Illinois, for burial. The train followed the same route Lincoln had traveled in 1861 when he went to the capital as president-elect, but with some stops removed and others added. The train left Washington, D.C., for Baltimore at 8:00 a.m. on April 21, 1865.

Lincoln’s funeral train, called the “Lincoln Special,” left Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, April 22, 1865, at 11:15 a.m. It arrived in Philadelphia at Broad Street Station that afternoon at 4:30 p.m. The train was carried by hearse past a crowd of 85,000 people and placed in the Assembly Room of Independence Hall’s east wing. It was guarded by 27 naval and military officers. That evening, a private viewing was held for honored guests. The next day, on Sunday, April 23, 1865, lines formed at 5:00 a.m. Over 300,000 people viewed Lincoln’s body, with some waiting up to five hours. The Lincoln Special left Philadelphia’s Kensington Station for New York City the next morning, on Monday, April 24, 1865, at 4:00 a.m.

The symbolic use of the hall was shown on June 17, 1915, when the League to Enforce Peace was formed there. Former President William Howard Taft led the meeting. The group proposed an international governing body in which countries would agree to use their economic and military forces together to stop wars and create rules for international law.

Preservation

The original steeple was removed in 1781 because the building had structural problems. In 1812, the wings and hyphens were also removed and replaced with larger buildings designed by architect Robert Mills. A new, more detailed steeple was built in 1828 by William Strickland. The north entrance was rebuilt during this time as well.

From 1802 to 1827, artist Charles Willson Peale displayed items from his Philadelphia Museum of natural history, including the skeleton of a mastodon and portraits of famous Americans, on the second floor of the Old State House and in the Assembly Room.

In early 1816, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania sold the State House to the City of Philadelphia. A contract was signed by the governor, but the official transfer of ownership did not happen until more than two years later. Since that time, the city has owned the State House and its buildings and grounds.

In 1826, the city wanted to restore the building to its original appearance during the American Revolution. T. Mellon Rogers used original drawings to guide the work. While the second-floor walls were placed correctly, the decorative details were not accurate. In the Supreme Court Chamber, he removed the original ceiling design to lower the height. He also tore down the Mills buildings and replaced them with incorrect copies of the 1735 structures. The restoration work from 1897–98 failed to properly record and interpret historical evidence. Today’s wing buildings and arcades remain from this effort. In 1898, the Mills wings were removed and replaced with replicas of the originals, but the Strickland steeple was kept.

In 1948, the building’s interior was restored to its original look. That same year, the 80th U.S. Congress created Independence National Historical Park to protect historical sites linked to the American Revolution. The park includes four city blocks of landscaped areas and other sites like Independence Square, Carpenters’ Hall, Benjamin Franklin’s home, the reconstructed Graff House, City Tavern, restored homes, and early banks. It also holds the Liberty Bell, Franklin’s desk, the Syng inkstand, a portrait gallery, gardens, and libraries. This restoration, based on research and archaeology, set standards for historic preservation and helped revive old Philadelphia. The site is managed by the National Park Service and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, joining only a few other U.S. monuments still in use.

The Assembly Room was restored to its original appearance when the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were debated and signed. This project was the most complex one the National Park Service in Philadelphia had ever taken on. Over the years, the room’s wood paneling, furnishings, and paint colors had changed, making it hard to know its original look. Sources like receipts, books, diaries, and letters from the 1780s helped guide the work. A painting titled “Congress Voting Independence” was especially important. By 1955, furnishings from the 1780s were recreated. The paint was removed to find the original colors, revealing 18th-century wrought iron nails and 1730s brick walls. Details like the original ceiling, window, fireplace, and door openings, floor joints, wood paneling widths, and cornice designs were uncovered. Using these findings, the room was restored with wood paneling, decorative plaster, and original paint colors. The work was completed in 1965. Only necessary changes were made, and new materials were clearly different from the originals. Restorations were done in a way that allowed future changes without harming the original structure.

The tower and steeple were added in 1750. The original wooden tower was removed in 1781, even though it had started to rot in 1773. In 1828, William Strickland was hired to rebuild the steeple. Instead of copying the original design, he added a clock and more decorations. Most of the original wood and brick remain today. In the 20th century, a new steel tower was added inside the historic wooden structure to support the steeple. This was done by Keast & Hood after testing the structure. However, water damage and weather caused wood decay, rusting, and deterioration. From 2010 to 2012, repairs were made using the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Damaged wood, nails, and brick were replaced. Windows, doors, and frames were restored. The clock’s glass was replaced, and modern lighting systems were added. New wooden shingles and gold leaf were used for the weathervane. The work focused on preserving as much original material as possible, with new additions clearly distinguishable. This ensured the tower’s integrity and its preservation for future generations.

From 2017 to 2018, the North facade’s stonework was restored by the Tradesmen Group LLC, who was selected by the Nation.

Legacy

On July 16, 1987, Congress met at Independence Hall in a special meeting outside Washington, D.C., to remember the 200th anniversary of the Connecticut Compromise. This agreement helped shape how Congress was organized during the Constitutional Convention.

The 1989 movie A More Perfect Union, which shows events from the 1787 Constitutional Convention, was mostly filmed in Independence Hall.

Because of its important history, Independence Hall has been used for speeches and protests supporting democratic and civil rights movements. On October 26, 1918, Tomáš Masaryk announced the independence of Czechoslovakia on the steps of Independence Hall. National Freedom Day, which honors the efforts of African Americans to gain equality and justice, has been celebrated at Independence Hall since 1942. On July 4, 1962, President John F. Kennedy gave a speech there.

Each year from 1965 to 1969, groups called the East Coast Homophile Organizations held demonstrations for gay rights near Independence Hall on July 4.

Independence Hall has appeared on the back of the U.S. $100 bill since 1928 and on the 1975–76 bicentennial Kennedy half dollar. The Assembly Room, part of Independence Hall, is shown on the reverse of the U.S. two-dollar bill, based on the original John Trumbull painting of the Declaration of Independence.

Independence Hall inspired the design of the Pennsylvania Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, the Pennsylvania Building at the 1907 Jamestown Exposition, and the Pennsylvania Pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Many other buildings in the United States have been built to copy or resemble Independence Hall’s design, including a brick-by-brick replica near Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California.

• Independence Hall in 1799, with the wooden steeple removed
• The Governor's Council Chamber
• The Supreme Court Room
• Tower Stair Hall
• The reverse of the 1926 U.S. Sesquicentennial quarter-eagle features Independence Hall
• A 1956 U.S. postage stamp
• A 1974 U.S. postage stamp
• The reverse of a Kennedy half dollar, showing Independence Hall, issued in 1975 and 1976 to honor John F. Kennedy, the 35th U.S. president who was killed in 1963
• A U.S. $2 bill, released in 2003, showing the Committee of Five presenting the Declaration of Independence to the Second Continental Congress