Inside Independence Hall

Here is the inside. This is the stairway to the top (where the Centennial Bell now hangs.) They wouldn't let us up there. No, Mom, I didn't jump the railing.


They only let us into the two main rooms on the main floor. This one was the Pennsylvania court house. Between the windows in the back (you can hardly see it) is the seal of the state of Pennsylvania. On July 8, 1776 the British coat of arms that used to hang there was ripped down by constitutional militia after the Declaration of Independence was read to the people of Philadelphia in the courtyard outside.


Here's where the magic happened. Both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were debated and signed in this room. However, the only authentic piece of furniture is Washington's chair that stands at the back of the room.There is a half-sun on the top of the back of the chair (I bet you can't see it in my picture.) As the delegates argued over the Constitution, it was said that Benjamin Franklin sat and wondered if the sun on the chair would be a rising sun or a setting sun. It turned out that it was a rising one.