Independence Hall, America’s first home

he thought of putting on a wool coat in the middle of the summer with humidity high and temperatures higher was enough to raise a rash all by itself. The windows were the only source of ventilation, and they were all locked shut. Every breath was air that had been breathed 100 times already.

But the meeting was secret. No hostile eavesdropper could linger outside the Pennsylvania State House and get information about the goings on inside.

Gathered inside were representatives from all the American states except for Rhode Island. Their mission was to reform the Articles of Confederation to better serve commerce between the states. The men gathered were leaders and men of strong opinions. Among them were several that loved the sound of their own voice and assumed that the assembly enjoyed it as much.

But even with all the heated opinions and the interior misery in the breathless room, the men began to form a consensus. What America needed wasn’t a mere reformation of the Articles of Confederation, they needed a brand-new style of government. They needed to blend the principles of democracy with the mechanics of a republic.

Three different branches of government must each provide counterbalance to the other two. It would be a stable government. Just as a three-legged stool is always stable, the branches would share equally in promoting and supporting the national well-being without being able to seize too much control.

The new constitution was written and rewritten. It had to be perfect. How many times in the history of the world had men gathered for such a purpose? Personal ambition, or a yen for power or authority was to be thwarted by the voice of a self-governing people. They built the structure to last forever, like a Roman arch with freedom as the keystone.

This wasn’t the first gathering of worldchanging importance held in the Pennsylvania State House. More than a decade earlier, some of the very same men had gathered to codify the separation from British oppression. They created a document declaring themselves independent from British rule.

That meeting, though not as secret as the later Constitutional Convention, was also held in the height of the summer heat. Debate raged. Thomas Jefferson wrote and rewrote the document. The original Declaration of Independence written by Jefferson had a clause denouncing King George’s support of the slave trade. That clause threatened to dissolve the potential unity of the colonies, with Southern colonies refusing to endorse it if that clause was left in. Jefferson, a slave holder himself, fatefully removed the clause.

Almost 100 years later, the building where the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution had been debated and ultimately signed, held the body of Abraham Lincoln in state on its way back to Illinois for interment. The clause had been returned, and slavery ended, at the cost of over 600,000 American lives.

Hall of respect

The Pennsylvania State House eventually was renamed Independence Hall. It has an open lower meeting room and more open areas and offices on the upper floor. A magnificent clock tower was part of the original structure and has been replaced over the years to be like the original.

The building is 107 feet long and 44 feet wide. The first floor where the action happened has a central hall with the 1,520-square-foot gathering room where the conventions were held on the east side of the building and an almost identically sized courtroom on the west side.

The first time we tried to tour Independence Hall, we learned that there were no tickets available, regardless of the fact that we were there in plenty of time. It’s regulated by the number of tourists and not the time of the day.

The second time I went to see it, we got our tickets online in advance and had no problem.

People speak in hushed voices and treat the hall with due reverence as the birthplace of freedom, with justice and liberty for all.

Only in America. God bless it!