Independence Hall, Philadelphia
Here's a little look into the historical side I saw while in Philadelphia.
First, I suppose an explanation is due as to why this was such a discovery for me: I have never liked American history. As a kid growing up in Malaysia it irked me to have to learn about dates and people halfway around the world and two centuries ago, made to sound like they were all as holy as Bible characters. I could never keep the people, eras, wars and places straight. The stories were dry and flat, from a country and time in which everything was unfamiliar, from the houses, to the fashions, to the interest in politics.
I was much more intrigued by having to learn the full name of our king in Malaysia. Just in case you are interested, the name of our king at that time was "Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tunku Ismail Nasiruddin Shah-ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Zainal Abidin." Pretty cool, huh?
Much more interesting than Thomas Jefferson or Benjamin Franklin. What I didn't understand was how wise and truly world-changing the ideas of Jefferson, Franklin and others were, compared to our rather nothing-ish Yang di-Pertuan in his fancy clothes.
Fast forward to 2007. I went out for a walk on Saturday morning, thinking I'd get to the river, which I could see from my hotel room window. Walking down Market Street with a feeling of well-being in the relative quiet of early morning in a big city, I was brought up short by the sudden end of modern skyscrapers. Lawn stretched out on both sides of the street, and up to the right was the little building pictured at the top of this post. It should have been overpowered by the tall buildings around it, but instead it was the kind of building that, the minute you see it, you can't see anything else.
Independence Hall. And to the right front of it was the long, low structure housing the Liberty Bell.
I got to see it when we took a tour on Saturday afternoon. We were fortunate to have an energetic National Park Service tour guide who is in love with history, with the ideas that flowed from these men who shaped our country, and with the buildings in which he works. He started by taking us into the colonial courtroom on the right side of Independence Hall as you face it. Having been to Williamsburg some years ago, I thought to myself, "Just another colonial room."
Nope. He told of how the colonial court worked on the model of the British justice system. Then he pointed out that "cage" you see on the front right side of the picture above. That, he said, is the "dock." It's where the prisoner/defendant stands during the entire trial. In the system back then, he pointed out, the defendant was presumed guilty until it was proven otherwise--thus the bars around him.
Immediately my mind flew to the title of a book by C.S. Lewis, which I haven't yet read:
God in the Dock. I'd always pictured a boat tied up at a pier when I heard that title. I suddenly realized that the book is about putting God on trial, presumed guilty until proven otherwise, with the rest of us sitting there in our mortal audacity, judging the Judge of the Universe. And now I have that one on my "to read" list.
Next, we went across the hall to the assembly room, where George Washington was declared the commander of the Continental Army in 1775, where the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776, and where the Constitution was drafted in 1787. I kept wondering: And why did Philadelphia not become the capital of this new country back then?
Our guide pointed out the chair at the front and center of the room, the actual chair where George Washington sat presiding over the drafting of the constitution. On the back of the chair, up top at the middle, is a painting of a rising sun. The task of developing the constitution was rather contentious through the four months that they worked on it. Benjamin Franklin was concerned that it gave the federal government too much power. But at the end, he remarked that although he'd wondered often during those months whether the sun was rising or setting, "now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting Sun."
It used to be that the Liberty Bell was housed in the tower over Independence Hall, but it now is in a low, long building across the street. There's a fascinating display to walk through on your way to see the bell, showing how the bell has been a symbol for hope and freedom all around the world in different times. Why?
What I didn't know is that there is a Bible verse cast into the design of the bell, inscribed right around the top of it. It comes from Leviticus 25:10 and reads, "Proclaim liberty throughout all the Land unto all the inhabitants thereof." William Penn chose that verse to symbolize the right to worship according to conscience--a defining concept behind the founding of the state of Pennsylvania. In the mid-1800s the abolitionists started calling the bell the "liberty bell;" they took it on as a symbol of freedom from slavery. Since then the liberty bell with its inscription has been a symbol for women's right to vote, for the civil rights movement in the United States, and for people from around the world seeking freedom from oppression.
And about that crack? Well, I found out that no one knows exactly why or when it cracked. It just did, and despite one attempt to repair the crack, the bell hasn't rung since 1846.
We don't do Christmas presents.
