The Assembly Room - Birthplace of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution

The history teacher in me had to do this...

On April 19, 1775, the first shots of the American Revolution rang out at the Battles of Lexington and Concord. A few months later on May 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress of 56 delegates convened in Philadelphia to take charge of the war effort. One of their first acts was the creation of the Continental Army and appointment of George Washington as the commanding general. Although the Congress acted much like a central government, it still derived its power from the individual states. So when it came to talks of separating from the British Crown, several delegates had to petition their states for the authority to declare independence. One of the most influential reasons for declaring independence from Britain was to establish foreign alliances with other countries in the Old World. The Declaration of Independence was drafted to announce the United States' entry into the international system as an individual entity, a Model Treaty established commerce with other states, and the Articles of Confederation established "a firm league of friendship" among the newly independent states. Once these three documents were approved, Congress convened in the Assembly Room of the Pennsylvania State House and drafted the formal announcement of the United States Declaration of Independence which was approved on July 4, 1776 and announced in the following days. (Little known fact, the final draft wasn't completed and signed until August 2) The Continental Congress governed the United States until the Articles of Confederation were finally ratified in March of 1781.

By 1787, the states accepted that the government set up by the Articles of Confederation was not effective and therefore 55 men were elected or appointed to attend the Constitutional Congress in Philadelphia to revise the document. These delegates from every state except Rhode Island, most of whom where delegates to the Continental Congress, soon agreed an entirely new system of government was needed and began setting up a new framework. The majority of the debate surrounded the issues of representation in Congress, the power of the executive, and slave trade, and of course, a bill of rights. Through a series of compromises, the United States Constitution was completed and signed on September 17, 1787. By July of 1788, nine states ratified the Constitution and it went into effect. Soon after the first Congress convened under the new Constitution, it approved the first ten amendments and the Bill of Rights became a part of the Constitution. The Constitution as endured for over 200 years and adapted to the various changes our nation has withstood.

We owe a great deal to these men for their continued devotion to the protection of individual freedoms and perseveration of the American Democratic Experiment. I was honored and humbled to stand in the room where those brilliant men once stood and formed our nation. Although the nation they created might not be perfect, I wouldn't want to call any other home. It is our obligation now to perpetuate the very ideals they so painstakingly established in that Philadelphia Assembly Room.