Independence Hall, Philadelphia, was originally built for the Pennsylvania State House. It is one of America's great pilgrimage sites -- a temple dedicated to the nation's founding -- for it was here that the Liberty Bell rang out, that the Second Continental Congress debated actions against the British, that Richard Henry Lee's resolution declaring independence was passed (July 2, 1776), that the Declaration of Independence was adopted (July 4, 1776), and that the U.S. Constitution was debated and crafted (from late May till September 17, 1787).

This lamp on the southwest corner of Independence Hall is a fitting symbol of the influence the English and Scottish enlightenments had on the founding generation. The founders were not much influenced by the French Enlightenment, the thought of which tended to be more abstract, utopian, and ideological than that of the English and Scottish enlightenments.

The founders, even the most deistic among them, were also thoroughly informed by Judeo-Christian teachings.

Congress Hall. The seat of government was moved from New York City to Philadelphia in December 1790. Philadelphia was never meant to be the permanent capital; it was the place-holder while the permanent site for our capital was prepared on the left bank of the Potomac River. This plaque on the east face of Congress Hall outlines a few of the landmark events that occurred within its walls during the 1790s. The Liberty Bell would have rung out from the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) just a few paces away. Today these structures are pilgrimage sites of our constitutional republic, and are managed by the National Park Service in Independence National Historical Park.

Door into Congress Hall ... an engaging entry into American history.

The Assembly Room in the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) saw some of the most decisive actions in the creation of the United States. It was here, beneath the Liberty Bell, that Richard Henry Lee's resolution declaring independence was passed (July 2, 1776), that the Declaration of Independence was adopted (July 4, 1776), and that the U.S. Constitution was debated and crafted (from late May till September 17, 1787).

In the background is the chair in which George Washington sat while serving as president of the Constitutional Convention. A sun is carved on the back of the chair, and Benjamin Franklin would look at it and wonder whether it was a rising or setting sun. Eventually Franklin came to believe that the sun was a symbol of hope for the new republic, and so this famous piece of furnature came to be called the "sunrise chair."

.S. House of Representatives in Congress Hall, Philadelphia (Independence National Historical Park). In this ground-floor room on March 4, 1797, John Adams was inaugurated the second president of the United States of America. He took the oath of office adjacent to the free-standing desk in the middle of the photograph. With this ceremony the young republic withstood a crucial test, as the first transfer of power took place peacefully when George Washington stepped down and Adams assumed the presidency.

Pictured is James Madison's chair in the U.S. House of Representatives, in Congress Hall. Little Jimmy was smart to get a seat by the fireplace.

U.S. Senate Chamber on the second floor of Congress Hall, Philadelphia (Independence National Historical Park). Just a few paces from where this photograph was taken, on March 4, 1793, President George Washington raised his right hand and took the oath of office for a second time. Nearby, John Adams, the nation's vice president, presided over the Senate (as the Constitution prescribed) until March 4, 1797, when he in turn was inaugurated president (not in this chamber but downstairs where the U.S. House of Representatives met). Thus Congress Hall was the scene of momentous events and debates during the first years of the republic, from the Proclamation of Neutrality (1793) to Jay's Treaty (1795) to Pinckney's Treaty (1795). It was also the place where the XYZ Affair (1797) and Alien and Sedition Acts (1798) were thrashed out when John Adams was in office. John Marshall may have been questioned in this chamber after he was nominated to be chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Liberty Bell has become a symbol of freedom around the world. Its inscription, from the Old Testament book of Leviticus 25:10, declares, "Proclaim Liberty throughout All the land unto All the Inhabitants Thereof." The bell was not originally called the "Liberty Bell" -- a name that attached to it in the nineteenth century -- and was hardly distinguishable from many other colonial-era bells. In 1753 it was hung, following the custom of the day, in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House. Its ringing would have been heard throughout Philadelphia, then the largest city in British North America, to highlight important news. It tolled, for example, when King George III ascended to the throne and when Benjamin Franklin was dispatched to London to discuss colonial grievances. It also tolled to summon the Pennsylvania Assembly to meet. In the 1760s and '70s, its tolling would have called together delegates to debate the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, and other oppressive measures passed by the British Parliament.

Four days after the Declaration of Independence was adopted, the Liberty Bell rang out to summon citizens to hear Colonel John Nixon give the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence (July 8, 1776).

The bell cracked sometime between 1817 and 1846; exactly when remains a mystery; some people claim that it split during the death knell for Chief Justice John Marshall, who passed away on July 6, 1835.

The National Park Service observes, "The Liberty Bell cracked long ago, but as an icon of freedom its voice has never been stilled.... Its crack is a reminder that liberty is imperfect, hopefully evolving to include those who have been denied full participation in a democratic society."

Closeup of the crack in the Liberty Bell, originally forged by Whitechapel Foundry in Britain in 1752. The Liberty Bell has a colorful history. Technically, this was not the first crack in the bell. The initial crack developed when the bell was hung in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House for the first time on March 10, 1753. Pennsylvanians were not happy with the sound, and right away two Philadelphia foundry workers, John Pass and John Stow, were given the job of melting down the flawed bell and recasting it. This they did over the next three weeks. The new bell was raised in the statehouse steeple on March 29, 1753, but people were displeased with the sound of the second bell as well. So Pass and Stow cast the bell yet again, and on June 11, 1753, the Liberty Bell that we know (the third bell) was raised into the steeple. By most accounts the sound of this third bell was not great either, but it was the bell Pennsylvanians had, so they eventually reconciled themselves to it. (An entirely different bell was ordered from a foundry in England late in 1753, but since it sounded no better than the Liberty Bell, it was used elsewhere.)

Historians argue over when the now-famous crack appeared on the Liberty Bell. What is known is that the final expansion of the crack that rendered the bell unringable occurred on George Washington's birthday in 1846.

The bell never rang again, but abolitionists and others turned it into a symbol of expanding freedom in the 1830s and 1840s -- and a powerful symbol it has remained to this day.