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Independence Hall, Philadelphia: State

Two years after the completion of the main building the Pennsylvania Assembly passed an act in which this statement was made: "It is the true intent and meaning of these Presents, that no part of the said ground lying to the southward of the State House, as it is now built, be converted into or made use of for erecting any sort of Building thereupon, but that the said ground shall be enclosed and remain a public open Green and Walks forever."

Eighty years after the passage of the act an attempt was made to divert the State House yard to other pur poses. In a curious old document, dated February 6, 1816, W. Rawle and Peter S. Duponceau made an argument against this diversion, showing conclusively that the State House Square had been "irrevocably devoted to the purpose of an open and public walk." Thanks to their efforts and the efforts of others who have labored to the same end, the grounds are to-day, and must forever remain, open to the use of the people.

The first public function held in the new State House was a banquet, given in the "long room," in the second story. Of this Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette of September 30, 1736, said: "Thursday last William Allen, Esq., Mayor of this city for the past year, made a feast for his citizens at the State House, to which all the strangers in town of note were also invited. Those who are judges of such things say that considering the delicacy of the viands, the variety and excellency of the wines, the great number of guests, and yet the easiness and order with which the whole was conducted, it was the most grand, the most elegant entertainment that has been made in these parts of America."

The builders were dilatory. It was 1736 before the Assembly was able to hold its first session in the chamber provided for it, and not until 1745 was the room completed. Three years more passed before the apartment intended for the Governor's Council was ready for its occupants.

In 1741 the tower was built, and on November 4 Edmund Wooley sent to the Province of Pennsylvania an interesting bill, "for expenses in raising the Tower of the State House": 95 loaves of Bread. 614 lb. Bacon, at 7d.. 1484 lb. Beef at 3d.. ... .......... ........

Potatoes and Greens. ....... • 800 Limes at 4s.... ... 1½ Barrels of Beer at 18s. • • • .. 44 lb. Mutton at 34d.. 37 lb. Veal at 3d.... 30 lb. Venison at 2d.. £0 19 9 1 14 1 .. .. 2 8 1 0 7 1 1 12 0 .. 1 7 0 THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE Turnips Pepper and Mustard ... 0 1 ... 5 2 Jugs and Candles, Pipes and Tobacco... 0 Butter 9s. 8d. Turkey 4s. 4 pair Fowls 9s.. 1 of a hundred of Flour 6 0 1 2 8 0 3 ... 6 Two former Hookings at getting on two Floors, and now for raising the Tower, Fire Wood, etc.... 3 0 0 Provision was made in 1750 for the extension of the tower for the accommodation of a bell, and on October 16, 1751, the Superintendent of the State House sent a letter to the colonial agent in London. In this letter he said: "We take the liberty to apply ourselves to thee to get us a good bell, of about two thousand pounds weight, the cost of which we presume may amount to about one hundred pounds sterling, or, perhaps, with the charges, something more.

Let the bell be cast by the best workmen, and examined carefully before it is shipped, with the following words well-shaped in large letters round it, viz :- • ""By order of the Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania, for the State House in the city of Philadelphia, 1752,' "And underneath, ""Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land to all the inhabitants thereof-Levit. XXV. 10.' " When the new bell was hung it was cracked by a stroke of the clapper. Isaac Norris wrote: "We concluded to send it back by Captain Budden, but he could not take it on board, upon which two ingenious workmen undertook to cast it here, and I am just now informed they have this day opened the Mould and have got a good bell, which, I confess, pleases me very much, that we should first venture upon and succeed in the greatest bell cast, for aught I know, in English America. The mould was finished in a very masterly manner, and the letters, I am told, are better than [on] the old one. When we broke up the metal, our judges here generally agreed it was too high and brittle, and cast several little bells out of it to try the sound and strength, and fixed upon a mixture of an ounce and a half of copper to one pound of the old bell, and in this proportion we now have it."

But when the bell was in place it was found to contain too much copper, and Pass & Stow, the founders, "were so teazed with the witticisms of the town," that they begged to be allowed to recast it. In June, 1753, this third bell was hung, and in the following September the founders were paid £60 13s. 5d. In 1752 arrangements were made for a clock. The works were placed in the middle of the main building, immediately under the roof. These were connected by rods, enclosed in pipes, with the hands on the dial plates at either gable. Early views of the State House show these dials. The cost of the clock, which included care for six years, was £494 5s. 5+d.

During the twenty years that followed the installation of the clock and the bell the State House became a civic centre of note; but not until the stirring events that led up to the Revolution did it become of special interest to other colonies than Pennsylvania. On April 25, 1775, the day after news came to Philadelphia of the battles of Lexington and Concord, the great bell sounded a call to arms that was the real beginning of making the building a national shrine. In response to the call eight thousand people gathered in the Yard द THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE 167 to consider measures of defence. On April 26 the newspapers reported that "the company unanimously agreed to associate for the purpose of defending with arms their lives, liberty, and property, against all attempts to deprive them of them." This determination of the people was soon sanctioned by the Assembly, and Pennsylvania prepared to raise its quota towards the Army of the Revolution.