,. We are in a building that is built in the 17 thirties, about 40 years before theres any such thing as the United States of america. At that time pennsylvania was a british colony. This was its Capital Building. They would make laws for pennsylvania and each of the 13 colonies has its own government. These are the issues in a lot of ways that will lead to the creation of the United States, most of which will happen in this room, because the colonies, as time goes forward will start to grow dissatisfied with the way the British Government is treating them, is affecting their lives locally. One of the other side issues is americans living in the colonies do not get to vote in british elections. When the parliament in london makes laws for americans, the most famous being various taxes you learned about in school, we will say this is taxation without representation. It is that idea you are not getting the voice. Thomas jefferson would write that government existing with the consent of the governed and americans feel like they are not getting that consent. When it starts disappearing locally as well as connected with the home country in london and britain that they are really going to get this growing dissatisfaction. This room is long in use by pennsylvania but by 1775, pennsylvania will be inviting the Continental Congress into their state. The Continental Congress had met in philadelphia about one year earlier although they chose not to meet in Independence Hall. They met at carpenters hall. The first set of meetings is sort of the first sit down of these different colonies and it is this idea of expressing to the British Government what would be under british constitution and bill of rights at that time this notion of redressing grievances we would have as british subjects and they will write to the king. We are loyal british subjects and america, but these things are happening, we have these grievances over loss of rights, loss of connection with the government. The fact they are taking away some of our local government, closing down our local courts, giving us rules to follow that we have no say. They write this letter to the king, within your rights under british law. They agree as a group on an association that these 13 colonies will Work Together on these big issues. What is going to happen is they go home after that set of meetings in the fall of 1774. Communicating across the ocean in the late 1700s will take a while. They will not come back to philadelphia until the spring of 1775. Things have changed in those few months. In the area of boston, you will have the battle of lexington and concord in april. When congress is coming back to philadelphia, this is the news. They are finding out about some of the conflict that has begun. Things being a lot more serious leads to more serious circumstances when Congress Starts to meet in this room intimate. The first big thing they will tackle is this notion of working as a group but the idea of maybe fighting for those rights, taking that militia around boston and making it an american army, the continental army. In june of 1775, one of the first big steps will be taken as far as changing the world is going to be creating this continental army, this american army, 13 separate colonies that had run their lives independently and for years had not resisted together but it never worked out that they wanted to Work Together at the same time. They create this army, june 14, 1775, taking the beginnings of the army up in boston, making it the american army, and taking George Washington to be the commander of that army. That is one of the most branch petition. Like they had done before, it starts off with the idea that we are loyal british subjects fighting for our rights, following this chain of command in britain to the king that asks that he assist us in redressing these grievances. The other thing they will write is the declaration of the causes and necessities of taking up arms. These things will be written in july. It is putting out there to the world exactly what we are looking to do, to correct this situation we feel has gone against us and our rights are being threatened or taken away. Unfortunately, the British Government in london will decide they will not communicate with the Continental Congress. The king himself will announce there is this rebellion in america, and the British Government will essentially issue this letter to americans saying if you will be involved in this rebellion, we will view you as a traitor. At the crime of treason as serious then as it is now that could lead to a death penalty. By early 1776, that news arrived in philadelphia. It is getting very clear that negotiating, talking is not solving anything. You do have this very radical bent of men in this room that are pushing more toward this idea of independence and finally you get the last big push, Thomas Paynes book common sense, selling tens of thousands of copies to the colonies and his simple argument is we do not need those guys in london. We are better off on our own. We could run america better than the british ever could. This idea of independence swells through that spring. By june, virginia introduces a resolution for american independence. They decide to not address it right away in june. They are going to want to consult their home governments, their home colonies or states, because we are getting to that point. At the same time, they want to put something on paper. While they are each consulting home, they will form this fiveman committee, john adams, who is probably one of the most significant guys in congress those early days. He is pushing for the creation of the army in 1775, the navy in the fall of 1775. He is pushing in the spring of 1776 that each of the colonies write its own constitution, another step towards independence each colony getting rid of that old charter from the British Government, creating a new, independent constitution. He is one of the leaders in this movement. Also on the committee is a man named Robert Livingston of new york who goes back 10 years to meetings held over the stamp taxes. You have a man from connecticut named Roger Sherman who ends up signing the declaration of independence, the United States constitution, but the articles. Benjamin franklin from here in philadelphia, who is far and away the most famous american at the time, at 70 years old, oldest man in congress, and one of the younger guys in congress, Thomas Jefferson, 33yearold, that growing reputation for his writing. The committee deciding what they should say decides jefferson should be the writer. He works for 17 days on the declaration of independence, and he will especially go to john adams and Benjamin Franklin for some of their ideas and critiques of his writing. It is generally his work. He is building on a lot of other things both he and others have written. Aaah back here in the assembly room. That is a friday. They will wait to the next monday to start debating. July 1 begins debate on independence. The first thing they will debate is not the declaration but the idea. They will start discussing is this the best thing for us to do . Should we become these free and independent states . Most men in the room are at that point where they are ready to make this step. There are others, they are not loyal. They are not going to have loyalists in the Continental Congress. There are men who are more conservative who say this might not be such a good idea. John dickinson is one of the most important. He was the author of the letters of the pennsylvania farmer, which is against various taxes. He is one of our bestknown political writers of the day. He is pulling back, the idea of how we are going to win a war against the british. This does not seem like the best idea in the world to declare independence. This completely cuts off any chance of negotiating with the british. Others might look at the idea that we do not have anyone helping us. It britain is one of the great powers of the world. America, 3 Million People and there are a chunk of them remaining loyal to the crown. There will be battles in this war with americans on the others. Some saying we should slow down but most men are ready to move forward. On july 1, they will hold a nonbinding committee vote. The vote is on the question of being free and independent states. Here is how voting works at the Continental Congress. You have 13 states or colonies. Each gets an equal vote, one vote per state. They have different numbers of men at each table. Some states allow their delegates to decide amongst themselves. Some states will give delegates specific instructions. Here in the room on july 1, you will have nine of the delegations voting yes that we should be free and independent states. Two will vote no, and two will be either divided or not voting. New york is still waiting for formal instructions, so they will not vote at all. Delaware is divided. They have two of their delegates in the room, one for one against. Pennsylvania and South Carolina will vote no. On the rest of the first and into the second, the second is the date they want to take the official vote. The politicking is we want to make this unanimous. New york is going to be ignored for now. New york is going, we have to wait until they tell us what to do. Delaware has a third delegate. He is at home, so he rides overnight through the storm. Delawares quarter has a guy riding on a horse. He is the guy to break the tie in delaware. A vote yes for independence. Pennsylvania and South Carolina, South Carolina as three delegates. We assume it is 2 to 1. South carolina will be on board. Pennsylvania is more complicated. They have got one of the bigger delegations. When that vote goes south for pennsylvania, what they will do is convince two of the guys to walk away when they are ready to make the final votes so that it can be unanimous. John dickinson is one of those guys that will not vote against the pennsylvania delegates. Instead of one vote loss, it becomes a one vote when and now pennsylvania is on board. It is 12 to nothing. On july 2, 1776, they vote more or less unanimously to approve the notion of being free and independent states. That is the day that john adams would write to his wife. The next day is the date we should celebrate. Sadly for july 2, it never gets particularly remembered. The second, the third, and the fourth are the days of debating on the declaration of independence. In jeffersons draft, the declaration is about four pages long. They will go through every word. They will make a significant number of changes, but they will not change the basic nature of a lot of what jefferson writes. They will add words here or there. The most famous part is that opening paragraph. Most of that remains intact. The early listing of grievances, the things we have been talking about for several years, most of that remains intact. Probably the most famous section that gets changed is the section about the slave trade, specifically slave insurrections. One of the big arguments virginia makes his dear governor had essentially said in the early days of the war that slaves should kill their masters and seek their own freedom, which for a slaveholding state, insurrection is a frightening thing. It is on the mind of jefferson and other virginians, this idea of slave insurrection. Bringing more slaves into america becomes a part of that. We do not want to have more slaves to worry about. He goes after the slave trade, blames the king for importing these folks. That becomes a controversy in this room. You have a fair number of slaveholding states that do not want to talk about this. It does get put aside. It is not an attack on slavery but slave trade and some of these things they were worried about the british doing that would affect the lives in america. As you get into july 4, they are going through every bit of that declaration of independence. Taking a little bit out, adding words here and there but they get to something that all of the men in this room representing all 13 states can agree. They are ready to vote. It is 12 to 0 with new york waiting, so july 4 becomes for americans our day of independence. It is the day we literally have something concrete to hold up to the world. Here is what we are fighting for. When we look at the declaration of independence, we focus on that opening section. The idea of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happyness. It is that list of reasons why they are doing this. We justify independence. It justified a war against their own government, which is what they started out being. It is the british fault for this. This is all of the things they did that are not legal by constitution, british bill of rights. We are acting the way we have to act because we got to this point where we cannot stay under this rule. They had something that on july 4 they voted yes, and they voted right away to send it out. We want this to go to the states, the army. We want people to know what we are fighting for. That is what they needed, if you pull back to the big picture in the summer of 1776, we are not winning the war. The british army is invading new york that summer. Hundreds of ships, tens of thousands of men sweeping down through manhattan, new jersey. The british army is sitting in this very room. They captured philadelphia. Washington and his army spend the winter at valley forge. Those early days are not good ones for the United States. We had a declaration of independence we can hold up, announced to the world what we are fighting for. We had a general in washington that would keep going in those difficult days. We had an army that managed to survive those bad winters and we managed to keep ourselves long enough to keep going to make changes. One of the things people expect is that they signed the declaration of independence on the fourth of july. Sadly, they did not. The simplest explanation is that nobody thought about it that day. They had not gotten to the point of preparing a fancy handwritten one. They wanted the words agree to, voted on. And they wanted people to read it. They sent it to a printer. The oldest declaration of independence and no names on the bottom. Jump ahead a couple of weeks, and one of the men here in the room will make a proposal that the word they use is a gross. You make a formal version and to be signed by the delegates. Most of the men in the room said why do we not think of that sooner . They will have it handwritten, and by the beginning of august it is done. They make sure it is right and they will start signing it. About 50 guys signed it on august the second, and a a few more in the next couple of weeks. That is the one if you go to washington, d. C. , that is the one most of us think of as the declaration of independence. But like everything they will do here, it is one we get through by process rather than some massive plan we have at the beginning. They are making it up as they go along and figuring it out as they go. The other big thing that will happen in 1776, Benjamin Franklin will go to france. He will be the guy to convince france to join our side. While the british army is in this room, Benjamin Franklin is signing a peace treaty with france. That is changing the whole nature of the war. The british suddenly find they have to worry about a french navy. The United States does not have much of a navy to threaten the british fleet, but france does. The british have to worry about being invaded. They worked on the king to try to get some invasion of england going. You will have to worry if you are Great Britain about islands in the caribbean. You will be fighting in asia, africa, you will be fighting all over the world. A lot of resources are suddenly not coming here to america, which makes George Washingtons life easier. We will get money, supplies from france. We will get french troops, plus that french navy. If you think about the victory at yorktown, we are not going to get that victory without the french navy. Eventually, the war slowly turns in our favor. 1783 back in paris, john adams and Benjamin Franklin sign a peace treaty. Back in 1783, the Continental Congress can finally breathe that sigh of relief and note that we have achieved american independence. But that is not the end of the story. There is more to do. Go back to 1776. Each colony, each state writes its own constitution. Each one is different. Each one has its own set of government. I will use pennsylvania. This room was pennsylvanias legislature. Pennsylvania decides to write a constitution that is so radical for a state that they get rid of the position of governor. They will not have a chief executive for pennsylvania. They will have a democratically run legislature as opposed to the standard two houses that most states will use. This room was pennsylvanias legislature. Pennsylvania decides to write a constitution that is so radical for a state that they get rid of the position of governor. They will not have a chief executive for pennsylvania. They will have a democratically run legislature as opposed to the standard two houses that most states will use. Pennsylvania has got a very different set up. It proves to be too radical to work. It will last about 14 years. They go to the traditional governor, two houses of legislature. This is the idea in 1776. Each state will start itself over. The problem is, being all a little bit different. My colleague loves to talk about this today. We still have differences from state to state, speed limit, rules for driving will be different. We do still have vestiges there. In those early days, they manifested themselves in ways that threatened what someone like George Washington is very much a nationalist, believing this idea n the United States. That could be better for us. You have states fighting over land. What do we have in the way of government . State governments very much hold the cards. There is our Continental Congress. The articles of confederation set the rules for congress. That is an idea that comes into this room with the Benjamin Franklin at the beginning of the war. It is an idea he dusted off from he put together this to defend themselves against enemies such as france stop dusts off the ideas, writes the first articles of confederation. The date after they chose the committee to write the declaration of independence, they chose a committee with a member from each of the states to write the articles of the could and would be John Dickinson, he would be famous for trying to slow us down for independence. At the same time hes doing that, hes writing the articles of confederation, this formal agreement between the states of how the United States is going to operate. Essentially, the congress would run the war, run foreign policy, but they would cooperate with each other and you wouldnt have to pay taxes and tariffs as you run from state to state. The first problem and ultimately what dooms it is you can see from how it is signed, the signing is going to take place right when the Continental Congress comes back in the british army is left. The british leave till adelphia in june. Congresss meeting back in july and on july 9, they are ready to sign the articles of confederation. The way the signing of that one works is a little different. The signing of the declaration of independence is signed by the delegates and most sign on the same day. Its signed as each day approved it, their delegates will sign it, so they are waiting for the states to make their decision. About half or so are going to sign that first day. Over the next weeks, most of the rest will sign. Ultimately, maryland will hold out for close to two years. It wont finish until march the first of 1781. Youre talking about two and a half years of time. For most of that, it is maryland by itself. Technically, it cant go into effect until all of the states have signed. They are feuding with land to the west. When the revolutionary war comes to an end, we go from our old colonial valleys which would be the appellation mountains, though the colonies figure they should keep going. Now we end at the mississippi river. Thats a lot of new land. Inc. About the states, the old colonies are looking at that, going that would be great, so maryland and virginia are arguing over who gets to use the Potomac River and maryland is going i dont want to sign this until everything is settled. There is your issue that arises. There was a bill trying to pass through this room to raise money on essentially imports, take money from imports, theres a tax tariff and you put that to tame the soldiers. It seems pretty logical. 12 of the states agreed. One, happen to be rhode island, the smallest of this dates said no and failed. So the states individually have a lot more power and sometimes one can defeat 12. A lot of people think this is not working so well, including members of congress. By the end of the war, you have members of congress writing letters to officers in the army saying maybe the army should throw their weight behind something a little more strong in philadelphia because this is not working between the states. Maybe we need the strength of the army. George washington is very much a believer in this idea of civilian control. Its one of the great principles we have embraced from our beginning points and George Washington is a big part of that. At the end of the war, in newburgh, new york, hes going to call a meeting together as this word is may be the army trying to change government a little bit, he is against it so he calls a meeting and puts some of the guys he feels are hind a lot of this talk and says hes not going to be there. But then, he shows up. Now washington is not a public speaker. If he can avoid it, hes going to do it. He starts making a speech and pulls out a pair of glasses and puts them on and says to the men in the room, i only grown gray but half lined as well. He talks about what they fought for four years and that it not be ruined by rash actions at the end that hes got guys in tears and the whole thing, what we call the newburgh conspiracy goes away. Even though the problems have been solved, this idea of military intervention in our civilian government fortunately stays out of you. Still, washington believes something stronger is needed but hes one of those guys thats going to go through the proper channel. George washington is a virginian. His status fighting with their neighbors in maryland. He can have a meeting at his house, he can invite them to sit together. After he has the mount vernon conference an agreement together, solving years of problems between maryland and virginia, which leads to a reading in maryland and they will get five states to sit in annapolis. Again, the big result is it is going to lead to a bigger meeting. They are going to go and now our friend John Dickinson is going to go to the continental conference saying we want have a big meeting in philadelphia and we want to really talk about the future and we want everyone to come. They are going to sit down starting in may of 1787, what we call the Constitutional Convention. They are going to sit in the same room and address these issues plaguing the United States. It is going to start with about 11 states. Unfortunately, rhode island will never attend these meetings. The way they are going to end up setting it up as they will pretend theres only 12 of them. Not only that, but when they vote, they will go to the people of each state. They vote on a special convention and they will approve or not approve the constitution for each state and you need nine states, three quarters to put the new constitution into effect. These are guys who are trying to engineer something because they know something needs to be done. They know as separate entities, you go back to Benjamin Franklins design, the state is cut into pieces. Hes calling for this union, join or die. That is this idea that a lot of these men are embracing that summer of 1787. The question they are facing is what exactly is this that we want . The first days of meetings are these esoteric debates about the nature of federal government, national government, whats the difference, what do we want . Then we start saying we want this national government, then what . Virginia had come very organized. James madison is going to get credit for putting together a lot of the virginia plan submitted by our first attorney general. Another virginian is chosen by nomination from pennsylvania to sit in the back of the room and lead the Constitutional Convention and that will be George Washington. The big hero of the day equal now to franklin as far as american name goes. Washington will take the lead and the very chair at the back of the room behind me is the chair in which washington sat, which instantly which interestingly is the only item we have in this room we know for certain was here as part of those events. That chair was made in 1779 after the british left philadelphia. A lot of things were gone. Between the americans coming and going, the british coming and going, we dont have all the contents of the building anymore. So that was in the room on that spot when washington took that position in 1787. The virginia plan, three branches of government, somewhat familiar to us today. Here are some of the issues that are going to face that plan because other plans are going to get thrown out by other men. Virginias plan, one of the biggest things is this notion of voting based on american people, seeing the states as artificial, everyone is american, so whenever we do things, we should just be americans. Naturally, the other side of that coin is virginia happens to have more people than any other state, so voting by people is good for virginia. A small state like delaware embraces one idea and that is every state be equal. Delaware is digging their heels it and they are going to refuse anything that does not involve equality amongst the states. You get the small states liking delawares ideas, the big states, virginias idea and that is an issue that will go on for the better part of a month. Virginias idea of congress as we have these two houses. Again, it is based on population. As you start debating it, you base it on state and eventually when it seems like theres no answer to be found, it would be connecticut that would make the compromise. What we call the great compromise. How about a senate where every state is equal, a house of representatives where we base things of people. Both sides getting some of what they want. Eventually, that is how it will go, but not everyone he wants that. You are not sure if everybody is going to go for that but that is how they slot in for congress. There are multiple ideas of president , executives, the virginia plan is ultimately a seven year executive elected by congress. A little different system that we are used to today. Another plan Edmund Randolph of virginia says how about having three president s at once, three regional president. That you have Alexander Hamilton who wants a very strong executive and he says how about president for a lifetime, which needless to say, having gotten rid of king is not popular. Eventually, they settle on a president for four years at a time. But then they have that level of Electoral College and we get a lot of questions about that. There are probably several reasons. One is distance, the idea of having states that her days and days and weeks apart from georgia to New Hampshire with not a lot of great roads and travel can be difficult, so having this notion of sending people together to vote makes a lot of sense mechanically. Then you have this idea that with the electoral, you are making sure smaller states have a certain amount of say and youre trying to balance a lot of different things. One of the things that will plague a young United States is something that does come up in this room. Its the time to make that step and do away with slavery. Unfortunately, it was not the Southern States are fairly attached to it. They dont particularly want to talk about it. You have one little notion of the slave trade, which they talk about in 20 years maybe we can discuss doing away with the slave trade. In other words, doing away with the trade from africa. Thats all the mention you get. Anyone who are antislavery, and there are guys in the room who are decidedly so, are not happy they put off the entire discussion for 20 years. Southern states would look at it and say that this is going to come up in 20 years and we are not happy with that. You have a lot of people looking at sections of the constitution that are not very happy. Who writes the constitution . Declaration of independence, Thomas Jefferson basically wrote it. The constitution, theres not that one obvious writer. Youre going to have a fiveman committee called the committee of detail which name is exactly what it sounds like, the guys in the details of what this government is going to be. Three of the five will be on the United States supreme court, one will be our first attorney general, so thats the kind of men you are going to have on there. Very much legal minded men. Probably the main guy is a man named james wilson from pennsylvania. Hes one of the signers of the declaration of independence as well and he will end up on the United States supreme court. More than likely, he came up with the words we the people and the beginning of that report nothing else that would be recognizable to us today, but he does start out with we the people. Eventually, they get to a point where they work out how they wanted to be so they formed another fiveman committee and this is the committee of style. This is where your heavy hitters will be Alexander Hamilton and james madison. But the guy who is probably going to do most of the writing is a pennsylvanian by the name of Gouverneur Morris, a man with a wooden leg. A man very gifted with the pen. And morris is a friend of George Washington. There is a story that comes from that summer with morris and Alexander Hamilton and there is a bet made, hamilton makes with morris because morris slaps George Washington on the back, how are you doing kind of thing, and washington prefers to bow and can be on the aloof side, especially in public. Hamilton is like youre never going to do that. I bet youre not going to do it. So of course he goes up and does it and washington gives him one of his glaring looks and shrinks him down and im sure hamilton is standing in the corner laughing like mad but Gouverneur Morris is the guy whos going to write that we the people of the United States, in order to form a more Perfect Union that famous preamble we know. At the end, you have this famous constitution. Four pages, and that is all it is four pages. There is no bill of rights at that time. They kind of talked about it. Alexander hamilton would say we dont need one, the whole thing is kind of a bill of rights. The government is only going to have the power we give it. Others would say thats all well and good but we would like to see Something Like that there. Even by the time they are finished, you have guys look at parts of the hole and say this i dont like, that i dont like, i dont like this senate, gives too much power to little states, the president is too strong, not strong enough, theres no bill of rights. You come in on the last day and its not certain everybodys going to agree. These guys are sending out for their states to vote on, so it is important to the group as a whole to try to have everyone on board because these are the guys that have to sell this new constitution to the people so that they will then put it into effect. So youre going to have Benjamin Franklin come in the very last day of the meeting. Franklin is 81 that summer. There are days he is literally being carried in and out of these meetings. He can hardly walk. Fortunately for everyone, he is still the great sage, the elder statement. On that last day, he brings in a speech that says there are things in this constitution i do not approve. But then he says im old enough to know its not perfect, my ideas are not perfect, nobody in this room is perfect, and we should basically put aside our doubts and sign our names on this thing. He said we should all doubt a little our own infallibility, which i always love another one of these typical franklin phrases. He says, one of his famous statements in the room, he says we should all sign because i do not expect anything better than this. In fact, i am not sure that this is not the best. To me, one of the most famous triple negatives in american history. Im sure some of the guys in the room were listening and said that he say to sign it . In the end, its hard to argue with franklin. 41 men are in the room that day, 38 men will sign 39 names. Theres a story to that one. John dickinson, who refused to sign the declaration of independence, again, not that he was loyal to the british, but he was saying this is not the right time, its a bad idea, he never signed the declaration of independence. He is sick the day the constitution is going to be signed. So he tells his fellow delegate from delaware, george read, look, i want you to put my name on that thing when you sign it. So george read signs twice. 39 men would sign the constitution. Three would not, different issues. Elbridge gerry of massachusetts who made a speech saying there was an excess of democracy, which he called the worst of all political evils. The fear of democracy at that point is made evident a few years later in the french revolution when their new government went to the point of renaming months and starting over at year one and cutting off 6000 heads. Thats the sort of fear of democracy that leads to some kind of chaotic anarchy which ultimately in history which leads to a dictator which is what france does going up to napoleon. They went back to rome and saw the same sort of thing. Democracy was always a little tempered in the United States and britain, which is where we get our ideas of having that mix. We have a mix of states and people, a president and congress, we divide our powers. This idea there is no one place that has too much strength coming. So jerrys a little afraid democracy will overrun because he wont sign it. Edmund randolph wont sign it but hes always one of those guys who like to hedge his bets. He ends up supporting it when virginia is voting on it but would not actually sign it in this room because hes afraid guys at home like Patrick Henry will go against him because he knows Patrick Henry is one of those guys that doesnt think this is a good idea. The other one, george mason is looking at the idea of a bill of rights. He kind of wants to see that, so he is not crazy about parts of it. A lot of guys in the big states like the senate. There are all kinds of issues but most men put aside their doubts and sign their names. September 17, 1787. Franklin looks at the chair where washington sits and looks behind washingtons head, this carving of a half sun on the back of the chair and says all summer ive been trying to decide whether that is a half sun, is it supposed to be rising or setting and i could not make up my mind util now. Now, at length, i have the happiness to know that is a rising and not a setting sun. And he felt good. He had been working on this since the 1750s, this unity of the american states and he finally sees it happening. One of the Great Stories that comes afterwards as he is supposedly asked what kind of government they have created in philadelphia and he says its a republic, if you can keep it. His warning to the rest of us. Think about the United States i like to finish with this idea we are still using that same constitution. We are still using that same government, but it has also allowed us maybe not quickly but it has allowed us to improve because ultimately, slavery does not really and by the civil war. Technically it is the 13th amendment. 15th amendment will give equality in voting by color. The 19th amendment will give equality in voting by gender. So, through the years, maybe slowly, we have faced every issue that came up in our constitution and it has allowed us to solve things and continue to move forward. I always think back to franklin and his rising sun and that is exactly what was seen through the years. This little humble room is everything the United States has been and will be. Its going to grow from the events that happen over 10 or 11 years and its amazing when you think of this humble place and the men who sat here and the things they did. It is really incredible, the things that have grown from this space. This Pennsylvania State house is the real name of Independence Hall and it was pennsylvanias capital until 1799. Pennsylvania moves its government west to harrisburg. At that point, the building, they are using space in the building and renting it out. Its not the Capital Building anymore but the city of philadelphia had started building buildings on the block. By the early 1800s, essentially, the city is going to buy this building and this whole block is going to serve as our city hall. Through the 19th century, this is city hall. The second floor of the building would hold meetings of Philadelphia City council until 1895. But the first floor is one of the first places in the United States that becomes a historical place. By the 1820s, 30s, 40s, people are coming to visit. It gets the nickname Independence Hall. Probably this room was Independence Hall before the whole building was Independence Hall. One of the famous early incidences, the marquis de lafayette makes this triumphant trip through the United States. Youre are talking to 1820s. We have very few of the Founding Fathers and soldiers that are left. In every town he visits, you gather the old veterans and anyone like Thomas Jefferson or john adams that still alive, they get together and celebrate lafayette. So its this wonderful exclamation of patriotic memory and probably one of the first times we are looking at and embracing our history. At that same time when people are starting to purchase their copies of the declaration of independence and put them above the fireplace and we are celebrating the words and actual document. Fortunately, this room becomes a Historic Place before theyve gotten to the point of totally getting rid of the building and tearing it down to build something new. We are lucky it was in use long enough that it became important. By the mid1800s, this whole thing is a museum. One of the fascinating stories of this room, when the liberty bell, spent almost a hundred years in the bell tower cracked, they put it on display in this room. Where else will we put it . Lets stick it in the room where the United States began. One of my favorite days thats not one of the days of the revolutionary war comes 150 years ago this year in april after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. His body lay in state in this room. There is a back story, he came here to philadelphia, washingtons birthday, 1861. On his way to be inaugurated, he made a speech at Independence Hall on washingtons birthday and said in this room he would rather be assassinated on the spot then fail the ideals of the Founding Fathers. Exactly the kind of strength america needed at the time. Sadly, four years later, he comes back having been assassinated, but having succeeded in saving the United States, they stop put his casket literally next to the liberty bell and ran 100,000 people through this building in a day to pay their respects to lincoln. Yet lincoln laying next to the liberty bell in the room where the United States was born in the ghosts of the Founding Fathers present at that one time. Thats the kind of thing that makes this room so great. The park Service Comes in and the 20th century after world war ii and, unfortunately, the one thing that had changed, a lot of the walls, they made them fancier. It was a plain room and they wanted to have paintings up, so they had that oldfashioned museum filled with stuff. Our big thing was get back to the way it looked. We stripped it back down to the plain walls you see today. The main structure, fortunately, survived the years and we were able to figure out the colors and Everything Else and were able to get it back to what we think is pretty close to how it looked. The furniture is from the time, not necessarily the original furniture because in those early days, nothing was saved. The british Army Captures philadelphia. No one is thinking about the history until he have some and they keep using it for different things, so we dont necessarily have all the contents of the room but everything here is a good match to what was here. As best we can tell from our investigation and research, this is pretty close to how it looked. Kermit roosevelt, a law professor and the greatgreatgrandson of theodore roosevelt, presented a talk. Professor roosevelt argues the america of today did not emerge from the revolution and that we should not trace values back to the founders. Instead he argues that through failures and reinventions weve use the constitution to create modern core values. The Smithsonian Associates hosted the event. Good evening, can you hear me . Great. My name is ruth robbins and it is a pleasure to welcome you here tonight for our program. Before we get started just a couple of quick things. If you have electronic devices, now is a good time to turn them off. As usual, there is no photography and no filming. Also, if you are wondering what the equipment is in the back of the room, it is cspan so show your nicest smile, brush her hair,