Birth of a Nation

For those of you, who may wonder where we are, we are in Philiadelphia, PA. We have been doing some great touring, but returning too late to write in the blog or were in places where no photography is allowed, like the Pentagon. We spent the entire day today at Independence Hall and immediate environs. We just wanted to inhale the sweet aroma of liberty. For us, this is our Mecca. We are amazed and amazed again that a handful of brilliant men were able, over 200 years ago, to devised the most perfect documents of government. Wish we had these kinds of statesmen today. Oh, we know that they are out there, but their quiet messages of reason and peace are drowned by the rantings of certain fools with good press coverage. Oh, I guess my bias is showing, not politically correct, but it is what it is. The photo above is of Independence Hall, also known as the Pennslyvannia State House.
In case you have never been so fortunate to visit the site, where our nation was born, here is a photo of the chamber, where the patriots (rebels) met, while the Revolutionary War was raging in New York, to declare independence from Britain. The Declaration of Independence was read to the people of Philadelphia in the courtyard of Independence Hall on July 8, 1776. Later in 1787, the representatives of the colonies meet here again to draft the Constitution. They met in secret so that ideas regarding how the nation would be governed could be aired freely. For instance, Alexander Hamilton suggested that the President serve for life, once elected. Just ponder that, considering our situation today. On the other hand, Ben Franklin suggested that the country be run by a triumverate. Yeah, like that would work. Now, you can understand why they met in secret. If James Madison hadn't kept a diary of the closed door events, we would not know about some of the hare-brained schemes put forth. But James was discrete and kept the information for prosperity, but not revealed at the time. Oh yes, that is because the delegates took an oath of secrecy. I love this stuff.
I include in this blog this picture of Library Hall, the first library, for our many librarian friends. As true of many services and items available to us today, good old Ben Franklin, my hero, thought up the idea of the lending library so that books and other publications would be available for the use by the general public. He believed strongly in the education of men and women, as well as children, regardless of race or creed. Not surprising.

Library Hall holds a number of books from the American Philosophical Society. Rare manuscripts of scientific and historic importance and the original journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and first editions of Sir Isaac Newton's Principia and Charles Darwin's Origin of Species are stored there.

Philosophical Hall, just steps from Independence Hall and across the street from Library Hall, was home to the American Philosophical Society, founded by (who else) Ben Franklin, to pursue "useful knowledge."

And for the final photo, I was able to take this from our parking garage. It is an aerial photo of Franklin Court. The site of Ben Franklin's home and printing office. Unfortunately, as is true of many buildings of our American heritage, Franklin's home and office were lost. However, the National Park Service has cleverly constructed an outline of the home and office. The site is called, Franklin Court, and includes an underground museum dedicated to all that is Franklin, and was one of our favorite places in Philly.