Independence Hall was built between 1732 and 1753 as Pennsylvania's colonial legislature, the grandest public building in British North America. The Georgian brick structure featured a central bell tower, symmetrical wings, and an assembly room where representatives conducted the colony's business. William Penn's vision of religious tolerance had made Pennsylvania a haven for Quakers, Germans, and other dissenting groups, giving its politics a democratic flavor unusual in the colonial era. When tensions with Britain escalated in the 1770s, Philadelphia's central location and Pennsylvania's importance made the State House the natural meeting place for colonial delegates seeking a unified response. The First Continental Congress met here in 1774. The Second Continental Congress convened in May 1775, weeks after the battles of Lexington and Concord had begun the Revolutionary War. For the next eight years, through victory and near defeat, the building served as the seat of American government.

On June 7, 1776, Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution declaring 'that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.' A committee of five - Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston - was appointed to draft a formal declaration. Jefferson wrote the initial draft, which Franklin and Adams revised. On July 2, the Congress voted for independence. On July 4, they approved Jefferson's declaration, a document of stunning rhetorical power that grounded revolution in Enlightenment philosophy. 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.' The words would echo through American history, invoked by abolitionists, suffragists, and civil rights activists who recognized that the nation had not yet lived up to its founding promise. John Hancock signed first, his name so large it became synonymous with signature. The other delegates added their names over the following weeks.

By 1787, the loose confederation of states established by the Articles of Confederation was failing. Congress could not tax, regulate commerce, or enforce its decisions. States quarreled over boundaries and trade. Shays' Rebellion in Massachusetts had revealed the government's weakness. Delegates gathered again in the Assembly Room to revise the Articles - and instead created something entirely new. For four months, in secret sessions behind locked doors and shuttered windows despite the Philadelphia summer heat, they debated the structure of a new government. James Madison arrived with a detailed plan. Large states clashed with small states. Northern states clashed with southern states over slavery. The resulting Constitution represented compromises on every front - the Great Compromise creating a bicameral legislature, the three-fifths compromise counting enslaved persons for representation without citizenship, the electoral college mediating between popular vote and state equality. On September 17, thirty-nine delegates signed the document that would reshape human governance.

The bell that hangs in a pavilion across from Independence Hall was cast in 1752 to hang in the State House steeple. It cracked almost immediately, was recast twice by local metalworkers, and served for decades as the building's bell, summoning legislators and announcing public events. According to tradition, it rang on July 8, 1776, to announce the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, though historical evidence for this specific ringing is thin. The bell cracked again sometime in the early nineteenth century - the exact date disputed - and was retired from service. Abolitionists adopted it as a symbol of freedom in the 1830s, giving it the name 'Liberty Bell' and highlighting the inscription from Leviticus: 'Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.' The bell became a national icon, touring the country by rail, collecting chips from souvenir hunters. Since 2003, it has rested in the Liberty Bell Center, visible day and night through glass walls.

Independence Hall anchors Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia's historic district. Free timed-entry tickets are required and should be reserved in advance through recreation.gov, especially in summer. Rangers conduct guided tours of the Assembly Room where the Declaration was approved and the Constitution signed. The West Wing houses the Great Essentials exhibit displaying surviving original copies of the Declaration, the Constitution, and the Articles of Confederation. Congress Hall next door, where the U.S. Congress met from 1790 to 1800, and Old City Hall, seat of the Supreme Court, are also open to visitors. The Liberty Bell Center across Chestnut Street offers close views of the cracked bell and exhibits on its history and symbolism. The Second Bank of the United States houses a portrait gallery of the founding generation. The entire park is walkable in a day. Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) is 7 miles southwest. Amtrak's 30th Street Station is 2 miles west.