Here we are: Independence Hall, the place where treason was debated and declared as for the first time in history a colony broke from the mother country in a successful rebellion. Had it been other than successful, all these men would have been hanged as traitors. "If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately." (Benjamin Franklin) It was a difficult and frightening time even while they were being brilliant and hoping to fulfill a vision beyond any ever imagined before.
I know we have not lived up to that vision. Sometimes we don't even come close. And ~ my soul needed to spend time where these men sat and debated and their voices and those of their wives echo down the centuries. Here's to Tom and John and Ben and all the others who sat around these tables.
The first room we entered was a court room, the first in the country. The judges sat behind the desk on the dais. The lawyers at the round table on the floor.
This is the dock. The suspect stood in the dock which is where the phrase "standing trial" originated.
Meredith was very happy to be in this historic court room.
Across the hall was the room where the Continental Congress met, both to debate declaring independence and later to write the Constitution. The chair in front was where George Washington sat to chair the Congress that wrote the Constitution. I don't know if it was the same chair used by John Hancock during the Declaration debates.
I loved being in this room and feeling the echo of the past and the so important present.
Our guide spoke very fast because as she said, it was a 20 minute tour and there was so much history to impart. If you have seen the movie 1776, the desks were separated for blocking and cameras and they created the room to perfection.
It was a wonderful day and although there was more wonder to follow, I will leave you for now in this very important room to dream your dreams and have your visions of what this country can become. ~ blessings, my friends.
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