American Philosophical Society

Philosophical Hall is a historic building at 104 S. 5th Street in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Located near Independence Hall, the building has, for over 200 years, been the headquarters of the American Philosophical Society. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965 for its association with that organization.

Independence Hall is a historic civic building in Philadelphia, where both the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were debated and adopted by America's Founding Fathers. The structure forms the centerpiece of the Independence National Historical Park. Independence Hall was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966 and as a World Heritage Site in 1979.The building was completed in 1753 as the Pennsylvania State House. It served as the first capital of both the United States and of the Province and later the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It was the principal meeting place of the Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1781, and was the site of the Constitutional Convention, at which the U.S. Constitution, the longest-standing written and codified national constitution in the world, was ratified on June 21, 1788.A convention held in Independence Hall in 1915, presided over by former U.S. president William Howard Taft, marked the formal announcement of the formation of the League to Enforce Peace, which led to the League of Nations in 1920 and the United Nations, a quarter century later.

The Battle for the Soul of the Nation was a speech given by U.S. President Joe Biden on September 1, 2022, two months before the 2022 midterm elections. It was televised during prime time from the front of Philadelphia's Independence Hall. Biden was critical of Donald Trump and Republicans adhering to the Make America Great Again movement.

The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence occurred primarily on August 2, 1776, at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia, later to become known as Independence Hall. The 56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress represented the 13 colonies, 12 of which voted to approve the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The New York delegation abstained because they had not yet received instructions from Albany to vote for independence. The Declaration proclaimed the signatory colonies were now "free and independent States," no longer colonies of the Kingdom of Great Britain and, thus, no longer a part of the British Empire. The signers’ names are grouped by state, with the exception of John Hancock, as President of the Continental Congress; the states are arranged geographically from south to north, with Button Gwinnett from Georgia first, and Matthew Thornton from New Hampshire last. The final draft of the Declaration was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, although the date of its signing has long been disputed. Most historians have concluded that it was signed on August 2, 1776, nearly a month after its adoption, and not on July 4 as is commonly believed.

George Washington is a statue of George Washington, by Joseph A. Bailly at Independence Hall, Philadelphia on Chestnut street between 5th and 6th streets. The white marble original, installed on the north side of Independence Hall, was dedicated on July 2, 1869, by mayor Daniel M. Fox. It is now located in Conversation Hall, Philadelphia City Hall.A bronze replica replaced the original, and was dedicated in October 1910.

The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Although the convention was intended to revise the league of states and first system of government under the Articles of Confederation, the intention from the outset of many of its proponents, chief among them James Madison of Virginia and Alexander Hamilton of New York, was to create a new Frame of Government rather than fix the existing one. The delegates elected George Washington of Virginia, former commanding general of the Continental Army in the late American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) and proponent of a stronger national government, to become President of the convention. The result of the convention was the creation of the Constitution of the United States, placing the Convention among the most significant events in American history. The convention took place in the old Pennsylvania State House (now known as Independence Hall) in Philadelphia. At the time, the convention was not referred to as a constitutional convention. It was contemporarily known as the Federal Convention, the Philadelphia Convention, or the Grand Convention at Philadelphia. Nor did most of the delegates arrive intending to draft a new constitution. Many assumed that the purpose of the convention was to discuss and draft improvements to the existing Articles of Confederation, and would not have agreed to participate otherwise. Once the convention began, however, most of the delegates – though not all – came to agree in general terms that the goal would be a new system of government, not simply a revised version of the Articles of Confederation. Several broad outlines were proposed and debated, most notably Madison's Virginia Plan and William Paterson's New Jersey Plan. The Virginia Plan was selected as the basis for the new government, and the delegates quickly reached consensus on a general blueprint of a federal government with three branches (legislative, executive, and judicial) along with the basic role of each branch. However, disagreement over the specific design and powers of the branches delayed progress for weeks and threatened the success of the convention. The most contentious disputes involved the legislature, specifically the composition and election procedures for the Senate as the upper legislative house of a bicameral Congress, and whether proportional representation was to be defined by a state's geography or by its population. The role of the executive was also hotly debated, including the key issues of whether to divide the executive power among three people or vest the power in a single chief executive to be called the President; how a president would be elected; the length of a presidential term and the number of allowable terms; what offenses should be impeachable; and whether judges should be chosen by the legislature or the executive. Finally, slavery was also a contentious issue, with the delegates debating the insertion of a fugitive slave clause; whether to allow the abolition of the slave trade; and whether slaves were to be counted in proportional representation. Most of the time during the convention was spent on deciding these issues. Progress was slow until mid-July, when the Connecticut Compromise resolved enough lingering arguments for a draft written by the Committee of Detail to gain acceptance. Though more modifications and compromises were made over the following weeks, most of this draft can be found in the finished version of the Constitution. After several more issues were debated and resolved, the Committee of Style produced the final version in early September. It was voted on by the delegates, inscribed on parchment with engraving for printing, and signed by 39 of 55 delegates on September 17, 1787. The completed proposed Constitution was printed in several copies for review which began the debates and ratification process. Soon after it was also printed in newspapers for public review.

The Liberty Bell, previously called the State House Bell or Old State House Bell, is an iconic symbol of American independence, located in Philadelphia. Originally placed in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House (now renamed Independence Hall), the bell today is located across the street in the Liberty Bell Center in Independence National Historical Park. The bell was commissioned in 1752 by the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly from the London firm of Lester and Pack (known subsequently as the Whitechapel Bell Foundry), and was cast with the lettering "Proclaim LIBERTY Throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof", a Biblical reference from the Book of Leviticus (25:10). The bell first cracked when rung after its arrival in Philadelphia, and was twice recast by local workmen John Pass and John Stow, whose last names appear on the bell. In its early years, the bell was used to summon lawmakers to legislative sessions and to alert citizens about public meetings and proclamations. Although no immediate announcement was made of the Second Continental Congress's vote for independence—and so the bell could not have rung on July 4, 1776, related to that vote—bells were rung on July 8 to mark the reading of the United States Declaration of Independence. While there is no contemporary account of the Liberty Bell ringing, most historians believe it was one of the bells rung. After American independence was secured, the bell fell into relative obscurity until, in the 1830s, the bell was adopted as a symbol by abolitionist societies, who dubbed it the "Liberty Bell". The bell acquired its distinctive large crack sometime in the early 19th century—a widespread story claims it cracked while ringing after the death of Chief Justice John Marshall in 1835. The bell became famous after an 1847 short story claimed that an aged bellringer rang it on July 4, 1776, upon hearing of the Second Continental Congress's vote for independence. Although the bell did not ring for independence on that July 4, the tale was widely accepted as fact, even by some historians. Beginning in 1885, the city of Philadelphia, which owns the bell, allowed it to be transported to various expositions and patriotic gatherings. The bell attracted huge crowds wherever it went, additional cracking occurred, and pieces were chipped away by souvenir hunters. The last such journey occurred in 1915, after which the city refused further requests. After World War II, Philadelphia allowed the National Park Service to take custody of the bell, while retaining ownership. The bell was used as a symbol of freedom during the Cold War and was a popular site for protests in the 1960s. It was moved from its longtime home in Independence Hall to a nearby glass pavilion on Independence Mall in 1976, and then to the larger Liberty Bell Center adjacent to the pavilion in 2003. The bell has been featured on coins and stamps, and its name and image have been widely used by corporations.

Congress Hall, located in Philadelphia at the intersection of Chestnut and 6th Streets, served as the seat of the United States Congress from December 6, 1790, to May 14, 1800. During Congress Hall's duration as the capitol of the United States, the country admitted three new states, Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee; ratified the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution; and oversaw the presidential inaugurations of both George Washington (his second) and John Adams. Congress Hall was restored in the 20th century to its original appearance in 1796. The building is now managed by the National Park Service within the Independence National Historical Park and is open for public tours. Congress Hall is conjoined with Independence Hall, which is adjacent to the east.

The Second Bank of the United States was the second federally authorized Hamiltonian national bank in the United States. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the bank was chartered from February 1816 to January 1836. The bank's formal name, according to section 9 of its charter as passed by Congress, was "The President Directors and Company of the Bank of the United States". While other banks in the US were chartered by and only allowed to have branches in a single state, it was authorized to have branches in multiple states and lend money to the US government. A private corporation with public duties, the bank handled all fiscal transactions for the U.S. government, and was accountable to Congress and the U.S. Treasury. Twenty percent of its capital was owned by the federal government, the bank's single largest stockholder. Four thousand private investors held 80 percent of the bank's capital, including three thousand Europeans. The bulk of the stocks were held by a few hundred wealthy Americans. In its time, the institution was the largest monied corporation in the world.The essential function of the bank was to regulate the public credit issued by private banking institutions through the fiscal duties it performed for the U.S. Treasury, and to establish a sound and stable national currency. The federal deposits endowed the bank with its regulatory capacity.Modeled on Alexander Hamilton's First Bank of the United States, the Second Bank was chartered by President James Madison, who in 1791 had attacked the First Bank as unconstitutional, in 1816 and began operations at its main branch in Philadelphia on January 7, 1817, managing 25 branch offices nationwide by 1832.The efforts to renew the bank's charter put the institution at the center of the general election of 1832, in which the bank's president Nicholas Biddle and pro-bank National Republicans led by Henry Clay clashed with the "hard-money" Andrew Jackson administration and eastern banking interests in the Bank War. Failing to secure recharter, the Second Bank became a private corporation in 1836, and underwent liquidation in 1841.

The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, self-appointed physician-evaluation organization that certifies physicians practicing internal medicine and its subspecialties. The American Board of Internal Medicine is not a membership society, educational institution, or licensing body.

The Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was the first theater in the United States built by entrepreneurs solely as a venue for paying audiences.

The Liberty Bell Pavilion (demolished) was a building within Independence National Historical Park (INHP) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that housed the Liberty Bell from January 1, 1976 to October 9, 2003. Designed by the architectural firm Giurgola Associates to be the Bell's permanent home, it stood for only 30 years. The Bell is currently housed in a much larger building, the Liberty Bell Center, completed in 2003. The Pavilion was demolished in 2006.