Independence Hall, formerly the Pennsylvania State House, hosted the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
The building stands in Philadelphia and was completed in the colonial period. The Second Continental Congress used its Assembly Room when it approved the Declaration on July 4, 1776. The same building later hosted the Constitutional Convention, which met there from May to September 1787.
The name Independence Hall became associated with the building after the Revolutionary era. Its earlier official name reflected its role as Pennsylvania’s colonial government building. Today, it is the centerpiece of Independence National Historical Park and a major site connected with America250.
Faneuil Hall in Boston was an important meeting place but was not the venue for the Declaration’s adoption. Federal Hall in New York City hosted George Washington’s first presidential inauguration under the Constitution. Carpenters’ Hall hosted the First Continental Congress in 1774, another event from the revolutionary period.