Independence Hall hosted both the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and the signing of the Constitution.
The building stands in Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park and was completed in 1753 as the Pennsylvania State House. The Second Continental Congress met there when it adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The Constitutional Convention later met in the same building in 1787.
The Constitution was signed there on September 17, 1787, by 39 delegates. The building’s Assembly Room is therefore associated with two foundational moments: the colonies’ declaration of separation from Britain and the creation of the federal government’s constitutional framework.
The name Independence Hall became common after the American Revolution; during the founding era, the building was generally called the Pennsylvania State House. Its steeple once held the Liberty Bell, which was cast in 1751 and recast in Philadelphia in 1753 after cracking during testing.