Description: Congress Hall is one of the detached wings of Independence Hall and is covered by the same (free) ticket that can be obtained from the Independence National Historical Park Visitor Centre on Market Street. While the tickets are valid for a tour of Independence Hall at a specific time, holding one allows the visitor to stay as long as they want in the wider complex. We noticed a sign stating that there would be a tour of Congress Hall starting in a few minutes, so we joined up.

The Hall’s two wings were added after independence. The eastern wing, Old City Hall, was the first home of the US Supreme Court. This, the western wing, was intended to be the Philadelphia County Courthouse. However, following the ratifying of the American constitution the US capital shifted to Philadelphia whilst the District of Columbia was created. As such this building served as the American capitol between 1790 and 1800. Many early landmarks of US history occurred in this building. George Washington’s second inauguration as president took place here. Perhaps more significantly Washington’s stepping down and peaceful replacement by John Adams as the second President of the United States also took place here. The US Constitution and Bill of Rights were ratified here. Three new states (Vermont, Kentucky and Tennessee) were added to the union here.

Unlike in Independence Hall the tour took us through both ground and upper floors. The main ground floor chamber served as the House of Representatives. With its shared boomerang-shaped desks and green leather upright chairs facing the speaker’s desk it resembled to my eyes a rather dated university lecture theatre. The atmosphere was certainly academic – I really couldn’t imagine the sort of grandstanding partisan debate and argument that characterises modern politics taking place in such an environment!

If the representatives’ chamber was quite austere and restrained, upstairs the Senate chamber was more ornate – though very masculine. Dark green walls, swagged red curtains, and a lush carpet made the room seem much less academic. The atmosphere I felt was more like that of a gentlemen’s members-only club. Here each participant had their own desk. What struck me was the size of the room – it wasn’t big. But then, it didn’t need to be. In 1790 the US was comprised of just thirteen states. With two senators from each state that meant the room only needed to fit 26 men. With just 26 men (women, of course did not even get the vote until the twentieth century), all from wealthy backgrounds, forming the upper chamber one could understand why America has been rather conservative from the outset. The most eye-catching decoration in the room, however, was a ceiling fresco of an American Bald Eagle. The committee rooms just off the corridor were notable primarily for two full-length portraits that hung in them, of King Louis XVI of France and his wife, the notorious Marie-Antoinette. These were gifts from the ill-fated Bourbon monarch and supreme examples of irony. Louis sent valuable forces to help the American revolutionaries, not because he favoured the concept of ‘no taxation without representation’ but rather to give Britain a bloodied nose. But the example of the democratic American revolution (as well as the increase in tax-collection to pay off the debt he had incurred in doing so) helped stir up opposition to his rule regardless. And so the American democrats ended up with a portrait of a monarch considerably more illiberal and despotic then the one they had fought to free themselves from!

It is instructive to see the humble small-scale beginnings of American democracy. The neat little red-brick building is a world away from the grand pomposity of Washington’s Capitol and the Park Ranger-led tour helps shed light on those early days of wondering how to develop the country they finally had to call their own. With its lack of an entrance fee and its location right next door to Independence Hall it seems foolish to not pay it a visit while in the vicinity.
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