William Pierce represents Georgia. Although the beginning of the convention was scheduled for May 14, ten days ago, he wrote to a friend earlier today that “in a day or two” he will “set out for Philadelphia.” Fortunately, he is aware of who is already in attendance, including his fellow delegates from Georgia, and is confident a quorum will be achieved early next week, if not before. To his friend he provided a list of States already fully represented and those who should arrive any day, adding, “As for Rhode Island we shall pay no attention to her whether she sends on deputies or not.”
Rufus King’s assessment is the same. The New Jersey delegates are expected to arrive tomorrow. “Should this be the case,” he wrote to a friend in Connecticut, “the convention will be able to appoint their President and Secretary. General Washington will be placed in the Chair, and Temple Franklin or Majr. Jackson will be Secretary.”
King is young, barely thirty-two, and apprehensive that he is the only delegate from Massachusetts to have arrived in Philadelphia. To make matters worse, no State from New England will be officially recognized because no State from that region is represented by a majority of its delegates. “Pray hurry on your Delegates – some personal sacrifices perhaps may stand in the way of their immediate attendance – But they ought not to yield to such considerations – Believe me, it may prove most unfortunate if they do not attend within a few days.”
If Pierce’s and King’s predictions are correct and the convention will actually get underway tomorrow, the State House is ready for them. Although the delegates have been meeting informally every day at 3:00 in the afternoon since May 14, tomorrow will be different.
Benjamin Franklin, President of Pennsylvania, has made the State House available for the convention. Construction on the Georgian-style, red-brick building began in 1732 under the watchful eye of Andrew Hamilton, Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly. At that time, it was the most ambitious public building project in the colonies. As for Hamilton, a lawyer, he had won acclaim for his successful defense of Peter Zenger in New York in 1735 in the first important victory for freedom of the press in the American colonies.
The State House project was paid for intermittently as construction continued until 1735 when the Pennsylvania Assembly moved in. Even then, the building, without the tower, was not fully completed until 1740.
Because the Pennsylvania legislature was meeting in the State House when the First Continental Congress was called in 1774, Congress met in Carpenters Hall. But when it reassembled in May 1775, shortly after the battles of Lexington and Concord, it moved to the State House where it appointed George Washington as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army on June 15. Several months later, Congress created the United States Marine Corps. Between May 10, 1775 and March 1, 1781 the capitol of the United States convened in seven separate locations. In addition to the first session being held in Philadelphia, so was the final session when the Articles of Confederation were adopted, creating a formal alliance among the thirteen States.
The Pennsylvania State House, located on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, may indeed be called the birthplace of the United States. Crossing the threshold of the entryway evokes the memory of Caesar Rodney’s stumbling entrance eleven years ago when he cast the deciding vote for independence. Once inside, through the arches and immediately to the right, is the chamber where the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania holds it sessions.
The Central Hall and Tower Stair Hall are the most decorative spaces in the building. They include carved masks made of wood, a common motif when the State House was built. The Tower Stair Hall was constructed in the 1750’s when a masonry tower with a wooden steeple was added to the south side. The stairs are “open newel,” meaning they are generally made with more elaborate designs. As President of Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin uses this staircase, with its walnut handrail, to access his office on the second floor, which also houses the Long Gallery and the Executive Council Room.
On the first floor, directly across the hall from the Supreme Court chamber, is the East Room in which the Pennsylvania legislature meets. There is a solemn dignity to the room. Here the Declaration of Independence was signed by a small band of patriots, fully aware that placing their names on the document was the equivalent of signing their death warrants. Eight of those men are here for the convention. With those perilous days now well behind them, surely they will affectionately recall Benjamin Franklin’s quip as he affixed his own signature: “We must all hang together, or assuredly we will all hang separately!”
The East Room measures forty feet by forty feet with a plaster ceiling twenty feet high. Tall windows are arranged on two sides of the room and there are no supporting pillars breaking the floor space. Against one wall is a low platform on which is placed a mahogany armchair with a carving at its top. This is where the presiding officer sits. On each side of the platform is a wide, marble-faced fireplace. Thirteen tables covered in green baize are arranged in a loose semicircle, with several chairs set at each one.
Six years ago, representatives from thirteen newly independent States met here to draft the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. Some of those men are here again to perfect that Union. They will sit in this same room, either refusing to adopt a newer, brighter vision or to embrace a stronger Union that can only be built on a foundation of mutual self-interest and compromise.