>> in philadelphia.

to visit the assembly room inside independence hall. both the declaration of independence and the u.s. constitution were debated, and eventually signed. this program featuring natural park service matt matthew eiffel, it is about one hour. >> we are in a building that is built in the 17 thirties, so about 40 years before there was any such thing at the united states of america. at that time, of course, pennsylvania was a british colony. this was its capital building. they would make laws for pennsylvania and each of the 13 colonies has its own governments. these are the issues in a lot of ways, they are going to lead to the creation of the united

states. most of which will help in this room. because the colonies, as time moves forward, or at least many people of the political class and his colonies will start to go dissatisfied by the way the british government is treating them. it is affecting their lives locally, and of course, one of the other side issues is americans living and the colonies, do not get to vote in british elections. so when the parliament in london makes laws for americans, the most famous being the various taxes and such that we learned about school. we will say that this is taxation without representation. it is the idea that you are not getting the voice. thomas jefferson would break in a declaration of independence of that government existed with the consent and the govern, and the americans feeling that they are not getting the consent. especially when it starts disappearing locally as well as connected to the home countries in london, they are really

going to get this going the satisfaction. so, this room is long and used by pennsylvania. but in 1775, pennsylvania will be inviting the congress to mental congress and their space. the common -- continental congressman in philadelphia a year earlier, but they chose not to meet independence. they met at carpenters hall. the first set of meetings, we would call that first continental congress, would be the first real sit down and the colonies, it is this idea of expressing to the british government what would be under british sort of constitution beloved at the time. this notion of the dressing grievances that we would have as british subjects, and ultimately the right to the king. say look, we are loyal bushes subjects in america. but, these things are happening, we have these grievances over

these loss of rights, what of our connection with the government. the fact that they are taking away some of our local governments, they are closing down our local courts, they are giving these rules to follow that we have no say. so, there were this letter to the king. which again, perfectly within your rights under british law. and, they also agree as a group on an association that these 13 colonies will kind of work together on the future in these big issues. so it's going to happen is, they go home after the set of meetings in the fall of 1774. obviously, communicating across the ocean in the late 1700s is going to take a little while. so there are not going to come back to philadelphia spring in 1775. however, things change in a few months. in the area of boston, they have battles in of lexington

and concordant april. so one concourse -- congress is coming to philadelphia, this is the news. they are actually finding out in some way about some of the conflict that had begun. so, suddenly things being a lot more serious leads to a lot more serious circumstances, when congress starts to meet in this room in may. the first big think they are going to tackle is this notion, of again, working as a group. but the idea of maybe fighting for those rights, actually taking that militia around boston and making it in american group. the continental army. in june of 1775, one of the first very big steps that would take it as for a change in the world if you want to say that, it is going to be creating this continental army. this american army, 13 separate colonies that had runners lies separately. i'm four years, not necessarily

resisted working together, the never particularly wanted to work together at the same time. they finally creek this army. june 14th, 1775, taking the beginning of the army up in boston, that fought against the british already, making it the american army, and to me most importantly taking george washington to be the commander of that army. i think that is one of the most important decisions made in this room. if you think about the way this war will go for the young united states, it is eight and a half years. george washington, will be the only commanding general for all of those years. at the end, he will succeed. of, course back in 1775, they are still figuring out what they are fighting for. that leads to one last letter to the can. we call this when the olive branch petition. and again, like they had them before, start off with the idea that we are loyal british subjects voting for the rights.

again, going, following the chain of command in britain to the king to ask that he assist us in rejecting these grievances. the other thing they are going to write is the declaration, the declaration of the causes are necessities of taking up arms. these things are written in july. again, it is essentially putting out there to the world exactly what we are looking to do, to correct the situation we feel has gone against us and our words are being threaten or taking away. well, unfortunately, the british government in london will decide that they are not really going to communicate with the continental army. the king himself is going to announce that there is this rebellion in america, and the british government will essentially issued this letter to americans that saying if you are going to be involved in the rebellion, we will view you as

a traitor. a crime of treason a serious then as it is now, could very much lead to a death penalty. so by early 1776, that news gets to philadelphia. so now half a year into the war, and it is getting very clear that negotiating, talking is not solving anything. of course, you do have this very radical bend of men that are in this room, that are pushing for more for this idea of independence. finally, you get the last big push which is thomas payne's book of common sense, actually published here in philadelphia january of 1776. selling tens of thousands of paul -- cockpits of the colonies. simple argument is, you don't even need those guys in london. we are better off on our own over here. we can run america better than the british ever could. so, this idea of independence

kind of small through that spring. by june, virginia introduces a resolution for american independence. but they decide to not address it right away. they are going to want to consult their own home governments, their colonies, their state if you want to call it at that point. a, time they want to get them they are paper, while they are each consulting home to see it home says they should do, they are also going to form this five men committee. john adams of massachusetts who is probably it a lot of, with one of the most significant guys in congress in those early days. he is really pushing for that creation of the army in 1775, also the navy in the fall of 1775. he is pushing in the spring of 70 76 that each of the colonies with the own constitution, which is.

again another step toward independence that each colony, getting rid of the old chart that they had from the british government, the old constitution so to speak, and creating a new independent constitution. so, he is one of the leaders in a lot of this group. also on a committee is a name name robert -- robert livingston of new york. who actually goes back ten years to the meetings have over the stamp of taxes. you have a mad from connecticut name roger touch -- roger sherman, who ended citing not only the declaration of independence, the united states constitution, but also the articles of confederation. there are two men that can make that claim. benjamin franklin, the right here in philadelphia who is far and away the most famous american at the time. 70 years old, oldest night and congress. and then one of the youngest guys in congress, the fifth member, that is of course thomas jefferson. 33 years old. kind of that growing reputation with his writing and political thought.

and the committees with the sitting and deciding what they want to say, jefferson should be the writer. he works for about 17 days on a declaration of independence. and he will especially go to john atoms and benjamin franklin for some of their ideas, and critiques of his writing. generally, in his view his work. he is building on a lot of different things are proving him and others have written some of the grievances that they have already been talking about, make up a big bulk of that declaration. and by june 28th, the declaration is back here in the assembly room. that is a friday. they will wait until the next monday just took a beating. so july the 1st begins debate on independence. now, the first thing they are going to debate is not the declaration, but the idea. they will have to start discussing it is the best thing for us? should we become this free and independent states? most of the men and the room

are at that point where they are ready to make the step. but there are others that were not loyal, they are not loyalist in the coming congress. they are men who are little more conservative, saying this might not be a good idea. john dickinson, probably the most important man of them. years earlier, the author of the letters of the pennsylvania farmer, which is again against some of the various taxes, stamp taxes and so on. he is probably one of the best political workers of the day. but he is pulling back saying, the idea of how are we going to win a war against the british? it does not seem like the best idea and the world. it completely cuts off and a chance of negotiating with the british. others might look at the idea that we don't have anyone helping us. and britain is one of the great powers in the world. america is maybe 3 million people? and certainly a big chunk that will remain loyal to the crown. there will be battles in the

war with the americans on both sides. so, some are saying maybe we should slow down, but most of the men are ready to move forward. on july the 1st, they will hold a nonbinding committee vote. the vote is on the question of being free and independent states. now, here's how voting works in the car to mental congress. you have 13 states where colonies, each get equal vote. one vote per state. they have different numbers of men each table. some states allow their delegates to decide amongst themselves. some states will give the delicate specific instructions. so, here in the room on july 1st, you are going to have nine of the delegations voting, yes, that would be should be a free and independent state. two will vote no. and two will be either divided

or not voting. new york is still waiting for the formal instructions from home, so they are not going to technically vote at all. delaware is divided. two of the delegates in the room, one four and one against. they are divided. pennsylvania and south carolina are going to vote no. so on the rest of the first it into the second, the second is that day they want to take the official vote. the politicking, as we want to make this and that amiss. in new york, they are going to ignore. new york has not gotten instructions. they have to wait until they got what's to do. delaware, fortunately has a third delegate, he is at home. so the call for him to get there, he writes overnight through the storm. and delaware state quarters, they will notice delaware's quarter has a guy ready on the horse. he is a guy, he gets here on the second to vote and break

the tie, and mcneill of -- delaware vote yes for independence. and pennsylvania and south carolina, south carolina has three delegates. we assume that it is two to one, and they managed to get one of the guys to switch the vote. so notes of carolina will be on board. pennsylvania is worth more complicated. they have one of the bigger delegations. so when that vote goes south pennsylvania, but they will do is convince two of the guys to store a tough walk away when they are ready to make the final vote so that it could be unanimous, they don't have to vote against how they feel. john dickinson, one of those guys will not vote against the pennsylvania delegates. so instead of a one vote loss, it will be a one vote win, and pennsylvania is on board. and 12 to nothing, we ignore new york for the moment. on july 2nd, 70 76, they will vote more or less new

unanimously to approve the notion that being free and independent states. that is the day that john adams would write to his wife, the next day and say this is what we should celebrate. sadly for july 2nd, it never gets particularly remembered. because the rest of the day, the second, third, and fourth days remaining are debating on the declaration. in jefferson's draft, declaration is about four pages long. they are going to go through more left -- less every word. they are going to make a significant number of changes, but they are not going to change the basic nature of a lot of with jefferson rates. it will add some words here and there, the most famous part for this is the opening paragraph quarter. most of that more remain intact. the early listing of the grievances, the things that we have been talking about for several years, as far as what

we are worried about the british doing, most of that remains intact. probably the most famous section that gets changed is a section about the sleeve trades, specifically, slate insurrections, that was part of that. one of the big arguments is the governor basically said in the leading days of the war that slaves should basically kill their masters, and seek their own freedom. for a slave holding state, that sleep instruction is a frightening thing. that third went on the minds of jefferson or other virginians. this idea of sleeve insurrections, bringing more slid into america's that we have to worry about. he kind of goes after the sleeve trade for and putting the folks that is a controversial in this room you have a decent amount of slave

holders and slave holding states. they don't want to talk about it. it is good for a side, it is not near really attack on slavery flew to speak. but slave trade, and it would worry about the british affecting lives. so at any rate, as you get into july 4th, they are going through pretty well every bit of that declaration of independence. but they finally take -- they get to something that all of the man in this room representing all 13 states category. and they are ready to vote, on the fourth it is 12 to zero. again you are kind of waiting. again, july 4th. that is our day of independence because that is a day we literally have something concrete to hold to the world. this is what we are fighting for. again, when we look at the declaration of independence, we

focus on that opening section. all men are created equal. the idea of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. then, it is the list of reasons of why we are doing it. we justify independence. it justifies a war against their own government, which is essentially what this started out being. they basically said look, it is the breeches fault. this is all of the things they did that are not legal by british constitution, the british bill of rights. we are acting the way we have to act to get back to that point where we cannot stay under this rule. so, they had something on july 4th, they voted yes and they voted a way to send it out. they wanted this to go to the state, they wants this it with the army. they want people to know what they are fighting for. that is pretty much what they needed. if you pulled back to the big picture in the summer of 1776, we are not winning the war.

the british army is invading new york that summer. hundreds of ships, tens of thousands of men sweeping down those manhattan, long island, new jersey. and by the fall of 1777, the british army is sitting in this very room. they capture philadelphia, washington and his army spent their battling on valley forge. this early years, really beaten not good for the united states. we have a declaration of independence to hold up, and it's the route they are fighting for. they had a general in washington to keep going in those difficulties. we had an army that match to survive those bad winters in places like valley forge. we managed to keep ourselves going. long enough that we can make changes. before we get to that, one of the things about the declaration of independence about this room, that people expect, it that i will tell you this declaration of independence. on the 4th of july. well, sadly, they did not.

the simplest explanation is nobody thought about that day. they had not gotten to the point of preparing a fancy hand written one. they wanted the words agreed to, they want to devoted on, and they want people to read it. they sent it to a printer. technically, the oldest declaration of independence are printed on a printing press, i have no names on the bottom. well, you jump ahead a couple of weeks to the middle of july, one of the men in the room meet a proposal that we, the work we use in gross. it is a formal written version, and then signed by the delegates. i'm sure most of the men in the room said, why did we not think of that sooner? naturally, that is a good idea. they are going to have handwritten, and by the beginning of august it is done, it is checked over, they make sure it is right. and then they will start signing. i'm 50 guys signed it on august the 2nd, and a few more over the next couple of weeks. one guy might not be a for a

couple of more years. it was not there for a while as a member of congress. then you go to washington d.c., the national archives. that is known as the declaration of independence. but is one that, kind of like everything we do in this room, it is one that we get to by process rather than buy some master plan that we have to do. long run, they are making as they go along, figuring it out as they go. the other big thing that is going to happen in that last year of 1776, benjamin franklin will go to france. he is going to be the guy that will convince france to join our side. and while the british army is actually in this room, in early 1778, benjamin franklin is sign a peace treaty with france. that is changing the whole nature of the war. because, the british suddenly finds they have to worry about the french navy. the united states know how much of a navy to threaten the

british fleet, but france does. so they have to worry about that. the british asteroid about being invaded. certainly guarding benjamin franklin working with france, and work on the king to get something going. you will have to worry if you are great britain about violence and the caribbean, you will be fighting in asia, africa, you will be fighting all over the world. so a lot of resources suddenly are not coming through more north america. that makes george washington's life easier. we will get money from france, we will get surprise -- supplies from france. we will eventually get french troops, plus that french navy. if you think get the victory in yorktown, one of the biggest victories of the war. you probably won't get that victory without the french navy. eventually, the war slowly, and it slowly turned in our favor. 1783, back in paris, john adams and benjamin franklin signed a peace treaty. so it is really back in 1783,

the continental congress can finally breathe a sigh of relief and say we finally have achieved american independence. which is very nice if there is the end of the story. of course, there is more to do. again, go back to 1776. each colony, each state, with its own constitution. each one is different. each one has its own set of governments, on sets of -- i will use pennsylvania, this room is pennsylvania legislature. pennsylvania decides to write a constitution so radical for the state, that they basically get rid of the position of governor. they are not going to have a chief executive for pennsylvania anymore. they will have a fairly democratic run, one house legislature opposed to the standard two houses that most of the states use. and the united states knew throughout the history. so pennsylvania has a very different set up. it proved to be too radical to work. and by 1776, the pennsylvania

constitutional, it will last about 14 years, they redo it and go to the traditional governor, and two house legislature set up. this is the idea. each of these states are going to stir itself over. now, the problem is, being all little bit different, and one of my colleagues lives to talk about that the day. we still have these differences from state to state, as far as speed limits, and some of the rules for driving they will be different. so we still have some of the vestiges there. but, the problem was, in the early days. the kind of manifested themselves in ways that threatened what's someone like george washington is very much a nationalist, believing that the united states, and say wow that could be bad for us because you have states that are literally fighting with each other. they don't particularly want to cooperate with each other. now, what do we have in the way of government? state governments, very much

holy cards. there is our continental congress. the articles of confederation sets the rules for congress. that is an idea that comes into this room with benjamin franklin, at the very beginning of the war. it is the idea that it is dusted off in the 17 fifties, during the french and indian wars. but the idea of confederation between the colonies, so that they can work together to the fund themselves against enemy such as france. that dust off the old idea tree, where it's the first version of the article of the consideration. the day after the chose the committee to write the declaration of independence, they also chose a committee with a member of each of the states to with the articles on the confederation. the rate it will be another pennsylvania, john dickerson. again, dickinson would be famous for kind of slowing us down for independence. but also, he is actually

working on the rating the confederation. the formal agreement between the states, and how the united states is going to operate. essentially, the congress would run the war, warren foreign policy, but they would cooperate with each other and you wouldn't have to pay taxes on tariffs as you want from state to state. well, the first problem with the -- you can see from how it is signed. the signing is going to take place right when the continental congress comes to philadelphia after the british army left. 1770, briefly philadelphia. congress is meeting in july. and on july the 9th, they are ready to sign the article of confederation. the way of some of that one with little bit different. the declaration of independence is signed by the delegates, most of them signed on the same. give the articles of confederation is done signed as each state approves it, the

delegates sign it. so they are waiting for the states to make the decision. so, about half or so of them are going to sign in the first day. and then over the next weeks, most of them will sign. ultimately, maryland will hold out for close to two years. so the signing will begin july the 9th 1778, it will not finish march the 1st of 1781. about two and a half years of time. for most of that time, it is maryland by itself saying no. technically, this cannot go into effect until all 13 states have agreed and signed. maryland is feuding with mainly virginia, their neighbors overland to the west. remember, when the revolution war comes to the end, we go from the old colonial boundaries, which theoretically would be about the appalachian mountains, although the colonies figure they can keep going. now, we end of the mississippi river. that is a lot of land. think of all the states between

the east coast of the mississippi river. while all the old states, the old colonies are looking at that land going, the greatest part of my state. maryland and virginia are arguing, they are arguing over everything. so maryland is kind of saying, i don't want to sign this. so there is your issue. there will be others. there is a bill and one point trying to pass through the. room to raise money on essentially imports, take money from imports such as a tax tariff. and you put back the came the soldiers. it is pretty logical. raise money to pay the army fighting for independence. 12 on the seat agree, that would be a good idea. one, which happens to be rhode island, the smallest of the states said no. and it failed. they both failed. the states individually have a lot more power than sometimes one can defeat 12. so i think a lot of people sort of thinking, this is not

working so well. including members of the congress. so by the end of the war, you have members of the congress writing letters to officers in the army, as the war is winding down saying you know, the army should try to throw their weight behind putting a little more strong together during philadelphia. this is not working between the states. maybe we need the strength and that army. now if you are george washington, of course, he is very much a believer in this idea of civilian control. it's one of the great principles that we embrace in american history from our beginning points. and i think george washington is a big part of that. one of which a lot of people will look, at one of the greatest moments, is at the end of the war in new york, he is going to call a meeting of all of officers. and the word of maybe the army trying to change government a little bit. he is against it, he calls the

meeting, he put some of the guys that he falls behind this, and he says he is not going to be there. he wants the to talk amongst themselves. then he shows up. and he shows up. washington is not a public speaker, not a man who wants to stand up and make speeches. but he comes and starts making a speech. he wants to read this letter so he pulls out a pair of glasses and says, i've not only grown gray in service of my country, and he is talking about but they fought for together for eight years. and he has guys in tears and the whole thing is sort of what we call an uber conspiracy. even all the problems had not been solved, the idea of military intervention, fortunately that fades out of view. instead, washington believes

that something stronger is needed but he is one of the guys that will go through the proper channels. washington is a virginian. his state is fighting with their neighbors and maryland. what could washington do about that? he could have a meeting in his house. he can invite virginians and marylanders to sit together, and he will do that. the war ends about a year or so after and they will sign an agreement together essentially solving years of problems between maryland and virginia that then leads to a meeting in maryland next year where they get five states to sit together. and again, the big result is it will lead to a big meeting. now our friend john dickinson will go to the continental congress with a letter saying we want to have a big meeting in philadelphia and we want to really talk about the future. we want everybody to come.

so they are going to sit down in may of 1787, what we today call the constitutional convention. they will sit in this same room and address the issues plaguing the united states. it will start with about 11 states. new hampshire will show up late. unfortunately, rhode island will never attend the meetings. the way they will end up setting it up is to pretend there is only 12 of them and when they vote, they will go to the people in each state, let the people vote on a special convention, and then the special convention will approve or not approve the constitution of each state. these are guys who are trying to engineer something because they know something needs to be done to hold these states together. they know as separate entities,

going back to benjamin franklin's design, the snake cut in pieces that franklin put together during the french and indian war. a snake cut into pieces will die, but a snake together is dangerous. that's the idea a lot of these men are embracing in the summer of 1787. the question they face is what exactly do we want? the first days of meetings are these very esoteric debates about the nature of federal government, national government, what's the difference, what do we want? they are getting deep into these things and start saying we want this national government. then they start saying than what. what will it be? virginia had become very organized. james madison gets credit for putting together a lot of the virginia plan submitted by edmund randolph, eventually our

first attorney general. another virginia is chosen from pennsylvania to sit in the back of the room and read the constitutional convention and that would be george washington, the big hero of the day. he is equal now to franklin as far as american fame goes. washington will take the lead in the constitution, and in fact, the very chair in the back of the room is the chair in which washington sad, which interestingly, is the only item in this room that they have in this room today that we know for certain was here as part of that event. it was here in 1779, after the british would left philadelphia. a lot of things were gone between the americans and british coming and going, we didn't have all the contents of the building anymore. pennsylvania's government has to make new furniture including the chair. that was in the room, on that

spot, when washington took that position in 1787. the virginia plan, three branches of government, somewhat familiar to us today, here are some of the issues that will face that plan as far as when you start debating. to me, one of the biggest things about virginia's plan is the notion of voting based on american people, sort of seeing the states as artificial, everybody in the states as americans so whenever we do things we should just be americans. why be virginians or someone from massachusetts or delaware or anywhere else but the americans? naturally, the other side of that coin is that virginia happens to have more people than any other state. voting by people -- delaware embrace is the idea that every state be equal.

delaware digs their heels in and will refuse anything that doesn't involve a quality among the states. he get the small states. that is an issue that will go on for the better part of a month, off and on. virginia's idea of congress is that we have these two houses, upper house, lower house, what becomes the house of representatives and senate. that is based on population. but as you start debating it, you have others saying -- eventually, when it seems like there is no answer to be found, it would be connecticut that would make what we call the connecticut compromise where the great compromise. how about a senate where every state is equal and we base things on people?

eventually, that's exactly how it would go. not everybody agreed. you are not sure if everyone will go for that, but it's pretty much how they slot in for congress. there are multiple ideas of president, of executive. the virginia plan as they start working through it is ultimately a seven year executive elected by congress, a little bit different system than we are used to today. another plan, edmund randolph of virginia says how about having three presidents at once, three regional presidents. then you have alexander hamilton new york. he says how about president for a lifetime, which needless to say, having had a king a few years earlier it was not an appealing idea. they settled on a president for four years at a time. and they came up with the

electoral college. we get a lot of questions about that. why would they do the electoral college? one of them is simple distance. the idea of having states that are days and days and weeks unfortunately, it wasn't. the southern states are

attached to it. they don't want to talk about. at the only, slavery doesn't even make it into the constitution. there is one little notion of the slave trade, which they talk about in 20 years maybe we can discuss doing away with the slave trade. that's about all the mention you get. of course, anyone who is anti slavery, which there are decidedly so in this room, are not happy we put this off for 20 years. other states will say that in 20 years this will come up again and we are not that happy about that. again, you have a lot of people who are looking at sections of this constitution and aren't very happy. who writes the constitution? the declaration of independence is, easy thomas jefferson. the constitution does not have

one obvious writer. it is a five part committee of guys putting in the details of what this government is going to be. three of the five will be on the supreme court. one will be the first attorney general. that's the kind of man you have, very much legal minded men. probably the main guy who puts together most of the court is james wilson from pennsylvania. he is one of the signers of the declaration of independence as well. he will end up on the united states supreme court. more than likely, he came up with the words we the people at the very beginning of the constitution. that is the beginning, we the people. nothing else would be unrecognizable to us today, but he starts out with we the people. as they go through the committee of detail report, to get to a point where they pretty much worked out how they kind of want it to be.

you will have alexander hamilton and james madison on this committee. but the guy who will probably take up the pan and do most of the writing is a pennsylvania by the name of morris, a man with a wooden leg. another one of his man is very gifted with the pen. morris is a friend of washington's. there is a story that comes from that summer with morris and alexander hamilton, and basically there is a debt made that hamilton makes with morris. and washington is a very formal guy who doesn't like to shake hands and is the first to bow. he can be a bit on the aloof side, especially kind of public. hamilton says you will never do

that. /ñ won't do that. so he does it and washington kind of gives him one of his glaring looks and i'm sure hamilton is in the corner laughing. anyway, morris is the one who will write that we the people of the united states in order to come up with the famous preamble we know. at the end of the day, you have this constitution. by september 15th, 1787, four pages. there is no bill of rights at that time. they kind of talked about alexander hamilton and said the whole thing is kind of a bill of rights. the government will only have the power, so others would say that's well and good, but we would like to see something like that there. there is this i don't, like that i don't, like it too much

power. we didn't deal with slavery. there is no bill of rights. remember, these guys are signing it to send it out for their states to vote on. it's important to the group as a hole to try to have everyone on board, because these are the guys that have to sell this new constitution to the people so they will then put it into effect. you will have benjamin franklin come in to the very last meetings. franklin is 81 that summer. there are days that he is literally being carried in and out of the meetings. he could hardly walk. on the last day, he brings in a speech and starts off by saying there are things in the constitution i don't approve, but at present, this is what

i'm old enough to know, i'm not perfect, my ideas aren't perfect, no one in this room is perfect. and we should all basically put aside our doubts and sign our names on this thing. anyway, he says one of his great famous statements in the room. he says we should all sign because i do not expect anything better than this. in fact, i am not sure that this is not the best. that's one of the most famous triple negatives in american history. i'm sure some of the guys in the room half listening were scratching their heads saying what did he just say? in the end, it is hard to argue with franklin. 42 men are there. 40, one excuse me. 41 mentor in the room that day. 48 men will sign 39 and names.

-- not that he was loyal to the british, particularly, but that he was saying this isn't the right time. this is a bad idea. we are rushing so much. he is sick the day the constitution is going to be signed. he tells the fellow delegates from delaware, george reid, look, i want you to put my name on that thing. can you sign it? george reid signs it twice one for him one for davis. 39 men signed the constitution, three would not. different issues. you have elbridge jury of massachusetts, who actually meet a speech that last day, said there was access of democracy which he called the worst of all political evils. the fear of democracy at that point in history is made evident a few years later, the french revolution when their new government went to the point of renaming months and started over a year one. cutting off 6000 heads.

that is the fear of democracy. at least to some kind of chaotic anarchy, which ultimately in history leads to a dictator. that is exactly what france does going up to napoleon. they went back to run, so the same things happen. democracy was always tempered here in the united states. and in britain where we get our ideas of having that mix. we have a mix of states and people, we have a president and a congress, we divide our powers. it is the idea that there is no one place that has too much strength. so, jury is freed that the democracy will overrun because it's a seeds a potential revolution. he won't sign it, two of the virginians edmund randolph will insulate, but randolph is always one of those guys that had just bets. he ends up supporting it when virginia is voting on it. he will not actually sign it. he is afraid that girls at home might attack him, and they will

go against him because he knows that patrick henry knows it's not that great is -- the other one, george mason is looking at that idea of the bill of rights. he was did not want to see, that he is not crazy of that part. and there are guys from big states like massachusetts, virginia don't like it. there are all kinds of issues. most of these men will put their doubts aside as franklin would help. september of 1787, at that point franklin looks at the cheer at washington sits, this is behind washington. the carving of a half sum up the back of the chair. that summer they decide whether that the sun was rising or setting. i cannot make my might until now. he says now, i have the happiness to know that is a rising, not a setting sun. he felt good, and he was working for this in 17 fifties. kind of the unity of the american states. he finally sees it happening.

one of the great stories that comes afterwards is he is supposedly asked, will kind of a government did you create in philadelphia? he says it's a republic, the and he's a last warning to the rest of us. but think about the united states, one of the things i like to finish with is this idea that we are still using the same constitution. we are still using that same government. but it also allowed us, not quickly, but it allowed us to improve because ultimately slavery in the united states did not end by the civil war. technically, it is the constitution of the 15th amendment. the 15th amendment will give you quality in voting by color. the 19th amendment will give you equality and voting by gender. through the years, yes, slowly we faced every issue that came within a constitution. it did allow us to solve things and continue to move forward. again, i always think back to franklin and the rise of the

sun. that is exactly what we are seeing through the years. this little humble room is really everything that you the united states have been and will be, it will grow from the events that happened over a ten or an 11-year period. it is kind of amazing when you think of this humble place, and the men that sat here and the things they did. it is really incredible. the things that have grown from this place. the pennsylvania state house is the real name of independence hall, and it was pennsylvania's capital until 1799. pennsylvania move the government west to ultimately the center of the state, harrisburg. at that point, the building is using space, they are renting about it, is not the capital building anymore. but the city of philadelphia started building buildings on the block. by 18 -- the early 1800s, essentially the city is going to buy the building. and the whole block is going to

sort of the city hall. through the 19th century, this is the city hall. the second floor of the building would hold meetings in philadelphia state council, until 1895. but, the first floor is probably one of the first places the united states becomes a historical place. by the 18 twenties, thirties, forties, people are coming to visit. it gets the nickname independence hall. probably this room this fact, was independence hall before the whole building was independence. all one of the freely -- about 50 years after the revolution of the war, makes the triumphant trip throughout the united states. you are talking 18 twenties. we have a very few founding fathers and soldiers in the army that are left. but every town that lafayette visits, gather all the old veterans, everybody like thomas jefferson and john adams is still alive, they get together and they celebrate leveller love yet.

it is this wonderful exclamation of patriotic memory, and one of the most first times we are really looking and embracing our history. at that same time period where people are starting to purchase their copies of the declaration of independence, put them above the fireplace and celebrate the words and the actual document. so, fortunately this room becomes a historic place before they got into the point of totally getting rid of the building and tearing it down to build something new. we are really lucky in a lot of ways it was used long enough, that it became important. by the mid 1800s, this whole thing, one of the most fascinating stories of this room, when the liberty bell we spent 100 years in the bell tower cracked, they put it on this play in this room. where else will be put it? let's put it in the room where the united states began. one of my favorite days that is

not one of the days of the revolutionary war, was actually 150 years ago this year in april. after abraham lincoln was assassinated, his body was in this room. he came here to philadelphia, washington's birthday, 1861 on his way to be inaugurated. made a stop, made a speech independence, all on washington's birthday. he actually sit in this room that he would rather be assassinated on the spot that filled the ideals of the founding fathers. exactly the kind of strength america needed at the time. sadly, four years later, he comes back having been assassinated, but having succeeded in saving the united states. they put his casket literally almost next to the liberty bell, and they ran about 100,000 people through the building in a day to pay their respects to lincoln. in the space, you had lincoln laying next to the liberty bell in the room where the united states was born, and all the ghosts of the founding fathers

present at that one time. that is the kind of thing that makes this so great. the park service comes in in the 20th century, that is world war ii, and unfortunately the one thing they changed, a lot of the walls they made them fancier. it was a plane room. and they wanted to have paintings up. so they have the old fashion museum filled with stuff. our big thing was let's get back to the way it looked. so we kind of stripped it back down to the plane or walls we see today. again, the main structure fortunately, survived years. and we were able to figure out well enough to paint the colors and everything else. so we got it back to what we think was how it looked. the furniture is from the time. not necessarily the original furniture. again, in the early days, nothing was saved. nobody is thinking about the history until we had some. and they kept using it for different things. so we don't necessarily have all of the contents, but we

think everything here is a good match to what was their. so we think as best as we can tell from our investigation and our research, this is pretty close and how it looked.

>> around jim zelensky was a loyalist monetary leader of infield -- fought against patriot forces in the long island a new york city area. the society of distance 90 recently acquired a rail painting of him in his british uniform. up next, in american history tv, the society deputy director and curator emily parsons splits e