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Quest for Freedom: Independence Hall
Freedom's philosophical battleground
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Independence Hall
Photo by B. Krist for GPTMC
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Once Upon a Nation
As you stroll around the area, look for the storytelling benches of Once Upon A Nation sprinkled throughout the Historic District.
More than just a place to rest, the benches feature modern-day storytellers sharing the tales of history’s famous, infamous and not-so famous folk, including how abolitionist, businessman and author William Still was reunited with his brother Peter, one of countless slaves who purchased their own freedom.
Underground Railroad Connection
Independence Hall anchors Philadelphia’s Historic District. It was here that the ideals of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence were first put to paper and continually tested. Independence Hall remained a philosophical battleground as legislators would not directly address slavery or explicitly include free Africans within the phrase “We the People.”
Congress voted to enact the Fugitive Slave Law in Independence Hall, and subsequently, accused fugitives who were captured faced incarceration here as they awaited trial to establish their identity. As an additional insult, the law did not permit accused fugitives to testify on their own behalf. At the same time, Congress passed the 1794 Slave Trade Act, which prohibited American vessels from participating in the Atlantic Slave Trade.
It was under this act that 134 Africans found freedom in Pennsylvania, when two American vessels were captured in the Atlantic and brought back to Philadelphia by the U.S. Navy. Presiding federal judge, Richard Peters, turned the Africans over to the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, who through indentures, enabled the newcomers to establish lives in Pennsylvania. Their descendents live in Pennsylvania today.
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