Stop 6: Independence Square, between 5th and 6th Streets and Chestnut and Walnut Streets (enter mid-block on 5th Street via the ramp)Immediately after purchasing land for the Pennsylvania State House in 1732, members of the Pennsylvania Assembly declared that the State House Yard would be “a public greene and walk forever.” Philadelphians have gathered here to protest and celebrate for hundreds of years.James Forten and the Reading of the Declaration of Independence Nine-year-old James Forten witnessed Colonel John Nixon read the Declaration of Independence out loud here on July 8, 1776. As an adult, Forten repeatedly referenced the Declaration of Independence when he argued for unalienable rights for emancipated Black people. James Forten and the Dunlap Broadside Declaration of Independence, July 1776 Portrait of James Forten, 1818 Frederick Douglass and the Meeting on Independence Square Frederick Douglass, then 26 years old and a fugitive from slavery, spoke at an antislavery event on Independence Square on August 17, 1844. In his speech, Douglass alluded to the fact that where he was speaking was so close to the building where the Declaration of Independence was signed. Frederick Douglass's "Meeting in the State House Yard," August 22, 1844 FIND: Independence Hall (south view from exterior), between 5th and 6th Streets and Chestnut and Market Streets Fugitive Slave Hearings Black Philadelphians gathered on Independence Square in the 1850s while awaiting the verdicts in “fugitive slave” hearings taking place inside Independence Hall. It's unknown exactly how many "fugitive slave" hearings happened in Independence Hall, but newspaper records detail at least nine cases between 1850 and 1854. The "fugitive slave" hearings took place in a courtroom on the second floor and accused fugitives awaited their hearings, often for days, detained in the marshal’s office. Crowds gathered on Independence Square for the city’s first case under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Accused of escaping a Maryland slaveholder eight years prior, Henry Garnet was freed after witnesses gave conflicting testimony. The jubilant crowd hoisted Garnet in the air and carried him off. Independence Hall and Fugitive Slave Hearings Fugitive Slave Hearings - the Rulings Reverend William Jackson's Involvement in a Fugitive Slave Hearing |
Last updated: October 21, 2024