Independence Hall

Independence Hall
Independence Hall
	Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution were both debated and ratified
Location	520 Chestnut Street between 5th and 6th Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Coordinates	39°56′56″N 75°9′0″W / 39.94889°N 75.15000°W
Architect	William Strickland (steeple)
Architectural style(s)	Georgian
Visitors	645,564 (in 2005)
Governing body	National Park Service
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Type	Cultural
Criteria	vi
Designated	1979 (3rd session)
Reference no.	78
Region	Europe and North America
U.S. National Historic Landmark District; Contributing Property
Designated	October 15, 1966
Part of	Independence National Historical Park
Reference no.	66000683
	Location of Independence Hall in Philadelphia Independence Hall (Pennsylvania) Independence Hall (the United States)

Independence Hall is a historic civic building in Philadelphia, where both the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were debated and adopted by America's Founding Fathers. The structure forms the centerpiece of the Independence National Historical Park and was designated a World Heritage Site in 1979.^[3]

The building was completed in 1753 as the Pennsylvania State House. It served as the first capitol of both the United States and of the Province and later the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It was the principal meeting place of the Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1781, and was the site of the Constitutional Convention, at which the U.S. Constitution, the longest-standing written and codified national constitution in the world, was ratified on June 21, 1788.^[4]

A convention held in Independence Hall in 1915, presided over by former U.S. president William Howard Taft, marked the formal announcement of the formation of the League to Enforce Peace, which led to the League of Nations in 1920 and the United Nations in 1945, a quarter century later.^[5]