The building was completed in 1753 as the colonial legislature (later Pennsylvania State House) for the Province of Pennsylvania and was used in that capacity until the state capital moved to Lancaster in 1799. It became the principal meeting place of the Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1783 and was the site of the Constitutional Convention in the summer of 1787.

 

 

A convention held in Independence Hall in 1915, presided over by former US president William Howard Taft, marked the formal announcement of the formation of the League to Enforce Peace, which led to the League of Nations and eventually the United Nations. The building is part of Independence National Historical Park and is listed as a World Heritage Site.

 

Congress Hall

 

The symbolic use of the Hall was illustrated on June 17, 1915, where the League to Enforce Peace (LEP) was formed here with former President William Howard Taft presiding. They proposed an international governing body under which participating nations would commit to "jointly…use…their economic and military forces against any one of their number making war against another" and "to formulate and codify rules of international law".

 

 

Independence Hall is pictured on the back of the U.S. $100 bill, as well as the bicentennial Kennedy half dollar. The Assembly Room is pictured on the reverse of the U.S. two-dollar bill, from the original painting by John Trumbull entitled Declaration of Independence.

 

George Washington statue at Independence Hall.