I am totally out of order with days so I'm going backwards a little . . . the internet has been awfully challenging with loading posts and pictures, so posting certain day's has been hard. And trying to type posts daily is almost impossible with the schedule that we have set before us . . . so I have to catch up a little!!
Philadelphia is the birth place of our free and independent nation. It’s where the first delegates that led our nation to liberty from Great Brittan met. It has so much history and it was such a joy to be here.
The Liberty Bell was first heard in 1753 atop the Pennsylvania State House here in Pennsylvania. And it was here that the colonial representatives took major steps toward independence from Great Britain. The first time they rang the bell it cracked because is wasn’t made out of strong enough materials to with stand the pressure. The crack is now a reminder that liberty is imperfect, and evolving. It is most known for “Declaring Liberty Throughout all the land unto All the Inhabitants Thereof.”
In response to Parliament’s Intolerable Act, Sugar Act, Tea Act, and Stamp Act, the First Continental Congress gathered in September of 1774 in Carpenter’s Hall, where they drew up a Declaration of Rights and Grievances and an appeal to King George III. We toured this building and saw were each member sat. King George didn’t do anything about their requests and so the Second Continental Congress was formed in the State House in May of 1775. The first shots at Lexington and Concord, and these delegates now had to direct a war. Independence was not the original goal, because many were loyal to the king and wanted to keep the stability and security that came with being citizens of the British empire, but also wanted to change how King George controlled them with the taxes. King George III was unmoved by their requests and declared the colonies in a state of rebellion, sending more British soldiers to America. In Jun 1776 Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee moved that the colonies be proclaimed “Free and Independent States.” Thomas Jefferson drafted the formal declaration of Independence which was adopted in independence Hall on July 4th, 1776. In November 1777, Independence Hall produced the Articles of Confederation which served the new nation during the war. But it had many inadequacies, and in 1787, fifty-five delegates met to revise the Articles for “the preservation of the union,” and our United States Constitution was born in this very room. George Washington was elected the leader of the Continental Congress and sat in the “Rising Sun” chair, symbolizing the birth of a new nation.
Down a few blocks is the original home of Betsy Ross when she was commissioned by the Continental Congress to create a flag for our country. We paid a small fee to tour the house and the best part was at the end where Betsy Ross sat sewing her flag. She was adorable and did a great job explaining to all of us who she was, her family life, her sewing business, and the important job of sewing our countries flag. She learned to sew from her great-aunt Sarah Elizabeth Ann Griscom. After she finished her schooling at a Quaker public school, her father apprenticed her to an upholsterer named William Webster. At this job, she fell in love with fellow apprentice John Ross, The American Revolution War broke out when the two had been married for two years. It was at this time that the Continental Congress asked Betsy to make a flag. She has always been know as Betsy Ross even though she was married two more times. As a member of the local militia, John Ross was assigned to guard munitions and was killed by a gunpowder explosion. The 24-year-old widowed Betsy worked in the upholstery business repairing uniforms and making tents and blankets and stuffed paper tube cartridges with musket balls in 1779 for the Continental Army. They say that Betsy was the "beautiful young widow" who distracted Carl VonDonop in Mount Holly, New Jersey, after the Battle of Iron Works Hill, thus keeping his forces out of the Battle of Trenton. On June 15, 1777, she married her second husband, mariner Joseph Ashburn. Ashburn's ship was captured by a British frigate in 1780. He was charged with treason and imprisoned in England. While Ashburn was in prison, , their first daughter, Zilla, died at nine months of age and their second daughter, Eliza, was born. Ashburn died of an unknown illness in a British jail. In May 1783, she married an old friend, John Claypoole. The couple had five daughters. With the birth of their second daughter, they moved to a larger house on Second Street. After two decades of poor health, Claypoole died in 1817. Ross continued the upholstery business for 10 more years.
To be continued!!
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