Congress Hall is a building near the intersection of Chestnut and 6th Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that served as the seat of the United States Congress from December 6, 1790 to May 14, 1800. During Congress Hall's duration as the capitol of the United States, the country admitted three new states, Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee; ratified the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution; and oversaw the Presidential inaugurations of both George Washington (his second) and John Adams.
Congress Hall was restored throughout the 20th century to its original appearance in 1796. The building is now managed by the National Park Service within the Independence National Historical Park and is open for tours by the public. Congress Hall should not be confused with Independence Hall, which is located next door.
Read more about Congress Hall: Background, Temporary Capitol, Interior, Legacy, Restoration and Present Status
Famous quotes containing the words congress and/or hall:
“What have Massachusetts and the North sent a few sane representatives to Congress for, of late years?... All their speeches put together and boiled down ... do not match for manly directness and force, and for simple truth, the few casual remarks of crazy John Brown on the floor of the Harper’s Ferry engine-house,—that man whom you are about to hang, to send to the other world, though not to represent you there.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Sweet death, small son, our instrument
Of immortality,
Your cries and hungers document
Our bodily decay.”
—Donald Hall (b. 1928)