In another installment of our America 250-themed episodes of the Anchoring Truths Podcast, we are delighted to bring you a deep-dive into Independence Hall, a building almost synonymous with the American Revolution and which is also our logo at the James Wilson Institute.
Before anyone signed anything there, Independence Hall was just Pennsylvania’s State House. It was built because of a riot. In 1729, angry Philadelphians mobbed the colony’s lawmakers over paper money, and the assembly decided it needed a safer place to meet. So the building where Americans later plotted revolution was first designed to protect British officials from rebellious colonists.
Our guest tells this story, and much more, in his new book Independence Hall: The History of an American Icon.
D. G. Hart is professor of history at Hillsdale College and has written about American religious and intellectual history for more than three decades. His books include a spiritual biography of Benjamin Franklin. He grew up near Philadelphia and now keeps a home three blocks from the hall.
Buy the book here
Learn more about Prof. Hart here
