The Philadelphia World Exposition 1876
The landmark – Independence Hall

Year: 1876 City: Philadelphia Country: USA Duration: 10th May - 10th November 1876

1  Copyright: McCabe 1876, S. 50

On 4 July 1876 - Independence Day – a rather modest 50,000 visitors were present on the exhibition site in order to witness the festivities in honour of the exhibition’s original theme. The Declaration of Independence, whose original was exhibited in the Federal Government’s hall, was ceremoniously read out in front of 5,000 invited guests on the square in front of Independence Hall. The official report by the exhibition’s director general remembered this moment euphorically: “The enthusiasm with which the venerated relic was greeted broke out in prolonged cheering, which, at a signal, culminated in a tremendous shout of welcome from all on the platform and in the Square, and was taken up and echoed back by the crowds in the streets without. Mr. Lee then read the Declaration from the old manuscript.” Independence Hall had been built from a design by Kearsley in 1734 as a government building, and as Congress’s meeting place became the site of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. “Which made this venerable building the true shrine of American patriotism for all times,” as a contemporary historian of the world exhibition remarked. The building had been regarded as a museum very early on. In the conference hall, the seat of the President of the Congress and the table on which the Declaration had been signed had been preserved. As the exhibition’s landmark, it provided a suitable ground for the occasion, which was hardly visible around the exhibition site itself.