James in Philadelphia

The President's House

Followers of the blog will have already noticed that our trip to the United States has featured a number of key sites - or shrines - of American civic culture. With this in mind, and having visited Boston (with its 'Freedom Trail') Plymouth (with its Pilgrim's 'rock') the National Archives in Washington (where the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution are housed in a temple-like structure - surely THE American tabernacle)I ventured to Philadelphia for a day. I took the train from Union Station and enjoyed a pleasant trip through the snow dappled countryside.

Anyhow - my focus for the day trip was Independence National Historic Park in the centre of town, a city square almost totally encased in American history - with the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall at one end, the National Constitution Center at the other, and Ben Franklin's grave on the side. Many of the guidebooks refer to this square as America's 'most historic mile' and although this is a frequently professed claim in this country (we have seen similar boasts -not without some justification - in Boston, New York, Washington DC, Colonial Williamsburg and so on) nevertheless here the claim is made with a greater degree of confidence. In succession I visited the Liberty Bell (described as an "international symbol of freedom"), Independence Hall (where the Declaration was adopted and later signed), Congress Hall - where the first Congress of the US met before moving to Washington DC over a decade later), the first Senate, and many other sites of note, including the Second Bank of the US - in classic Greek Revival style)Carpenters Hall, where the first Continental Congress met, and also the tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the American Revolution. Independence Hall is world heritage listed but unfortunately was covered in scaffolding on the day I was there. Scaffolding, surely, is the tourist's curse. We were afflicted with it in Texas and it followed me all the way here.

Independence Hall, as it usually appears without the scaffolding!

The room where the Declaration of Independence was debated and adopted.

The first Senate.

However before getting to the part of the square that commemorates the deliberations over the declaration of independence, the framing of the constitution and the early deliberations of the US congress, visitors are now encouraged/directed to walk through a brand new (opened only 2 days before my arrival) but rather curious and odd monument to American political history - the President's House. This was the residence where both George Washington and John Adams lived in the early days of the Republic (1790-1800), before Washington became the national capital in 1800. It was here, for example, that Washington and Adams set the course for the office of the presidency: making treaties, receiving ambassadors, and setting out the functions of the executive branch. "I walk on untried ground" Washington said, "and everything I do sets a precedent for those who follow". What survives of this once grand house is only the outline and a few archaeological diggings, so some enterprising museum designers have tried to give a sense of the shape of the house and its original dimensions - see the photos. To say that this is a 'contested' public space would be something of an understatement: that the memorial has opened is testament to the agitation of many, particularly a group called the 'Avenging our Ancestors Coalition', who believed that for too many years tourists to Philadelphia were receiving a warped sense of history by visiting only the Liberty Bell museum. Indeed, they protested, in doing so tourists were walking over the remains of a house where African slaves had served the first President of the United States (Adams did not use slaves). The original house was torn down long ago, and the site was once the location of a public toilet - itself seemingly an anomaly in a country that is so reverential to its early history). Anyway, now they have erected this rather peculiar monument. The New York Times reviewed it on the Wednesday before I got there and gave it a complete caning, mocking (unfairly in my view) its attempt to say that 'History is messy and complex' and arguing that visitors left the site with little or no sense of what the President's House was meant to be about. Was it to mark the origins of executive government, or to commemorate the slaves who worked there?

The President's House- late afternoon

From my perspective however there seemed to be no ambivalence in the main message of the memorial: the legacy of slavery. Clearly what is happening here is that visitors to Independence Square are being directed to walk through this monument before visiting the Liberty Bell museum - and in so doing, are being confronted more directly with the central paradox at the heart of the American experience: that is how a nation dedicated to freedom and equality could maintain the institution of slavery. At the President's House, the purpose is very clear: to highlight the fact that George Washington had slaves here: in fact, that he used to rotate the slaves he brought from Mt Vernon every six months so as not to contravene Philadelphia state law, which held that slaves were to be set free after 6 months service. (Philadelphia of course was much more liberal than many of the other states on this issue). So there are headlines in the museum exhibit which point to the 'deceit of President Washington' and visitors are asked to remember that they 'walk not only on the ground of the founding fathers but also the enslaved'. It is the first time I have seen Washington criticised in so public a space.

There is something almost quite eerie about the memorial - what is there is only the shell of the house, and DVDs play short movies that are mostly about the experience of the slaves who lived, worked and suffered there. Indeed, by directing the tourist to walk through this site before reaching the Liberty Bell, it is as if the visitor is being asked to go take a good dose of absolution before getting on with the task of social self-worship. This is not to say that the Liberty Bell museum is only dedicated to ringing the sonorous chimes of American nationalism - much is made of the huge crack in the bell - it was in the 1830s that anti-slavery grounds actually named it the "Liberty Bell" - and the official National Park guide to the site notes that 'its crack is a reminder that liberty is imperfect, hopefully evolving to include those who have been denied full participation in a democratic society'. But there is no doubt that this museum is more upbeat than the President's House - by the end of the walk through its exhibits one is greeted with the images of Nelson Mandela and others - thus sealing the Bell's appeal as an 'international symbol of freedom'. At one point a sign in the exhibit talks of it being 'America's gift to liberty around the world'. And I think this was the key message that comes through both here and at the National Constitution Center - where visitors are shepherded into a Shakespearean style Globe theatre for a multi-media extravaganza on the meaning of 'We the people'. That show begins with the Revolutionary war (lots of Union Jacks being sizzled) and leads all the way to the fall of the Berlin Wall. So the message is the same - these sites are not only of unique American value - but also of global significance.

The Liberty Bell

The Second Bank of the United States - now a portrait gallery.

I was also intrigued by the tomb of the Unknown soldier of the American revolution - I had not heard about this before - no doubt because it is overshadowed by the more famous 'unknowns' at Arlington Cemetery. But sure enough, just moments away from Independence Square, there he lies, with an eternal flame in front and a statue of Washington overhead. Independence Square was the site of a mass grave of American soldiers from the revolutionary war, and it is not clear when this tomb was establised. But very interesting nevertheless: 'beneath this stone rests an American soldier who gave his life for your liberty' it says (though I could barely read this through the snow). Still, yet another powerful message.

The tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the American Revolutionary War.

Before heading for the train station I took a short walk to Elfreth's Alley - apparently the oldest residential street in America. People still live there - and the place looks like a transplant from 18th century London - replete with Union Jack fluttering in the breeze. I'll let the photos tell the story here.









Anyway, that was enough for one day - jam packed with the founding fathers.