CARPENTERS' HALL,
Chestnut Street, bet. 3rd and 4th, )
1876. -.-     *!
=     c~~         ~ ~N ITS
___STOI   EOIS
PULSE BYTECMAY
_           _E~~~186








FIRST PRAYER IN CONGRESS.








CARPENTERS' HALL
IND ITS
HISTORIC MEMORIES.
The Carpenters' Company of the City and County of
Philadelphia is one of the oldest Associations of Pennsylvania, being instituted about forty years after the settlement of the province by William Penn, and maintaining
an uninterrupted existence from the year 1724. Among
its early members were many prominent in colonial history, and whose architectural tastes are impressed upon
buildings that yet remain, memorials of that early day.
The object of the Association, as expressed in its Act of
Incorporation, was to obtain instruction in the science of
architecture and to assist such of its members as should by
accident be in need of support, and of the widows and
minor children of such members.
Prominent among its founders was James Portins, who
came to this country with William Penn to design and execute the proprietary building, and who, at his death in
1736, bequeathed his library of architectural works to his
fellow members, thus laying the foundation of the present
library of the Company. The success of the Company led




6
to thie formation of rival associations; two of these, which
had inherent strength in themselves, soon saw their mistake, and negotiated for a union with their "elder brethren." 
The Hall of the Company was erected in 1770, at the
time Great Britain's persistent attempt "to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever." had resulted in a general
demand for a union of the colonies.
In the excitement of the period, the State House being
used by the existing Government, the Hall of the Company became the great centre of gatherings for the redress of
grievances or the assertion of rights, and almost all the
"Town Meetings" of that eventful period were held on
the lawn in front or within its walls. It began thus early
to be used for civil purposes. The delegates from the
"'Town Meeting" in 1774 demanding the convening of
the Assembly, met therein, and sent therefrom their committee to Governor Penn, whose reply was read on their
return that "he saw no necessity for calling the Assembly
together," on which they appointed another committee to
wait upon the "Speaker of the Assembly, demanding of
him a positive answer whether he would do it or not. "
Among the early events in the history of Carpenters'
Hall, were the memorable sessions of the "Committee of
the City and County of Philadelphia" to initiate measures
for calling the first Continental Congress-to effect which
an invitation was extended to the various counties of the
Province, to meet the Philadelphia Committee in conference on 15th July then next following. On FOURTU OF
JULY, (by a singular coincidence) 1774, the latter appointed a sub-committee to prepare "instructions," which
the then great leader of Constitutional Rights, John Dickinson thought "a duty, in order to be ready for the Pro



7
vincial Committee when it should meet. " This great
"Provincial Committee," (so it was styled), pursuant to
the call referred to, also met at Carpenters' Hall, and remained in session there till its important and effective
labors were completed, July, 22d, 1774. Its Chairman was
Thomas Willing, and its Clerk, Charles Thomson, and
names of members as follows:
John Dickinson, Peter Chevalier, Edward Pennington,
Thomas Wharton, John Cox, Joseph Reed, Thomas'Wharton, Jr., Samuel Erwin, Thomas Fitzsimons, Dr.
William Smith, Isaac Howell, Adam Hubley, George
Schlosser, Samuel Miles, Thomas Mifflin, Christopher Ludwick, Joseph Moulder, Anthony Morris, Jr., George Gray,
John Nixon, Jacob Barge, Thomas Penrose, John M.
Nesbit, Jonathan B. Smith, James Mease, Thomas Barclay, Benjamin Marshall, Samuel Howell, William Moulder, John Roberts, John Bayard, William Rush.
Bucks-John Kidd, Henry Wynkoop, Joseph Kirkbride,
John Wilkinson, James Wallace.
Chester-Fran. Richardson, Elisha Price, John Hart,
Anthony Wayne, Hugh Lloyd, John Sellers, Francis
Johnson, Richard Reiley.
Lancaster-George Ross, James Webb, Joseph Ferree,
Matthias Slough, Emmanuel Carpenter, William Atlee,
Alexander Lowrey, Moses Erwin.
York-James Smith, Joseph Donaldson, Thomas Hartley.
Cumberland-James Wilson, Robert Magaw, William
Ervine.
Berks-Edward Biddle, Daniel Brodhead, Jonathan
Potts, Thomas Dundas, Christopher Schultz.




Northampton-William  Edmunds, Peter Keichlein,
John Okeley, Jacob Arndt.
Northumberland-William Scull, Samuel Hunter.
Bedford-George Woods.
Westmoreland-Robert Hannah, James Carett.
This list is given, since it is rarely to be met with, and
includes the names of those men who formed the second
link (the Non-Importation Resolutions of 1765 of the merchants of Philadelphia being the first) in the local efforts
to assert Constitutional rights.  This Committee, "in a
body, waited upon the Assembly then sitting" at the State
House, and presented the "Iustructions" to appoint delegates to represent Pennsylvania in the intended Congress,
and to require them, for and on behalf of the citizens of
this Province "strenuously to exert themselves to obtain
a renunciation on the part of Great Britain of all powers
of internal legislation for America, or of imposing taxes,
&c., &c., and a repeal of every other statute particularly
affecting the Province of Massachusetts Bay, passed in the
last session of Parliament.
These "Instructions," with the argumentative part upon
which they were predicated, were esteemed so admirable as to elicit a formal vote of thanks to their author, Mr.
Dickinson, rendered (by resolution) publicly from the
chair, " for the application of his eminent abilities to the
service of his country."
The Assembly, by vote the day following, complied with
these instructions, and appointed delegates to the "First
American Congress,"  Amongst the members were Peyton Randolph, Samuel and John Adams, Roger Sherman,
Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, Christopher Gadsden,
the Rutledges, and our own John Dickinson, without




whom the Congress was considered incomplete, and who
hence was added by the Assembly within six weeks.
George Washington, too, was a member of this Congress.
They assembled at the " Iercihants' Coffee House," on
Second Street, near Walnut, and walked in a body to "Carpenters' Hall," the scene of their deliberations. These
devoted patriots conscious of the impending perils of the
movement, resolved that all their transactions, except such
as they should resolve to publish, should be kept inviola.
bly secret.
Thus, in "The Carpenters' Hall" commenced that series of deliberations whllich ultimated, on the 4th of July,
1776, in declaring the Colonies "' Free and Independent."
BEAUTIFUL REMINISENCE OF THE FIRST AMERICAN CONGRESS, FROM THE PEN OF THE VENERABLE JOHN ADAMS,
"When the Congqress met, Mi. Cushing made a motion
that it should be opened Uwith prayer. It owas opposed by
Mr. Jay of New Yrork, and Mr. Rutledge of South Carolina,
because we woere so divided in religious sentiments —some
EpiscopalianRs, some Quakers, some Anabaptists, some Presbyterians, and some Congregationalists,-that we could not
join in the same kind of worship.
Mr. Samuel Adams arose and said "tlhat he was no bigot,
and could hear a prayer' fromn any gentleman of piety and
virtue, woho was at the sane tiname a friend to his country;
he was a stranger in Philadelphia, but had heard that
lMr. Duchg, (Duchay they pronounce it), deserved that
character, and therefore he moved that ~Mr. Duchi4, anl
Episcopalian Clergyman might be desired to read prayers
to Congress to-morrow morning."  The motioni was seconded anud passed il the affirmative.
Mr. Randolph, our President waited upon Mr. Duchg,
and received for answer, that if his health would permit, he
certainly would. Accorldingly next mrorning he appeared
with his clerk and in his pontificials, and read several




10
prayers in the established form, and then read the psalter
for the 7th day of September, which was the 35tl psalm. —
you must remember that this was the next morning after
we had heard of the horrible cannTonade of Boston. It
seemed as if heaven had ordained that psalm to be read on
that morning.
After this, Yr. DuchY, unexpectedly to everybody struck
out into extempore prayer, which filled the bosom of every
man  present —1  ust confess I never heard a better prayer
or one so well pronounced-Episcopalian as he is, Dr.
Cooper himself never prayed with such fervor, such ardor,
such correctness and pathos, and in language so e7elgant
and sublime, for America, for Congress, for the province
of Massachusetts Bay, especially the town of Boston-It
had excellent effect upon everybody here. Imust beg you to
read the psalm. If there is any faith in the Sortes Virgilliana, or Homeriece, or especially the Abortes Biblicce  it
would have been thought providential.
Here was a scene worthy of the painter's art. It woas in
Carpenters' Hall, in Philadelphia, a building which still
survives, that the devoted individuals met to whom this ser-,ice was read.  Washington was kneeling there, and IHenry,
and Randolph, and Rutledge, and Lee, and Jay, and by
their side their stood, bowed in reverence, the Puritan
Patriots of New England, woho at that moment had reason
to believe that an armed soldiery was wasting their humble
households.  It was believed that JBoston, had been bombarded
and destroyed.  They prayed fervently for Anerica, for the
Congress, for the province of MIassaehusetts Bay and especially for the town of Boston, and who can realize the emotions with which they turned imploringly to heavena for diviL ne
interposition and aid.? It was enough, said $Mr. Adams,'-to
welt a heart of stone."  Isaw the tears, gush into the eyes
of the old grave pacific Quakers of Philadelphia.
One of the memorable resolves of that Congress was an
address to the people of Great Britian, adopted October 21st,
1774, in which they say, "But if you are determined that
your ministers shall wantonly sport with the rights of mankind-if neither the voice of Justice, the dictates of the




11
law, the principles of the Constitution, or the suggestions
of humanity, can restrain your sands from shedding
human blood in such an impious cause, we must then tell
you, that we will never submit to be hewers of wood or
drawers of water for any ministry or nation in the world. "
In an address to the inhabitants of the Colonies of the
same date they say, "But we think ourselves bound in duty
to observe to you, that the - chemes agitated against these
Colonies have been so conducted as to render it prudent
that you should extend your views to mournful events, and
be, in all respects, prepared for any contingency. Above
all things, we earnestly entreat you, with devotion of spirit,
penitence of heart, and amendment of life, to humble
yourselves and implore the favor of Almighty God; and
we fervently beseech his Divine goodness to take you into
his gracious protection."
In Carpenters' Hall, also, met on 18th of June, 1776, a
convention which exercised a controlling influence on the
question of Independence.
The Assem!)ly of Pennsylvania had appointed their delegates under the following "instructions."
"We strictly enjoin you, that you, on behalf of this
Colony, desist from and utterly reject, any proposition,
should such be made, that may cause, or lead to a separation from our Mother Country or a change in the form of
government."  Hence the delegates of Pennsylvania did
not give their votes in Congress "for establishing government throughout the continent on the authority of the people," which Congress had recommended on the 15th of
May, preceding. Richard Henry Lee had on the 7th of
June, formally introduced his celebrated resolution for a
separation, and the Pennsylvania delegates in Congress
were under instructions to oppose it, when this " Provin.




12
cial Conference" met. It was composed of representatives
from all the counties of the Province, and was presided
over by Thomas McKean; it had as members, Benjamin
Franklin, Benjamin Rush, Jona. B. Smith, Henry Wynkoop, James Smith, Alexander Lowry, Joseph Heister,
John Creigh, and some ninety others.
This Provincial Conference resolved that the present
government of the Province was not competent for the exigencies of our affairs.
Resolved, That the present House of Assembly was not
elected for the purpose of forming a new government.
iesolved, That the present House of Assembly, not having the authority of the people for that purpose, cannot
proceed without assuming arbitrary powers.
Resolved,That a Provincial Convention be called for the
express purpose of forming a government in the Province,
on the authority of the people only.
Resolted, That we will support the measures now
adopted at all hazards, be the consequences what they
may.
Besides complying with the purposes for which they had
been assembled, they patriotically determined to act for
their constituents.
On Sunday, the 23d of June, 1776, a Committee consisting of Dr. Benjamin Rush, Col. Joseph Small, and Col.
Thomas McKean, were appointed to draft a resolution declaring the sense of the Conference with respect to the independence of the Province from the crown of Great Britian, and to report next morning.
On M3onday morning, the 24th of June, the Committee
brought in a draft of a Declaration of Independence for
the Colony of Pennsylvania, which was read bly special




13
order, and being fully considered was unanimously agreed
to, in the following words:
"WHEREAS, George the III, King of Great Britian,
&c., &c., in violation of the principles of the British Constitution, and of the laws -of justice, and humanity, hath,
by an accumulation of oppressions unparallelled in history,
excluded the inhabitants of this, with the other Colonies,
from his protection.
AND WHEREAS, He hath no regard to our numerous and
dutiful petitions for a redress of our complicated grievances,
but hath lately purchased foreign troops to assist in enslaving us, and hath excited the savages of this country to
carry on a war against us, and also the negroes to imbue
their hands in the blood of their masters in a manner unpractised by civilized nations, and hath lately insulted our
calamities by declaring that he will show us no mercy u4til he hath reduced us.
AND WHEREAS, The obligation of allegiance, being reciprocal between a king and his subjects, are now dissolved,
on the side of the Colonists, by the despotism of the said
king, in as much that it now appears that loyalty to him
is treason against the people of this country.
AND WHEREAS, Not only the Parliament, but there is
reason to believe many of the people of Great Britian have
connived at the aforesaid arbitrary and unjust proceedings
against us.
AND WHEREAS, The public virtue of the Colony so essential to its liberty and happiness, must be endangered by
a future political union with or dependence upon a crown
and nation so lost to justice, patriotism, and magnanimity.
We, the deputies of the people of Pennsylvania, assembled




14
in fill Provincial Conference fbr forming a plan for executing the resolve of Congress of the 15th of May last, for
suppressing all authority in this province derived from the
crown of Great Britain, and for establishing a government
on the authority of the people only, now, in this public
manner, in behalf of ourselves, and with the approbation,
consent, and authority of our constituents, unanimously
declare our willingness to concur in a vote of Congress declaring the United Colonies Free and Independent States,
provided the forming the government and the regulation of
the internal affairs of this Colony be always reserved to
the people of this Colony; and we do further call upon
the nations of Europe, and appeal to the Great Arbiter
and governor of the empires of this world, to witness for
us, that this Declaration Act does not originate in ambition
or in an impatience of lawful authority, but that we were
driven to it in obedience to the first principles of nature,
by the oppressions and cruelties of the aforesaid king and
Parliament of Great Britian, as the only possible measure
that was left us to preserve and establish our liberties and
to transmit them inviolate to our posterity."
It was signed by eighty-five deputies, and delivered by
their President to Congress. They also patriotically deter
mined to act for their constituents, and to instruct the
Pennsylvania delegates in Congress to concur in declaring
the United Colonies Free and Independent States, and to
disregard "instructions" from the Assemlbly, which resolution they also formerly transmitted to Congress. In
prompt response to the call of this Conference, assembled
the "Convention of 1776" to frame a Constitution for the
Independent State of Pennsylvania.  Congress adopted
the Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July, and
on the 15th of the same month this Convention in Carpen.




15
ters' Hall ratified the action of Congress and adopted a
Constitution which served as the fundamental law until
the adoption of the Constitution of the United States.
In an address to his fellow citizens on the action of this
"Convention" the Chairman, Thomas MCcKean, said, "It
is now in your power to immortalize your names by mingling your achievements with the events of the year 1776a year which we hope will be famed in the annals of history to the end of time, for establishing upon a lasting
foundation the liberation of one quarter of the globe."
Thus was prefigured our great Magna Charta in Carpenters' Hall, the scene of their anxious deliberations.
The use of Carpenters' Hall for the popular cause was
almost continuous, and when the next Congress convened
at the State House, the Committees of that body and their
most important "Committee of Safety" held in their secret
services within its walls. That Congress, though meeting
in the State House, assembled in Carpenters' Hall to proceed in a body to the funeral of their deceased President,
Peyton Randolph, October, 1775.
Christopher Marshall, in his diary, under date of October 24th, 1775, says: "Past two, went and met part of
Committee at Coffee House, and from thence went in a
body to Carpenters' Hall, in order to attend the funeral of
Peyton Randolph (the first President of the first Continental Congress), who had departed this life suddenly after
dinner, last first day, at the country house of Richard Hill:
then proceeded to Christ Church, where a sermon was
preached by Jacob Duche; then to Christ Church burial
ground.
Among those whose manhood early appeared in a protest against the Church and State government of the early
New England colonies were the Baptists. Holding among




16
themselves all that was great in Puritanism, a manly endurance of persecution, they submitted to imprisonment
and death.
Mr. Bachius was the moderator of the Warren Baptist
Association of Massachusetts, and when the opposition of
Great Britian stirred up a manly advocacy of liberty in the
land, and in 1774 a Congress of Delegates from the Provinces met in Philadelphia, he and the suffering churches he
represented thought it a proper opportunity to appeal foi
relief from their affliction. He therefore came to Philadelphia some time in the early fall of 1774. The Philadelphia
Baptist Association was at the time in session, and he laid
before them a statement of the grievances and sufferings
of the New England Baptists.
A Committee was appointed to act with him in prepar-'ig a memorial to lay before Congress, and the support
and assistance of all the sects not dominant in the Provinces solicited.  To this responded particularly the Quakers, who, although controlling Pennsylvania, were especially obnoxious to the New Englanders. A conference between them and the Baptist Committee was held at the
office of Robert Strettle Jones, a distinguished lawyer of
the day.
It was finally concluded that before addressing a memorial to Congress a meeting with the delegates from New
England should be had, and upon this resulted a session
IN CARPENTERS' HALL
on the 14th of October, 1774, a day worthy of commemoration.
All friends of religious liberty, in or out of Congress,
were invited. John Adams, surly and indignant, Samuel
Adams, Thomas Cushing, and Robert Treat Paine ap



17
peared for Massachusetts. The Catholics of Maryland
were represented by Charles Carroll, of Carrolton, and
his colleagues. Even Cavalier and Episcopal Virginia,
appeared.
From New Jersey, James Krintzle; from Rhode Island,
Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward; from Pennsylvania,
Joseph Galloway and Thomas Mifflin, represented the
sympathies of their constituents with the motives of the
conference. The Quakers were particularly strong in the
representation of Israel and James Pemberton and John
Fox, while the Baptists stood forth with the proud representation of President Manning, of Brown University,
Robert Strettle Jones, and Mr. Samuel Davis.
John Adams, in his diary, discourses with the earnestness of the Puritan and the Federalist concerning this
conference. The principal speaker appears to have been
Israel Pemberton, the Quaker, who, noting the grievances
of his sect and others in Massachusetts Bay, John Adams
accuses of Jesuitism.  Says Adams;  "I responded to
him with great heat, not willing to hear my people thus
attacked," and he declared that in Massachusetts was and
ever had been the purest political liberty known.
"Then" says a'record of the period, "up rose Israel
Pemberton;'John, John' he said,'dost thou not know
of the time when Friends were hung in thy colony, when
Baptists were hung and whipped, and finally when Edward
Shippen, a great merchant of Boston was publically whipped
because he would not subscribe to the belief of thee and
thy fathers, and was driven to the colony of which he
afterwards became Governor?"
The conference ended at the time in nothing. But the
struggle for religious liberty thus begun in Carpenters'
Hall was not abandoned. Never forgotten and urged by




18
the Catholics of Maryland, the Friends of Pennsylvania,
and the Baptists of Rhode Island and New England, the
cause grew until its principles were embodied in the Fed.
eral Constitution, and to-day exists in the Constitution of
every State in the Union except New Hampshire.
When the British took possession, in 1777, of the city of
Philadelphia, a portion of their army was quartered in the
Hall, and continued there during the time they occupied
the city. The soldiers made a target of the vane on the
cupalo, and several holes were drilled through it by their
bullets.
The early movement for the encouragement of American
industries is identified with Carpenters' Hall. A public
meeting of citizens was held at the Hall, and subscriptions
made for that object. The following is from the papers of
that day:
"The subscribers towards a fund for establishing and
carrying on American manufacture of linens, woolens,
&c., are requested to meet at Carpenters' Hall, on 5th day
next, the G1th inst., at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, to consider a plan for carrying the same into execution." They
organized; the Chairman on taking his seat said, "Poverty, with all its other evils, has joined with it in every
part of Europe all the miseries of slavery. America is
now the only asylum for liberty in the whole world. By
establishing manufactories we stretch forth a hand from the
ark and invite the timid manufacturer to come in. By
bringing manufacturers into this land of liberty and plenty, we remove them from the state in which they existed
in their own country, and place them in circumstances to
enable them to become husbands and fathers, and add to
the general tide of human happiness. In closing the imports from Great Britain, the wisdom of Congress cannot




19
be too much admired. A people who are entirely dependent on foreigners for food and clothing must always
be subject to them. That poverty, confinement, and death
are trifling evils compared with that total depravity of
heart which is connected with slavery. By becoming
slaves we shall lose every principle of virtue; we -shall
transfer an unlimited obedience from our Mtaker to a corrupt majority of the British House of Commons, and shall
esteem their crimes the certificate of their divine right to
govern us. We shall cease to look upon the Court and
Ministry —harpies who hover around the liberties of our
country —with detestation; we shall hug our chains and
cease to be men."
In 1787 the United States Commissary-General of Military Stores occupied the Hall, and from 1773 to 1790 the
books of the Philadcl)phia Library, then the nucleus only
of the magnificent collection which now exists, were also
deposited there.
In 1787 sundry deputies of the convention to frame
a Constitution for the United States appeared at the State
House, but a majority not being present, adjourned from
day to day. A quorum having arrived, they held their
sessions for that time in "The Carpenters' Hall" where
"they deliberated with closed doors, and at the end of four
months agreed upon a Constitution for the United States of
America," making the Carpenters' Hall memorial both
for the first united effort to obtain a redress of grievances
from the Mother Country, and the place where the Fathers
of the Republic changed bythe Constitution a loose league
of separate States into a powerful nation.
The Hall has also been largely used for public purposes.
During the Revolution it was partly used by the Commissary-General of Military Stores, and a temporary building




20
erected by him for a "brass foundry and file cutting shop;"
and at times by the Barrack Master.
In 1791 the first Bank of the United States transacted its
banking business there for upwards of six years, and upon their removal to their new banking house, The "Bank
of the State of Pennsylvania" occupied it until they
erected their banking-house on Second street.
The United States occupied it for their Land Office for a
short period, when the business of the Custom House was
removed to it, and it continued as such about fourteen
years, until the incorporation of the second Bank of the
United States, when the United States surrendered it by
agreement to that institution, which occupied it about four
years.
On the removal of the Bank, the Apprentices' Library
had their collection on the second story for about seven
years, after which the Franklin Institute occupied the
Hall and held within it the first exhibition of domestic
manufactures ever offered to the American public.
The Convention for a monument to the signers of the
Declaration of Independence met and held their deliberations in it.
In 1857 the Carpenters' Company, with a reverence for
their old Hall which has so well stood the test of time,
being connected with so many stirring incidents in our
national history, in a belief that its story is instructive
and valuable, withdrew it from the purpose of trade and
commerce, and devoted it to their own use and the recollections of the historic memories that cluster around it, as
the Nation's Birth Place.