Burl Ives, the famous 20th-century American entertainer whom many will recognize as the narrator of the Christmas classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, once said, “How I longed to see these things; how I longed to see the Liberty Bell and walk on the streets where Thomas Jefferson, Tom Paine, and Benjamin Franklin had walked.” He understood the importance of America’s landmarks — and the affection every American should feel for them.
In its earliest days, as the colonies moved toward independence and nationhood, America experienced several momentous events that shaped the future United States. In this essay, I write about the six most important historical landmarks, some known, others not quite as known.
I like to think that Burl Ives would approve.
Boston’s Custom House and Old State House
Years before July 4, 1776, one of the events that helped set the colonies on the road to independence unfolded outside Boston’s Custom House. On March 5, 1770, a confrontation between Massachusetts colonists and British soldiers turned deadly when troops fired into a crowd, killing five colonists, including Crispus Attucks. The incident, later known as the Boston Massacre, deepened the divide between colonists and the British government and became one of the most important catalysts of the American Revolution.
Even though it has since been destroyed and relocated, the Boston Custom House is one of the most important buildings in American history. Subsequently, arguably of equal importance, was the Old State House in Boston, where the trial of the British soldiers who fired into the crowd took place. John Adams, a prominent Massachusetts patriot and founding father of the U.S., faced the difficult task of representing the British troops in an area of Boston that was out for blood and seeking retribution against the troops for killing the colonists.
Adams believed that justice must be a foundational aspect of the American colonies, especially if they were to be different from the British monarchy. He took on the incredibly difficult task of defending the troops at the trial at the Old State House. Adams faced intense backlash for doing so, but his successful defense of the British troops established an integral part of what would eventually become the U.S. justice system: innocent until proven guilty. He exhibited legal brilliance and reinforced the virtue of integrity by doing his duty, even though it was unpopular yet necessary for the greater good.
“It’s of more importance to the community that innocence should be protected than it is that guilt should be punished,” Adams famously stated at the time.
Ultimately becoming flip sides of the same coin, the Boston Custom House and the Old State House were two of the most important buildings in American history.
Philadelphia’s Carpenters’ Hall
Often overlooked among historical landmarks, Carpenters’ Hall could be considered on par with other sites of equal significance in American historical lore. It is also the birthplace of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
In chronological order, it was the building that hosted the First Continental Congress from Sept. 5 to Oct. 26, 1774. This was a meeting of colonial delegates from all 13 original colonies, except Georgia, which did not send a representative. The meeting was a response to the British blockade of Boston Harbor and the issuance of the Intolerable Acts.
The building, owned by Philadelphia’s Carpenters’ Company in the 18th century, laid the groundwork for what would eventually become the U.S. Among the attendees at this gathering of delegates were founding fathers John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Jay, Patrick Henry, Stephen Hopkins, William Livingston, Thomas McKean, Robert Treat Paine, Caesar Rodney, and George Washington.
The delegates debated an appropriate response to the British Crown regarding its recent actions and implemented laws. The First Continental Congress issued a list of grievances against the British in its first legislative act, known as the Suffolk Resolves. This was followed by the decision to impose an embargo on British trade, to petition King George III to repeal the Intolerable Acts, and to establish a colonial bill of rights, as listed in the “Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress.”
The building remained a popular meeting place even after the First Continental Congress, including where the Pennsylvania Provincial Conference officially declared its independence from the British Empire and, as mentioned above, established the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 250 years ago this month, in June 1776.
This two-story brick building off of Chestnut Street in Philadelphia became one of the most important locations in the history of Western civilization.
Lexington Common and the “shot heard round the world”
One cannot create a list of the most important landmarks in American history without including the first battlefield of the American Revolution.
After receiving orders to disarm American colonist rebels and imprison the movement’s leaders, British General Thomas Gage began the preparation for battle on April 14, 1775. As Massachusetts’s governor, Gage was also in charge of over 3000 British troops. On the morning of April 18, he met with officers announcing plans to take military action against the colonists. It was this series of events that precipitated Paul Revere’s famous ride, who rode through the night, warning the colonists and the area that the “British were coming.”
On April 19, the powerful British military met the American colonists’ militia on the field at Lexington Commons. Militia leader Captain John Parker allegedly encouraged his troops to face the British military, telling the colonial militia, “Stand your ground; don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.”
With tensions at a boiling point, the American militia was face-to-face with the British military. Confusion ruled the day, and a shot was fired, which began the battle. From which side the shot came from is still debated to this day, with historical accounts showing British respondents blaming the American militia and the colonialists claiming the British fired first.
While the person who fired the first shot is debatable, it was fired in the battle that would arguably change the history of the world and human civilization. The “shot heard ‘round the world” would invariably change it forever.
Philadelphia’s Graff House (or Declaration House)
Nearly every American knows, or at the very least should know, that Thomas Jefferson is credited with writing the Declaration of Independence. The lore of one of the world’s most important documents is the impetus for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. It is well known that the debates over the document, a list of what to include and what to exclude, occurred at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, and the adoption of the Declaration of Independence happened on July 4, 1776.
But as for where Jefferson actually wrote the document, not as many people know. It happened at a rental property owned by Jacob Graff, Jr., in an 18th-century Georgian home, located two-tenths of a mile from Independence Hall. At this small, three-story colonial house, Jefferson wrote the words that “created a new nation in 1776” and transformed world history. The work Jefferson did at what is known as the Declaration House (also known for years as the Graff House) left a lasting impact on human civilization.
Today, the Graff House, or Declaration House, does not enjoy the recognition in American History lore for its contribution to the U.S. However, it is unquestionably an important part of our country’s legacy, as even today one can picture Thomas Jefferson sitting at his desk, with a candle lit to provide some semblance of brightness, editing the words of one of the world’s most important historical documents.
Fort Sullivan and the birth of the Swamp Fox
The Battle of Fort Sullivan was one of the most important skirmishes in the early days of the American Revolution. It was fought 250 years ago this weekend, on June 28, 1776, when British naval forces attempted to siege Charleston, South Carolina. The defense of the city, and subsequently the fort, prevented the British from implementing a plan to crush the American rebellion by cutting off access to a valuable port city and a section of the Southern colonies.
After evacuating Boston in March 1776, British General Henry Clinton sought to regroup and calm the tense situation, as colonists were rioting up and down the coast, shouting the word “independence.” From his military superiors, Clinton was tasked with supporting British loyalists in the area and to “restore the authority of the King’s government.” British intelligence thought that taking Fort Sullivan, cutting off Charleston from the American rebels, was integral to restoring order in the colonies.
It did not work.
On June 28, 1776, at approximately 11 a.m., British naval forces mounted their attack. American Colonel Moultrie mounted the defense of Fort Sullivan, strategically ordering his men’s defenses to target vulnerable areas of the British assault. One of the most important factors in the battle was Moultrie’s construction of the fort with Palmetto logs months before the battle. The composition of the palmetto logs was durable enough to absorb British cannon fire, limiting the damage from the larger British naval forces.
The battle lasted for ten hours, with the American colonists ultimately turning back the British navy, which was forced to retreat to New York. The durability of palmetto logs became a legendary part of South Carolina’s historic lore and is the reason the tree is prominently displayed on the state flag today. Moultrie’s defense of Fort Sullivan saved Charleston and is considered the colonists’ first decisive victory over the British navy in the American Revolution.
One of the participants in the battle was Francis Marion, who, after courageously helping to save the city from the British, led a militia in and around the swamps of Charleston, outmaneuvering the British forces throughout the Southern colonies through guerrilla warfare. After pursuing Marion in several battles months after the battle of Fort Sullivan, the British General Banastre Tarleton, famously, said, “Come, my boys! Let us go back, and we will find the Gamecock. But as for this damned old fox, the devil himself could not catch him!”
And the American Revolutionary War hero, the Swamp Fox, was born.
Philadelphia’s Independence Hall
“When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Those iconic words open what is arguably one of the most important documents in world history: the Declaration of Independence. It is a document that is at the foundation of this country. It is a document that transformed American history, world history, and human civilization. It was adopted by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, at the Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall.
Considered a masterpiece of 18th-century Georgian architecture, in the traditional red stone brick of nearly every building of the time, it features the prominent 105-foot main building culminating with its iconic bell tower and wooden steeple, painted in historically relevant and contemporary noteworthy mother-of-pearl or cream color. It is surrounded by “two wing buildings and two covered arcades.”
But what it looks like on the outside is not nearly as important as what occurred on the inside. In the harrowing heat-filled summer of 1776, delegates from the 13 American colonies met to argue, debate, and agree upon the tenets of which they announced their separation from the British monarchy. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were among the immortal words written and spoken at Independence Hall in declaring independence — first voting to do so on July 2, 1776, then officially adopting it on July 4, 1776, and then the first official reading of it on July 8, 1776. All of this important history took place on the grounds of Independence Hall.
AMERICA 250: GREATEST SPORTS MOMENTS IN US HISTORY
Eleven years later, America’s founding fathers gathered once more at Independence Hall for a constitutional convention to replace the ineffective Articles of Confederation. Once again, after weeks of debate in the summer heat at Independence Hall, 55 delegates attended and 39 signed to ratify and adopt the Constitution of the U.S. on September 17, 1787.
One building, two iconic documents, and an incomparable legacy and unforgettable impact in American history, world history, and human civilization. Independence Hall is undoubtedly the most important landmark in American history.