Congress Hall

Congress Hall was built between 1787 and 1789 as the Philadelphia County Courthouse, but the federal government’s arrival in the city quickly claimed it for national use. The House of Representatives met on the ground floor and the Senate in the chamber above during the decade Philadelphia served as the temporary seat of government while Washington City was under construction along the Potomac.

The legislation passed in this building shaped the new republic. The Bill of Rights — the first ten amendments to the Constitution — was drafted, debated, and enacted here in 1791 by the First Congress. The building also witnessed the creation of the first National Bank, the establishment of a permanent U.S. Mint, and the admission of Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee as states. George Washington was inaugurated for his second term here in 1793, and John Adams took the first presidential oath of office to occur in the building in 1797.

The interior has been carefully restored to its appearance during the congressional years. The House chamber retains its original tiered seating and the speaker’s raised platform, while the Senate chamber above preserves the red velvet furnishings and canopied presiding officer’s chair associated with the republic’s formative decade. Congress Hall stands immediately west of Independence Hall and is administered as part of Independence National Historical Park.