2016 First Stop: Philadelphia

We started our trip where our country was born, Philadelphia.  There is so much of the early history of the United States here.  Our first stop was to see the Liberty Bell, a beautiful symbol of liberty and a reminder to let freedom ring.
 

Maybe the crack in the bell is to remind us that our country has survived through fractious times before over issues such as slavery and civil rights for African Americans, Native American property rights and autonomy, and voting and reproductive rights for women.  Indeed, civil rights issues are revisited still today with attempts to limit minority voting rights, to change the process by which a resident becomes a citizen, and to limit unregulated access to firearms, to name a few. I believe in one country indivisible, so I have faith our democracy will endure.

 Our next stop was Independence Hall.  History is heavy in the air where our first representatives argued over but then adopted the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution of the United States of America.  As the National Park Service ranger described, many of the men who had gathered there in 1776 did not originally intend to declare independence from the British.  But the impassioned discussions of how best to respond to rising taxes and the British refusal to give the colonies representation in establishing taxes resulted in the truly courageous decision to declare independence.  Courage.

But these men knew that talk was not enough; there needed to be a framework established to set out how this new country would interact with foreign countries, how it would finance the revolutionary war, and how it would govern itself.  So they next developed the Articles of Confederation to establish the responsibilities of the general government.  Subsequently, the Constitution more explicitly established the principles upon which this new government was based and expanded its responsibilities and authority.  An especially personal connection to these proceedings is that one of Charlie's relatives was a delegate to the 1779 Continental Congress from the state of Connecticut.  As the NPS ranger described how the civil war tested these principles, especially that all men are created equal, I have to say that I believe the 2016 presidential campaign is also testing the commitment of our countrymen to our founding principles. 

Our next stop was Reading Terminal Market.  Boy, that was fun!  Interesting and delicious foods everywhere, all beautifully displayed.

The next day we went to the Benjamin Franklin museum.  That man was so brilliant!  He was always thinking, always inventing, always moving forward.  We need to make sure that we encourage and sponsor all the Ben Franklins of the future.  Can you tell I was again impressed by him?  Just awesome.  Not perfect.  But still awesome.

We capped off our short visit to Philadelphia by searching out, standing in line, and eating a delicious Philly cheese steak at Geno's.  It was fun and good, especially the cheese fries that were great!  Yum.