[ePub] All's Well That Ends Well: A Comedy by William Shakespeare in Arts-Photography

Description

Independence Hall is a place Americans think they know well. Within its walls the Continental Congress declared independence in 1776; and in 1787 the Founding Fathers drafted the U.S. Constitution there. Painstakingly restored to evoke these momentous events; the building appears to have passed through time unscathed; from the heady days of the American Revolution to today. But Independence Hall is more than a symbol of the young nation. Beyond this; according to Charlene Mires; it has a long and varied history of changing uses in an urban environment; almost all of which have been forgotten.In Independence Hall; Mires rediscovers and chronicles the lost history of Independence Hall; in the process exploring the shifting perceptions of this most important building in Americas popular imagination. According to Mires; the significance of Independence Hall cannot be fully appreciated without assessing the full range of political; cultural; and social history that has swirled about it for nearly three centuries. During its existence; it has functioned as a civic and cultural center; a political arena and courtroom; and a magnet for public celebrations and demonstrations. Artists such as Thomas Sully frequented Independence Square when Philadelphia served as the nations capital during the 1790s; and portraitist Charles Willson Peale merged the arts; sciences; and public interest when he transformed a portion of the hall into a center for natural science in 1802.In the 1850s; hearings for accused fugitive slaves who faced the loss of freedom were held; ironically; in this famous birthplace of American independence. Over the years Philadelphians have used the old state house and its public square in a multitude of ways that have transformed it into an arena of conflict: labor grievances have echoed regularly in Independence Square since the 1830s; while civil rights protesters exercised their right to free speech in the turbulent 1960s. As much as the Founding Fathers; these people and events illuminate the buildings significance as a cultural symbol.