these are single doors with pedimental heads. Otherwise the room is
substantially like that across the hall. They are regarded as the best
of the restored rooms of the building, and of the two the courtroom is
perhaps rather the better in its greater simplicity.

In the east or so-called Declaration chamber, the second Continental
Congress met May 10, 1775; George Washington was chosen commander in
chief of the Continental Army June 15, 1775; and the Declaration of
Independence was adopted July 4, 1776. The American officers taken
prisoners at the Battle of Brandywine, September 11, and of Germantown,
October 4, 1777, were held here as prisoners of war, and on July 9,
1778, the Articles of Confederation and perpetual union between the
States were signed here by representatives of eight States. The room
contains much of the furniture of those days. The table and high-backed
Chippendale chair of mahogany used by the presidents of the Continental
Congress and occupied by John Hancock at the signing still remain, and
on the table is to be seen the silver ink-stand with its quill box and
sand shaker, in which the delegates dipped their pens in autographing
the famous document. There are also fourteen of the original chairs used
by delegates. On the walls hang portraits of forty-five of the fifty-six
signers, also a portrait of Washington by Rembrandt Peale.

In fact, the collection of portraits is largely based on canvases
secured from the famous Peale Museum which at one time occupied the
upper floors of the building. There are also valuable paintings by
Benjamin West, Gilbert Stuart, Edgar Pine, Thomas Sully and Allan
Ramsay. The bronze statue of Washington standing in front of
Independence Hall on Chestnut Street is a replica of the original one in
white marble by Bailey, which was removed on account of its
disintegration. Forty-five crayons and pastels by John Sharpless,
purchased by the city in 1876, form a notable collection estimated to be
worth half a million dollars. What is supposed to be the earliest
exhibition of paintings ever held in America was that of Robert Edge
Pine, which occurred in Independence Hall in 1784.

[Illustration: PLATE LXXXVIII.--Main Hall and Double Staircase,
Pennsylvania Hospital.]

[Illustration: PLATE LXXXIX.--Custom House, Fifth and Chestnut Streets.
Completed in 1824; Main Building, Girard College. Begun in 1833.]

On the second floor the principal room is a great banqueting hall