A free public reading of the 1776 Pennsylvania Bill of Rights by three Pennsylvania judges, introduced by Temple University legal historian Julie Randolph.
Carpenters' Hall is hosting a public reading of the 1776 Pennsylvania Bill of Rights on Saturday, October 17, from 12 PM to 12:30 PM. It's a short, half-hour session, and it's free to the public. Three Pennsylvania judges will take turns reading the text: Hon. Wendi D. Barish and Hon. Paula Patrick, both from the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, and Hon. Jordan Yeager from the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas. Temple University legal historian Julie Randolph will set the stage before they begin.
The reading comes from the 1776 Pennsylvania Bill of Rights, which was part of the state's first constitution. Back in June 1776, delegates from Philadelphia and Pennsylvania's ten colonial counties met right there in Carpenters' Hall to declare independence from Great Britain and authorize the writing of that constitution, which was adopted in September. For its time, it was radically democratic, and it included a Bill of Rights fifteen years before similar rights were acknowledged in the U.S. Constitution.
Carpenters' Hall has its own history to bring to the table. It's the site where the First Continental Congress met in 1774; on September 7 of that year, the Reverend Jacob Duché delivered an invocation before the Founding Fathers, a moment that set the precedent for prayer in Congress that continues to this day. The reading is presented in partnership with the Revolutionary Philadelphia: 1776 program of the Museum of the American Revolution.
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It's a midday thing, so it's easy to fit into a Saturday morning. The reading runs from 12 PM to 12:30 PM at Carpenters' Hall, 320 Chestnut Street, and it's free to the public.
