The story goes that George Washington wouldn't let anybody touch him. He also never had any children, so perhaps that story really is true. Anyway, in Independence National Park you can see the remnants of the house he lived in; John Adams, the second President, later lived here as well while Washington DC was still under construction.
On the same site is the National Constitution Centre, which is a little bit like a masterclass in American Constitutional Law, digested into bite-sized chunks and interactive exhibits for the uninitiated. I also found it really interesting, and learned a lot about things that I was only vaguely aware of. The exhibits gave me a chance to vote in the 2000 Bush/Gore election, explained some of the vital Supreme Court decisions (including Marbury v Madison, which got a good run during my PPL tutes last semester), and allowed me to gaze upon the judicial robe of Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman elected to the US Supreme Court. There was no photography allowed in that part of the exhibit, but the exterior of the building is nice :)
You might be able to see that the first paragraph of the US Constitution is reproduced on the right-hand side of the building. Also on display was one of the earliest known printings of the US Constitution, which I may have accidentally-on-purpose sneakily photographed.
There was also a special exhibit on 1968, a year of rapid change and events which changed America (think Vietnam, Martin Luther King, race riots, the contraceptive pill, Richard Nixon elected President, all that sort of stuff). It was also the year that Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, and the museum proudly exhibits some trays of cutlery from the kitchen where he was shot (still unwashed). I couldn't resist a photo.
Down the way, in a separate building, is the Liberty Bell, which was once a working Bell, used to call all those rebels together in Philadelphia when they were having important meetings about how to get the Brits off their backs. Legend has it that the bell tolled in 1776 when independence was declared, but that was probably a myth. Alas, the Bell was made of dodgy materials from the start, and has long since cracked, and now only has historical value as a symbol of freedom and all that jazz. It's also nice to look at.
The next stop on the good ol' freedom express is Independence Hall, where all those rebellious old white men gathered to complain about Mother England, and come up with grand ideas about liberty for all (except women, black people, young people, people who didn't own enough property... but none of them really mattered anyway, right?) Anyway, cynicism aside, this is Independence Hall:
Inside the Hall is the original copy of the Declaration of Independence - there is no known earlier copy, which makes this one pretty special.
Also in another wing are the rooms where the first House of Representatives and Senate sat. There's a brief guided tour available, during which we discovered that in our group of about fifty people, only three people (not including me) would actually have been eligible to vote at that stage. This is also where Washington and Adams were inaugurated, and where George Washington resigned after his second term - thus setting the precedent that no US President stays in office longer than two terms. (Here's a bit of trivia - the only President to have served longer than two full terms was FDR, who was elected four times, but died not long into the fourth term. Since then, the Constitution has been amended to enforce the two-term limit).
A short walk away from the Park's main attractions is the grave of Benjamin Franklin, which is photographed at a dreadful angle because the gates to the cemetery were locked.
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