Are you and your family looking for something fun, patriotic, and educational to do?  Every American should visit the National Constitution Center, especially for educational tours. Over the holiday break, I went to the National Constitution Center with my family. The Constitution Center is a great attraction for all ages, and the exhibits have a number of hands-on activities. When you first enter on the first floor, there is an arts and crafts table with “cootie catchers” for kids to make that will teach them the first eight amendments.

First we went into the limited time exhibition “Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello,” which was available from April 9, 2014-Jan. 4, 2015. The information was presented from the perspective of a slave and based on the thought-provoking question, “Why would someone who wrote that ‘all men are created equal’ own people?” The exhibition contained a great amount of information on the background of Jefferson and the duties of his slaves. The exhibit included a large display that named each of the hundreds of slaves who worked for Jefferson on his plantation.

After the Jefferson exhibit, we viewed the show “Freedom Rising” in the Kimmel Theatre, which runs every 30 minutes.  This show features live narration accompanied by video in the circular theater and describes America’s history and how the constitution came about; the presentation was very moving and gave me a great sense of pride as citizen of this country. I recommend seeing the show before going to the other exhibits because it provides a refresher on the history of America’s Constitution.

After the show, we continued into the exhibit called, “The Story of We the People,” an exhibit that demonstrated how the constitution has shaped America’s history.  The exhibit was filled with activities such as pretending to vote in an authentic voting booth, taking the presidential oath of office, and watching videos on different topics and time periods in American history.  There was also a large display about the United States Supreme Court that included video footage of actual Supreme Court proceedings.  On the walls, there were many excerpts of influential stories that demonstrated how people, actions, and wars contributed to the country we have today and how the Constitution has influenced so much of our American history. I thought the exhibit “The Story of We the People” was fascinating, and I really enjoyed it. Visitors are able to go around the circular exhibit as often as they like, so I recommend going around more than once to make sure you don’t miss anything.

When you exit the doors from that exhibit, you have the opportunity to go over to Signers’ Hall to view bronze statues of 39 of the 55 men present at the constitutional convention.  The museum docent explained that each statue was cast in the estimated actual size of each historical figure and clothed exactly as they would have been at the time.  There were brass plates on the floor that stated each person’s name and their age when they signed the constitution.  In this exhibit I had the opportunity to sign a mock version of the Constitution and take pictures with the figures. My favorite thing about Signers’ Hall was taking pictures with the bronze figures of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. Signers Hall is the only room in the Constitution Center in which photography is permitted.

Through the glass doors of Signers’ Hall you have an opportunity to go to the exhibit, “Constituting Liberty” and view the first public printed copy of the constitution, the original Bill of Rights, and the first stone engraving of the Declaration of Independence.

When you walk out of the second floor exhibits, there is a beautiful display of a flag from each state and territory. There is also a very large American flag on display that has flown over all fifty state capitals across our country between July 4, 2002 and June 14, 2003. The second floor window in front of the flag has a spectacular view of historic Philadelphia.

I took the entire tour of the Constitution Center and it was a great experience.   I give the Constitution Center five stars because of the high-quality exhibits and friendly atmosphere of the museum. The tour took about two hours and the cost for two adults and one student was about $40.  The parking was conveniently located adjacent to the museum.  Visiting the National Constitution Center was an experience that any American would enjoy and every American should try to visit at least once in their lifetime.

General Information:

Independence Mall

525 Arch Street

Philadelphia, PA 19106

215-409-6600

Hours:

Monday-Friday 9:30am-5pm

Saturday: 9:30am-6pm

Sunday: 12pm-5pm