Yours in Christ,
Wade
In 1988 April and I joined American Missionary Fellowship while we were living in Star Valley, Wyoming and I was pastoring Emmanuel Bible Church. AMF sent its new recruits to Philadelphia, PA for a week of orientation which included one day of historical tour. That historical tour was truly unforgettable. We were taken to Independence Hall to view the very room where the Declaration of Independence was debated, passed and signed, July 1776. After a long and brutal eight-year revolutionary war which defeated the most powerful empire on earth the U.S. Constitution was created, debated passed and signed. We were removed from the actual events by over two centuries but it seemed we were, in a sense, able to touch our history. In fact, we were allowed to touch the Liberty Bell. It is about 2 inches thick.
Upstairs is a long banquet room. When General Washington and the American army were at Valley Forge the British had captured Philadelphia and they used the banquet room as a prison for American soldiers. They suffered and bled on the very floor planks that are still there today.