“cradle of American liberty,”
A name given to Faneuil Hall, in
Boston, because it was the usual meeting-place of the patriots during the long contest with royal power, before the kindling of the
Revolutionary War. It was erected in 1742, at the sole expense of
Peter Faneuil,
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Faneuil Hall (from an old English print). |
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of
Boston, who generously gave it to the town.
The lower story was used for a market, and in the upper story was an elegant and spacious hall, with convenient rooms for public use. It was
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The Apollo room in the Raleigh Tavern. |
burned in 1761, when the town immediately rebuilt it. The engraving shows it as it was during the Revolution.
The hall is about 80 feet square, and contains some fine paintings of distinguished men. The original vane, in the form of a grasshopper, was copied from that of the
Royal Exchange of
London.
In 1805 another story was added to the original building.
The name “Cradle of liberty” was also given to the “
Apollo room,” a large apartment in the
Raleigh Tavern at
Williamsburg, Va., where the members of the
House of Burgesses met after its dissolution by
Governor Lord Dunmore in 1774.
There they adopted non-importation resolutions, appointed a fast-day, and chose delegates to the First Continental Congress, which assembled at
Philadelphia in September.
