page_title: Andrew Hamilton (lawyer)
section_title: Independence Hall
hierarchical_section_title: Andrew Hamilton (lawyer) / Independence Hall
context_page_description: Andrew Hamilton was a Scottish lawyer in the Thirteen Colonies, where he finally settled in Philadelphia. He was best known for his legal victory on behalf of the printer and newspaper publisher John Peter Zenger. His involvement with the 1735 decision in New York helped to establish that truth is a defense to an accusation of libel. His eloquent defense concluded with saying that the press has "a liberty both of exposing and opposing tyrannical power by speaking and writing truth."
  His success in this case has been said to have inspired the now archaic term "Philadelphia lawyer", meaning a particularly adept and clever attorney, as in "It would take a Philadelphia lawyer to get him off." His estate in Philadelphia, known as Bush Hill, was inherited by his son, William Hamilton, who leased it for use as the vice-president's house during the years that the city was the temporary capital of the United States.
context_section_description: By the Spring of 1729 the citizens of Philadelphia were petitioning to erect a state house. A sum of two thousand pounds was raised for the proposal. Andrew Hamilton, along with Thomas Lawrence and John Kearsley, were appointed to a committee to decide upon plans for the building, select a site for construction, and hire contractors. Hamilton, in company with his son-in-law, William Allen, purchased the ground now known as Independence Square, whereon to erect "a suitable building" to be used as a legislative hall. Prior to 1729, the assembly met in a private residence.
  Andrew Hamilton is often credited for the design of Independence Hall (then known as the Pennsylvania State House). It is more likely that his designs were for initial planning and that he did not create the final plans. Beginning in 1732, Edmund Woolley was responsible for the final design and construction of the Pennsylvania State House, a project that employed Woolley and his apprentices well into the 1750s. The statehouse was not completed until after Hamilton's death, and the conveyance of the land to the province was made by his son and son-in-law.
caption: Building the Cradle of Liberty, by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris. Andrew Hamilton (center), with two women on his arms, discusses construction plans with a foreman during the construction of Independence Hall (shown in the background).
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