Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Philadelphia Offers History, Celebration; Interview with Rick Starr
Aired July 04, 2002 - 08:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The Declaration of Independence was completed and adopted by the Congress in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, and 226 years later, we are still celebrating. But this year, Independence Day is particularly important, particularly after what we all witnessed on September 11.
And CNN's Michael Okwu is standing by Independence Hall this morning to take us on a little tour -- good morning, Michael. How you doing on this holiday?
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I am very, very hot, Paula. I wish I was on the beach, but I can't think of a much more appropriate place to be here than Philadelphia. About a million people -- or more than a million people, actually, are expected to come here for the July Fourth festivities. And we are told that so many of them will be coming right here, to basically center city, which is the historic district here in town, what many people refer to as the birthplace of our nation. And I can't think of a more appropriate place, probably, to go and visit today than Independence Hall, which, of course, is where the Declaration of Independence was signed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OKWU (on camera): Rick, this is an important room, right? This is the assembly room of the Pennsylvania Statehouse, and important things happened here to say the least.
RICK STARR, PARK RANGER: They sure did. This was the meeting place of the Second Continental Congress. They began meeting here less than one month after the fighting had begun in Massachusetts at Lexington, and in Concord. So, they had a lot to talk about.
OKWU: I see 13 tables here. I assume they represent the 13 colonies, and specific players that we know today sat at these tables.
STARR: They sure did. You had people like Benjamin Franklin here, and John Adams was also here, representing Massachusetts. His cousin Sam was also here. Some people who would later attend the Constitutional Convention, which also met in this room, were here.
OKWU: Who sat back here?
STARR: Oh, that would be Charles Thompson. He was a long-time secretary of the Second Continental Congress, writing from that table.
OKWU: And the head table, just up here?
STARR: Head table would be used by the presiding officer of the Congress. During the meetings in 1776, his name was John Hancock.
OKWU: We've heard of him.
STARR: Yes, he was the guy who signed the Declaration of Independence first.
OKWU: You know, you would think that arriving at an agreement to have independence would be a very easy thing, but in fact it wasn't, wasn't it?
STARR: It was an extremely difficult thing.
OKWU: What was it like in this room? Were they all fighting? Were the doors locked? Were the windows shut down?
STARR: They were sometimes -- they were meeting in highly secretive situations. The tempers here could really get out of control. Because just think of it, you have to make -- a question of conscience, should you break away from your own mother country, or should you remain loyal to the crown? This was something that each and every one of these delegates took extremely seriously.
OKWU: There was an important exchange, I mean, probably a lot of important exchanges between the players here, but one between Hancock, who was sitting at the table, the main table, and Benjamin Franklin, right?
STARR: Well, that's exactly right. It wasn't so much an exchange, but what happened was, after the vote for independence was taken, Hancock reportedly said, all right, "Gentlemen, the deed is done. We must all hang together," to which Benjamin Franklin who was always good with a quip at the right time, from the Pennsylvania table said, "Yes, gentlemen, we must all hang together, or we will most assuredly all hang separately."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OKWU: Now, there are going to be a lot of festivities throughout the course of the the day today here in Philadelphia, including a parade, a fireworks display, and, of course, the awarding of the liberty medal to Secretary of State Colin Powell, which will happen at some point later on this morning. And of course, all of this is going to happen amid a great deal of security. The police here in Philadelphia are not giving away too many specifics, but they do tell us that they are working with federal agencies on this, and there will be more uniformed as well as undercover police officers on the scene today. And in fact, lots of tactical teams will be on alert today, including the bomb squad and SWAT teams. The main focus, today, though they will be around the perimeter of the city, the main focus, of course, will be right here in the historic district of Philadelphia -- Paula. ZAHN: And Michael, I know you've had the chance to roam around a little. What seems to be the level of concern of all those Philadelphia residents that plan to show up there for all of these celebrations?
OKWU: You know, there's been a lot of talk about it by news organizations, but to be quite frank with you, just walking the streets of Philadelphia, which was a great pleasure yesterday, I can tell that absolutely nobody has been talking about security. People feel that it's just -- they've been really talking more about the weather, the fact that it is so hot and humid, and so many of them are getting ready to go out and tackle the sites, and sort of steep themselves, and reflect in the history of the birthplace of this country -- Paula.
ZAHN: That's a great tour. And some good news for you, as you were speaking, I noticed the hint of a breeze behind you in one of those lovely trees. We'll tell you take to some cooler air now, Michael.
OKWU: That's a relief.
ZAHN: I know, it is so miserable in that humidity. Thanks again for that tour. You saved a lot of people the trip in these crowds.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
