Christ Church

Philadelphia

Christ Church with its 200-foot steeple

QUICK FACTS

The church steeple was designed by architect Robert Smith, whose other works include Nassau Hall, St. Peter’s Church, and Carpenters’ Hall

LINKS

SITE: Christ Church in Phildadelphia
SITE: USHistory.org

LOCATION

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Founded in 1695, this was the first Anglican Church in Philadelphia; the current wonderfully-preserved structure was built 1727 - 44. Washington, Franklin, Adams, and many other Revolutionary War leaders worshipped here, and many are buried in the nearby Burial Ground.

Associated People

By attacking slavery more fiercely than ever before, Revolutionary Americans freed tens of thousands of slaves. But the Revolution’s libertarian and egalitarian message had perverse consequences. It forced those Southerners who chose to retain slavery to fall back on the alleged racial deficiencies of blacks as a justification for an institution that hitherto they had taken for granted and had never before needed to justify. The anti-slavery movement that arose out of the Revolution inadvertently produced racism in America.

— Gordon S. Wood

Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815 (2009)