Faneuil Hall was a site for meetings, debates, and protests in Boston. America’s first town hall meeting was hosted here. It has been called the “Home of Free Speech” and the “Cradle of Liberty”. Twenty-four times a year, new citizens take the Oath of Allegiance here.

            Peter Faneuil was one of the wealthiest merchants in Boston. His commodities included: slaves, sugar, molasses, wine, fish, and timber. Faneuil petitioned in a town meeting to establish a permanent central marketplace in Boston. The petition passed with a vote of 367 to 360. Faneuil personally funded the construction of the building. It was completed and given to the city of Boston in 1742.

            Faneuil Hall hosted many campaigns opposing the British. The first protests of the Sugar Act, the Stamp Acts, “taxation without representation”, the Townshend Acts, the Tea Acts, and the British occupation were held here in 1764. James Otis and Samuel Adams were two of the major forces that led colonists in these protests.

            The building is topped with a grasshopper weathervane that was used during the War of 1812 to spot spies. Anyone who did not know what was on the weathervane was considered suspicious

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Sources: https://www.nps.gov/bost/learn/historyculture/fh.htm

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