The Cahokia Courthouse State Historic Site in St. Clair County will host “The Language of Liberty,” a public reading of the Declaration of Independence at 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 8.
Community members will read portions of the Declaration aloud, while local historians provide insight into the document’s origins, meaning, and lasting influence on American history. The program commemorates the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia on July 8, 1776. The reading presented the ideals of liberty and self-government directly to the people of the newly formed nation.
Visitors will have the opportunity to tour Cahokia Courthouse State Historic Site, one of the oldest public buildings in Illinois and an important landmark of early American government in the Northwest Territory.
The event is hosted by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, St. Clair County Historical Society, the Lewis and Clark Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, and the Belleville Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
For additional information contact the St. Clair County Historical Society at 618-234-0600.
