We have
all been taught a lot about the birth of our nation. And although I learned
a a small amount in school, and then later a large amount in graduate
school about that period, I found some really interesting facts while curating
two exhibits for the 200th anniversary of the inauguration of Geo. Washington -
which is how he was often referred to. Below are some of my favorite facts the
first few of which do appear in my July Historic Notes, but there are more!
July 4,
1776 - The Continental Congress, meeting in what came to be called Independence
Hall, adopted the Declaration of Independence.
July 4,
1826 - On the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, former
Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died. They had
both contributed to the writing of the Declaration.
July 4,
1900 - Jazz legend Louis Armstrong, nicked-name "Satchmo," was
born.
July 6,
1775 - Congress issued the "Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of
Taking up Arms" against the British.
July 8,
1776 - The first public reading of the Declaration of Independence was given at
the State House in Philadelphia.
The
Liberty Bell was rung for the first time.
July 9,
1776 - The Declaration of Independence was read aloud in Manhattan
on Bowling Green. Afterwards, some of the colonists tore down the statue of
King George III. Parts of it were
sent to a foundry in Connecticut to be made into bullets to use against the
British. And today we are allies!
AND NOW...
From
September of that year and for seven years, the British occupied New York City
which at that point consisted only of Manhattan. It wasn't until 1898 that the
five separate cities joined to become boroughs of the City.
Shortly
after the occupation, on September 21st, "The Great Fire of
1776" as it was called decimated lower Manhattn. Above the fire area were
farms and undeveloped areas. The British blamed the Patriots and the Patritots
blamed the British. No one was ever sure. It could have been an accident. Among
the buildings destroyed was the first Trinity Church at the head of Wall
Street. It was left in ruins. St. Paul's Chapel,
The first
chapel built by the Parish survived. Why: it had a flat room and men could
stand on it and battle
the flames. Fortunately, many early records were stored there, including
baptism, marriage and burial and minutes.
During
the occupation, the British soldiers and their friends strolled around the
ruined church among the gave stones and even attended concerts held there.
Services continued to be held at St. Paul's. The Parish was part of the
Anglican church in England and the official church receiving money from the
government.
When the
British left, there was a celebration in Fraunces Tavern led by George
Washington.
Some left
to go to England and others to Canada, including some of the members of Trinity
Parish.
All had
been Loyalists.
The city
had a lot to do to rebuild and deal with a new situation as it wasn't until
1787 that there finally was a constitution and the creation of a new
nation. The earlier Articles of Confederation simply had not worked.
For many
weeks the Founding Fathers met in what is now called Independence Hall where
they had also written and passed the Declaration of Independence.
With the
new nation came the office of President, the first being Geo. Washinton who did
not want to be President, but all the Founding Fathers felt he was the only one
who could form the new government.
He wrote
to a friend that he was going to face "an ocean of difficulties" and
clearly wasn't happy about it.
When he
arrived in Manhattan, people gathered to see him along the waterfront. Some
women screamed and fainted! And there were fireworks which we had learned about
from those who traded with China.
Globalization
is not as new as we think and goes back to Marco Polo and beyond! One burst of
fireworks depicted
his face.
On that
historic day on the steps of Federal Hall, Washington took the oath of office
with his hand on his family bible. The oath was administered by Robert
Livingston, a prominent member of his family. His Vice President, John
Adams, had taken the oath weeks before and presided over the Senate. Adams was
later the second president and his son John Quincy, the 6th.
After the
swearing in the dignitaries led by Washinton went to St. Paul's Chapel of
Trinity Parish, Wall Street, for a
service. There was a pew set aside for him and one for other dignataries.
In his diary he writes about going to St. Paul's as well as Trinity and how he
once fell asleep during a sermon.
St. Paul's was built on Fulton Street in 1766 and survived
"The Great Fire of 1776" as it had a flat roof.
Men with
buckets of water doused the flames. Thanks to their efforts not only did the
Chapel survive, but a lot
of records which made up part of the archives I established in 1978. St. Paul's is modeled on
St. Martins-in-the Field in London.
On the
200th anniversary of that historic day, there was a special service in St. Paul's. Oddly I had
an intern who was a descendent of Livingston, Alexander Hamilton, the first
Secretary of the Treasury, and John Jay the first Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court. I decided to see if I could find more descendants and thanks to the
Colonial Dames and the Sons of the Revolution I found a few. And it turned out
that a member of Trinity was a Livingston too.
So on that day distant cousins met for the first time.
Phyllis Barr
President Corporate Culture & Heritage
Marketing
New York, NY
212-765-6968
ladyhistory@earthlink.net
www.phyllisbarr.linktoexpert.com