1789

The crowd roared as the tall Virginian appeared on the balcony of New York City's Federal Hall.  George Washington, hero of the revolution, had agreed to serve his country in a new role.  


On that day, April 30, 1789, he took the oath of office as the first President.

Less than a year before, the states had approved the new Constitution, which created a strong central government.  in January and February of 1789, elections were held to choose a President, Vice President, and members of Congress.   The first Congress had 26 senators and 65 representatives.   It met in New York, the temporary capital, on April 6.  Then came the inauguration of George Washington, who had been chosen President by unanimous vote.

The President and Congress got right to work.  Congress passed the Bill of Rights, protecting the basic freedoms of Americans, and sent it to the states for approval.  Congress also established the executive departments, such as the Department of State and the Department of War, and the federal court system.   And George Washington began to shape the office of the President, setting patterns and precedents that later Presidents would follow.

Another question that Congress had to address early on was how to address the President.  After considering "Your Excellency" and "Your Highness," Congress settled on the simple "Mr. President."

Benjamin Banneker

Benjamin Banneker: Surveyor, Astronomer, Publisher, Patriot

The son of a freed slave, Benjamin Banneker spent only a few winters in school.  But he overcame racial prejudice and lack of formal education to become a widely respected astronomer and mathematician.

For most of his life, Banneker grew tobacco on a small farm in Maryland.  In his 50s, he taught himself mathematics, astronomy, and surveying, using a neighbor’s books and instruments.  He used his knowledge to write a series of popular almanacs with accurate information about the movements of the sun, moon, and stars and predications of tides and weather.  In 1791, Banneker helped survey the new capital, Washington D.C.…He saved the project from disaster when the supervisor quit, taking the plans for the new city with him.  Banneker was able to reconstruct the plans from memory. 

B anneker spoke out strongly against slavery and prejudice.  When Thomas Jefferson questioned the abilities of African-Americans, Banneker wrote him, defending his race.  He won Jefferson’s friendship and support.  Banneker’s remarkable achievements as a self-taught scientist were cited by 18^th century abolitionists as proof that “the powers of the mind are disconnected with the color of the skin.”

When Banneker was 22, he built a wooden striking clock, even though he had never seen one.  He carved every piece himself by hand.

The Liberty Bell

On July 8, 17776, a pealing bell in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House announced the first public reading of the declaration of Independence. Today, that iron bell is known as the Liberty Bell, and it is a treasured symbol of the nation’s devotion to freedom.

The Liberty Bell was made in England and shipped to Philadelphia in 1752. Inscribed on the bell were these words: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” But the first time the bell was tested, it cracked. It was recast and then hung in the State House, which was renamed Independence Hall after the Declaration of Independence was signed there. During the Revolution, the bell was hidden under the floor of a church in Allentown, Pennsylvania to keep it safe. After the war, it was rehung in Independence Hall and rung on important occasisions.

In 1835 while toiling for the funeral of Chief Justice John Marshall, the bell cracked a second time. It was repaired once more, but in 1846, it cracked again as it rang in honor of George Washington’s birthday. This time the bell could not be repaired.

Today the Liberty Bell is enshrined in a special pavilion in Independence National Historic Park in Philadelphia, just across from its original home.

The liberty bell weighs more than 2,080 pounds and has a circumference of 12 feet at its widest point. It is about three feet high.

The Log Cabin

When settlers arrived on the wild American frontier, their first task was to build a home. More often than not, they built a log cabin. These simple homes were common on the frontier because they were sturdy and easy to build. One person, using just an ax and a knife, could do the job. No nails were needed.

The first log cabins in America were built near the mouth of the Delaware River in the late 1630s. They were erected by settlers from Sweden and Finland, where log cabins had been built for hundreds of years. The cabins caught on quickly with other New World settlers. The typical log cabin had just one or two rooms. The walls were made of logs laid horizontally and notched at the ends, so that they interlocked where they met at the corners.

Mud, clay, stones, and chips of wood filled gaps between the logs. Rough-cut boards or tree bark served as roofs.

As the U.S. became industrialized, the log cabin came to symbolize all the hardships and virtues of pioneer life. Politicians boasted that they had grown up in log cabins on the frontier. Three presidents really did: James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, and James Garfield.

President William Henry Harrison, elected in 1840, was called “the Ohio farmer” and used the log cabin as a symbol in his campaign. But he was actually born in a mansion in Virginia.

The American Flag

Did Betsy Ross really sew the first American flag? Probably not. There seems to be no truth to the popular legend that a committee headed by George Washington asked Ross, a Philadelphia seamstress to make the first “Stars and Stripes.”

Nobody knows who really designed the flag adopted by the new United States of America on June 14, 1777. That first flag had 13 stars and 13 stripes, representing the original states of the Union. The colors---red, white, and blue---were borrowed from the British flag, symbolizing the country’s English heritage. Additional stripes and new stars were added when Vermont and Kentucky joined the Union, but in 1818, Congress decided to return to 13 stripes to honor the original states, anticipating the addition of a new star for each new state. The current flag, with its 50 stars, was adopted in 1960 after Hawaii gained statehood.

There are many names for the American flag, such as “Old Glory,”, “the Star Spangled Banner,” and “the Stars and Stripes.” It remains a symbol of democracy and freedom whereever it is unfurled.

Since 1916, the U.S. has remembered the anniversary of the flag’s adoption by celebrating Flag Day on June 14th.

Mount Rushmore

Located in the Black Hills in southwestern South Dakota, Mount Rushmore National Memorial celebrates America with images of four of its great presidents. Carved from the granite summit of Mount Rushmore are heads, each about 60 feet high, of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. These presidents were chosen to represent, in order, the nation’s founding, philosophy, expansion, and unity.

The U.S. Congress authorized American sculptor Gutzon Borglum to undertake the Mount Rushmore project. Borglum (1871-1941) had executed other noteworthy commissions, but Mount Rushmore was his crowning achievement. Work began in August, 1927 and took 14 years to complete. Of this time, only six and one-half years were spent on actual carving; the rest of the time was spent waiting for good weather or looking for funding, which took the federal government eventually provided.

The work was precarious, much of it done at the end of a rope harness. Borglum was assisted by teams of workmen and---towards the end of the project---by his son Lincoln. Using pneumatic drills and explosives, they cut, blasted, and chiseled away some 450,000 tons of rock to complete the four huge heads.

The Mount Rushmore Memorial carvings are huge compared to other well-known monuments. Each head is twice as high as the famous Sphinx statue at Giza, Egypt.

(Famous Places, Mount Rushmore, 1941, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson)