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Wall Street non è solo una strada: è il cuore pulsante della finanza mondiale, un luogo dove storia, potere e ambizione si intrecciano.In questo episodio, ti porterò alla scoperta delle origini di Wall Street, dai tempi della colonia olandese al ruolo di epicentro economico globale. Scoprirai i misteri del quartiere, come il Wall Street Bombing del 1920, la storia del Charging Bull e della Fearless Girl, e i tesori nascosti della Federal Hall e della Trinity Church. Ti guiderò anche attraverso le attrazioni imperdibili del Financial District, come la Federal Reserve Bank e Pearl Street. Preparati a un viaggio tra passato e presente, per scoprire tutto quello che rende Wall Street un'icona mondiale.Per saperne di più leggi la mia guida su viagginewyork.it
Washington's inauguration was conducted on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street, with thousands of spectators gathered below to witness the historic ...
Plausibly Live! - The Official Podcast of The Dave Bowman Show
Today, we embark on a journey back to the dawn of the American experiment. Our spotlight shines on the first presidential term of George Washington, a time when the nation's destiny hung in the balance. On April 30, 1789, amidst the grandeur of Federal Hall in New York City, Washington stepped onto a second-floor balcony to take the oath of office. His inaugural address, delivered with humility and vision, set the tone for a young republic grappling with its identity, its Constitution, and the promise of liberty. Join us as we explore the echoes of that historic moment—the birth of a presidency, the forging of a nation, and the enduring legacy of George Washington's words… --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/plausibly-live/message
The legacy of slavery in this country is undeniable. And yet we're a long way from acknowledging how fundamental it is to how America came to be, and how it should be discussed and represented. Those tensions are playing out in our monuments - including in places we don't often associate with slavery, like New York City. On Wall Street sits Federal Hall, a place dedicated to many firsts: the First Amendment, the first Capitol building and the first U.S. president. Less than a mile away is the African Burial Ground, dedicated to the 419 enslaved Africans buried there. Considered together, these two National Park Service sites illuminate how we talk about the birth of the United States, and the enslaved people who made this new country possible. For more on the show, visit prx.org/monumental.
Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 804, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: the "un" category 1: In the mid 1800s its stops were "stations" and its workers were called "conductors". the Underground Railroad. 2: Among other places, "he" is buried under the Arc de Triomphe, in Westminster Abbey and at Arlington. the Unknown Soldier. 3: Though often misquoted, these are the kinds of "rights" the Declaration of Independence guarantees. unalienable rights. 4: They were called this because they used to write their names at the bottom of insurance contracts. underwriters. 5: Dylan Thomas' radio play about a day in the life of the Welsh villagers of Llareggub. Under Milk Wood. Round 2. Category: forbes' fictional billionaires 1: Topping the list is this North Pole resident with apparently unlimited, incalculable wealth. Santa Claus. 2: $1 billion is the total for this fictional billionaire, Homer Simpson's boss. C. Montgomery Burns. 3: This candy magnate from a Roald Dahl novel hoards a sweet $8 billion. Willy Wonka. 4: This "Gilligan's Island" tycoon washes ashore with $8 billion. Thurston Howell III. 5: A James Bond villain, he's worth an estimated $1.2 billion. Auric Goldfinger. Round 3. Category: famous sailors 1: Most collections of "The Arabian Nights" include the tale of this "sailor". Sinbad. 2: The word odyssey, meaning a long, adventurous voyage, comes from the name of this sailor. Odysseus. 3: In 1947 he sailed the Kon-Tiki from Peru to the Tuamotu Islands in the South Pacific. Thor Heyerdahl. 4: This Atlanta media mogul is famous for riding the waves as well as the airwaves. Ted Turner. 5: In 1841 this American author signed on as a seaman aboard the whaler Acushnet. Melville. Round 4. Category: national landmarks 1: The dome of this Washington, D.C. building was topped with the Statue of Freedom in 1863. Capitol Building. 2: The only mountain in Colorado that's been designated a national landmark. Pikes Peak. 3: Officially this St. Louis landmark's name is the Jefferson Nat'l Expansion Memorial. the St. Louis Arch (Gateway Arch). 4: Tho Washington took the oath of office there, this city's Federal Hall was sold for salvage in 1812. New York. 5: Much of this village, site of Lee's surrender to Grant, has been restored to its 1865 appearance. Appomattox Court House. Round 5. Category: salute to labor 1: Promising more assertiveness, John Sweeney was elected president of this labor federation in 1995. AFL-CIO. 2: In 1969 the brakemen, firemen and switchmen on these were "tied" together in one union. railroads. 3: OCAW is the union of oil, chemical and these workers; let's hope Homer Simpson's not a member. Nuclear/Atomic Workers. 4: This worker may be found on an airplane or as a union representative on a shop floor. Steward. 5: In 1995 the Int'l Association of Machinists staged a 69-day strike against this Seattle-based company. Boeing. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia! Special thanks to https://blog.feedspot.com/trivia_podcasts/
Constitutional Chats hosted by Janine Turner and Cathy Gillespie
It's March 1789. You've been elected to serve your community as a member of Congress. You arrive at Federal Hall in New York City to begin your service. You are assigned a desk and…that's it. No office. No support staff. It's a far cry from today where members have staff and offices in DC and in their districts. We are continuing our discussion on Congress and the Constitution by discussing the history of the House of Representatives. Who better to discuss this history than the Historian of the United States House of Representatives Matt Wasniewski? We are excited to have Matt with us alongside our all-star student panel for this informative discussion!
In this special series of the Juicecast in celebration of the 1-year anniversary of ConstitutionDAO, Matthew and Brileigh are joined by several former core members including Graham Novak, Alice Ma, Jonah Erlich, Ittai Svidler, and Jon Hillis. ConstitutionDAO was a single purpose acquisition DAO that raised over $40M in an attempt to buy one of the last thirteen remaining copies of the U.S. Constitution at Sotheby's on November 18th, 2021. What started as a joke in a group chat onboarding thousands into crypto and gave the world a glimpse of the power of blockchain technology, decentralization, and new forms of governance. In this episode, Matthew and Brileigh trace the chronology of the events that took place from conception up until the auction at Sotheby's. They also cover the history and significance of the Constitution itself, suggestions for where the document could have been displayed, as well as a last minute request from Sotheby's that almost prevented the DAO from being able to bid at the auction. Chapters: 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:44 History of the U.S. Constitution 00:01:49 What is the Constitution 00:03:46 1988 auction of the same copy of the Constitution 00:04:38 How ConstitutionDAO got started 00:09:21 End of Day 1, a true heist for public goods at the kickoff call 00:12:05 Communicating with Sotheby's and requirements for bidding 0013:25 Who would “own” the Constitution? 00:14:01 Federal Hall as a bastion of American History & venue for displaying the document 00:15:21 Choosing a fundraising platform 00:17:34 Days 4-6: Money starting to snowball, interviews with CNBC & NYT 0021:20 The power of deadly serious memes 00:22:27 Overcoming stagnant growth and finding a whale 00:24:50 ETH and FTX tank, and overcoming the last hurdle hours before the auction 00:28:12 Introducing Sotheby's Lot 1787: The Constitution, teaser for episode 2 Topics discussed: ConstitutionDAO Sotheby's The U.S. Constitution American history FTX Follow Juicebox on Twitter: @juiceboxETH Juicebox Protocol's website: juicebox.money Follow Matthew on Twitter: @0xmatthewb Follow Brileigh on Twitter: @0xbrileigh Credits: Hosts: matthewbrooks.eth and brileigh.eth Production: matthewbrooks.eth and brileigh.eth Engineering: matthewbrooks.eth
Don Hawkins, "dean of Washington, DC architectural history," on the early city hall remodeled by Pierre Charles L'Enfant for the seat of America's first government, on Wall Street.
Having won the Pulitzer Prize for his play A Strange Loop, what will he do next? One possibility, move to Wyoming. “I'd get my house somewhere, get my shotgun, if I needed it, and sit on my porch in my rocking chair.” An eastern sophisticate contemplates the West, Tori Amos, and soap opera. Presented with Federal Hall and the New York Harbor Conservancy.
Join us at Kailey and Dion project what the summer and droughts across the country will look like due to the spring forecast barrier and the current ENSO forecast. Wait until the end because you don't want to miss out on Emily's little history lesson of New York's Federal Hall from her trip this weekend!
Voják, farmář, zeměměřič a otec velkého národa. To všechno byl George Washington - muž, který stál v čele boje za nezávislost USA a formoval dějiny Spojených států. V den 30. dubna 1789 se i díky tomu stal v sedmapadesáti letech prvním americkým prezidentem. Svoji přísahu složil tehdy ještě v New Yorku na radnici Federal Hall.
Happy Black History Month! In addition to that, I MADE IT! This is the 12th and final episode of Vibes...Moods & Moves of Season #1! Needless to say, I have a lot to say and some observations, reflections and feels to share with you all. In the spirit of Valentine's Day ( which was a week ago...) I have to say, I am totally in love with every single person who stepped out into the " interwebs " this past year and shared uplifting and edifying content. You all are simply the best! As for me, my Podcast was a little monthly broadcast; and it truly became my "go to" when the News and current events got to be too much and I knew I needed a break. It has also been my public reckoning with my old self who has been chomping at the bit to do some chat in a blog meets radio format, for years! So of course I decided to go for it in the middle of a pandemic! As scary as it was, I took comfort in knowing that I wasn't alone in doing so. So many from all around the world created and shared and took to the web, pushed passed their fear (s), frustration with being locked down... immeasurable global grief, and every other emotion we collectively have felt during this past year. I am honored to be just one voice in that mass digital choir of good stuff. So I close this season with a full one hour episode where I chat about how I can't get into observing Black History Month on social media as it I simply feels void of that something special, the connection and deep reflection. Instead I choose to capture some of the vibe that I am missing from more traditional ways that I have celebrated Black History Month with friends and family of years gone by. The fix for me during this time when we can't gather at Luncheons, Museums, Performances, Worship Services and such; I'm reading, watching documentaries, enjoying Art and the Performing Arts online, listening to music and reflecting on my genealogy and my place in it all as I celebrate my African American Pride! ( which I celebrate all the time, but just a lil extra during Black History Month.). With that said,please join me for this special Season#1 EPI 12, closing episode. Bring your tasty beverage, snack and settle into your comfy seat. This is a true blue heart to heart chat! And I sincerely hope you enjoy it. And CHEERS to a year filled with connection and to the the next season! "See" you all March 19h 2020 for the start of Season #2 of Vibes...Moods & Moves! NOTE: To read my full Blog entry for this episode go here > www.JannaeJordan.com If the streaming service you are using does not allow hyperlinks you can grab the links on my website www.jannaejordan.com from S1 EPI#12, under the Vibes...Moods & Moves menu option. Book I am reading: "The Devil You Know": A Black Power Manifesto : Written by, Charles M. Blow What I am watching: The Black Church: This Is Our Story. This is our song - Official Website( PBS) Finding Your Roots (PBS) Black Art: In The Absence Of Light - (HBO) From my Black History Month Reflections of celebrations passed: Wynton Marsalis Performing "Amazing Grace" at Federal Hall in New York City Jonathan Green Studios ( My favorite Artist! ) Sweet Honey in The Rock - Wade in the Water Sweet Honey In The Rock - Let There Be Peace Vibes...Moods & Moves - Podcast
Happy Black History Month! In addition to that, I MADE IT! This is the 12th and final episode of Vibes...Moods & Moves of Season #1! Needless to say, I have a lot to say and some observations, reflections and feels to share with you all. In the spirit of Valentine's Day ( which was a week ago...) I have to say, I am totally in love with every single person who stepped out into the " interwebs " this past year and shared uplifting and edifying content. You all are simply the best! As for me, my Podcast was a little monthly broadcast; and it truly became my "go to" when the News and current events got to be too much and I knew I needed a break. It has also been my public reckoning with my old self who has been chomping at the bit to do some chat in a blog meets radio format, for years! So of course I decided to go for it in the middle of a pandemic! As scary as it was, I took comfort in knowing that I wasn't alone in doing so. So many from all around the world created and shared and took to the web, pushed passed their fear (s), frustration with being locked down... immeasurable global grief, and every other emotion we collectively have felt during this past year. I am honored to be just one voice in that mass digital choir of good stuff. So I close this season with a full one hour episode where I chat about how I can't get into observing Black History Month on social media as it I simply feels void of that something special, the connection and deep reflection. Instead I choose to capture some of the vibe that I am missing from more traditional ways that I have celebrated Black History Month with friends and family of years gone by. The fix for me during this time when we can't gather at Luncheons, Museums, Performances, Worship Services and such; I'm reading, watching documentaries, enjoying Art and the Performing Arts online, listening to music and reflecting on my genealogy and my place in it all as I celebrate my African American Pride! ( which I celebrate all the time, but just a lil extra during Black History Month.). With that said,please join me for this special Season#1 EPI 12, closing episode. Bring your tasty beverage, snack and settle into your comfy seat. This is a true blue heart to heart chat! And I sincerely hope you enjoy it. And CHEERS to a year filled with connection and to the the next season! "See" you all March 19h 2020 for the start of Season #2 of Vibes...Moods & Moves! NOTE: To read my full Blog entry for this episode go here > www.JannaeJordan.com If the streaming service you are using does not allow hyperlinks you can grab the links on my website www.jannaejordan.com from S1 EPI#12, under the Vibes...Moods & Moves menu option. Book I am reading: "The Devil You Know": A Black Power Manifesto : Written by, Charles M. Blow What I am watching: The Black Church: This Is Our Story. This is our song - Official Website( PBS) Finding Your Roots (PBS) Black Art: In The Absence Of Light - (HBO) From my Black History Month Reflections of celebrations passed: Wynton Marsalis Performing "Amazing Grace" at Federal Hall in New York City Jonathan Green Studios ( My favorite Artist! ) Sweet Honey in The Rock - Wade in the Water Sweet Honey In The Rock - Let There Be Peace Vibes...Moods & Moves - Podcast
Happy Black History Month! In addition to that, I MADE IT! This is the 12th and final episode of Vibes...Moods & Moves of Season #1! Needless to say, I have a lot to say and some observations, reflections and feels to share with you all. In the spirit of Valentine's Day ( which was a week ago...) I have to say, I am totally in love with every single person who stepped out into the " interwebs " this past year and shared uplifting and edifying content. You all are simply the best! As for me, my Podcast was a little monthly broadcast; and it truly became my "go to" when the News and current events got to be too much and I knew I needed a break. It has also been my public reckoning with my old self who has been chomping at the bit to do some chat in a blog meets radio format, for years! So of course I decided to go for it in the middle of a pandemic! As scary as it was, I took comfort in knowing that I wasn't alone in doing so. So many from all around the world created and shared and took to the web, pushed passed their fear (s), frustration with being locked down... immeasurable global grief, and every other emotion we collectively have felt during this past year. I am honored to be just one voice in that mass digital choir of good stuff. So I close this season with a full one hour episode where I chat about how I can't get into observing Black History Month on social media as it I simply feels void of that something special, the connection and deep reflection. Instead I choose to capture some of the vibe that I am missing from more traditional ways that I have celebrated Black History Month with friends and family of years gone by. The fix for me during this time when we can't gather at Luncheons, Museums, Performances, Worship Services and such; I'm reading, watching documentaries, enjoying Art and the Performing Arts online, listening to music and reflecting on my genealogy and my place in it all as I celebrate my African American Pride! ( which I celebrate all the time, but just a lil extra during Black History Month.). With that said,please join me for this special Season#1 EPI 12, closing episode. Bring your tasty beverage, snack and settle into your comfy seat. This is a true blue heart to heart chat! And I sincerely hope you enjoy it. And CHEERS to a year filled with connection and to the the next season! "See" you all March 19h 2020 for the start of Season #2 of Vibes...Moods & Moves! NOTE: To read my full Blog entry for this episode go here > www.JannaeJordan.com If the streaming service you are using does not allow hyperlinks you can grab the links on my website www.jannaejordan.com from S1 EPI#12, under the Vibes...Moods & Moves menu option. Book I am reading: "The Devil You Know": A Black Power Manifesto : Written by, Charles M. Blow What I am watching: The Black Church: This Is Our Story. This is our song - Official Website( PBS) Finding Your Roots (PBS) Black Art: In The Absence Of Light - (HBO) From my Black History Month Reflections of celebrations passed: Wynton Marsalis Performing "Amazing Grace" at Federal Hall in New York City Jonathan Green Studios ( My favorite Artist! ) Sweet Honey in The Rock - Wade in the Water Sweet Honey In The Rock - Let There Be Peace Vibes...Moods & Moves - Podcast
Newly sworn-in presidents usually give a speech referred to as an inaugural address. As with many inaugural customs, this one was started by George Washington in 1789. After taking his oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall, he proceeded to the Senate chamber where he read a speech before members of Congress and other dignitaries. Every president since Washington has delivered an inaugural address. While many of the early presidents read their addresses before taking the oath, current custom dictates that the chief justice administer the oath first, followed by the president's speech.Jefferson's first inaugural. This comes on the heels of the election of 1800, famous for how divisive it was. Jefferson talks about the need to "restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection" that had taken a pretty severe beating. "We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists."Lincoln's first inaugural. The famous lines about "we must not be enemies" begin in the final paragraph of the speech. There's also a good angle on speechwriting here, because the final paragraph was not written by Lincoln, but drafted by his incoming secretary of state, William Seward—which Lincoln then polishes into the famous lines we're familiar with.Lincoln's second inaugural. This is one of the shortest inaugurals, in which Lincoln basically says up front "I don't need to tell you that there was a war..." and I think it's notable that it *sounds* tired, even on the page. The famous "with malice toward none" quote begins.FDR's first inaugural. FDR opens with the section that includes the famous "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." (Which is possibly something he picked up from Thoreau!) "This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today" are something relevant to today. His closing lines are also pretty good in terms of talking about coming together to face down a national emergency.Kennedy is not quite a crisis speech in the same way, because the crisis was international rather than at home. But his call to recommit to American values is a parallel to Biden's, perhaps. The paragraph preceding "Ask not what your country can do for you".I see some parallels between Trump's "American Carnage" speech and Reagan's "Government is the Problem" speech that might be interesting to talk about. They both talk about restoring power to the people (possibly a deliberate echo by Trump, who was looking to Reagan for inspiration; Reagan's framing was about "special interest groups" and how the only special interest groups that matter are Americans), but they both also let their cynicism show.Trump is nearly all cynicism, of course, but Reagan's "government is the problem" is also a cynical position that's at odds with other modern inaugurals. (In Reagan's speech, "government is the problem" section. In Trump's speech. Unfortunately, it's just 4 sentences, but it's spread over nearly a minute, ugh!) And then if you want to endcap this, you could bring in Clinton's second inaugural "And once again, we have resolved for our time a great debate over the role of government. Today we can declare: Government is not the problem, and government is not the solution. We, the American people, we are the solution. Our founders understood that well and gave us a democracy strong enough to endure for centuries, flexible enough to face our common challenges and advance our common dreams in each new day." See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Aristotle defines rhetoric as the faculty for discovering the available means of persuasion in any given case. When George Washington was elected to be our first president, he used rhetoric not just in his inaugural address, but throughout the journey from his Mount Vernon home to New York's Federal Hall. He carefully selected his words and actions—even his clothes—to exemplify the virtues of our new Constitution and the statesmanship needed to sustain it. https://cas.la.psu.edu/people/sxb17 (Stephen Howard Browne), of Pennsylvania State University describes this in a terrific new book, https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-08727-6.html (The First Inauguration: George Washington and the Invention of the Republic). He joins https://twitter.com/adamjwhitedc?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor (Adam) on today's episode of Unprecedential to discuss it.
Nous sommes le 30 avril 1789, au Federal Hall de New York. C’est là, dans cette ville choisie pour servir de capitale provisoire, que le premier président des Etats-Unis d’Amérique prend officiellement ses fonctions de chef du pouvoir exécutif. Après avoir été désigné le 4 mars précédent, à l’unanimité par le collège électoral, il prête maintenant serment de fidélité sur la Bible. Il s’appelait George Washington. Invitée : Liliane Kerjan « George Washington » Folio.
In The Past Lane - The Podcast About History and Why It Matters
This week at In The Past Lane, the American History podcast, we take a look at the original March on Washington. “Coxey’s Army” was a group of 500 men who amidst a terrible economic depression in 1894, marched from Ohio to the nation’s capital to demand that Congress provide employment through public works projects. They were turned away, but many of the Populist ideas that inspired them were enacted into law in the coming decades. Feature Story: “Coxey’s Army” Arrives in Washington, DC On April 30, 1894 a man named Jacob Coxey arrived in Washington, DC at the head of a group of about 500 men. By then the whole nation knew them as “Coxey’s Army.” They had set out weeks earlier from Coxey’s hometown of Massillon, Ohio in what was the first ever March On Washington. So what was the fuss all about? The immediate answer was that in the spring of 1894 the United States was in the midst of the most severe economic depression in its history. It was triggered one year earlier by the financial Panic of 1893 which caused tens of thousands of businesses and farms to fail, and the unemployment rate to soar to 20% - and often. Double that in big cities like Chicago and New York. The US had seen its share of economic depressions in the 19th century – the panic of 1837, the panic of 1857, the panic of 1873, just to name a few. In each of these previous cases, political leaders agreed that the best policy was: do nothing. Depressions, the reasoning went, were like bad weather or an illness. Wait long enough, and the good times would return. The most dangerous thing the government could do was provide assistance to the people because, so the logic went, that would only foster dependence and lead the US down the path to socialism. Here’s how President Grover Cleveland put it in his second inaugural address, in March 1893. “The lessons of paternalism ought to be unlearned,” said Cleveland, “and the better lesson taught that while the people should patriotically and cheerfully support their Government its functions do not include the support of the people.” But despite proclamations such as these, there was growing support among many Americans in this period known as the Gilded Age for the government to take a more active role in the economy to protect the vulnerable from exploitation and promote the greatest possible amount of opportunity for all. They argued that laissez-faire might have made sense back in the late-18th century when the US took form. But not anymore in an age of industry, wage work, mass immigration, huge cities, and giant corporations. That was the view that inspired Jacob Coxey. He was no radical, at least compared to the socialists, communists, and anarchists of the day. He was a successful farmer who also bred horses for sale and owned a sand quarry business. But as a farmer in the 1880s, he’d gotten involved in the burgeoning protest movement among farmers that came to be called Populism. Its leaders argued that the only way to effectively battle the power of the monopolies and trusts was to create a political movement that would elect farmers or pro-farmer politicians to office, so they could use political power to curb the power of banks, railroads, and brokers and save the honest American farmer from ruin. And in 1892 they established a new national party called the People’s Party that called for a wide range of new government policies, everything from taking over the railroads and telegraphs, to the adoption of a graduated income tax that would make the rich pay their fair share. Its candidate for president that year polled a million votes and won four states. It was no joke. So his embrace of Populism explains Jacob Coxey’s motivation behind his protest march. He advocated that, given the severity of the depression, the federal government must abandon its traditional commitment to laissez-faire and provide funding to states to create public works projects such as road building to alleviate mass unemployment and stimulate the economy. Now, if this sounds familiar, it’s because Coxey was advocating an approach to economic crisis that 40 years later would be embraced by Pres. Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the Great Depression. And succeeding administrations, of course, have turned to varying forms of “stimulus packages” to boost the economy and help workers in times of economic crisis. To draw attention to this idea, Coxey organized his march to Washington, D.C. He actually got the idea from a fellow activist named Carl Browne who was more of a true blue radical. He not only came up with the idea of a march, but also the group’s official name, the “Commonweal of Christ,” which was intended to evoke both the ideals of the common good and Christianity. About 120 men gathered in Massillon, OH and on Easter Sunday 1894 they set off for the nation’s capital. As the press picked up the story, the group acquired a new name, “Coxey’s Army.” It was meant on the one hand to evoke ridicule and on the other to stoke fears of radicalism and civil unrest. The press alternately dismissed them as a bunch of delusional cranks, or a dangerous group of losers who wanted handouts and a socialist revolution. But Coxey dismissed this talk and declared that his army’s campaign was one to save the republic and honest capitalism from the clutches of corporate trusts and the politicians they controlled. Despite the negative press, as they marched, more men joined the ranks, including some African American men. Coxey had hoped to assemble an "army" of 100,000 men. But he had to settle for a peak of 500. In some places they were met by hostile townspeople and policemen who threatened arrest if they set up camp. But in many places Coxey and his growing number of followers were greeted by enthusiastic supporters who offered money, food, clothing, and shoes, as well as words of support. Finally, after walking 400 miles in 35 days, Coxey’s Army arrived in Washington on April 30, 1894. As this was the first ever protest march on Washington, apprehension was in the air as the men set up a makeshift camp. Hundreds of police and 1,500 soldiers stood by, ready for a confrontation. The next day, May 1, Coxey tried to enter the US Capitol to deliver a speech before Congress, but security guards turned him away. So, Coxey tried the next best thing: delivering the speech in front of the Capitol. But before he started speaking, police arrested him and took him off to jail. He was charged with “disturbing the peace,” but the charges were eventually reduced and he was convicted only for walking on the lawn of the Capitol grounds. Had he spoken, Jacob Coxey would have said, in part: “We stand here to-day in behalf of millions of toilers whose petitions have been buried in committee rooms, whose prayers have been unresponded to, and whose opportunities for honest, remunerative, productive labor have been taken from them by unjust legislation, which protects idlers, speculators, and gamblers.” While Jacob Coxey did not get what he came for in Washington DC, the larger Populist movement to which he belonged did influence a generation of reformers who, in what we now call the Progressive Era, achieved notable successes in enacting many of the Populist Party demands, and so much more, ranging from regulations on trusts to measures to improve working conditions, public health, and political reform. And then there’s this - 50 years later to the day after he was arrested for trying to give a speech on the steps of the US Capitol, in Washington, DC, a 90-year old Jacob Coxey was allowed to deliver that speech. On May 1, 1944, he stood on the Capitol steps and said what had been on his mind back in 1894. But by then, in the wake of the New Deal and its vast array of government programs to alleviate suffering during the Great Depression, Coxey’s speech seemed hardly radical at all. What a difference half a century makes. So what else of note happened this week in US history? April 28, 1967 heavyweight champion boxer Muhammad Ali defies the draft and refuses to be inducted into the US military to fight in Vietnam. Ali argued that his religious beliefs prohibited him from participating in a war against the poor, nonwhite people of Vietnam. He was widely condemned for his stand, and subsequently stripped of his boxing title and sentenced to five years in prison. “I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs,” said Ali. “So I'll go to jail, so what? We've been in jail for 400 years.” The sentence was later overturned. April 30, 1789 The first presidential inauguration took place in New York City. George Washington took the oath of office at Federal Hall on Wall St before a crowd of thousands. April 30, 1975 South Vietnam fell to the forces of North Vietnam, marking the unofficial end of the Vietnam War. For Americans, this moment is captured in the photograph of people boarding a helicopter on the roof of the American embassy in Saigon. If you want to learn more about the Vietnam War, check out ITPL episode 39 featuring my interview with Ken Burns about his documentary on the war. And what notable people were born this week in American history? April 27, 1822 – Union Army general and 18th POTUS, Ulysses S. Grant April 28, 1758 – 5th POTUS James Monroe April 29, 1899 - composer and jazz orchestra leader Duke Ellington May 2, 1903 - Dr Benjamin Spock, author of the best selling book on baby care May 3, 1919 – folk singer and social justice activist Pete Seeger The Last Word Let’s give it to Jacob Coxey, who 126 years ago this week arrived at the head of the first march on Washington. Here’s a passage from the speech he hoped to deliver that day from the steps of the US Capitol. “We stand here to declare by our march of over 400 miles through difficulties and distress…that we are law-abiding citizens, and as men our actions speak louder than words. We are here to petition for legislation which will furnish employment for every man able and willing to work; for legislation which will bring universal prosperity and emancipate our beloved country from financial bondage to the descendants of King George. We have come to the only source which is competent to aid the people in their day of dire distress. We are here to tell our Representatives, who hold their seats by grace of our ballots, that the struggle for existence has become too fierce and relentless. We come and throw up our defenseless hands, and say, help, or we and our loved ones must perish. We are engaged in a bitter and cruel war with the enemies of all mankind—a war with hunger, wretchedness, and despair, and we ask Congress to heed our petitions and issue for the nation’s good a sufficient volume of the same kind of money which carried the country through one awful war and saved the life of the nation. … we appeal to every peace-loving citizen, every liberty-loving man or woman, every one in whose breast the fires of patriotism and love of country have not died out, to assist us in our efforts toward better laws and general benefits.” For more information about the In The Past Lane podcast, head to our website, www.InThePastLane.com Music for This Episode Jay Graham, ITPL Intro (JayGMusic.com) The Joy Drops, “Track 23,” Not Drunk (Free Music Archive) Sergey Cheremisinov, “Gray Drops” (Free Music Archive) Pictures of the Flow, “Horses” (Free Music Archive) Ondrosik, “Tribute to Louis Braille” (Free Music Archive) Alex Mason, “Cast Away” (Free Music Archive) Squire Tuck, “Nuthin’ Without You” (Free Music Archive) Ketsa, “Multiverse” (Free Music Archive) Ketsa, “Memories Renewed” (Free Music Archive) Dana Boule, “Collective Calm” (Free Music Archive) Borrtex, “Motion” (Free Music Archive) Blue Dot Sessions, "Pat Dog" (Free Music Archive) Jon Luc Hefferman, “Winter Trek” (Free Music Archive) The Bell, “I Am History” (Free Music Archive) Production Credits Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci Website by: ERI Design Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too Social Media management: The Pony Express Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight © In The Past Lane, 2020 Recommended History Podcasts Ben Franklin’s World with Liz Covart @LizCovart The Age of Jackson Podcast @AgeofJacksonPod Backstory podcast – the history behind today’s headlines @BackstoryRadio Past Present podcast with Nicole Hemmer, Neil J. Young, and Natalia Petrzela @PastPresentPod 99 Percent Invisible with Roman Mars @99piorg Slow Burn podcast about Watergate with @leoncrawl The Memory Palace – with Nate DiMeo, story teller extraordinaire @thememorypalace The Conspirators – creepy true crime stories from the American past @Conspiratorcast The History Chicks podcast @Thehistorychix My History Can Beat Up Your Politics @myhist Professor Buzzkill podcast – Prof B takes on myths about the past @buzzkillprof Footnoting History podcast @HistoryFootnote The History Author Show podcast @HistoryDean More Perfect podcast - the history of key US Supreme Court cases @Radiolab Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell @Gladwell Radio Diaries with Joe Richman @RadioDiaries DIG history podcast @dig_history The Story Behind – the hidden histories of everyday things @StoryBehindPod Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen – specifically its American Icons series @Studio360show Uncivil podcast – fascinating takes on the legacy of the Civil War in contemporary US @uncivilshow Stuff You Missed in History Class @MissedinHistory The Whiskey Rebellion – two historians discuss topics from today’s news @WhiskeyRebelPod American History Tellers @ahtellers The Way of Improvement Leads Home with historian John Fea @JohnFea1 The Bowery Boys podcast – all things NYC history @BoweryBoys Ridiculous History @RidiculousHSW The Rogue Historian podcast with historian @MKeithHarris The Road To Now podcast @Road_To_Now Retropod with @mikerosenwald © In The Past Lane 2020
This week on Out of Office: A Travel Podcast, Ryan and Kiernan take listeners on a walking tour of New York City sites linked to Alexander Hamilton. (Okay, okay: one is in New Jersey.) There’s a massive amount of history and a minimal amount of singing—but, it’s Hamilton, so of course there’s got to be some singing. Tune in to hear where Peggy is buried, why George Washington dressed like a UPS man, and how Alexander Hamilton died in a bunch of different places. Things we talked about in today’s podcast: Stop 1: Dueling Grounds in Weehawken NJ (just a LITTLE outside NYC) https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/weehawken-dueling-grounds Stop 2: Alexander Hamilton Custom House in Bowling Green https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton_U.S._Custom_House Stop 3: Fraunces Tavern on Pearl Street https://www.frauncestavernmuseum.org/ Stop 4: Federal Hall https://www.nps.gov/feha/index.htm Stop 5: Hamilton’s Grave https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/fashion/hamilton-fans-grave-broadway.html Stop 6: 57 Maiden Lane https://allthingshamilton.com/index.php/aph-home/72-aph-new-york-city/167-57-maiden-lane Stop 7: 82 Jane Street https://www.6sqft.com/rent-in-the-greenwich-village-building-where-alexander-hamilton-purportedly-spent-his-final-day/ Stop 8: Hamilton Statue in Central Park https://www.nycgovparks.org/about/history/alexander-hamilton-in-nyc-parks Stop 9: Hamilton Grange https://www.nps.gov/hagr/index.htm Stop 10: Burr’s Room https://www.morrisjumel.org/ Stop 11: Richard Rodger’s Theatre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Rodgers_Theatre Musical Dreams: Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Wilhelm_von_Steuben Musical Dreams: Alexander von Humboldt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_von_Humboldt The Hamilton Exhibition in Chicago https://hamiltonexhibition.com Hamilton Tour at Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution https://www.amrevmuseum.org/visit/guided-tours
Saying “So help me God” at the end of the oath is a part of our country’s history and tradition. Removing it is taking away the acknowledgement of accountability outside oneself. Learn more at FirstLiberty.org/Briefing. Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives recently decided to remove the phrase, “so help me God” from the end of the oath. Witnesses appearing before Congress now end the oath that they will bear truthful witness before the body without invoking anything higher than themselves or the politicians they face. Call it a “Congressional pinky promise.” Representative Steve Cohen told the New York Times, “I think God belongs in religious institutions: in temple, in church, in cathedral, in mosque — but not in Congress.” George Washington tagged the phrase “so help me God” to the end of his initial oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City. The tradition stuck and eventually became part of federal law in 1966. In other words, like “In God We Trust”and “God Bless America”and the Pledge of Allegiance’s “under God,”the phrase “so help me God” is part of our history and tradition. But, beyond history and tradition, acknowledging accountability outside oneself, or the men and women assembled on the dais of a congressional hearing room, is important in our republican democracy. In other words, the use of the phrase “so help me God” acknowledges there is something to which each of us are accountable beyond ourselves and beyond government. When we proudly reject these limitations upon our authority, we assert ourselves as an authority unto ourselves. To learn how First Liberty is protecting religious liberty for all Americans, visit FirstLiberty.org.
Visit agreatbigcity.com/support to learn how to support New York City local news and allow us to keep bringing you this podcast. If you are a New York-based business and would be interested in sponsoring our podcasts, visit agreatbigcity.com/advertising to learn more. 106 years ago on April 24, 1913 — The Woolworth Building opens, becoming the tallest building in the world for 17 years 122 years ago in 1897, on what would have been Grant's 75th birthday, Grant's tomb is first dedicated 230 years ago on April 30, 1789 — George Washington was inaugurated as the first U.S. President at Federal Hall on Wall Street "Babe Ruth Day" is held at Yankee Stadium Macy's in talks to build 1.2M sf office tower atop Herald Square flagship. 79 years ago on April 28, 1940 — 'Pennsylvania 6-5000' is first recorded by the Glenn Miller Orchestra — Here's the Ithaca High School Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Bill Makin performing Pennsylvania 6-5000 for their winter concert in 2016 New York City Missing Persons Day 80 years ago on April 30, 1939 — The first New York World's Fair opens at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park — Bowery Boys podcast on World's Fair history MTA posted a Twitter thread with info on upcoming L Train changes — If you're an L-train rider, get in touch at agreatbigcity.com/contact and let us know how you're dealing with the changes and if the delays have changed your routine. Check your special blue MetroCard this week for a chance to win a trip to Hawaii May 1, 1931 — The Empire State Building Officially Opens for Business — Empire State Building Run-Up Some updates on the attempted attack at St. Patrick's Cathedral April 26 in History: Bouncing Baby Boy Bombed! A Great Big City has been running a 24-hour newsfeed since 2010, but the AGBC News podcast is just getting started, and we need your support. A Great Big City is built on a dedication to explaining what is happening and how it fits into the larger history of New York, which means thoroughly researching every topic and avoiding clickbait headlines to provide a straightforward, honest, and factual explanation of the news. Individuals can make a monthly or one-time contribution at agreatbigcity.com/support and local businesses can have a lasting impact by supporting local news while promoting products or services directly to interested customers listening to this podcast. Visit agreatbigcity.com/advertising to learn more. A Great Big City is more than a news blog. Did you know that every day, AGBC automatically checks the lighting schedule for the Empire State Building and sends out an alert at sundown, letting you know how the building will be lit and what the lights represent. Park of the day Captain Rivera Playground Brooklyn Botanic cherry blossom festival — Sakura Matsuri 2019: Brooklyn Botanic Garden Cherry Blossom Festival Concert Calendar Danava, Dommengang, Elder, Mirror Queen, Monolord, The Atomic Bitchwax, The Skull, Windhand, and Worshipper are playing The Well on Friday, April 26th. Pup, Diet Cig, and ratboy are playing Brooklyn Steel on Friday, April 26th. Orville Peck is playing Elsewhere on Friday, April 26th. Hot Water Music, Errortype:11, and Iron Chic are playing Music Hall of Williamsburg on Friday, April 26th. Now, Now, Daddy Issues, and Foxing are playing Warsaw on Friday, April 26th. Kris Kristofferson is playing City Winery on Sunday, April 28th. Will Haven, Architect, Locked In A Vacancy, and Nerveshatter are playing Saint Vitus Bar on Sunday, April 28th. Neotheater Album Release Show and AJR are playing The Bowery Ballroom on Monday, April 29th. Sasami is playing Elsewhere on Tuesday, April 30th. The Mountain Goats and shana cleveland are playing Brooklyn Steel on Tuesday, April 30th. Kalmah, Vreid, and Winter Nights are playing Gramercy Theater on Tuesday, April 30th. Stephen Malkmus is playing 92nd Street Y on Tuesday, April 30th. Patti Smith is playing Webster Hall on Wednesday, May 1st. Infest, Scapegoat, and The Fight are playing The Kingsland on Friday, May 3rd. Find more fun things to do at agreatbigcity.com/events. Did you know? Here's something you may not have known about New York: One World Trade Center is the tallest building in NYC, the second-tallest building, 432 Park Avenue, actually has a higher roof since Midtown is at a higher elevation Weather The extreme highs and lows for this week in weather history: Record High: 92°F on April 26, 2009 Record Low: 29°F on April 23, 1872 Weather for the week ahead: Rain on Friday through next Tuesday, with high temperatures falling to 61°F on Monday. This week, UV levels are starting to climb into the High and Very High categories, so now is the time to start protecting your skin and eyes from ultraviolet radiation, which will be higher during the Summer months. Look for a skin protectant that is at least SPF 50 and labeled as "broad spectrum" and wear sunglasses if you'll be venturing outside the shadowy caverns of Midtown. Thanks for listening to A Great Big City. Follow along 24 hours a day on social media @agreatbigcity or email contact@agreatbigcity.com with any news, feedback, or topic suggestions. Subscribe to AGBC News wherever you listen to podcasts: iTunes, Google Play, or Player FM, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or listen to each episode on the podcast pages at agreatbigcity.com/podcast. If you enjoy the show, subscribe and leave a review wherever you're listening and visit our podcast site to see show notes and extra links for each episode. Intro and outro music: 'Start the Day' by Lee Rosevere — Concert Calendar music from Jukedeck.com
In this, the inaugural episode of the Inaugural Addresses Podcast, you will hear our country's very first presidential inaugural address, given by the man himself, George Washington. He gave this address, not at the Capitol Building (it hadn't been built yet) but at Federal Hall in New York City.
In this week's Monday Minute in the Archives we take a look at the 50th inauguration in Federal Hall in New York, New York.
In this episode of The Gotham Center podcast “Sites and Sounds,” Don Hawkins talks about Federal Hall on Wall Street, home to colonial New York’s city hall, former site of the US sub-treasury, and most famously, the place where George Washington took the oath as America’s first President. Hawkins, considered by many the dean of Washington D.C.’s architectural history, is working on a book about Pierre Charles L'Enfant, who redesigned the building. He is also an urban planner, who has played a role in more than two-hundred-fifty building projects throughout the nation’s capital. For more podcasts like this, and for more Gotham Center programming, visit us at GothamCenter.org and sign up to our mail list. Thanks for listening.
Episode Transcript: My name is Tanya Marsh and you’re listening to Death, et seq. We’ve been talking about funerals a lot on this podcast so far, and I wanted to switch gears this week and talk about one of my favorite topics – cemeteries. I love cemeteries. As my friends and family will attest, I am a semi-professional cemetery tourist. When I visit a new place, I want to check out the historic cemeteries. When I visit a place that I’ve been dozens of times, I still want to check out the cemeteries. So in a new series that I’m going to call “Cemetery Tourism,” I’ll be looking at different clusters of cemeteries that share similar characteristics or a similar history. I’m going to start the series in the Northeastern United States, in two of our earliest urban centers — New York City and Boston. Both of these cities were founded in the mid-1600s, and their early cemeteries share some common characteristics, but they also differed in important ways because of the people who founded those two cities. American cemeteries are different from cemeteries anywhere else in the world, for a couple of reasons. In the colonial era, we were obviously heavily influenced by the law of England and the social norms that had been established there and carried here. The England of the 17th century had an established church – the Church of England. The theology of the Church of England placed great importance on burial in consecrated ground. So the law of England reflected the assumption that all people in good standing with the church and entitled to burial within the church would be buried in their local parish churchyard. There were people that weren’t in good standing, or members of other religions, so allowances had to be made for them too, but the vast majority of people were buried in the local parish churchyard owned by the Church of England. That’s just how it was set up. But colonial America was a fairly diverse place. For example, Puritan colonists from England of course settled Massachusetts Bay Colony, while a more diverse group of English, Dutch, and German immigrants settled the former New Amsterdam, there were all kinds of ethnic groups and faiths on William Penn’s land, and the English Virginia Company established settlements focused on economics rather than religious liberty. Each of the colonies was different from the English system, but they were also each different from each other. These realities forced Americans to innovate. Massachusetts established (and still retains) a law that each town must create a burying ground for the use of residents and strangers. Unlike the English system, these are secular cemeteries, owned and managed by the government. In the densely populated cities like New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, cemeteries were established downtown and despite practices designed to maximize the capacity of cemeteries, soon became overcrowded. In the Chesapeake, where the population was more widely dispersed, family burying grounds were established in addition to more traditional churchyards. Although the location of American burials differed from the uniform English precedent, other aspects of the process were the same during colonial times. Remains were wrapped in a shroud or encased in a wood coffin, then placed in the earth, a family tomb, or a mausoleum. Americans originally followed other European Christian customs—most graves were not individually memorialized and many contained the remains of more than one person. American disposition practices shifted after the Civil War. Embalming was rarely practiced before the war. During the war, a crude method of embalming was used to stabilize the remains of wealthier men, primarily on the Union side, so they could be sent home for burial. After the Civil War, undertakers trained in embalming evolved into funeral directors. Into the twentieth century, death moved from the home to the hospital; and the ceremonies surrounding death moved from the parlor to the funeral parlor. Undertaking had once been a complementary profession for carpenters—they could build the coffin and transport the remains to the cemetery. But the Industrial Revolution moved casket production from small workshops to factories, particularly after World War II. “Modern business principles” were applied to create modern cemeteries, owned by for-profit companies in many states, larger in scale and designed to minimize the costs of maintenance. These companies benefited from laws that gave great deference to cemetery owners—traditionally families, religious organizations and municipalities—to establish their own rules and regulations. Modern cemeteries adopted rules that required concrete and/or steel vaults or grave liners that would encase the coffin and prevent the uneven terrain that follows grave collapse. These companies also adopted rules that limited graves to a single interment. The cumulative effect is a very different set of practices than existed before the Civil War. Nearly all modern graves in the United States are dedicated in perpetuity to the remains of a single individual, memorialized with a tombstone. On today’s episode, I’ll talk about the history and development of cemeteries in New York City and Boston. If you’re interested in photographs and maps, be sure to check out the show notes at the podcast’s website – www.deathetseq.com. The Dutch first settled New Amsterdam, then just the southern tip of Manhattan, in 1624. A detailed city map called the Castello Plan was created in 1660 – it shows virtually every structure that existed in New Amsterdam at that time. In 1664, four English frigates sailed into New Amsterdam’s harbor and demanded the surrender of New Netherlands. Articles of Capitulation were signed that September and in 1665, New Amsterdam was reincorporated under English law as New York City. The settlement was named for the Duke of York, the brother of the English King Charles II who later became King James II. During most of the 17th century, even after the English took over, the Reformed Dutch Church was the dominant religious authority in New Amsterdam/New York. There were scattered Congregational, Presbyterian and Lutheran churches in the region, as well as Quakers, Catholics, and a few Jews. With the English in 1665, however, also came the established Church of England. One of the first significant cemeteries in New York City was established in the 1630s on the west side of Broadway, a little north of Morris Street. It was referred to as the “Old Graveyard” In 1656, there was a petition to “divide the Old Graveyard which is wholly in ruins, into lots to be built upon, and to make another Graveyard south of the Fort.” Apparently it persisted until at least 1665, when a collection was made to repair the graveyard because it was “very open and unfenced, so that the hogs root in the same.” By 1677, however, the graveyard had been cut up into four building lots and sold at auction to the highest bidder. There is no record regarding where the graves from this “Old Graveyard” were moved, but construction on the site more than a century later uncovered “a great many skulls and other relics of humanity,” so it sounds like perhaps they weren’t moved at all. Some things in Poltergeist are real, people. In 1662, the Dutch established a new burial ground on Broadway, on a parcel that was then located outside the city’s gates. That burial ground became a part of the Trinity churchyard when Trinity Church was established in thirty years later. In 1693, the New York Assembly passed an act to build several Episcopal churches in New York City and “all the inhabitants were compelled to support the Church of England, whatever might be their religious opinion.” In 1696, a plot of land stretching 310 feet from Rector Street to the Dutch burial ground that had been established on Broadway in 1662 was acquired by the Episcopalians and the Charter of Trinity Church was issued on May 6, 1697. The charter declared: “[Trinity Church] situate in and near the street called the Broadway, within our said city of New York, and the ground thereunto adjoining, enclosed and used for a cemetery or church-yard, shall be the parish church, and church-yard of the parish of Trinity Church … and the same is hereby declared to be forever separated and dedicated to the service of God, and to be applied thereunto for the use and behalf of the inhabitants … within our said city of New York, in communion with our said Protestant Church of England.” By the time of the Revolution, the churchyard at Trinity, including the old portion that had been the Dutch burial ground, was said to contain 160,000 graves. In 1847 a proposal to extend Albany Street to connect it with Pine Street would have disturbed the northern portion of the Trinity Church churchyard, part of the 1662 Dutch burial ground. A government report advocated against the extension: “[The burial ground] was established by the Dutch on their first settlement... It is nearly a century older than the other sections of the yard. It was originally a valley, about thirty feet lower at its extreme depth than the present surface, and has undergone successive fillings, as the density of interments rendered it necessary, to raise the land until it reached the present surface: so that the earth now, to a depth of several feet below the original, and thence to the present time of interment, is in truth filled with human remains, or rather composed of human ashes. The bodies buried there were [approximately 30,000 to 40,000] persons of several generations, and of all ages, sects and conditions, including a large number of the officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary War, who died whilst in British captivity; and almost every old family that is or ever was in this city, has friends or connections lying there.” In an 1892 guidebook to New York City, Moses King wrote: "Only the established and powerful corporations of Trinity and a few other churches have been able to resist the demands of modern life and business for the ground once sacred to the dead. Hundreds of acres [in Manhattan], now covered by huge buildings or converted into public thoroughfares, were at some time burial-places; over ninety of which have been thus existed, and passed away. Of most of them even the location has been forgotten…” Trinity Churchyard still resides on Broadway at Rector Street, in lower Manhattan, two blocks from Federal Hall, the building where George Washington was sworn in, the “room where it happened” in the very early days of the Republic, and the New York Stock Exchange. The Anglican St. Paul’s Chapel, established on Broadway between Fulton and Vesey Streets around 1766, and its surrounding churchyard still remains in the shadow of the World Trade Center. Many of the other cemeteries that once resided in lower Manhattan are relics of memory. For example: • The Middle Dutch Church, on the east side of Nassau Street between Cedar and Liberty Streets, was surrounded by a burial ground beginning in 1729. The bodies were removed sometime after 1844. The North Dutch Church on William Street between Fulton and Ann Streets had an adjacent burial ground from 1769 to 1875. • The French burial ground on the northeast corner of Nassau and Pine Streets, extending north to Cedar Street (1704-1830); • The Presbyterian churchyard on the north side of Wall Street opposite the end of New Street (1717-1844); • The Old Brick Presbyterian Church graveyard on Beekman Street between Chatham and Nassau Streets (1768-1856); • The cemetery located at Pearl, Duane, and Rose Streets which was leased from the city as early as 1765 but not used as a cemetery until after the Revolution; and • A Lutheran Church and adjacent burial ground on south Pearl Street, a site which had become a vegetable market by 1706. A cemetery on the south side of Houston Street between Eldridge and Stanton Street was used from 1796 to 1851 as the Reformed Dutch Church Cemetery, to provide excess capacity for the crowded churchyards. The bodies were disinterred and removed around 1874. Meanwhile, Puritan colonists from England founded Boston in 1630. Unlike the religious and ethnic diversity that could be found in New Amsterdam/New York City during this time period, the Puritan leaders of Boston punished religious dissenters. Baptist minister Obadiah Holmes was publicly whipped in 1651 and Mary Dyer was hanged in Boston Common in 1660 for repeatedly defying a law banning Quaker from being in Massachusetts Bay Colony. However, prosperity in Boston led to the development of a more diverse community that included Catholics and Quakers and other groups that were initially persecuted by the Puritans. Eventually the Puritans began to accept that they could not have a unified church and state. Puritan burying grounds were often located adjacent to the town’s meeting house. Headstones were expensive and many of the earliest were imported from England. Most often, early burials were marked with wood markers or primitive stones, if they were marked at all. The Puritan burying ground was a utilitarian space simply used to bury the dead. Puritans did not visit graves or maintain them. They were often very disorganized. Graves were tightly clustered and gravestones were often broken or buried as the cemetery became more populated. In many cases, graves were dug deep enough to accommodate 12 or more coffins placed on top of each other to within five feet of the surface. Recall that in the 1650s, there was a petition to remove the Old Graveyard in New Amsterdam because hogs were rooting around. In Boston, the early burying grounds were used as communal space to graze cattle. The oldest burying ground in Boston is King’s Chapel which is not, as the name suggests, the churchyard for the adjacent King’s Chapel. What was originally simply known as the “Burying Ground” was established in 1630 and was Boston’s only cemetery for 30 years. King’s Chapel is quite small, less than half an acre. It was used as a burial ground for 200 years, but estimates are that there are only about 1,500 burials. There are only 615 gravestones and 29 tabletop tomb markers remaining. Most graves include about four burials on top of one another. Excess remains were excavated and the bones were deposited in the charnel house that can still be seen on the edge of the burying ground. A charnel house would be a very familiar idea for the English colonists because English churchyards were similarly overcrowded. When the cemetery authorities ran out of ground for fresh burials, older burials were simply dug up and the bones were placed in a communal pit in the consecrated ground, or catacombs beneath the church. If you’ve visited any European churches, you’re probably familiar with this idea. Although the idea of the charnel house was a feature of English churchyards, King’s Chapel Burying Ground was not a churchyard. It was a community burial ground and included people of all faiths, not just Puritans. It was more like a municipal, secular cemetery than a churchyard. In all of the Boston burying grounds, it was common to have a headstone, highly decorated with the name and sometimes the biography of the deceased, and a footstone with only the name of the deceased. Graves were placed so that the feet of the deceased faced east. This was believed to have been done so that when Christ returns, the dead can simply stand up and walk to Jerusalem. King’s Chapel also includes 29 underground tombs which consist of a burial room made of brick and covered with earth and grass. These are marked with box structures, but the boxes are just markers, not the tombs themselves. When the tombs needed to be opened, the box was removed and the entrance dug up. In the early 1700s, 24 tombs were built along the back fence and in 1738, 23 tombs were built along Tremont Street. These are actually underneath the present-day sidewalk of Tremont Street and their markets and entrances are inside the fence. King’s Chapel Burying Ground also includes a curious structure that looks like the top of a tomb or pit. That’s actually a subway fresh air ventilator shaft that was constructed in 1896. Human remains in that portion of the burying ground were relocated during the construction. It is called King’s Chapel Burying Ground today because in 1686, Governor Edmund Andros wanted to build an Anglican church in Puritan Boston. This was an unpopular idea, so no one would sell him any land. So Andros built his church in part of the existing Burying Ground, right over existing graves. As you can imagine, this didn’t make Andros any more popular with the Puritans of Boston. After King’s Chapel was consecrated, people began referring to the adjacent cemetery as King’s Chapel Burying Ground, which also couldn’t have made the Puritans very happy. In 1660, King’s Chapel was ordered closed “for some convenient season” and new burials directed to the second burying ground. Of course tombs were installed decades later and grave burials in King’s Chapel Burying Ground weren’t outlawed until 1826, although they continued until 1896. The second burial ground in Boston was established in 1659 when the Selectment of Boston purchased ½ acre in the northern end of town. Originally called the North Burying Place or the North Burying Ground, the parcel was expanded in 1711 and 1809. It is now known as Copp’s Hill Burying Ground and is located just down the street from the Old North Church. The City of Boston has counted 2,230 grave markers and 228 tombs in Copp’s Hill but the exact number of burials is unknown. Estimates range from 8,000 to 10,000. This includes an estimate of over 1,000 unmarked graves of African and African American slaves. The third burying ground in Boston is located just down Tremont Street from King’s Chapel. Also established in 1660, the Old Granary Burying Ground is the final resting place of many important figures from the Revolutionary War including Paul Revere, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and the men killed in the Boston Massacre. Benjamin Franklin’s parents are also buried here. Granary is located on 2 acres and contains 2,345 gravestones. In 1922, it was estimated that there were 8,030 burials over its 260 year history. Originally, Granary Burying Ground was part of the Boston Common, which then extended up Tremont Street. It was originally called the South Burying Ground, then renamed the Middle Burying Ground when one was established further south. It was finally renamed Granary Burying Ground because of the 12,000 bushel grain storage building built in 1737 to provide food for the poor and called the granary. The granary was moved to Dorchester in 1809 to make room for Park Street Church. The final colonial burial ground that I’ll mention is the Central Burying Ground, which was established in 1754 on 1.4 acres at the corner of Boston Common on Boylston Street between Charles and Tremont Streets. There are only about 487 markers remaining, but records indicate that approximately 5,000 people are buried in Central Burying Ground, including many unmarked graves of paupers from the Alms House and inmates from the House of Industry. There are some unique tombs visible in Central Burying Ground because they are surrounded by a “moat” on both sides. The first tomb is thought to have been built in 1771. 149 tombs were built on the four sides of the burying ground and nearly half of the burials were in the tombs. But in 1836, Boylston Street was widened and 69 tombs were destroyed – the owners moved the remains either to the 60 tombs in the Dell or to the then-new Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. In 1895, the subway was being constructed along Boylston Street disturbing the remains of approximately 2,000 people. They were reburied in a mass grave in the northeast corner of Central Burying Ground. The last grave burial took placed in 1856, but tomb burials continued until the 1950s. Until 1810, Central Burying Ground was called South Burying Ground, which is when Granary was renamed. Identifying burying grounds by their relative location to one another is clearly a bad strategy, as the constant re-naming of cemeteries in Boston demonstrates. So I’ve described the first four cemeteries in Boston and the most famous cemetery in colonial New York – Trinity. The four colonial cemeteries in Boston were all owned by the government and non-sectarian, even though their practices resembled those of churchyards in England. New York, on the other hand, was dominated by churchyards in colonial days and the early days of the Republic. The challenges that these cemeteries faced in the beginning of the 1800s was similar in both cities, but the way that the cemeteries were changed as a result was very different. All four cemeteries I described are still in the heart of downtown Boston. In lower Manhattan, only Trinity and St. Paul’s Chapel remain. The backlash against the colonial cemeteries was triggered by their overuse and their general lack of organization and maintenance. In 1807, an Englishman named John Lambert visited New York. In his diary, he referred to Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel as “handsome structures” but added: "The adjoining churchyards, which occupy a large space of ground railed in from the street and crowded with tombstones, are far from being agreeable spectacles in such a populous city. … One would think there was a scarcity of land in America to see such large pieces of ground in one of the finest streets of New York occupied by the dead. The continual view of such a crowd of white and brown tombstones and monuments as is exhibited in the Broadway must tend very much to depress the spirits." Some burial places had been closed and relocated in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. But the Nineteenth Century significantly accelerated that process. Overcrowded church yards and vaults (referred to as “intra-mural” burial grounds) were criticized by public health officials as “injurious to health, offensive to the senses, [and] repulsive to the taste of a refined age.” In New York City, the precipitating event to efforts to halt intra-mural burial was the Yellow Fever epidemic that began in late July 1822 on Rector Street. Reported cases spread quickly and when the first cases on Broadway were reported, public health officials feared that if the disease was not contained, it would quickly engulf City Hall and force the government into exile. On August 7th, the Board of Health ordered that an area around Rector Street be quarantined by the erection of fences. The quarantine area had to be expanded quickly. Searching for a cause of the epidemic and an effective way to halt the spread of the disease, the Board of Health began to panic. Prevailing medical thought of the day blamed epidemics on “miasma” and “infected air.” In early August, concerned about the cluster of cases in the area around Trinity Church, the Board of Health appointed a committee to “inquire into the expediency of regulating or preventing the interment of the dead in Trinity Church Yard during the continuance of the present epidemic.” The committee concluded that “the yard of that Church is at times, offensive to persons in its vicinity, and that, in the evening especially, the exhalations are such as perhaps are dangerous to the health of the citizens in its immediate neighborhood.” It was therefore recommended that “no grave be permitted to be opened or dug in Trinity Church Yard, until the further order of the Board of Health, under the penalty of one hundred dollars.” The proposed resolution was adopted by the Common Council on August 22nd. Around the same time, a report from Dr. Samuel Ackerly to the Board of Health recommended that the ban on interments at Trinity be made permanent. Dr. Ackerly related the story of the Cathedral of Dijon, “which [recently] produced a malignant disease in the congregation from the putrid bodies of the persons buried in the vaults of the Church. The disease ceased after the Church was ventilated and fumigated.” This case was presented to the Board of Health as “proof that noxious exhalations may arise from dead bodies.” Accordingly, Dr. Ackerly suggested that the source of the Yellow Fever epidemic may be Trinity Church Yard, where “the ground has been one hundred and twenty-four years receiving the dead, and the evil day has at length arrived. To strike at the root of the evil,” Dr. Ackerly advised, “no further interments should be allowed there. The graves might be leveled and covered with a body of clay, upon which a layer of lime, ashes and charcoal should be placed, and the grave stones laid flat, that the rain may run off and not penetrate the soil to hasten putrefaction and increase the exhalations.” On September 15th, the Board of Health “respectfully request[ed]” that churches with adjacent burial grounds in lower Manhattan cover their graves “thickly with lime, or charcoal, or both.” On September 23rd, Trinity Church Yard was covered with 52 casks of lime. The next day, 192 bushels of slacked lime were spread in St. Paul’s church yard, a few blocks north of Trinity Church. On September 28th, 172 bushels of slacked lime were spread “upon the grave-yard and about the vaults of the North Dutch church corner of William and Fulton-streets. The grounds about this church were not extensive and principally occupied by vaults, which nevertheless emitted very offensive effluvia.” Thirty additional casks of lime were slacked and spread at Trinity Church on October 1st. On October 8th, the vaults of the Middle Dutch Church at the corner of Liberty and Nassau were covered with 40 casks of lime. “These vaults were exceedingly offensive,” the Board of Health reported. It was also reported that “the vaults of the French church in Pine-street in the vicinity of the former church also emitted disagreeable smells.” By late November 1822, the Yellow Fever epidemic had subsided. With an eye towards preventing the next outbreak, the Common Council passed a resolution to consider the future of intra-mural burial. "It appears to be the opinion of Medical Men that the great number of the dead interred in the several cemeteries within the bounds of this City, is attended with injurious consequences to the health of the inhabitants. This subject is therefore worthy of consideration and if the effects are in reality such as some of the faculty declare them to be, ought not future interments be prohibited at least during a part of the year. …" A law forbidding interments south of Canal Street was proposed in early 1823. At the time, there were at least 23 separate burial grounds south of Canal Street, many adjacent to churches. The leaders of the Reformed Dutch Church, the First Presbyterian Church, Grace Church, St. George’s Church, Christ’s Church, and Vestry of Zion Church all presented remonstrances to the Common Council in February 1823 objecting to the proposed law. Over those objections, a Law Respecting the Interment of the Dead was enacted by the Common Council on March 31, 1823. "Be it ordained by the Mayor Aldermen & Commonalty of the City of New York in Common Council Convened. That if any Person or Persons shall after the first day of June next dig up or open any grave or cause or procure any grave to be opened in any burying ground cemetery or church yard or in any other part or place in this City which lies to the Southward of a line commencing at the centre of Canal Street on the North River and running through the centre of Canal Street to Sullivan Street thence through Sullivan st. to Grand Street thence through Grand St. to the East river or shall inter or deposit or cause or procure to be interred or deposited in any such grave any dead body every such person shall forfeit and pay for every such offence the sum of Two hundred and fifty dollars." "And be it further Ordained that no dead body shall after the first day of June aforesaid be interred or deposited in any vault or tomb south of the aforesaid line under the penalty of Two hundred and fifty dollars for each and every offence." Churches south of Canal Street continued to fight the law. On April 21, 1823, the leaders of St. George Church, the Brick Presbyterian Church, the First Presbyterian Church of Wall Street, and Trinity Church requested revisions to permit some burials and entombments in private vaults. But the die had been cast. As the population of Manhattan grew, the Common Council moved the line prohibiting new burials northward, first to 14th Street, then to 86th Street. Without the income generated by burials, many churches closed their doors and relocated their dead to the new rural cemeteries in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. Similar complaints in Boston prompted the creation of Mount Auburn Cemetery, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, one of the most important and earliest rural cemeteries. Justice Joseph Story gave the address at the dedication of Mount Auburn cemetery in 1831. Story, then an Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court and a professor at Harvard Law School, emphasized “the duty of the living” to “provide for the dead.” He explained that although the obligation to provide “grounds … for the repose of the dead” is a Christian duty, our “tender regard for the dead” is universal and “deeply founded in human affection.” Justice Story explained that Mount Auburn had been founded to cure the problem with the Boston colonial cemeteries. "It is painful to reflect, that the Cemeteries in our cities, crowded on all sides by the overhanging habitations of the living, are walled in only to preserve them from violation. And that in our country towns they are left in a sad, neglected state, exposed to every sort of intrusion, with scarcely a tree to shelter their barrenness, or a shrub to spread a grateful shade over the new-made hillock." Story argued that “there are higher moral purposes” that lead us to establish and care for cemeteries—"[i]t should not be for the poor purpose of gratifying our vanity or pride, that we should erect columns, and obelisks, and monuments to the dead; but that we may read thereon much of our own destiny and duty.” "[T]he repositories of the dead bring home thoughts full of admonition, of instruction, and slowly but surely, of consolation also. They admonish us, but their very silence, of our own frail and transitory being. They instruct us in the true value of life, and in its noble purposes, its duties, and its destinations. … We return to the world, and we feel ourselves purer, and better, and wiser, from this communion with the dead. I hope you’ve enjoyed this first episode in my series on Cemetery Tourism, and I hope that next time you’re in New York or Boston, you take the time to check out not only these colonial cemeteries located in the heart of the old cities, but the beautiful rural cemeteries that were later constructed – Mount Auburn in Cambridge, Green-wood in Brooklyn and Woodlawn in the Bronx. I’ll perhaps talk about the rural cemetery movement in a future episode. If you are interested in having me focus on particular cemeteries, please let me know by visiting www.deathetseq.com or dropping me a comment or a direct message on Facebook or Twitter. Thank you for joining me today on Death, et seq.
If I thought I could fulfill the duty which I owe to myself and my constituents, to let the subject pass over in silence, I most certainly should not trespass upon the indulgences of this house.” He would state plainly. “But I cannot do this; and am therefore compelled to beg a patient hearing to what I have laid before you.” The air hot and heavy, the crowds would look on as James Madison rose to the floor of Federal Hall in New York to address the House of Representatives. The galleries full, yet the seats of North Carolina and Rhode Island still empty, he would look down to the notes scribbled on a piece of paper and begin to speak, offering up his amendments to the Constitution. This week on Fragile Freedom we continue our ongoing series on the history of the Bill of Rights as the Father of the Constitution, a man who once argued that a Bill of Rights was unnecessary, presented his amendments to the body. For Madison it would not be an easy or a simple road, but it would be one that he knew he had to take. After all, in his mind, government derived its ability to govern from the consent of the people, and, as such, the will of the people could not be ignored. This was what they demanded and this would be what he would fight for as he stood firm, tirelessly crafting the proposals he would present as he poured over the amendments offered up by the state ratifying committees. Join with host Wyatt McIntyre as he explores the rich history of this great charter of individual rights and freedoms, and how, amidst political divides and battles, it finally came into existence.
On April 30, 1789, George Washington stood on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City and took the first Presidential oath of office. The words he spoke that day were those written clearly in Article 2 of the new Constitution, which established the executive branch of the Federal Government. The rest of Article 2, however, is not so clear, and Washington became the first of many Presidents accused of unconstitutional behavior. But what makes one person a “strong president” and another guilty of “executive overreach?” Which Presidents have done the most to reshape the Presidency? And have we given some Presidents too much credit, while forgetting the important contributions of others? On our first Presidents Day Episode of The Road to Now, we get the answer to these questions and more in our conversation with one of our favorites- the host of “My History Can Beat Up Your Politics” podcast, Bruce Carlson. For more on this episode and all the others, check out our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com
The story of New York City's role in the birth of American government is sometimes forgotten. Most of the buildings important to the first U.S. Congress, which met here from the spring of 1789 to the late summer of 1790, have long been demolished. There's little to remind us that our modern form of government was, in part, invented here on these city streets. Riding high on the victories of the Revolutionary War, the Founding Fathers organized a makeshift Congress under the Articles of Confederation. After an unfortunate crisis in Philadelphia, that early group of politicians from the 13 states eventually drifted up to New York (specifically to New York's City Hall, to be called Federal Hall) to meet. But they were an organization without much power or respect. The fate of the young nation lay on the shoulders of George Washington who arrived in New York in the spring of 1789 to be inaugurated as the first president of the United States. His swearing-in would finally unite Americans around their government and would imbue the port city of New York with a new urgency. This is Part One of a two part celebration of these years, featuring cantankerous vice presidents, festive cannonades, and burning plumage! (Part Two arrives in two weeks.) FEATURING Washington, Adams, Madison, Livingston and, of course, HAMILTON! www.boweryboyshistory.com NOTE: In the show we accidentally say 'Yorkville' once when we meant 'Yorktown'. Blame it on our New York-centrism; Yorkville is a neighborhood in the Upper East Side! Support the show.
This installment recreates George Washington's first Inaugural Address. He delivered the address in Federal Hall in New York City on April 30, 1789.
In our last show, we left the space that would become Bryant Park as a disaster area; its former inhabitant, the old Crystal Palace, had tragically burned to the ground in 1858. The area was called Reservoir Square for its proximity to the Murray Hill Reservoir, the imposing Egyptian-like structure to its east, but it wouldn't keep that name for long. William Cullen Bryant was a key proponent to the creation of Central Park, but it would be on this spot that the poet and editor of the New York Evening Post would receive a belated honor in 1884 with the re-naming of old Reservoir Park to Bryant Park. With the glorious addition of the New York Public Library in 1911, the park received some substantial upgrades, including its well-known fountain. Over twenty years later, it took on another curious present -- a replica of Federal Hall as a tribute to George Washington. By the 1970s Bryant Park was well known as a destination for drug dealers and most people shied away from its shady paths, even during the day. It would take a unique plan to bring the park back to life and a little help from Hollywood and the fashion world to turn it into New York City's most elegant park. www.boweryboyshistory.com patreon.com/boweryboys Support the show.
Rough Cut - Woodworking with Tommy Mac - Tips and Techniques
With this episode of Rough Cut, we'll bring you back to the 1700's and look at some of the federal embellishments at the Pendleton House at the Rhode Island School of Design. Back in the shop, Tommy and Eli show viewers an effortless way to really make yo