Excerpt and Notes: Page 43-34 (Washington goes by barge to New York from New Jersey and his presidential barge is greeted by a flotilla....
"... This forty-five foot open boat featured an awing and cushions and was towed by thirteen oarsmen dressed in white. Washington was accompanied in the barge by a group of dignitaries... But the New Yorkers were just getting started....
(There was singing - groups of singers - greatly effecting the President.)
Suddenly the waters surrounding the barge erupted into foam. "At this moment a number of porpoises came playing amongst us, as if they had risen up to know what was the cause of all this joy." But the most impressive sight was still to come as the barge continued its advance toward the New York City waterfront. "We now discovered the shores crowded with thousands of people. Men, women, children. Nay I may venture to say tens of thousands; from the fort to the place of landing although near a half a mile, you could see little else along the shores in the streets and on board every vessel but heads standing as thick as ears of corn before the harvest." (quoting Boudinot)
(Still, this display just made Washington more anxious about his new role and how he might please the people.)
Excerpt: (Author Nathaniel Philbrick and his wife go to Battery Park - where the Statue of Liberty is.)
... "And yet we did see quite enough: The Statue of Liberty looming above the water, her oxidized copper skin darkened with verdigris I had always thought the statue depicted the goddess of liberty standing proudly with her gilded torch held high --a welcoming beacon of hope for the millions of immigrants bound for nearby Ellis Island throughout much of the twentieth century. But once our boat, appropriately named Liberty, had taken us to the landing spot on the south side of the island. I could see that, no, the goddess was not standing still;she was striding forward, the broken shackles of a chain at her feet.
The Statue of Liberty, I soon learned, had been inspired by the abolition of slavery during the Civil War. A gift from France, it had been left to the Americans to raise the money for the statue's 150 fott-high- pedestal. Fund raising had lagged until the newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer appealed to the readers of the New York World and raised a significant portion of the required fields. The Statue of Liberty was finally dedicated in 1886."
C 2023 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot
