Alexander Jackson Davis (1803-1892),  State House, Boston. 1859

From James Fenimore Cooper, Notions of the Americans

NEW-ENGLAND. 1824. On the Proper Occupations of Women in America.

Edward Lamson Henry (American Painter, 1841-1919) Woman with a Baby

There is something noble and touching, in the universal and yet simple and unpretending homage with which these people treat the weaker sex. I am sure a woman here has only to respect herself in order to meet with universal deference. I now understand what Cadwallader meant when he said that America was the real Paradise of woman...The condition of women in this country is solely owing to the elevation of its moral feeling. As she is never misplaced in society, her influence is only felt in the channels of ordinary and domestic life.

 Charles Courtney Curran (American painter, 1861-1942)  Shadows

I have heard young and silly Europeans, whose vanity has probably been wounded in finding them selves objects of secondary interest, affect to ridicule the absorbed attention which the youthful American matron bestows on her family; and some have gone so far in my presence, as to assert that a lady of this country was no more than an upper servant in the house of her husband...To me, woman appears to fill in America the very station for which she was designed by nature.

Jerome Thompson (American genre artist, 1814-1886) Gathering Wildflowers

In the lowest conditions of life she is treated with the tenderness and respect that is due to beings whom we believe to be the repositories of the better principles of our nature. Retired within the sacred precincts of her own abode, she is preserved from the destroying taint of excessive intercourse with the world.

 J Bond Francisco (American painter, 1863-1931) The Sick Child 1893

She makes no bargains beyond those which supply her own little personal wants, and her heart is not early corrupted by the harmful and unfeminine vice of selfishness; she is often the friend and adviser of her husband, but never his chapman. She must be sought in the haunts of her domestic privacy, and not amid the wranglings, deceptions, and heart-burnings of keen and sordid traffic.

Henry Bacon (American-born artist, 1839-1912) Peeling Apples

So true and general is this fact, that I have remarked a vast proportion of that class who frequent the markets, or vend trifles in the streets of this city, occupations that are not unsuited to the feebleness of the sex, are either foreigners, or females descended from certain insulated colonies of the Dutch, which still retain many of the habits of thier ancestors amidst the improvements that are throwing them among the forgotten usages of another century.

John George Brown (American genre paintere, 1831-1913)   The Cherry Picker

The effect of this natural and inestimable division of employment, is in itself enough to produce an impression on the characters of a whole people. It leaves the heart and principles of woman untainted by the dire temptations of strife with her fellows. The husband can retire from his own sordid struggles with the world to seek consolation and correction from one who is placed beyond their influence.

 Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) Spinning 1881

The first impressions of the child are drawn from the purest sources known to our nature; and the son, even long after he has been compelled to enter on the thorny track of the father, preserves the memorial of the pure and unalloyed lessons that he has received from the lips, and, what is far better, from the example of the mother...

John Leon Moran (American painter, 1864-1941) Cabbage Pickers 1883

  I saw every where the utmost possible care to preserve the females from undue or unwomanly employments. If there was a burthen, it was in the arms or on the shoulders of the man. Even labours that seem properly to belong to the household, were often performed by the latter; and I never heard the voice of the wife calling on the husband for assistance, that it was not answered by a ready, manly, an cheerful compliance.

William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) Cracking Nuts 1856

The neatness of the cottage, the farm-house, and the inn; thc clean, tidy, healthful, and vigorous look of the children, united to attest the use fulness of this system. What renders all this more striking and more touching, is the circumstance that not only is labour in so great demand, but, contrary to the fact in all the rest of christendom, the women materially exceed the men in numbers. This seeming depature from what is almost an established law of nature is owing to the emigration westward. By the census of 1820, it appears, that in the six States of New-England there were rather more than thirteen females to every twelve males over the age of sixteen.
.
John George Brown (American genre paintere, 1831-1913)   Home Comforts


William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) Eel Spearing at Setauket Fishing Along the Shore 1845


 Thompkins H Matteson (American painter, 1813-1884)  The Christmas Day Turkey Shoot (see Cooper's Pioneers) 1857


Edward Lamson Henry (American Painter, 1841-1919) Flower Girl Gathering Water 1880


Enoch Wood Perry (American painter, 1831-1913) Women Weaving Baskets


 Elizabeth Nourse (American painter, 1859-1938) Tennessee Woman Weaving 1885


 Harry Roseland (American painter, 1867-1950) An Important Letter 1898


William Aiken Walker (American painter, 1839-1921) Charleston Vegetable Seller



Jerome Thompson (American painter, 1814-1886) Taking Lunch to the Workers Noonday in Summer 1852


Thomas Hicks (1823–1890) Kitchen Interior with Woman Preparing the Food


Harry Roseland (American painter, 1867-1950) Tending a Sick Child, A Serious Case 1899


 Guy Orlando Rose (American painter, 1867-1925) Gathering the Potatoes 1891


 John Eastman (American Painter, fl 1842-1880) Mother Comforting a Child


Harry Roseland (American painter, 1867-1950) The Dressmaker 1900


 Thomas Waterman Wood (American painter, 1823-1903) Collecting the Mail at the Village Post Office 1873


Harry Roseland (American painter, 1867-1950) Feeding the Children or One More Spoon 1889


Linton Park (American painter, 1826-1906) Flax Scutching Bee 1885


 William Henry Snyder (1829–1910) Tutoring the Children at a Quiet Time


Thomas P Rossiter (American painter, 1818-1871) Welcoming the Husband Home to the House on the Hudson 1852


William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) Woman Fortune Telling 1838


Frank Waller (1842-1923) Harvesting Hops near Cooperstown, New York


Theodore Robinson (American painter, 1852–1896) Haying, 1884


 Thomas Waterman Wood (American painter, 1823-1903) Seeking Advice (Gathering Eggs)  1882


Thompkins H Matteson (American painter, 1813-1884) Making Ammunition 1855


James Goodwyn Clonney (American artist, 1812–1867) Offering Baby a Rose


 Thompkins H Matteson (American painter, 1813-1884) Hop Picking 1862


Pinckney Marcius-Simons (1865-1909) The Writer

"Emily Dickinson's Letters" by Thomas Wentworth Higginson
 Atlantic Monthly, October, 1891

Emily Dickinson 1830-1886

Few events in American literary history have been more curious than the sudden rise of Emily Dickinson many years since into a posthumous fame only more accentuated by the utterly recluse character of her life and by her aversion to even a literary publicity. The lines which formed a prelude to the published volume of her poems are the only ones that have yet come to light indicating even a temporary desire to come in contact with the great world of readers; for she seems to have had no reference, in all the rest, to anything but her own thought and a few friends. But for her only sister, it is very doubtful if her poems would ever have been printed at all; and when published, they were launched quietly and without any expectation of a wide audience; yet the outcome of it is that six editions of the volume were sold within six months, a suddenness of success almost without a parallel in American literature.

Thomas Wentworth Higginson - 1823-1911

One result of this glare of publicity has been a constant and earnest demand by her readers for further information in regard to her; and I have decided with much reluctance to give some extracts from her early correspondence with one whom she always persisted in regarding -- with very little ground for it -- as a literary counselor and confidant.

It seems to be the opinion of those who have examined her accessible correspondence most widely, that no other letters bring us quite so intimately near to the peculiar quality and aroma of her nature; and it has been urged upon me very strongly that her readers have the right to know something more of this gifted and most interesting woman.

On April 16, 1862, I took from the post-office in Worcester, Mass., where I was then living, the following letter: --

    MR. HIGGINSON, -- Are you too deeply occupied to say if my verse is alive?
    The mind is so near itself it cannot see distinctly, and I have none to ask.
    Should you think it breathed, and had you the leisure to tell me, I should feel quick gratitude.
    If I make the mistake, that you dared to tell me would give me sincerer honor toward you.
    I inclose my name, asking you, if you please, sir, to tell me what is true?
    That you will not betray me it is needless to ask, since honor is it's own pawn.

The letter was postmarked "Amherst," and it was in a handwriting so peculiar that it seemed as if the writer might have taken her first lessons by studying he famous fossil bird-tracks in the museum of that college town. Yet it was not in the slightest degree illiterate, but cultivated, quaint, and wholly unique. Of punctuation there was little; she used chiefly dashes, and it has been thought better, in printing these letters, as with her poems, to give them the benefit in this respect of the ordinary usages; and so with her habit as to capitalization, as the printers call it, in which she followed the Old English and present German method of thus distinguishing every noun substantive. But the most curious thing about the letter was the total absence of a signature. It proved, however, that she had written her name on a card, and put it under the shelter of a smaller envelope inclosed in the larger; and even this name was written -- as if the shy writer wished to recede as far as possible from view -- in pencil, not in ink. The name was Emily Dickinson. Inclosed with the letter were four poems, two of which have since been separately printed, -- "Safe in their alabaster chambers" and "I'll tell you how the sun rose," together with the two that here follow. The first comprises in its eight lines a truth so searching that it seems a condensed summary of the whole experience of a long life: --

 We play at paste
 Till qualified for pearl;
 Then drop the paste
 And deem ourself a fool.
 The shapes, though, were similar
 And our new hands
 Learned gem-tactics,
 Practicing sands.

Then came one which I have always classed among the most exquisite of her productions, with a singular felicity of phrase and an aerial lift that bears the ear upward with the bee it traces --
 The nearest dream recedes unrealized.
          The heaven we chase,
          Like the June bee
 Before the school-boy,
          Invites the race,
          Stoops to an easy clover --
 Dips -- evades -- teases -- deploys --
          Then to the royal clouds
          Lifts his light pinnace,
          Heedless of the boy
 Staring, bewildered, at the mocking sky.
 Homesick for steadfast honey, --
          Ah! the bee flies not
 Which brews that rare variety.

The impression of a wholly new and original poetic genius was as distinct on my mind at the first reading of these four poems as it is now, after thirty years of further knowledge; and with it came the problem never yet solved, what place ought to be assigned in literature to what is so remarkable, yet so elusive of criticism. The bee himself did not evade the schoolboy more than she evaded me; and even at this day I still stand somewhat bewildered, like the boy.

Circumstances, however, soon brought me in contact with an uncle of Emily Dickinson, a gentelman not now living; a prominent citizen of Worcester, a man of integrity and character, who shared her abruptness and impulsiveness but certainly not her poetic temperament, from which he was indeed singularly remote. He could tell but little of her, she being evidently an enigma to him, as to me. It is hard to say what answer was made by me, under these circumstances, to this letter. It is probable that the adviser sought to gain time a little and find out with what strange creature he was dealing. I remember to have ventured on some criticism which she afterwards called "surgery," and on some questions, part of which she evaded, as will be seen, with a naïve skill such as the most experienced and worldly coquette might envy. Her second letter (received April 26, 1862) was as follows --

    MR. HIGGINSON, -- Your kindness claimed earlier gratitude, but I was ill, and write to-day from my pillow.
    Thank you for the surgery; it was not so painful as I supposed. I bring you others, as you ask, though they might not differ. While my thought is undressed, I can make the distinction; but when I put them in the gown, they look alike and numb.
    You aksed how old I was? I made no verse, but one or two, until this winter, sir.
    I had a terror since September, I could tell to none; and so I sing, as the boy does of the burying ground, because I am afraid.
    You inquire my books. For poets, I have Keats, and Mr. and Mrs. Browning. For prose, Mr. Ruskin, Sir Thomas Browne, and the Revelations. I went to school, but in your manner of the phrase had no education. When a little girl, I had a friend who taught me Immortality; but venturing too near, himself, he never returned. Soon after my tutor died, and for several years my lexicon was my only companion. Then I found one more, but he was not contented I be his scholar, so he left the land.
    You ask my companions, Hills, sir, and the sundown, and a dog large as myself that my father bought me. They are better than beings because they know but do not tell; and the noise in the pool at noon excels my piano.
    I have a brother and sister; my mother does not care for thought, and father, too busy with his briefs to notice what we do. He buys me many books, but begs me not to read them, because he fears they joggle the mind. They are religious, except me, and address an eclipse, every morning, whom they call their "Father."
    But I fear my story fatigues you. I would like to learn. Could you tell me how to grow, or is it unconveyed, like melody or witchcraft?
    You speak of Mr. Whitman, I never read his book, but was told that it was disgraceful.
    I read Miss Prescott's Circumstance, but it followed me in the dark, so I avoided her.
    Two editors of journals came to my father's house this winter, and asked me for my mind, and when I asked them "why" they said I was penurious, and they would use it for the world.
    I could not weigh myself, myself. My size felt small to me. I read your chapters in the "Atlantic," and experienced honor for you. I was sure you would not reject a confiding question.
    Is this, sir, what you asked me to tell you? Your friend,
E. DICKINSON.
 
It will be seen that she had now drawn a step nearer, signing her name, and as my "friend." It will also be noticed that I had sounded her about certain American authors, then much read; and that she knew how to put her own criticisms in a very trenchant way. With this letter came some more verses, still in the same birdlike script, as for instance the following --

 Your riches taught me poverty,
      Myself a millionnaire
 In little wealths, as girls could boast,
      Till broad as Buenos Ayre,
 You drifted your dominions
      A different Peru,
 And I esteemed all poverty
      For life's estate with you.
 Of mines, I little know, myself,
      But just the names of gems,
 The colors of the commonest,
      And scarce of diadems
 So much that, did I meet the queen,
      Her glory I should know:
 But this must be a different wealth,
      To miss it, beggars so.
 I'm sure 't is India all day,
      To those who look on you
 Without a stint, without a blame,
      Might I but be the Jew!
 I'm sure it is Golconda,
      Beyond my power to deem,
 To have a smile for mine, each day,
      How better than a gem!
 At least, it solaces to know
      That there exists a gold,
 Although I prove it just in time
      Its distance to behold;
 Its far, far treasure to surmise
      And estimate the pearl
 That slipped my simple fingers through
      While just a girl at school!

Here was already manifest that defiance of form, never through carelessness, and never precisely from whim, which so marked her. The slightest change in the order of words -- thus, "While yet at school, a girl" -- would have given her a rhyme for this last line; but no; she was intent upon her thought, and it would not have satisfied her to make the change. The other poem further showed, what had already been visible, a rare and delicate sympathy with the life of nature: --

  A bird came down the walk;
  He did not know I saw;
  He bit an angle-worm in halves
  And ate the fellow raw.
  And then he drank a dew
  From a convenient grass,
  And then hopped sidewise to the wall,
  To let a beetle pass.
  He glanced with rapid eyes
  That hurried all around;
  They looked like frightened beads, I thought;
  He stirred his velvet head
  Like one in danger, cautious.
  I offered him a crumb,
  And he unrolled his feathers
  And rowed him softer home
  Than oars divide the ocean,
  Too silver for a seam --
  Or butterflies, off banks of noon,
  Leap, plashless as they swim.

It is possible that in a second letter I gave more of distinct praise or encouragement, for her third is in a different mood. This was received June 8, 1862. There is something startling in its opening image; and in the yet stranger phrase that follows, where she apparently uses "mob" in the sense of chaos or bewilderment: --

    DEAR FRIEND, -- Your letter gave no drunkenness, because I tasted rum before. Domingo comes but once; yet I have had few pleasures so deep as your opinion, and if I tried to thank you, my tears would block my tongue.
    My dying tutor told me that he would like to live till I had been a poet, but Death was much of mob as I could master, then. And when, far afterward, a sudden light on orchards, or a new fashion in the wind troubled my attention, I felt a palsy, here, the verses just relieve.
    Your second letter surprised me, and for a moment, swung. I had not supposed it. Your first gave no dishonor, because the true are not ashamed. I thanked you for your justice, but could not drop the bells whose jingling cooled my tramp. Perhaps the balm seemed better, because you bled me first. I smile when you suggest that I delay "to publish," that being foreign to my thought as firmament to fin.
    If fame belonged to me, I could not escape her; if she did not, the longest day would pass me on the chase, and the approbation of my dog would for- sake me then. My barefoot rank is better.
    You think my gait "spasmodic." I am in danger, sir. You think me "un- controlled." I have no tribunal.
    Would you have time to be the "friend" you should think I need? I have a little shape: it would not crowd your desk, nor make much racket as the mouse that dents your galleries. If I might bring you what I do -- not so frequent to trouble you -- and ask you if I told it clear, 't would be control to me. The sailor cannot see the North, but knows the needle can. The "hand you stretch me in the dark" I put mine in, and turn away. I have no Saxon now: --

 As if I asked a common alms,
 And in my wondering hand
 A stranger pressed a kingdom,
 And I, bewildered, stand;
 As if I asked the Orient
 Had it for me a morn,
 And it should lift its purple dikes
 And shatter me with dawn!

    But, will you be my preceptor, Mr. Higginson?

With this came the poem already published in her volume and entitled "Renunciation"; and also that beginning "Of all the sounds dispatched abroad," thus fixing approximately the date of those two. I must soon have written to ask her for her picture, that I might form some impression of my enigmatical correspondent. To this came the following reply, in July, 1862: --

    Could you believe me without? I had no portrait, now, but am small, like the wren; and my hair is bold, like the chestnut bur; and my eyes, like the sherry in the glass, that the guest leaves. Would this do just as well?
    It often alarms father. He says death might occur, and he has moulds of all the rest, but has no mould of me; but I noticed the quick wore off those things, in a few days, and forestall the dishonor. You will think no caprice of me.
    You said "Dark." I know the butterfly, and the lizard, and the orchis. Are not those your countrymen?
    I am happy to be your scholar, and will deserve the kindness I cannot repay.
    If you truly consent, I recite now. Will you tell me my fault, frankly as to yourself, for I had rather wince than die. Men do not call the surgeon to commend the bone, but to set it, sir, and fracture within is more critical. And for this, preceptor, I shall bring you obedience, the blossom from my garden, and every gratitude I know.
    Perhaps you smile at me. I could not stop for that. My business is circumference. An ignorance, not of customs, but if caught with the dawn, or the sunset see me, myself the only kangaroo among the beauty, sir, if you please, it afflicts me, and I thought that instruction would take it away.
    Because you have much business, beside the growth of me, you will appoint, yourself, how often I shall come, without your inconvenience.
    And if at any time you regret you received me, or I prove a different fabric to that you supposed, you must banish me.
    When I state myself, as the representative of the verse, it does not mean me, but a supposed person.
    You are true about the "perfection." To-day makes Yesterday mean.
    You spoke of Pippa Passes. I never heard anybody speak of Pippa Passes before. You see my posture is benighted.
    To thank you baffles me. Are you perfectly powerful? Had I a pleasure you had not, I could delight to bring it.
YOUR SCHOLAR.
              
This was accompanied by this strong poem, with its breathless conclusion. The title is of my own giving: --

        THE SAINTS' REST
 Of tribulation, these are they,
      Denoted by the white;
 The spangled gowns, a lesser rank
      Of victors designate.
 All these did conquer; but the ones
      Who overcame most times,
 Wear nothing commoner than snow,
      No ornaments but palms.
 "Surrender" is a sort unknown
      On this superior soil;
 "Defeat" an outgrown anguish,
      Remembered as the mile
 Our panting ancle barely passed
      When night devoured the road;
 But we stood whispering in the house,
      And all we said, was "Saved!"
[Note by the writer of the verses.] I spelled ankle wrong.

It would seem that at first I tried a little, -- a very little -- to lead her in the direction of rules and traditions; but I fear it was only perfunctory, and that she interested me more in her -- so to speak -- unregenerate condition. Still, she recognizes the endeavor. In this case, as will be seen, I called her attention to the fact that while she took pains to correct the spelling of a word, she was utterly careless of greater irregularities. It will be seen by her answer that with her usual naïve adroitness she turns my point: --

    DEAR FRIEND, -- Are these more orderly? I thank you for the truth.
    I had no monarch in my life, and cannot rule myself; and when I try to organize, my little force explodes and leaves me bare and charred.
    I think you called me "wayward." Will you help me improve?
    I suppose the pride that stops the breath, in the core of woods, is not of ourself.
    You say I confess the little mistake, and omit the large. Because I can see orthography; but the ignorance out of sight is my preceptor's charge.
    Of "shunning men and women," they talk of hallowed things, aloud, and embarrass my dog. He and I don't object to them, if they'll exist their side. I think Carl would please you. He is dumb, and brave. I think you would like the chestnut tree I met in my walk. It hit my notice suddenly, and I thought the skies were in blossom.
    Then there's a noiseless noise in the orchard that I let persons hear.
    You told me in one letter you could not come to see me "now," and I made no answer; not because I had none, but did not think myself the price that you should come so far.
    I do not ask so large a pleasure, lest you might deny me.
    You say, "Beyond your knowledge." You would not jest with me, because I believe you; but, preceptor, you cannot mean it?
    All men say "What" to me, but I thought it a fashion.
    When much in the woods, as a little girl, I was told that the snake would bite me, that I might pick a poisonous flower, or goblins kidnap me; but I went along and met no one but angels, who were far shyer of me than I could be of them, so I have n't that confidence in fraud which many exercise.
    I shall observe your precept, though I don't understand it, always.
    I marked a line in one verse, because I met it after I made it, and never consciously touch a paint mixed by another person.
    I do not let go it, because it is mine. Have you the portrait of Mrs. Browning?
    Persons sent me three. If you had none, will you have mine?
YOUR SCHOLAR.  
         
A month or two after this I entered the volunteer army of the civil war, and must have written to her during the winter of 1862-63 from South Carolina or Florida, for the following reached me in camp: -

AMHERST.
    DEAR FRIEND, -- I did not deem that planetary forces annulled, but suffered an exchange of territory, or world.
    I should have liked to see you before you became improbable. War feels to me an oblique place. Should there be other summers, would you perhaps come?
    I found you were gone, by accident, as I find systems are, or seasons of the year, and obtain no cause, but suppose it a treason of progress that dissolves as it goes. Carlo still remained, and I told him.
    Best gains must have the losses' test,
    To constitute them gains.
My shaggy ally assented.
    Perhaps death gave me awe for friends, striking sharp and early, for I held them since in a brittle love, of more alarm than peace. I trust you may pass the limit of war; and though not reared to prayer, when service is had in church for our arms, I include yourself. . . . I was thinking to-day, as I noticed, that the "Supernatural" was only the Natural disclosed.
    Not "Revelation" 't is that waits,
    But our unfurnished eyes.
    But I fear I detain you. Should you, before this reaches you, experience immortality, who will inform me of the exchange? Could you, with honor, avoid death, I entreat you, sir. It would bereave
Your GNOME.
I trust the "Procession of Flowers" was not a premonition.

I cannot explain this extraordinary signature, substituted for the now customary "Your Scholar," unless she imagined her friend to be in some incredible and remote condition, imparting its strangeness to her. Mr. Howells reminds me that Swedenborg somewhere has an image akin to her "oblique place," where he symbolizes evil as simply an oblique angle. With this letter came verses, most refreshing in that clime of jasmines and mocking-birds, on the familiar robin: --

           THE ROBIN.
 The robin is the one
 That interrupts the morn
 With hurried, few, express reports
 When March is scarcely on.
 The robin is the one
 That overflows the noon
 With her cherubic quantity,
 An April but begun.
 The robin is the one
 That, speechless from her nest,
 Submits that home and certainty
 And sanctity are best.

In the summer of 1863 I was wounded, and in hospital for a time, during which came this letter in pencil, written from what was practically a hospital for her, though only for weak eyes: --

    DEAR FRIEND, -- Are you in danger? I did not know that you were hurt. Will you tell me more? Mr. Hawthorne died.
    I was ill since September, and since April in Boston for a physician's care. He does not let me go, yet I work in my prison, and make guests for myself.
    Carlo did not come, because that he would die in jail; and the mountains I could not hold now, so I brought but the Gods.
    I wish to see you more than before I failed. Will you tell me your health? I am surprised and anxious since receiving your note.
 The only news I know
 Is bulletins all day
 From Immortality.
    Can you render my pencil? The physician has taken away my pen.
    I inclose the address from a letter, lest my figures fail.
    Knowledge of your recovery would excel my own.
E. DICKINSON.  
     
Later this arrived: --
    DEAR FRIEND, -- I think of you so wholly that I cannot resist to write again, to ask if you are safe? Danger is not at first, for then we are unconscious, but in the after, slower days.
    Do not try to be saved, but let redemption find you, as it certainly will. Love is its own rescue; for we, at our supremest, are but its trembling emblems.
YOUR SCHOLAR.  
     
These were my earliest letters from Emily Dickinson, in their order. From this time and up to her death (May 15, 1886) we corresponded at varying intervals, she always persistently keeping up this attitude of "Scholar," and assuming on my part a preceptorship which it is almost needless to say did not exist. Always glad to hear her "recite," as she called it, I soon abandoned all attempt to guide in the slightest degree this extraordinary nature, and simply accepted her confidences, giving as much as I could of what might interest her in return.

Sometimes there would be a long pause, on my part, after which would come a plaintive letter, always terse, like this : --

"Did I displease you? But won't you tell me how?"

Or perhaps the announcement of some event, vast to her small sphere, as this:

AMHERST.
    Carlo died.
    Would you instruct me now?
E. DICKINSON.
            
Or sometimes there would arrive an exquisite little detached strain, every word a picture, like this : --

      THE HUMMING-BIRD.
 A route of evanescence
 With a revolving wheel;
 A resonance of emerald;
 A rush of cochineal.
 And every blossom on the bush
 Adjusts its tumbled head; --
 The mail from Tunis, probably,
 An easy morning's ride.

Nothing in literature, I am sure, so condenses into a few words that gorgeous atom of life and fire of which she here attempts the description. It is, however, needless to conceal that many of her brilliant fragments were less satisfying. She almost always grasped whatever she sought, but with some fracture of grammar and dictionary on the way. Often, too, she was obscure and sometimes inscrutable; and though obscurity is sometimes, in Coleridge's phrase, a compliment to the reader, yet it is never safe to press this compliment too hard. Sometimes, on the other hand, her verses found too much favor for her comfort, and she was urged to publish. In such cases I was sometimes put forward as a defense; and the following letter was the fruit of some such occasion: --

    DEAR FRIEND, -- Thank you for the advice. I shall implicitly follow it.
    The one who asked me for the lines I had never seen.
    He spoke of "a charity." I refused, but did not inquire. He again earnestly urged, on the ground that in that way I might "aid unfortunate children." The name of "child" was a snare to me, and I hesitated, choosing my most rudimentary, and without criterion.
    I inquired of you. You can scarcely estimate the opinion to one utterly guideless. Again thank you.
        YOUR SCHOLAR.
           
Again came this, on a similar theme:

    DEAR FRIEND, -- Are you willing to tell me what is right? Mrs. Jackson, of Colorado [" H. H.," her early schoolmate], was with me a few moments this week, and wished me to write for this. [A circular of the "No Name Series" was inclosed.] I told her I was unwilling, and she asked me why? I said I was incapable, and she seemed not to believe me and asked me not to decide for a few days. Meantime, she would write me. She was so sweetly noble, I would regret to estrange her, and if you would be willing to give me a note saying you disapproved it, and thought me unfit, she would believe you. I am sorry to flee so often to my safest friend, but hope he permits me.

In all this time -- nearly eight years -- we had never met, but she had sent invitations like the following: --

AMHERST.
    DEAR FRIEND, -- Whom my dog understood could not elude others.
    I should be so glad to see you, but think it an apparitional pleasure, not to be fulfilled. I am uncertain of Boston.
    I had promised to visit my physician for a few days in May, but father objects because he is in the habit of me.
    Is it more far to Amherst?
    You will find a minute host, but a spacious welcome.
    If I still entreat you to teach me, are you much displeased? I will be patient, constant, never reject your knife, and should my slowness goad you, you knew before myself that
      Except the smaller size
      No lives are round.
      These hurry to a sphere
      And show and end.
      The larger slower grow
      And later hang;
      The summers of Hesperides
      Are long.

Afterwards, came this : --

AMHERST.
    DEAR FRIEND, -- A letter always feels to me like immortality because it is the mind alone without corporeal friend. Indebted in our talk to attitude and ac- cent, there seems a spectral power in thought that walks alone. I would like to thank you for your great kindness, but never try to lift the words which I cannot hold.
    Should you come to Amherst, I might then succeed, though gratitude is the timid wealth of those who have nothing. I am sure that you speak the truth, because the noble do, but your letters always surprise me.
    My life has been too simple and stern to embarrass any. "Seen of Angels," scarcely my responsibility.
    It is difficult not to be fictitious in so fair a place, but tests' severe repairs are permitted all.
    When a little girl I remember hearing that remarkable passage and prefer- ring the "Power," not knowing at the time that "Kingdom" and "Glory" were included.
    You noticed my dwelling alone. To an emigrant, country is idle except it be his own. You speak kindly of seeing me; could it please your convenience to come so far as Amherst, I should be very glad, but I do not cross my father's ground to any house or town.
    Of our greatest acts we are ignorant. You were not aware that you saved my life. To thank you in person has been since then one of my few requests.... You will excuse each that I say, because no one taught me.

At last, after many postponements, on August 16, 1870, I found myself face to face with my hitherto unseen correspondent. It was at her father’s house, one of those large, square, brick mansions so familiar in our older New England towns, surrounded by trees and blossoming shrubs without, and within exquisitely neat, cool, spacious, and fragrant with flowers. After a little delay, I heard an extremely faint and pattering footstep like that of a child, in the hall, and in glided, almost noiselessly, a plain, shy little person, the face without a single good feature, but with eyes, as she herself said, "like the sherry the guest leaves in the glass," and with smooth bands of reddish chestnut hair. She had a quaint and nun-like look, as if she might be a German canoness of some religious order, whose prescribed garb was white piqué, with a blue net worsted shawl. She came toward me with two day-lilies, which she put in a childlike way into my hand, saying softly, under her breath, "These are my introduction," and adding, also, under her breath, in childlike fashion, "Forgive me if I am frightened; I never see strangers, and hardly know what I say." But soon she began to talk, and thenceforward continued almost constantly; pausing sometimes to beg that I would talk instead, but readily recommencing when I evaded. There was not a trace of affectation in all this; she seemed to speak absolutely for her own relief, and wholly without watching its effect on her hearer. Led on by me, she told much about her early life, in which her father was always the chief figure, -- evidently a man of the old type, of Puritanism -- a man who, as she said, read on Sunday "lonely and rigorous books;" and who had from childhood inspired her with such awe, that she never learned to tell time by the clock till she was fifteen, simply because he had tried to explain it to her when she was a little child, and she had been afraid to tell him that she did not understand, and also afraid to ask any one else lest he should hear of it. Yet she had never heard him speak a harsh word, and it needed only a glance at his photograph to see how truly the Puritan tradition was preserved in him. He did not wish his children, when little, to read anything but the Bible; and when, one day, her brother brought her home Longfellow's "Kavanagh," he put it secretly under the pianoforte cover, made signs to her, and they both afterwards read it. It may have been before this, however, that a student of her father's was amazed to find that she and her brother had never heard of Lydia Maria Child, then much read, and he brought "Letters from New York," and hid it in the great bush of old-fashioned tree-box beside the front door. After the first book she thought in ecstasy, "This, then, is a book, and there are more of them." But she did not find so many as she expected, for she afterwards said to me, "When I lost the use of my eyes, it was a comfort to think that there were so few real books that I could easily find one to read me all of them." Afterwards, when she regained her eyes, she read Shakespeare, and thought to herself, "Why is any other book needed?"

She went on talking constantly and saying, in the midst of narrative, things quaint and aphoristic. "Is it oblivion or absorption when things pass from our minds?" "Truth is such a rare thing, it is delightful to tell it." "I find ecstacy in living; the mere sense of living is joy enough." When I asked her if she never felt any want of employment, not going off the grounds and rarely seeing a visitor, she answered, "I never thought of conceiving that I could ever have the slightest approach to such a want in all future time;" and then added, after a pause, "I feel that I have not expressed myself strongly enough," although it seemed to me that she had. She told me of her household occupations, that she made all their bread, because her father liked only hers; then saying shyly, "And people must have puddings," this very timidly and suggestively, as if they were meteors or comets. Interspersed with these confidences came phrases so emphasized as to seem the very wantonness of over-statement, as if she pleased herself with putting into words what the most extravagant might possibly think without saying, as thus: "How do most people live without any thoughts? There are many people in the world, -- you must have noticed them in the street, -- how do they live? How do they get strength to put on their clothes in the morning?" Or this crowning extravaganza: "If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?"

I have tried to describe her just as she was, with the aid of notes taken at the time; but this interview left our relation very much what it was before; -- on my side an interest that was strong and even affectionate, but not based on any thorough comprehension; and on her side a hope, always rather baffled, that I should afford some aid in solving her abstruse problem of life.

The impression undoubtedly made on me was that of an excess of tension, and of an abnormal life. Perhaps in time I could have got beyond that somewhat overstrained relation which not my will, but her needs, had forced upon us. Certainly I should have been most glad to bring it down to the level of simple truth and every-day comradeship; but it was not altogether easy. She was much too enigmatical a being for me to solve in an hour’s interview, and an instinct told me that the slightest attempt at direct cross-examination would make her withdraw into her shell; I could only sit still and watch, as one does in the woods; I must name my bird without a gun, as recommended by Emerson. Under this necessity I had no opportunity to see that human and humorous side of her which is strongly emphasized by her nearer friends, and which shows itself in her quaint and unique description of a rural burglary, contained in the volume of her poems. Hence, even her letters to me show her mainly on her exaltée side; and should a volume of her correspondence ever be printed, it is very desirable that it should contain some of her letters to friends of closer and more familiar intimacy.

After my visit came this letter:
  -- Enough is so vast a sweetness, I suppose it never occurs, only pathetic counterfeits.
    Fabulous to me as the men of the Revelations who "shall not hunger any more." Even the possible has its insoluble particle.
    After you went, I took Macbeth and turned to "Birnam Wood." Came twice "To Dunsinane." I thought and went about my work....
    The vein cannot thank the artery, but her solemn indebtedness to him, even the stolidest admit, and so of me who try, whose effort leaves no sound.
    You ask great questions accidentally. To answer them would be events. I trust that you are safe.
    I ask you to forgive me for all the ignorance I had. I find no nomination sweet as your low opinion.
    Speak, if but to blame your obedient child.
    You told me of Mrs. Lowell's poems. Would you tell me where I could find them, or are they not for sight? An article of yours, too, perbaps the only one you wrote that I never knew. It was about a "Latch." Are you willing to tell me? [Perhaps "A Sketch."]
    If I ask too much, you could please refuse. Shortness to live has made me bold.
    Abroad is close to-night and I have but to lift my hands to touch the "Heights of Abraham."
DICKINSON.
             
When I said, at parting, that I would come again some time, she replied, "Say, in a long time; that will be nearer. Some time is no time." We met only once again, and I have no express record of the visit. We corresponded for years, at long intervals, her side of the intercourse being, I fear, better sustained; and she sometimes wrote also to my wife, inclosing flowers or fragrant leaves with a verse or two. Once she sent her one of George Eliot's books, I think Middlemarch, and wrote, "I am bringing you a little granite book for you to lean upon." At other times she would send single poems, such as these --

        THE BLUE JAY.
 No brigadier throughout the year
 So civic as the jay.
 A neighbor and a warrior too,
 With shrill felicity
 Pursuing winds that censure us
 A February Day,
 The brother of the universe
 Was never blown away.
 The snow and he are intimate;
 I ‘ye often seen them play
 When heaven looked upon us all
 With such severity
 I felt apology were due
 To an insulted sky
 Whose pompous frown was nutriment
 To their temerity.
 The pillow of this daring head
 Is pungent evergreens;
 His larder -- terse and militant --
 Unknown, refreshing things;
 His character — a tonic;
 His future — a dispute;
 Unfair an immortality
 That leaves this neighbor out.

        THE WHITE HEAT.
 Dare you see a soul at the white heat?
 Then crouch within the door;
 Red is the fire’s common tint,
 But when the vivid ore
 Has sated flame’s conditions,
 Its quivering substance plays
 Without a color, but the light
 Of unanointed blaze.
 Least village boasts its blacksmith,
 Whose anvil’s even din
 Stands symbol for the finer forge
 That soundless tugs within,
 Refining these impatient ores
 With hammer and with blaze,
 Until the designated light
 Repudiate the forge.

Then came the death of her father, that strong Puritan father who had communicated to her so much of the vigor of his own nature, and who bought her many books, but begged her not to read them. Mr. Edward Dickinson, after service in the national House of Representatives and other public positions, had become a member of the lower house of the Massachusetts legislature. The session was unusually prolonged, and he was making a speech upon some railway question at noon, one very hot day (July 16, 1874), when he became suddenly faint and sat down. The house adjourned, and a friend walked with him to his lodgings at the Tremont House; where he began to pack his bag for home, after sending for a physician, but died within three hours. Soon afterwards, I received the following letter: --

The last afternoon that my father lived, though with no premonition, I preferred to be with him, and invented an absence for mother, Vinnie [her sister] being asleep. He seemed peculiarly pleased, as I oftenest stayed with myself; and remarked, as the afternoon withdrew, he "would like it to not end."
    His pleasure almost embarrassed me, and my brother coming, I suggested they walk. Next morning I woke him for the train, and saw him no more.
    His heart was pure and terrible, and I think no other like it exists.
    I am glad there is immortality, but would have tested it myself, before entrusting him. Mr. Bowles was with us. With that exception, I saw none. I have wished for you, since my father died, and had you an hour unengrossed, it would be almost priceless. Thank you for each kindness.
Later she wrote:

      When I think of my father's lonely life and lonelier death, there is this redress: --
    Take all away;
    The only thing worth larceny
    Is left -- the immortality.
    My earliest friend wrote me the week before he died, "If I live, I will go to Amherst; if I die, I certainly will."
    Is your house deeper off?
Your SCHOLAR.

A year afterwards came this : --
DEAR FRIEND, -- Mother was paralyzed Tuesday, a year from the evening father died. I thought perhaps you would care.
Your SCHOLAR.  
           
With this came the following verse, having a curious seventeenth-century flavor --

 A death-blow is a life-blow to some,
 Who, till they died, did not alive become;
 Who, had they lived, had died, but when
 They died, vitality begun.
And later came this kindred memorial of one of the oldest and most faithful friends of the family, Mr. Samuel Bowles of the Springfield Republican: --

    DEAR FRIEND, -- I felt it shelter to speak to you.
    My brother and sister are with Mr. Bowles, who is buried this afternoon.
    The last song that I heard -- that was, since the birds -- was "He leadeth me, he leadeth me; yea, though I walk" -- then the voices stooped, the arch was so low.
After this added bereavement the inward life of the diminished household became only more concentrated, and the world was held farther and farther away. Yet to this period belongs the following letter, written about 1880, which has more of what is commonly called the objective or external quality than any she ever wrote me; and shows how close might have been her observation and her sympathy, had her rare qualities taken a somewhat different channel: --

    DEAR FRIEND, -- I was touchingly reminded of [a child who had died] this morning by an Indian woman with gay baskets and a dazzling baby, at the kitchen door. Her little boy "once died," she said, death to her dispelling him. I asked her what the baby liked, and she said "to step." The prairie before the door was gay with flowers of hay, and I led her in. She argued with the birds, she leaned on clover walls and they fell, and dropped her. With jargon sweeter than a bell, she grappled buttercups, and they sank together, the buttercups the heaviest. What sweetest use of days! It was noting some such scene made Vaughan humbly say, "My days that are at best but dim and hoary." I think it was Vaughan...
And these few fragmentary memorials -- closing, like every human biography, with funerals, yet with such as were to Emily Dickinson only the stately introduction to a higher life -- may well end with her description of the death of the very summer she so loved.

 As imperceptibly as grief
 The summer lapsed away,
 Too imperceptible at last
 To feel like perfidy.
 A quietness distilled,
 As twilight long begun,
 Or Nature spending with herself
 Sequestered afternoon.
 The dusk drew earlier in,
 The morning foreign shone,
 A courteous yet harrowing grace
 As guest that would be gone.
 And thus without a wing
 Or service of a keel
 Our summer made her light escape
 Into the Beautiful.

William Miller Trinity College, Hartford, Conn. 1857

.

Gorge Henry Durrie (1820-1863) Sarah Murcelus 1841

George Cooke (1793–1849) Lucie Harvie Hull of Athens, Georgia

James Reid Lambdin (1807–1889) Sarah Joseph Hale

Erastus Salisbury Field (1805–1900) Portrait of a Woman said to be Clarissa Gallond Cook in front of a Cityscape

Cephas Giovanni Thompson (1809 – 1888) Portrait of a Woman

Gorge Henry Durrie (1820-1863) Mrs John Forman 1841

James Reid Lambdin (1807–1889) Mrs James Reid Lambdin (Mary Ohara Cochran)

..

Fanny Palmer (American artist, 1812-1876) Published by N Currier American Farm Yard 1857

John George Brown (American artist, 1831-1913)  Bluffing


Abbott Fuller Graves (American artist, 1859 – 1936) The Fisherman's Lesson


 John Eastman (American Painter, fl 1842-1880) Ice Skater or Child Warming Hands


 James Goodwyn Clonney (American genre artist, 1812–1867) Asleep


Abbott Fuller Graves (American artist, 1859–1936) Trying the Pipe


John George Brown (American artist, 1831-1913)  We Can't Be Caught


 John Eastman (American Painter, fl 1842-1880) In the Hayloft


John George Brown (American artist, 1831-1913)  My Best Friend


John Joseph Enneking (American artist, 1841 – 1916) Pulling Out the Splinter


John Eastman (American Painter, fl 1842-1880) Little Boy on a Stool


John George Brown (American artist, 1831-1913)  Daisy McComb Holding a Pink Rose


 John Eastman (American Painter, fl 1842-1880) Lunchtime


John George Brown (American genre paintere, 1831-1913)   Tete a Tete


John Eastman (American Painter, fl 1842-1880) Scholar


John George Brown (American artist, 1831-1913)  The Industrious Family


 John Eastman (American Painter, fl 1842-1880) The Lesson


John George Brown (American genre paintere, 1831-1913)   The Peacemaker


John Eastman (American Painter, fl 1842-1880) The Little Convalescent


John George Brown (American genre paintere, 1831-1913)  Golden Locks, Left Behind


 John Eastman (American Painter, fl 1842-1880) The Old Stage Coast


Carl Hirschberg (American artist, 1854 – 1923) The Orange


John George Brown (American genre paintere, 1831-1913)  St Patrick's Day


John Eastman (American Painter, fl 1842-1880) The Storyteller at the Camp


John George Brown (American genre paintere, 1831-1913)  Hiding in the Old Oak


John Eastman (American Painter, fl 1842-1880) The Young Sweep


Samuel S. Carr (American genre painter, 1837–1908) Little Drummer Boy


John Eastman (American Painter, fl 1842-1880) The Boyhood of Abraham Lincoln

Thomas Eakins (American artist, 1844-1916)  Baby at Play


John Eastman (American Painter, fl 1842-1880) What the Shell Says

 Fanny Palmer (American artist, 1812-1876) Published by N Currier  The Village Blacksmith

This chronology offers us a glimpse at how America's 19th-century presidents celebrated the 4th of July, while they were in office.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)    1801-1809

1801- Jefferson hosts the first public Fourth of July Executive Mansion reception.

1802- The President is in Washington receiving guests.

1803- The President holds a reception at the Executive Mansion between the hours of 12 and 2 p.m. for the various heads of departments, foreign ministers, military officers, and others. He also reviews a military parade.

1804- The President hosts a reception with refreshments at the Executive Mansion and reviews a military parade.

1805- The President holds a reception at the Executive Mansion to the sounds of "a powerful band of music, playing patriotic airs at short intervals."

1806- Jefferson hosts a reception at the Executive Mansion.

1807- The President "standing in the north portico" of the Executive Mansion reviews a military parade and thereafter receives the officers, and opens the Mansion for guests.

1808- The President hosts a reception at the Executive Mansion and reviews a military parade.

James Madison (1751-1836)    1809-1817

1809- Madison is in the Executive Mansion entertaining guests, including various "Heads of Departments."

1810- The President attends the ceremony in the Baptist Meeting House in Washington and hears an oration given by Robert Polk there. Following, the President entertains the assemblage at the Executive Mansion.

1811- Madison attends a church on F street, reviews a military parade, and entertains guests in the Executive Mansion.

1812- The President attends a ceremony held in the Capitol and then returns to the Executive Mansion to review a military parade and to entertain guests.

1813- Madison is ill and the "President's Mansion" is closed to the public for entertainments (the Fourth fall on the sabbath and the official holiday is celebrated on Monday, July 5).

1814- The President is in the Executive Mansion and receives guests, including "the Mayor, aldermen and Common Council of the city."

1815- Madison attends a ceremony held at the Capitol and later entertains the assemblage at the Octagon House.

1816- The White House is being rebuilt.

James Monroe (1758-1831)    1817-1825

1817- The White House is not yet ready for receptions, so Monroe, on tour in New England, is in Boston with various government officials and naval commodores and participates in the ceremony there by giving a speech. He visits the ship-of-the-line Independence 74, Fort Warren, and stops off at the Exchange Coffee House. From there he visits the Governor of Massachusetts in Medford.

1818- Monroe is in Washington and issues a proclamation that the trade in "Plaster of Paris" is no longer to be exported to the "Province of New-Brunswick."

1819- The President is in Lexington, Kentucky, in the company of General Andrew Jackson, and visiting the Lexington Athenaeum and attending a ceremony at Dunlap's Hotel there.

1821- The President is ill in the Executive Mansion which is closed to the public.

1822- The President is at his farm in Virginia.

1823- The President attends a ceremony held at the Capitol where he hears the Declaration of Independence read by Richard Bland Lee. Back at the Executive Mansion, because members of his family are ill, he does not receive visitors.

1824- The President rides in a carriage in a procession to the Capitol, attends a ceremony there, and later holds a reception at the Executive Mansion.

John Quincy Adams (1767-1848)    1825-1829

1825- Adams is at the White House where he hears the Marine Band perform; at 10 a.m. he and various Secretaries review several volunteer companies. He then goes to the Capitol to hear the Declaration read. Following that, he returns to the White House to receive numerous guests.

1826- The President, accompanied by the Vice President and others, joins a procession that marches to the Capitol and later returns to the Executive Mansion to receive guests.

1827- The President attends services held in Washington at "the Church of Dr. Laurie," and later holds a public reception at the Executive Mansion.

1828-John Quincy Adams attends ground-breaking ceremony for the excavation of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal at Little Falls located just above Georgetown, and gives an address, with music supplied by the U.S. Marine Band.

Andrew Jackson (1767-1845)    1829-1837

1829- The President hold a public reception at the White House at 1 p.m. and at 3 p.m. is supposed to participate in a ceremony for the laying of a cornerstone of one of the "Eastern locks of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, near the mouth of Rock Creek," but a driving rain forces the cancellation of the ceremony

1830- The President is on his way to his residence in Tennessee, with arrival expected on July 6.

1831- Jackson is at Fortress Monroe in Norfolk and turns down an invitation to a public dinner there. Later, he returns to the Executive Mansion in the steamboat
Potomac.

1832- The President is at the White House examining a bill to extend and modify the Charter of the Bank of the United States. He vetoes the bill.

1833- Jackson returns to the White House on July 4 from his tour of New England and is ill on this day.

1834- The President is in Washington and plans to leave for the Hermitage in a few days.

1835- The President is in Washington and leaves the Executive Mansion on July 6 in the steamboat Columbia for Fort Calhoun in Virginia.

Martin Van Buren (1782-1862)    1837-1841

1837- The President reviews a military parade in Washington.

1839- Van Buren is in New York attending a festival and sabbath school celebration with thousands of children participating.

John Tyler (1790-1862)    1841-1845

1841- Tyler is in the Executive Mansion receiving guests.

1842- The President is in the White House receiving "an unusually large number of citizens. President Tyler, dressed in a full suit of black silk, from the manufactory of Mr. Rapp, of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, received them with his accustomed frank courtesy, and all seemed in the highest spirits." In the morning, the President received the Sunday Schools, listened to two addresses made to him by children, and the "temperance people made a desent upon the White House, too, and the President made a capital speech to them."

1844- The President is in the White House.

James K. Polk (1795-1849)    1845-1849

1845- Polk and the First Lady entertain guests at the White House, including Rev. John C. Smith and the Sunday School of the Fourth Presbyterian Church.

1846- Polk is in the White House and briefly addresses about 200 young students.

1847- From Polk's Diary: "Spent the day in Portland [Maine] and attended a Unitarian church in the morning, in company with the Hon. John Anderson; and a congregational church in the afternoon, in company with the Mayor."

1848- The President receives guests in the Executive Mansion, attends the laying of the cornerstone of the Washington Monument and also reviews a military parade.

Zachary Taylor (1784-1850)    1849-1850

1849- Taylor receives guests in the White House, including the E Street Baptist School children, and Master R.W. Wilcox.

1850- Taylor attends a ceremony at the Washington Monument, eats a bowl of cherries and milk, gets sick, and dies a few days later.

Millard Fillmore (1800-1874)   1850-1853

1850- Vice-President Fillmore attends a ceremony held at the Washington Monument and takes over as President on July 9 upon the death of Zachary Taylor.

1851- The President has a busy day attenting a ceremony at the Washington Monument in the company of various military officials and other dignitaries, then joins in a procession from City Hall to the Capitol where he ceremonially participates in the laying of the "cornerstone of the new Capitol edifice."

Franklin Pierce (1804-1869)    1853-1857

1853- Pierce is in the White House, but walks over to the Post Office to see about having an employee there reinstated after his firing. He writes a letter of acceptance that he will attend the opening of the new Crystal Palace in New York on July 15.

1854- The "Chief Magistrate" is in the Executive Mansion and receives guests, including members of the Western Presbyterian Sabbath School. Pierce later views the fireworks set off on Monument Square.

1855- The President and First Lady are in Cape May, N.J. vacationing and they return to the White House on 7 July.

James Buchanan (1791-1868)    1857-1861

1858- Buchanan is in the White House entertaining guests.

1859- The President is in the White House.

Abraham Lincoln  (1809-1865)   1861-1865

1861- Lincoln calls an "extraordinary" session of Congress and presents an address regarding the suspension of Federal government functions by seccessionists in the South; the President also reviews 29 New York military regiments in front of the White House and also raises the stars and stripes (the flag presented to the city of Washington by the Union Committee of New York) on a 100-foot high flagstaff located at the south front of the Treasury Department.

1862- Lincoln is in the White House and receives the "Soldiers of the War of 1812"; "Mr. Lincoln replied appropriately, thanking them for the call."

1863- The President issues an address to the people honoring the Army of the Potomac and "for the many gallant fallen." There was a ceremony on the grounds of the Executive Mansion. Upon hearing of the news of the surrender of Vicksburg, the President gives a "Fourth of July" speech on July 7 from the upper window of the White House to an "immense" crowd.

1864- The President is at the White House reviewing the Reconstruction Bill and meeting with various officials.

Andrew Johnson (1808-1875)    1865-1869

1865- Due to illness Johnson cancels a trip to Gettysburg where he is to honor the return of peace by consecrating a national monument. He remains in the Executive Mansion.

1866- Johnson is in the White House entertaining guests, including members of the Survivors of the Associated Soldiers of the War of 1812.

1868- Johnson issues a Third Amnesty Proclamation to all participants in the
Confederate rebellion. Papers of Andrew Johnson, Paul H. Bergeron, ed.
Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1989, 14:317-18).

Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885)    1869-1877

1869- July 4th falls on Sunday and the official celebration occurs on the 5th. The President is at the White House having declined to attend the reunion meeting in New York of the Army of the Potomac.

1870- Grant is on the Presidential train in New England on his way to Woodstock, Conn. He stops in several towns along the way where he is received by cheering crowds. In Woodstock, he participates in that town's celebration and hears speeches by several persons, including one given by Henry Ward Beecher.

1871- The President issues a proclamation in Washington regardng the "Treaty of Washington" between the U.S. and Great Britain regarding the settling of certain "cases of difference."

1872- Grant is at Long Branch, N.J., amidst canons firing, bells ringing, and fireworks going off.

1873- The President has his proclamation read in Philadelphia announcing the future Cenntennial which is to be held there. Grant does not attend the Philadelphia ceremony, due to the recent death of his father Jesse R. Grant on 29 June. President Grant is in Covington, Kentucky, at the funeral.

1875- Grant visits Heightstown, N.J., and returns to the "President's Cottage" at Long Branch later that evening.

1876- The President is in the Executive Mansion where Mr. Cadwallader, Acting Secretary of State, introduces a Mr. Schlozer, the German Minister, who delivers an autograph letter of congratulations from the Emperor of Germany to the President.

Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893)    1877-1881

1878- Hayes is in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., being entertained by friends

1879- Early on the Fourth, Hayes is at Fortress Monroe in Virginia with Secretaries of the Treasury, War, Navy, the Attorney-General, and others, and witnesses test firing of bombs and large guns. Later that afternoon, he spends two or three hours on the U.S. steamboat Tallapoosacruising around in the ocean. The evening is spent viewing fireworks.

1880- Hayes celebrates the fourth on 5 July when he returns to Washington from a trip to New Haven, Conn.

James A. Garfield (1831-1881)    1881

1881- Garfield lays gravely ill in Washington, D.C. as a result of an assassin's bullet there.

Chester A. Arthur (1829-1886)  1881-1885 

1884- Arthur spends the Fourth in his office from about 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. signing bills and receiving calls.

Grover Cleveland (1837-1908)    1885-1889 & 1893-1897

1885- Cleveland is at the White House with no callers admitted. In the early evening, he receives a cable dispatch from Cyrus W. Field in London which announces the celebration of the Fourth there. The President ends the evening with a drive around Washington which lasts about two hours.

1887- Cleveland declines an invitation to attend a meeting of the Tammany Society in New York, but his letter (June 25) declining the offer is read at the July 4th ceremony there.

1888- Cleveland declines an invitation to attend a meeting of the Tammany Society in New York, but his letter (June 29) to them is read at the July 4th ceremony there.

Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901)    1889-1893

1889- Harrison is in Woodstock, Conn., giving a traditional Fourth of July speech

1891- Harrison is in Cape May, N.J., vacationing

1892- Harrison spends "a very quiet and uneventful day [in Washington]. In the morning he drives to the Monument Grounds with Secretary Halford to witness the celebration there, returning to the Executive Mansion about 11 o'clock. He occupied his time until the luncheon hour arrived by looking over his mail and going through some official papers. In the afternoon he took a drive with Mrs. Harrison out into the country, away from the noise and din of the city."

William McKinley (1843-1901)    1897-1901

1897- McKinley spends the day with his mother in Canton, Ohio, and attends services at the First M.E. Church.

1898- McKinley is in the White House receiving hundreds of telegrams congratulating him on the progress of the war with Spain

1899- McKinley is in the White House

1900- McKinley is in Canton, Ohio, reviewing a parade.

1901- The President is in the White House.

For much more about the 4th of July, see
The Fourth of July Encyclopedia by James R. Heintze (2007)
Music of the Fourth of July: A Year-by-year Chronicle of Performances and Works Composed for the Occasion, by James R. Heintze (2009)

For the first 50 years after the signing of the Declaration of Indpendence on the 4th of July, American women would present their appreciation of the nation's hard-won liberty as handiwork in the form of banners, flags, or standards to groups of soldiers of the United States military. The presentation ceremony would allow the women to speak about what the new nation & its defenders meant to them, even though they would not be allowed to vote until 1920.

Their speeches usually were not specifically about the signing of the document or about the founding fathers, the more immediate goal was to praise & inspire the local defenders of freedom who were alive and present at the moment.


1805 Eunice Quinby of Kennebunk, Maine

Standand presented to the Stoudwater Light-Infantry Company, Kennebunk, Maine, July 4, 1805. After a parade by the Stoudwater Light-Infantry Company, they were joined by the Falmouth Cavalry, Capt. William Brackett, and all marched to Capt. John Quinby’s “where were assembled the ladies of the village and its vicinity, who displayed their patriotism by presenting the Light-Infantry with an elegant standard," accompanied by the following address by Miss Eunice Quinby:

The martial ardor which actuates the Stroudwater Light Infantry, affords a pleasing satisfaction, while the celerity, with which, from a state of ignorance, it has obtained an extensive knowledge of military discipline, is matter of surprise to every beholder. You have begun the career of glory; and we trust that that honor which is the Soldiers sole reward, will amply compensate you, in whose breasts are implanted the love of liberty, of virtue and of your country, for all the toil, anxiety, and danger, to which you are liable. Ours is the land of Liberty, and of happiness; we peculiarly enjoy the blessings of peace and prosperity; but these advantages are to be preserved only by the smiles of an over ruling Providence, and the virtue and watchfulness of our citizens. On those of the military capacity we depend for protection from foreign invasion and domestic usurpation; to effect which, unremitted vigilance, patience of discipline and scorn of danger, are absolutely necessary. Being sensible that you are deeply impressed with the truth of this observation, I have the honor, in the name of the Ladies of Falmouth, to offer this standard to your protection; let it ever by the signal of Liberty; May that which is now intrusted to your heroism and magnanimity, never be deserted; may the motto which is inscribed thereon, be indelibly imprinted on all your hearts; and may that spark of ambition, which at first warmed your breasts, and which is now kindled into a flame, never, never, by extinguished.“Party at Maj. Webster’s,” Kennebunk Gazette, 17 July 1805, 2.

1807 Miss Archer of Salem, Massachusetts

On July 4, 1807, in Salem, Massachusetts, "The Mechanic Light Infantry, a new Company commanded by Capt. Perley Putnam, made their first appearance in uniform on this day, and received an elegant Standard in the morning from Col. Archer, which was delivered by the Colonel's daughter, of eleven years of age, with the following pertinent Address: To the Mechanic Light Infantry"

Gentlemen, I am directed by my father, who has the honour of commanding the Salem regiment, to request the Mechanic Light Infantry Company to accept this Standard, with his most sincere wishes, for their prosperity and honour. It will be easily conceive[d], with what pleasure I obey the command, when the respectable and martial appearance of the corps is a satisfactory pledge that it will not dishonour the gift. My parent views with pleasure the ardour and emulation which inspire the citizen soldiers who compose this regiment, and feels the greatest confidence they will never forfeit that proud title by the violation of the laws of honour, of humanity, of their country, and their God. The elegant and valuable corps which is now united to this regiment, affords a lively satisfaction and well grounded hope, that the spirit, harmony, discipline, and love of order, by which it has hitherto distinquished itself, will still continue to assign it a high rank in the militia of this Commonwealth. The Mechanic Light Infantry may rest assured, that the alacrity, with which they have organized and equipped themselves, and the perseverance by which they have attained to the honourable state of proficiency which we now view, has not passed unnoticed by the commander of the regiment, nor by their fellow citizens in general. It is a maxim of our father Washington (heaven be praised that his memory, is still dear to us!) that to preserve peace, we must be prepared for war. Peace is our aim, and preparation is our security. This glorious anniversary can testify, that a nation of freemen, possessing the hearts, can never want the means, of defending their country. The American Eagle shall never wing his way to spoil the peace of other nations; but, hovering over our heads, he will animate us to victory, in defence of our wives, our children, and our firesides. Gentlemen of the Mechanic Light Infantry Company! I need not remind you of the protection which my sex, and tender years like mine, claim from the soldier. Accept this Standard, with our entire confidence in your worthyness, your patriotism, your valour and conduct; and in the name of Washington, and our common country, accept our warmest wishes for your happiness and glory.Salem Register, 9 July 1807, 3.

1839 The Cleveland Ohio Grays in the Public Square by Joseph Parker

1814 Francis Warren Fraser, of New York

In New York, to New York Independent Veteran Corps of Artillery, under command of Capt. Chapman. "At the quarters of their Captain,” Mrs. Fraser gave the following address:

Gentlemen, I congratulate you on the 38th Anniversary of American Independence—a blessing which cost you the privation, toils, and perils of a seven years arduous contest. With heartfelt pleasure do I view the warworn Veteran, claiming no exemption for age or infirmity, again draw his sword in his country’s cause. As a feeble testimony of my respect, permit me to present your honourable corps a Standard, consisting of Thirteen Stripes, the number of our Revolutionary States; Blue, predominating, is emblematic of the fidelity of our immortal Washington, and his brave comrades of the revolution; Red, indicative of that precious blood shed in obtaining our Independence; and White, studded with golden flowers, representing the blessing which accompany an honourable peace; the Pointed Cannon, in a field of white, surmounted with your appropriate motto (Pro Deo Et Patria) will forcibly remind you of the purposes and obligations of your association. Veterans! Accept this Standard! May you always display it in your country’s cause and furl it with honour!  National Advocate, 7 July 1814, 2.

1815 Mrs. Ingalls of Bridgton, Maine

In Bridgton, Maine, “a numerous and respectable collection of the Ladies of Bridgeton assembled and presented to the Bridgeton Light Infantry, a most elegant stand of new colors accompanied by the following address by Mrs. Ingalls, who was deputed by the Ladies for that purpose”

Sir--The Ladies of Bridgeton, have deputed me to present to you on their behalf these colors in t0oken of their high regard for the institutions of the militia in general, and for the Bridgeton Light Infantry, in particular. National liberty and independence are the design and end of the militia establishment of our highly favored republic. War is a casual duty, but should not be suffered to become a distinct profession in a free state. the protection of your wives, your children, your mothers and sisters, and the sacrifice of life in the defence of the rights & independence of your beloved country are duties (we doubt not) considered by the members of the Bridgeton Light Infantry company much too sacred to be intrusted to mercenary hands. Under these banners, the consecrated emblems of our national liberty and independence, we have the highest confidence that the Bridgton Light Infantry will ever in the hour of danger be found doing their duty. Permit me gr [sic], through you, to tender to each individual of your associates as well as yourself, the salutations of the high respect and consideration of the Ladies of Bridgeton.
“American Independence. Bridgeton Celebration,” Eastern Argus, 19 July 1815, 1.

1815 Nancy Prescott, of New Sharon, Maine

On Tuesday, 4th inst. the republicans of New Sharon and a large number from the neighboring towns, met to celebrate the anniversary of independence. About 70 ladies dressed in white uniform, presented a beautiful set of colors to the Light Infantry company commanded by Capt. Baker; the Company, ladies and a large assemblage of spectators forming a hollow square, the following address on presenting the colors was made by Miss Nancy Prescott.

"Accept, Sir, this Standard from the Ladies of New Sharon as an indication of their high respect for the New Sharon Light Infantry. Feeling at the same time the strongest assurance that this Emblem of National Honor will never be tarnished in the hands of Gentlemen who have shown such an uniform attachment to virtue and sound principles; and what is of equal consequence, to the constituted authorities of their country. I therefore congratulate you upon the peace you now possess; may you ever be mindful of the privileges you enjoy. Should an offensive war be waged against your peace and tranquility, and you called to render a more active service to your country, may the God of Israel direct you; may he lead you valiantly to the fight, illuminate your path, conduct you through all difficulties which may be found in your way, until you shall have fully and honorably redressed your country's wrongs.""Celebration at New Sharon," American Advocate and Kennebec Advertiser, 15 July 1815, 3.

James Goodwyn Clonney (American genre artist, 1812–1867) Militia Training 1841

1819 Jane Wade of Belleville, New Jersey

On July 5, 1819, a Fourth of July celebration in Belleville, New Jersey, citizens assembled in front of Capt. Ezekiel Wade's establishment. A group of young ladies were there dressed in white, to present a flag to Capt. Dow's Company of Belleville Washington Volunteers. Miss Jane Wade, escorted by two other ladies, unfurled the banner and presented it to Capt. Dow. Wade spoke on the occasion:

Sir--In behalf of the young ladies of Belleville, I have the honor to present to you for the use of your Company of Belleville Washington Volunteers, a Standard of Colours. These you will please to accept as an expression of their high satisfaction in noticing the expeditious manner in which this corps have been organized, and the martial appearance which they exhibit; and they cannot but indulge the hope that in the defence and support of this Standard, the Belleville Washington Volunteers will be influenced by the same spirit of magnanimity and heroism which so highly distinguished the illustrious Chief, whose name they have assumed.  "Anniversary Celebration," Centinel of Freedom,20 July 1819, 2.

1821 Jane E. Holmes of New York

An elegant Standard, painted by that celebrated artist, Childs, of New York, was, on 4th of July, presented by Miss Jane E. Holmes, to the Federalist Artillery Company of this city. The execution of the flag, was equal to the beauty and symmetry of the design; both contributing to display, in the most striking and forceable manner, the objects for which it was intended. Miss Holmes, on presenting the Standard, delivered a very tasteful and appropriate address to the company, which was responded to by Lieut. Foster Burnet, the officer who received the colours, in terms of feeling and patriotism, peculiarly adapted to the occasion. The following is the address and response:

Gentlemen of the Federalist artillery, I present you with this banner--I am sure it will never be disgraced in your hands. Should the fate of war wrest it from you, it will not be until your cannon will have ceased to roar, and your lifeless forms have slept on the bosom of your parent earth. The Star-Spangled Flag of America, has been the pillow in death, of Pike and Lawrence; but such untoward events of battle, will, I trust and hope, never be able to sever from your hands, the Standard which I have now the honor of presenting you.  City Gazette and Daily Advertiser [Charleston, SC], 6 July 1821, 2.

1821 Eletia Hubball of Alexandria, Virginia

On July 4, 1821, in Alexandria, Virginia, Eletia Hubball, "a young lady who had been elected by her associates to present the standard, made her appearance, accompanied by six of her female friends, and bearing the most beautiful flag we have seen for many days." The women presented the flag to the Company of Light Infantry, commanded by Capt. Nicholas Blasdell, at a "place appointed for the ceremony," probably near the market square. Miss Hubball "was received with 'presented arms,' and an enlivening air from the band." She then responded with the following:

Citizen Soldiers, You have associated in celebrating the birth day of your independence. In compliance with a request of my female associates, I am about to present you a standard in manifestation of our confidence, & as a tribute of respect to the company of Independent Volunteers. Though the order of society, our daily habits and physical powers, restrict us to less active duties and forbid us a participation in your social, and convivial pleasures, and manly exercises of the day; yet we feel with you a glow of satisfaction. To us as to you, it recalls to our mental view events which inspire us with veneration for the memories of our Fathers of the Revolution, & excite in us, a lively interest for the honor of our common country. May this day be ever dear to the descendants of free men: Our fathers dared to will to be free, and were free: may their sons ever will it. Our motives in addressing you on this occasion are not to excite in you a sense of noble daring, or a just appreciation of your rights as freemen. The songs of freemen want no incentives to action: Liberty and honor are inate principles, fostered by paternal care. They have nobly will'd and bravely dared. The historic page records the noble achievements, and gallant actions in their country's cause; on the ocean and on the land their prowess stands pre-eminent; the haughty foe has struck his proud flag to our brave and hardy tars, and bent his proud crest to the strong arm of your brothers in arms. From pole to pole, the goddess of liberty has proclaimed the merited applause of her sons.

The sons of freedom assuming the manly and dignified attitude of Citizen Soldiers, and emulating each other in the acquirements of military discipline, to enable them in the hour of danger to defend their country, maintain their liberty and protect us from licentious and daring invaders, must ever possess in our hearts an influence superior to the ordinary impressions created by social intercourse. Receive then your flag, and defend it worthy of yourselves and fathers, and we fervently trust that in your pursuit of discipline and military glory, it will never by tarnished with vice or immorality prove to the world that morality and virtue are the concomitants of the Citizen Soldier. Should the tocsin of war be again sounded, and our happy country be invaded by the enemies of liberty, while you bravely march to chide them for their presumption we will offer up to the god of battles our prayers for your protection, relying, that you will ever hold in dear remembrance, your motto, "Columbia, Fortitude and Freedom."  (Alexandria Gazette, 7 July 1821, 2)

Thompkins H Matteson (American painter, 1813-1884) Making Ammunition 1855

1821 Miss Sheppard of Baltimore, Maryland

The forty-fifth anniversary of our national jubilee was celebrated by this corps Fell's Point Columbian Blues of Baltimore, Maryland, in a manner peculiarly grateful and flattering to its members. Early in the morning, they were presented with an elegant standard by the elder daughers of Col. Thos. Sheppard, who "with great complaissance and at the sacrifice of much time had worked the flag--the embroidery displays a correctness of design, and neatness of execution, highly honorable to the ladies."  The volunteers having paraded at the quarters of the captain, were marched with an excellent band of music to the dwelling of Col. Sheppard, where were assembled Brig. Gen M'Donald, and his aids Messrs. Davis and Van Wyck, with several officers and soldiers of our revolutionary stuggle. Miss Sheppard in offering the flag, addressed Capt. Brays in nearly the following words:

Sir--We feel much pleasure in presenting this ensign to a corps so ancient and respectable as the Fell's Point Columbian Blues. In the discharge of this task, we will not betray a doubt of the patriotism and valour of the company under your command, by recommending the standard to their martial care. The volunteers of this land are the natural guardians of their natal soil. Standing armies are regarded with a jealous eye by the genius of our republic, and in their absence the country must rely for protection and support upon her free-born citizen soldiers. A well organized body of this description, honest in its views, undaunted in its conduct, and actuated by the sacred fire of liberty, will forever oppose an impregnable barrier to the invading foe.

Allow us to express a hope, that the God of Battles may protect you in the hour of danger; that the recollections of your wives and chldren may nerve your arms in the day of trail; and that returning with your laurels to the sympathies of home, you may evince to the world, that like Cincinnatus of old, or the departed Father of our American union, you can blend the intrepidity of heroes with the civic virtues of private men.  Baltimore Patriot,7 July 1821, 2.

1822 Sylvia Borden of Fall River Massachusetts

At Fall River, Mass. On July 4, 1822, Miss Sylvia Borden presented an “elegant standard” purchased by the “ladies of the village” to Ensign Thomas D. Chaloner, on behalf of the Fall River Light Infantry. The event took place on the grounds in front of Col. Durfee’s Hotel.

Gentlemen of the Fall River Infantry, On the day an altar was erected to liberty in this Western Hemisphere; and the blessings of Heaven hallowed the offering. May the same principles, which, in your fathers, produced our Independence, long exist in you, to defend it.” “Ensign Chaloner, The ladies of this village have the honor to present, through you, this Standard to the Fall-River Light Infantry. Accept it, sir, as a pledge of their esteem, both for your virtues and your valor—Happy, if they can furnish one motive to the brave, or contribute one ray to the glow of patriotic ardor which this day enkindles. Should our country again be invaded, and you called upon to unfurl this banner in defence of its liberties, we are confident you will preserve it untarnished and pure. You will yield to none but the hand of time, to whose alone, it can be gracefully surrendered. The temples of your God, the tombs of your fathers, and the firesides of your families, your virtues as citizens, and your courage as soldiers, will gallantly defend. But may the courage on which we so confidently rely, glow only in your bosoms—may the sound of war and the clash of arms never call it into action; and the peace and liberty of our country, like the smooth surface of the ocean, appear still more sublime, when we know her greatness in the tempest.  Rhode-Island Republican, 17 July 1822, 2.

1826 Mary Felt of New Ipswich, New Hampshire

At New Ipswich, New Hampshire, July 4, 1826, "a large and brilliant procession of ladies, who had procured a very superb standard" which was presented to the company of Grenadiers by Miss Mary Felt on the grounds of the meeting house, accompanied with the following address

In a world where it is our lot to be surrounded with dangers, and perpetually exposed to the rude attacks of the lawless and abandoned of our own species, to guard ourselves against the possible evils that may assail us, is the plain dictate of reason and prudence. To us, who are by nature weak and defenceless, belong not the daring spirit, the manly courage, and the heroic valor, to which we must be forever indebted, for the security of those inestimable rights and privileges, which, under a free government, we so abundantly enjoy. These distinguishing qualities are the peculiar attributes of those, to whom alone we can look for support and protection. But if we are dependent upon others for these invaluable blessings, we would not be unmindful of our own duty. Although, Sir, the labor, the difficulty and the danger devolve upon your sex; it is for us in the peaceful retirement of domestic life to practise those virtues and cherish those principles, which will dignify and adorn our own characters, and at the same time have a salutary and permanent influence upon the life and conduct of the guardians and protectors of our dearest rights. Desirous of offering a small tribute of gratitude, for the mentorious exertions you have made to prepare yourselves for the arduous duties of citizens and soldiers, the Ladies of New-Ipswich have procured this Standard, and in their behalf I would present it, earnestly requesting that you would accept it, with their warmest wishes for your success. Should it, in the happy times of peace, have a tendency to stimulat you to acquire a more correct and perfect discipline, and, in times of peril, should it animate you to more vigorous exertion in defence of your country, our highest anticipations will be realized. Should the gloomy shade of war, ever again in portentous darkness, hang over our peaceful horizon, may this Standard, on which are displayed the arms of our country, forever be an incentive to noble deeds and generous achievements.  "Fourth of July," Farmers' Cabinet, 22 July 1826, 3.

1827 Jane Hobbs of Pelham, New Hampshire

Jane Hobbs and a group of ladies presented a flag to the assembled Rifle Company of Pelham, New Hampshire, commanded by Capt. Enoch Marsh, on July 4, 1827. Miss Hobbs addressed the members of the Rifle Company:

Permit me, gentlemen officers of the Rifle company, in behalf of a number of respectable ladies of this place, to address you, and the brave soldiers under your command. More than half a century has passed away since this memorable fourth of July became an epoch in the history of these United States. Ill would it become me on any other occasion than the present, to call your attention by an allusion of mine, to the inestimable privileges we enjoy, which cost nothing less than the blood of the hero and the patriot. Our nation is the wonder and astonishment of the civilized world; it is the freest, the happiest and most prosperous nation under the sun; its civil and religious institutions are based on the broad principles of the rights of men. None is molested or made affraid [sic], but all may rest under his own vine; everything of a temporal nature is ours; even the tiger is led as it were to flowery bands by a child. This Canaan of happiness was won by our fathers. Yes, the patriotic and gallant sons of Columbia, led on by the beloved Washington, made the purchase, endured privations, hardships, toils and fatigues, unknown to us, and for little or no reward but the gratitude of a grateful country. Most of them have passed away as the current of time passes, and have mingled their dust with its kindred dust; and we indulge the fond hope that their immortal spirits have ascended on high and entered that kingdom where their peace and joy shall be lasting as an eternity. When our political fathers fearlessly sounded the trumpet of freedom, every patriotic heart thrilled with hope and fear. The day was momentous. The threatening vengance [sic] of a tyrannic foe, like some dark terriffic [sic] cloud obscured its bright effulgence which hope painted in vivid colours. The storm of war lowers--it passes away, the scene ended and we realize every thing anticipated. These United States are looked upon as a pattern of political consistency by the civilized world; nor is their philanthropy and patriotism less regarded, nor should it be, since their brave sons so courageously presented their breasts to the shafts of battle in defence of their rights; and sprinkled the alter of their independence with their blood. And since patriots and heroes bled for this rich inheritance of ours, hold it sacred and inviolate; and as a pledge you will do so, be pleased to receive this standard from this association of ladies in this town, impressed with a simile of the freedom of our country. Be assured that we entertan the high opinion of a true patriot and soldier, which they justly merit, and shall at all times cheerfully lend our aid in any thing that may add to their happiness, or mitigate their sorrows and toils. This standard, a symbol of our dear bought rights, suffer not to be dishonoured or invaded by any. Tarnish not the achieved glory of an American soldier. and we sincerely hope that the time will soon come when the standard of the cross will supersede a standard like this, and render it useless. When the habiliments of war and the instruments of death shall be no more used in this our fallen world. When our brothers shall learn war no more. When no more garments shall be rolled in blood. When the nations shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks, and nation shall not lift up sword against nation. This will be the happy case when all nations shall gather around the standard of the cross, and the gospel shall have its effect upon the hearts of men; for wars and fightings come from the depravity of man. Trust not in sword and spear, nor in a coat of mail, but in Him who holds the destinies of the nations in his hands, and then should the enemy come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against them.  "Communication. Fourth of July, at Pelham," Farmers' Cabinet, 21 July 1827, 2.

1830 Anstiss W. Bradford of New Boston, New Hampshire

A flag presentation at New Boston, New Hampshire, on July 4, 1830, included "about 90 young ladies under the direction of Pearly Dodge and Waterman Burr." At the town square, "a new and elegant Standard (a present from the ladies of New-Boston to the Company of Artillery)" was presented in a ceremony. Miss Anstiss W. Bradford "in behalf of the company of ladies made the following address

Sir,--While the sons of our great and happy Republic are reminded by the return of another, anniversary of her Independence, of the unequalled blessings which Divine Priovidence has bestowed on their country, her daughters are not insensible to those distinguished favors. Nor are they ignorant of the great importance of an intelligent, virtuous and patriotic Militia, as a mean of preserving the privileges instrumentally obtained by the wisdom of our progenitors in council, and their valor in the field of battle. Actuated by these sentiments, the Ladies in New-Boston, wish on this occasion, to give a substantial token of their attachment to the interests of their country. They have accordingly directed me to request you, Sir, as the representative of the Company of Matross, here assembled, to accept this Standard. Permit me to express their confident expectation, that should the threatened liberties of our Republic call you to their defence, you will promptly rally around this banner, and display that courage, magnanimity and perseverance that will do honor to your flag. (Farmers' Cabinet, 10 July 1830, 3; "American Independence," New Hampshire Patriot and State Gazette, 19 July 1830, 2.)

1832 Cecilia F. Poor of Methuen, Massachusetts

Another flag presentation occurred in Methuen, Massachusetts, on July 4, 1832, when a group of females presented a standard to the Methuen Light Infantry. Miss Cecilia F. Poor was chosen among the 65 women present to give the address to the soldiers assembled for the celebration:

Citizen soldiers: We are assembled together on this day to commemorate the birth of our national independence--a day of jubilee--to celebrate with joy the emanicipation of our country from the yoke of bondage and oppression. Dear to the recollection of every son and daughter of America, is that period when the master spirits of our revolution proclaimed to the nations of the earth, that we "were and of right ought to be free and independent.

We hail with pleasure the return of this our natal day sacred to the birth of American liberty; we raise our eyes to heaven with gratitude that we are this day permitted to enjoy the high privileges for which our fathers fought and bled. And it is to you, citizen soldiers, sons of sires so noble--that our hopes are now directed to protect those rights, and that liberty purchased at a price so dear.

Reposing implicit confidence in your patriotism and integrity, permit me in behalf of the ladies of Methuen to present to you this standard--may its folds never be unfurled but in the glorious cause of liberty and freedom. Should hostile foes invade our shores, should the clarion of war echo over these now peaceful hills, may the recollection of this event inspire your hearts with patriotism, and nerve your arm to protect your homes and your fire sides. Around this banner, should your country call you to the field, make you rally, and when once the glittering steel has left its scabbard, drawn in defence of trampled rights, let it never return again to rest till success shall crown your arms with victory and the olive branch of peace return again to our peaceful vallies.
Essex Gazette, 14 July 1832, 3.

1839 Mrs. Elijah Boyden of Marlborough, New Hampshire

The ladies of Marlborough having procured a military standard for the Marlborough Cadet Company, deemed the 4th instant [1839] an appropriate day for the presentment. For this purpose the company paraded on that day, under the command of Capt. N. Converse, and proceeded to the grounds of the house of Charles Holman, Jr., where the ladies were assembled. At 11 o'clock, A.M. the standard was presented to the company by Mrs. Elijah Boyden, with the following address:

Cadets,-- The ladies of Marlborough have procured this standard, which they have directed me to present to your company. One motive we have in making you a present of this military ensign, is to testify our respect for the company, and our approbation of the gentlemanly and soldierlike conduct of the members since its organization. But we are prompted to this act by another, a higher, and as we think, a nobler motive. As women, we appreciate the high privileges we enjoy in this happy, this blessed country. When we contrast our own condition with that of our sex in some other parts of the world at the present day; when we reflect that by the institutions and laws of this country, our rights and privileges are duly protected, and that woman rises to her proper elevation in society, --we cannot but feel gratitude to God, and the soldiers of freedom, for the high privileges conferred upon us. Upon you, Cadets, devolves the duty, in part, of defending the country from foreign aggession, and its institutions and laws from the perils of domestic insurrection. Accept this standard, and let it at all times incite you to the conduct of good citizens and good soldiers.  "Proceedings at Marlborough on the Fourth," New Hampshire Sentinel, 17 July 1839, 1.

1853 Catharine Sinclair of California

Another flag presentation by a woman occurred in California on July 4, 1853, when Mrs. Catharine Sinclair presented a banner, accompanied by a speech, to the First California Battalion. Mrs. Sinclair said to the militia assembled in the outdoor heat:

I tender you this flag. It tolls of the energy and sublime courage of the men who established your independence. . . .Take it from the hands of a woman. Be true to it and to the principles it represents, and all women will bless you. Take it, not only of the flag of California, but as the flag of the Union --as the flag of Mankind!Daily Alta California, 6 July 1853, 2.

For much, much more on July 4th celebrations, see

The Fourth of July Encyclopedia by James R. Heintze (2007)
Music of the Fourth of July: A Year-by-year Chronicle of Performances and Works Composed for the Occasion, by James R. Heintze (2009)

Fanny Palmer (American artist, 1812-1876) Published by N Currier Life in the Country Morning 1862

The First Fourth of July Celebration at the President’s House

Thomas Jefferson by Charles Peale Polk

Although John Adams was the first president to occupy the executive mansion, it was Thomas Jefferson who established the traditions of a July 4th celebration at the White House or President’s House as it was called in his time. Jefferson opened the house and greeted the people along with diplomats, civil and military officers, and Cherokee chiefs in the center of the oval saloon under Gilbert Stuart’s famous portrait of George Washington. Jefferson also added music to the celebration. The Marine Band, already "The President’s Own," played in the Entrance Hall performing "The President’s March" and other "patriotic airs."

The north grounds of the President’s Park—the "common"—came alive at daybreak with the raising of tents and booths, soon followed by crowds of people. A festival took place just for the day. Food and drink and cottage goods of all types were sold. There were horse races and cockfights and parades of the Washington Militia and other military companies. A bare headed Jefferson with his "grey locks waving in the air" watched from the steps of the White House. Then he invited everyone in to partake of his hospitality and his thanksgiving for the preservation of independence.

An Account of July Fourth at the President’s House, 1801, from a letter from Mrs. Smith to her sister Mary Ann Smith:

"About 12 o'clock yesterday, the citizens of Washington and Geo. Town waited upon the President to make their devoirs. I accompanied Mr. Sumpter (?). We found about 20 persons present in a room where sat Mr. J. surrounded by the five Cherokee chiefs. After a conversation of a few minutes, he invited his company into the usual dining room, whose four large sideboards were covered with refreshments, such as cakes of various kinds, wine, punch, &c. Every citizen was invited to partake, as his taste dictated, of them, and the invitation was most cheerfully accepted, and the consequent duties discharged with alacrity. The company soon increased to near a hundred, including all the public officers and most of the respectable citizens, and strangers of distinction. Martial music soon announced the approach of the marine corps of Capt. Burrows, who in due military form saluted the President, accompanied by the President's March played by an excellent hand attached to the corps. After undergoing various military evolutions, the company returned to the dining room, and the hand from an adjacent room played a succession of fine patriotic airs. All appeared to be cheerful, all happy. Mr. Jefferson mingled promiscuously with the citizens."

Source: Margaret Bayard Smith, The First Forty Years of Washington Society, ed. Galliard Hunt (New York: Scribner’s, 1906), 30.

 Alexander Jackson Davis (American architect, 1803-1892),  Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 1850

Americans in the 18th & 19th centuries invented or adopted emblems (images accompanied by a motto either understood or written) and personifications (usually historical allegorical figures) to express their political needs & beliefs.

These symbols were propaganda tools to draw together the country's diverse peoples, who spoke many languages, in order to promote national political union & purpose. Lady Liberty evolved throughout the decades of the early republic to meet the propaganda needs of the current situation.


 
This 18th century Lady Liberty freeing a bird from its cage, giving political liberty to the United States from Britain, while holding a liberty cap hung on a pole. Lady Liberty was almost always depicted in a classical costume. Before the Roman Empire, similar felt caps were worn by liberated slaves from Troy & Asia Minor to cover their previously shorn heads, until their hair grew back. Here the cap symbolized a more intimate emancipation from personal servitude as a subject of the British Empire rather than united, national liberty. The caps were sometimes referred in Latin as pilleus liberatis. In classical literature, the cap atop a pole was a symbol of freedom evolving from the period when Salturnius conquered Rome in 263 BC; and he raised the cap on a pikestaff to show that he would free the slaves who fought with him. The cap was such a popular symbol that it was also depicted on some early US coins.


Lady Liberty is holding a musket & powder horn, ready to fight for freedom. 1779 Broadside. New York Historical Society. SY1779 No. 2.


Venerate the Plough, 1786, etching Columbian Magazine


1790 Design on an American Coverlet Winterthur Museum


1792 Genius of Lady's Magazine kneels before Columbia (Lady Liberty) with a petition for the rights of women. Lady's Magazine. Library Company of Philadelphia


Edward Savage Liberty in the Form of the Goddess of Youth Giving Support to the Bald Eagle, 1796


Liberty in the Form of the Goddess inspired by Edward Savage's print in Embroidery by a young woman.


Abijah Canfield Liberty in the Form of the Goddess of Youth Giving Support to the Bald Eagle, a painting after Edward Savage. 1800


Enoch Gridley Pater Patriae Memorial for George Washington with Lady Liberty at the base holding a spear and a sword as she weeps. 1800


Lady Liberty 1800 Brown University
.

This chronolgy offers a glimpse at how the 4th of July was celebrated in good times and bad in 19th-century America.




1800- In New York, the first local advertisements for fireworks appear and at the Mount Vernon Garden there a display of "a model of Mount Vernon, 20 feet long by 24 feet high, illuminated by several hundred lamps" is presented; in Philadelphia, the U.S. Marine Band, directed by Col. William Ward Burrows, provides music for the Society of the Cincinnati celebration held at the City Tavern; in Hanover, N.H., Dartmouth College student Daniel Webster gives his first Fourth of July oration in the town's meeting house; Henry Clay gives an oration at the Lexington, Kentucky, Court House

1801- The first public Fourth of July reception at the White House occurs; in Marblehead, Mass., an oration is given by Joseph Story at the New Meeting House; in Boston, the frigates U.S.S. Constitution and U.S.S. Boston and the French corvette Berceau fire artillery salutes

1802- The U.S. Military Academy at West Point is formally opened

1803- An Italian band of musicians perform for President Jefferson at the Executive Mansion

1804- The first Fourth of July celebration west of the Mississippi occurs at Independence Creek and is celebrated by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark

1805- In Charleston, S.C., the American Revolution Society and the Society of the Cincinnati meet at St. Philips Church

1806- Two Revolutionary officers march in a parade in Bennington, Vt.

1807- In Richmond, Skelton Jones delivers a funeral oration over the men of the U.S. Chesapeake who lost their lives due to an attack by the British warship Leopard, two weeks earlier; in Petersburg, Va., people march through the streets with an "effigy of George III on a pole" and later burn the effigy on Centre Hill; the eagle which crowns the gate of the Navy Yard in Washington City is unveiled to the sound of a federal salute and music.

1808- Citizens of Richmond, Va., resolve that only liquor produced in this country will be drunk on the Fourth of July

1810- An entertainment, "Columbia's Independence," is presented at the Washington Theatre in Washington City; in New Haven, Conn., the citizens there have a "plowing match"

1814- The Fourth is celebrated in Honolulu, Hawaii, with a dinner, and artillery salutes are fired from ships in the harbor there; Uri K. Hill sings an "Ode" written especially for the occasion in New York while Commodore Stephen Decatur, an honorary member of the State Society of the Cincinnati, dines with that association in Tontine Coffee House there; the Declaration of Independence is printed in the 4 July edition of the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser; in Ashburton, England, American prisoners there celebrate the Fourth of July and drink 18 toasts

1815- The cornerstone for Baltimore's Washington Monument is set; Richard Bland Lee reads the Declaration of Independence in the Hall of the House of Representatives at the Capitol; in New York, officers from the French frigate Hermione sit on reviewing stands in front of City Hall in order to review parading troops while a group of "patriotic tars" tries to "haul down the British colors" but they are dispersed by the police; in New York harbor, a "steam vessel of war" complete with cannons is tested successfully

1816- The Declaration of Independence is read by W.S. Radcliff in the Hall of the House of Representatives at the Capitol; John Binns of Philadelphia proposes publishing a separate edition of the Declaration of Independence at $13 a copy

1817- Near Rome, New York, a ground breaking ceremony occurs for the construction of the Erie Canal; only four original signers of the Declaration of Independence are alive on this anniversary: Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia; John Adams, of Massachusetts; Charles Carroll, of Maryland; William Ellery, of Rhode Island

1818- A banquet celebration takes place in Paris at the Restaurant Banclin with guests former Senator James Brown of Louisiana, the American Minister to Paris, and Gen. Lafayette in attendance; a separately published facsimile edition (price $5) of the Declaration of Independence, issued by printer Benjamin O. Tyler, occurs in Washington City immediately prior to the Fourth for use on that holiday; at Fell's Point in Baltimore, the steamboat United States is launched from the shipyard of Flannigan and Beachem

1819- An early and rare example of an Independence Day oration presented (to a group of women) by a woman ("Mrs. Mead") occurs on July 3 at Mossy Spring in Kentucky; The first Fourth of July celebration in Medina, Ohio, takes place.

1820- Vice President Daniel D. Tompkins attends ceremonies in New York and the Constellation is decorated with numerous national and foreign flags in New York harbor; Charles Carroll attends the celebration at Howard's Park in Baltimore with his copy of the Declaration of Independence in hand; the Georgetown Metropolitan issues an editorial criticizing President Monroe for closing the Executive Mansion on Independence Day

1821- President Monroe is ill and the Executive Mansion is closed to the public; John Quincy Adams reads an original copy of the Declaration of Independence at a ceremony held at the Capitol; in Philadelphia, 90-year-old Timothy Matlack, who "wrote the first commission" for General George Washington, reads the Declaration of Independence

1822- At Mount Vernon, Judge Bushrod Washington announces that he will no longer allow "Steam-boat parties" and "eating, drinking, and dancing parties" on the grounds there; in Saratoga County, New York, 5000 citizens and 52 soldiers of the Revolution assemble there to celebrate the Fourth on the field where Gen. Burgoyne surrendered (October 17, 1777); in Nashville, Tennessee, the state's governor, William Carroll, presents a sword to General Andrew Jackson and both give speeches

1823- An elaborate ceremony takes place at Mount Vernon with Vice President Daniel D. Tompkins in attendance;  First July Fourth celebration in Pike County, Illinois is held in Atlas, and included an oration and reading of the Declaration of Independence.

1824- A ballet performance titled the "Patriotic Volunteer" is performed at the new theater at Chatham Garden, in New York; in Poultney, Vermont, 200 men celebrate the day by repairing a road, after which the "ladies of the neighborhood" serve them a "plenteons repast"; Fort Atkinson (Nebraska) celebrates the Fourth of July with artillery salutes, a military parade, and a dinner replete with toasts and music.

1825- President John Q. Adams marches to the Capitol from the White House in a parade that includes a stage mounted on wheels, representing 24 states; in Boston, members of the military share breakfast at the Exchange Coffee House; in Brooklyn, New York, the cornerstone for the Apprentices' Library is laid and Lafayette is in attendance

1826- 50th anniversary ( referred to as the "Jubilee of Freedom" event) of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and two signers of the document, Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, die; in Providence, R.I., four men who participated in the capture of the British armed schooner Gaspeduring the Revolutionary War ride in a parade; in New York, 4 gold medals are struck by the Common Council: 3 are sent to the surviving signers of the Declaration, and the 4th is given to the son of Robert Fulton, in honor of the "genius in the application of steam"; in Lynchburg, Va., among the "aged patriots of '76" at the celebration there are General John Smith and Captain George Blakenmore; in Newport, R.I., Major John Handy reads the Declaration of Independence, "on the identical spot which he did 50 years ago," and was accompanied by Isaac Barker of Middletown, "who was at his side in the same place fifty years before."; in Worcester, Mass., at the South Meeting House, Isaiah Thomas stands on the spot where he originally read the Declaration of Independence in 1776; the Frederick-Town Herald of Frederick, Md., decides to no longer publish dinner toasts which they believe are "generally dull, insipid affairs, about which few feel any interest"; in Salem, N.C., the Moravian Male Academy is dedicated; in Quincy, Mass., Miss Caroline Whitney gives an address on the occasion of the presentation of a flag to the Quincy Light Infantry; in Arlington, Va., Washington's tent, the same which the General used at the heights of Dorchester in 1775, is erected near the banks of the Potomac and is used for a celebration

1827- The State of New York emancipates its slaves; the play "The Indian Prophecy: A National Drama in Two Acts," by George Washington Parke Custis, has its Philadelphia premiere at the Chestnut Street Theater; the Ohio Canal opens in Cleveland with Governor Allen Trimble arriving there on the first boat, State of Ohio

1828- Charles Carroll, last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, participates in a Baltimore celebration and assists in the laying of the "first stone" of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; the frigate Constitution arrives at Boston returning from a cruise and fires "a salute in honor of the day"; the ground-breaking ceremony of the C & O Canal, north of Georgetown, takes place with President John Quincy Adams officiating

1829- In Augusta, Maine, the corner stone of the "New State House" is laid; the cornerstone of one of the Eastern locks of the C & O Canal (near Georgetown) scheduled to take place is cancelled due to rain; the embankments at the summit of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal are opened and water fills the canal, with large crowds and the Mayor of Philadelphia Benjamin W. Richards in attendance; in Cincinnati, an illuminated balloon, 15 feet in diameter, is sent aloft; in Washington, D.C., General Van Ness, on behalf of the Board of Aldermen and Common Council there, presents a written statement of confidence to President Andrew Jackson, who is experiencing some unpopularity in the city

1830- Columbia, S.C. celebrates the Fourth (occuring on the sabbath) on 3 July; Vice President John C. Calhoun is in Pendleton, S.C., at the Anniversary celebration there and proposes a toast ("consolidation and disunion" are "two extremes of our system") that stirs controversy

1831- Former President James Monroe dies on 4 July: "It is stated that when the noise of firing began at midnight, he opened his eyes inquiringly; and when the cause was communicated to him, a look of intelligence indicated that he understood what the occasion was," and President Jackson directs that at all military posts, "officers wear crape on their left arm for six months"; in Washington, two separate politically partisan ceremonies are held: the "National Republican Celebration," for the friends of Henry Clay, and "The Administration Celebration," for the friends for the re-election of President Jackson; in Washington, Francis Scott Key gives an oration in the Rotunda of the Capitol; in Washington, Jacob Gideon, Sr., "who had officiated during the Revolutionary War as trumpeter to the commander-in-chief, and had acted in that capacity at the surrender at York Town" sounds "a revolutionary blast" at a dinner of the Association of Mechanics and other Working Men; in Alexandria, Va., a ground breaking ceremony for the Alexandria branch of the C&O Canal occurs, with G.W.P. Custis and town mayor John Roberts providing the speeches; in Georgetown, a " beautiful new packet boat, called the George Washington," commences her first run on the C&O Canal; in Charleston, S.C., citizens march in a parade carrying banners "on which were inscribed the names of battles fought in the Revolution, and in the late War"; John Quincy Adams delivers a Fourth of July oration at Quincy, Mass.; the tribe of Pequoad indians celebrate the Fourth of July with a wardance at their wigwam, south of Alexandria, Va.

1832- New York has a subdued Fourth of July celebration due to a cholera epidemic occurring there; in Washington, Henry Clay attends the National Republican Celebration that's held on the bank of the Potomac River

1833- In Philadelphia, the cornerstone of the Girard College for Orphans is laid; the National Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.) publishes the text of the Constitution; First celebration in Grand Rapids, Michigan--a casual affair with the ladies enjoying tea.

1834- A man who was at Lexington and Bunker Hill attends ceremonies in New Haven, Conn., wearing the original coat he had worn then; in New York, an "Anti-Slavery Society" meeting is held at the "Chatham street Chapel," and is attended by both blacks and whites; at the Hermitage Inn in Philadelphia, David Crockett gives a traditional Fourth of July address; in Washington, D.C., the first Trades Union celebration occurs

1835- In Boston, George Robert Twelves Hewes, shoemaker, is honored at a celebration as the last survivor of the Boston Tea Party; the National Intelligencer prints the text of "Washington's Farewell Address."

1837- Oberlin College students celebrate by holding anti-slavery meetings

1837 Cartoon of a 4th of July celebration


1838- In Providence, Rhode Island, 29 veterans of the revolution take part in the procession there; the White House is closed to the public, "the President has lately lost, by death, a near relative"; in Charlottesville, Va., the Declaration of Independence is read from an "original draft, in the handwriting of Mr. Jefferson"; at Fort Madison, Iowa, the well-known Native American Black Hawk gives a Fourth of July speech

1839- In Hagerstown, Md., the only 2 surviving soldiers of the Revolutionary War there ride in a carriage pulled by white horses; on Stanten Island in New York, between 20,000-30,000 children gather to celebrate the Sunday School Scholars National Jubilee there, while in the New York harbor, 1000 ships converge, "all gaily dressed in honor of the day"; in Boston, 1500 men gather at Faneuil Hall in support of a Temperance Reformation; in Norwich, Connecticut, at a sabbath school celebration there, one of the students reads excerpts from the Declaration of Independence wearing "the identical cap" worn by William Williams (of that state) at the time the latter signed the Declaration; the McMinnville Gazette (Tenn.) publishes a Declaration of Independence for an "Independant Treasury" and the text is reprinted in the D.C. Globe; at Norfolk, an elephant "attached to the menagerie" there swims across the harbor from Town Point to the Portsmouth side and back

1840- At Cherry Valley, N.Y., William H. Seward delivers a centennial anniversary oration on the anniversary of that town's settlement; in Congress, in the House of Representatives, Congressman Levi Lincoln of Massachusetts presents a proposal that the House decides on claims by Revolutionary soldiers for their relief; in Portsmouth, N.H., a large pavilion erected in the form of an amphitheatre collapses throwing nearly a thousand people to the ground, but no one is killed; in Providence, R.I., a "Clam Bake" is held and 220 bushes of clams are eaten; Oshkosh, Wisconsin, celebrates its first Fourth of July

1841- In New York, the steamship Fulton is anchored off the Battery and displays fireworks and "glittering lamps" in honor of the day; Charles Wilkes, U.S. naval officer and explorer, gives the first Fourth of July celebration west of the Missouri River in 1841 at a site near Sequalitchew Lake (now Pierce County), Washington

1842- In New York harbor, the U.S. North Carolina, the frigate Columbia, and the English frigate Warspite exchange artillery salutes, and in the harbor as well, Sam Colt's "sub-marine experiment" for blowing up enemy ships is tested successfully; in Washington, D.C., the "History of the Declaration of Independence," by William Bacon Stevens is published in the National Intelligencer, (4 July 1842, 1-4) and the "Grand Total Abstinence Celebration," made up of several temperance societies, takes place there; at Parrott's Woods, near Georgetown (D.C.), the speaker's platform collapses, throwing D.C. Mayor William W. Seaton, G.W.P. Custis, and others to the ground, but no one is injured

1843- The beginning of the annual tradition of lighting the Spring Park with candles in the Moravian community of Lititz, Pa., begins; in Boston, Charles Francis Adams, son of President John Quincy Adams, gives an oration in Faneuil Hall, and is the first celebration in this building; in Washington, D.C., the laying of the cornerstone of the Temperance Hall takes place; in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., a church burns to the ground as a result of a firecracker "carelessly thrown by a boy"

1844- In Charleston, S.C., the faculty and trustees of Charleston College march in a city-wide "Festival of the Teachers and Scholars" parade; "Liberty Pole Raisings" and flag raisings in support of the Whigs political party take place in Louisville, Ky., Wheeling and Harper's Ferry, W.V., and Montrose, Pa.

1845- In Washington, D.C., the cornerstone of Jackson Hall is laid, and on the grounds south of the Executive Mansion, twelve rockets are accidentally fired into the crowd, killing James Knowles and Georgiana Ferguson and injuring several others; in Ithaca, N.Y., three persons are killed by an exploding cannon; ex-president John Tyler gives a speech at William and Mary College; in Nashville, Tennessee, the corner-stone of the State House is laid

1846- The earliest recorded Fourth of July in San Antonio, Texas, takes place; La Crosse, Wisconsin, celebrates the Fourth of July for the first time

1847- The first celebration of the Fourth in California takes place at Fort Hill, near Los Angeles

1848- In Washington, the laying of the cornerstone of the Washington Monument takes place with the President of the United States, Dolley Madison, and other persons of distinction in attendance; Hon. Josiah Quincy presents a speech in Boston (he was the orator of the day there 50 years before on 4 July 1798)

1849- The first Fourth of July celebration ever in Sacramento, California, takes place

1850- The laying of a block of marble by the "Corporation" in the Washington Monument in the District of Columbia takes place; Newburgh, N.Y., dedicates "Old Hasbrouck House," where George Washington had his Revolutionary War headquarters, as a national monument; San Jose & Shasta, California, celebrate the Fourth of July

1851- In Washington, President Fillmore assists in the laying of the "cornerstone of the new Capitol edifice" while Daniel Webster gives his last Fourth of July oration there; in Trappe, Pa., a monument to the memory of Francis R. Shunk, late Governor of Pennsylvania, is unveiled and George W. Woodward presents an address there; Greenville, S.C., holds an anti- secession celebration with 4,000 persons in attendance

1852- In Rochester, N.Y., on 5 July, Frederick Douglass presents his famous speech, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"; Marblehead, Mass., celebrates the Fourth on July 3

1853- At a celebration dinner at Washington Hall in Springfield, Mass., Rev. Jonathan Smith, a chaplain in the Revolutionary Army, is cheered; in Abbington, Mass., a "Know Nothing Anti-Slavery celebration" takes place; in Norwalk, Conn., showman P.T. Barnum opens the ceremony there with an address before a crowd of 10,000; in Philadelphia, at the Chestnut Street Theatre, the comedietta, "My Uncle Sam," is performed, and the cornerstone of the West Philadelphia Institute is laid, while some 10,000 persons visit Independence Hall, especially opened to the public on this occasion, and each person attempts to sit in the chair of John Hancock; in New York, 95-year-old Daniel Spencer, "an old patriot of the Revolution, hailing from Canajoharie, N.Y.," participates in the celebration; Williamsburg, Va., fires off a national salute of 32 guns by Captain Taft's Company of Light Artillery; 500 residents of Baltimore go on an excursion to Annapolis, Md., and while there, some of them fight with a group of Annapolitans resulting in 2 persons killed, and several injured; in Providence, R.I., the original carriage used by George Washington when he was in Providence is used in a parade there; The first Fourth of July celebration in Hartford, Wisconsin takes place. Those assembled sang the "Star Spangled Banner, and "My Country 'tis of Thee"; In Cowlitz, Washington, a liberty pole is raised and the crowd there is addressed in French by "Dr. Pasquirer" who reminds them to thank "Lafayette for aid in our struggle for independence."

1854- Henry David Thoreau gives a "Slavery in Massachusetts" oration at Framingham Grove, near Boston; in Farmingham, Mass., 600 abolitionists meet and watch William Lloyd Garrison burn printings of the Constitution of the U.S. and Fugitive Slave Law, "amid applause and cries of shame"; the mayor of Wilmington, Delaware, is mobbed by a group of citizens after putting City Council member Joshua S. Valentine in jail for setting off firecrackers

1855- In Worcester, Mass., citizens demonstrate against the city officials there who refuse to fund the town's Fourth of July celebration; in Columbus, Ohio, a parade of firemen, Turners and other societies, turns into a riot, resulting in one dead and several injured; Lawrence, Kansas, holds one of the largest celebrations in that part of the country, with a crowd of over 1,500 persons

1856- The "inauguration" of an equestrian statue (29 feet high) made by Henry K. Brown of George Washington is dedicated in New York; The first Fourth of July celebration "west of the Big Woods" in Minnesota occurred and consisted of a bear hunt by several hunters.

1857- In Milwaukee, the Declaration of Independence is read publicly in German by Edward Saloman; in Boston at the Navy Yard, the frigate Vermont is set on fire when "a wad" from an artillery salute "was blown on board of the hull"; near Lexington, Kentucky, a corner stone of a national monument to the memory of Henry Clay is laid

1858- Illinois Central Railroad workers attempt to launch a "monster balloon" called the "Spirit of '76" in Chicago; in Brooklyn, N.Y., the corner-stone of the Armory is laid; Oliver Wendell Holmes gives a speech in Boston; at Niagara Falls, N.Y., at the celebration of the opening of the hydraulic canal, the dam gives way, but no one is injured; Jefferson Davis gives a 4th of July speech on board a steamer bound from Baltimore to Boston and declares "this great country will continue united"

1859- In Grahamville, S.C., Robert Barnwell Rhett gives a speech proposing the creation of a Southern nation; in Washington, a convicted murderer publicly reads the Declaration of Independence at the prison there; Denver celebrates its First Fourth of July at a grove near the mouth of Cherry Creek. Dr. Fox readthe Declaration of Independence, Jas. R. Shaffer delivered the orations, and music was provided by the Council Bluffs Band.


Alfred Cornelius Howland (American painter, 1838-1909) Fourth of July Parade

1860- The Alexandria Gazette publishes a chronology of that Virginia town's notable 4th of July events from 1800-1860; in Jamestown, N.Y., the Museum Society, made up of children between the ages of ten and fifteen, take charge of the celebration there, because most of the adults are not in town, but in Randolph, N.Y., celebrating

1861- President Lincoln sends an address to both houses of Congress regarding the suspension of Federal government functions by secessionists in the South; Galusha A. Grow is the only Speaker of the House of Representatives ever to be elected and take office on the 4th of July; an artillery salute of 15 guns is fired at Camp Jackson near Pigs Point, Va., in honor of the Southern States that have declared and are declaring their independence; in Baltimore, the citizens there present a "splendid silk national flag, regimental size," to the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment; in Washington, D.C., 29 New York regiments are reviewed by the President at the White House; Gov. John A. Andrew of Massachusetts celebrates the 4th with the 1st Massachusetts Regiment at Camp Banks near Georgetown, D.C.

1862- A pyrotechnic depiction of the battle between the Monitor and Merrimac takes place in New York

1863- In Concord, N.H., former president Franklin Pierce addresses 25,000 persons at the "Democratic Mass Meeting" held there; in Buffalo, N.Y., 17 veterans of the War of 1812 march in a parade there; at Annapolis, a "flag of truce" boat filled with Secessionist women from Philadelphia and elsewhere leaves on July 3rd and travels south; in Gettysburg, Pa., as the Rebel troops are making their escape from the great battle just fought there, someone throws firecrackers among their ambulances carrying the wounded and causes a stampede of the horses and panic among the troops; in Columbus, Ohio, Randal and Aston's store has 8,500 American flags to sell for the holiday; in Newport, Rhode Island, the Fourth of July celebration is repeated on Tuesday, July 7, due to the news regarding the Union victory at Vicksburg; Gov. Zebulon B. Vance of North Carolina gives a speech in Granville county, urging "the people to continue their assistance in prosecuting the war until the independence of the Confederate States was established"

1864- Gov. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee addresses the citizens of Nashville; in Washington, D.C., Secretary William Seward, riding in a carriage, narrowly avoids serious injury when a rocket, set off by a young boy, strikes him above his eye

1865- One of the first "Freedmen" celebrations occurs, in Raleigh, N.C.; Lincoln's "Emanicipation Proclamation" is publicly read in Warren, Ohio, and Belpassi, Oregon; the National Monument Association lays the cornerstone of the Soldier's Monument in Gettysburg; in Boston, a statue of Horace Mann is "inaugurated"; the Huntsville Advocate (Alabama) prints news about celebrations in Gettysburg and New York; the celebration by the Colored People's Educational Monument Association in memory of Abraham Lincoln occurs in Washington, D.C. and is the first national celebration by African-Americans in the U.S.; in Albany, N.Y., 100 "tattered" Civil War battle flags are presented to the state and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant is in attendance; in Savannah, Ga., Governor James Johnson addresses the citizens there telling them that slavery is dead and that they should renew their allegiance to the Government; at Saratoga Springs, N.Y., J.C. Hamilton, son of Alexander Hamilton, reads the Emancipation Proclamation; Union General William Tecumseh Sherman participates in a 4th of July civic celebration in Louisville, Ky., and witnesses a balloon ascension there; in Hopewell, New Jersey, a monument to the memory of John Hart, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, is dedicated and New Jersey Governor Joel Parker delivers an oration; Helena, Montana celebrates its first Fourth of July, at Owyece Park, with an oration by George M. Pinney.

1866- General George G. Meade watches 10,000 war veterans parade in Philadelphia; General William T. Sherman gives an address in Salem, Ill.; the Nashville Banner, in an editorial, urges its citizens not to celebrate the Fourth; one of the worst fires ever to occur on Independence Day takes place in Portland, Maine, the blame placed on an errant firecracker


Uncle Sam

1867- The cornerstone of the new Tammany Hall is laid in New York while the cornerstone for a monument to George Washington is laid at Washington's Rock, N.J.; the "Emanicipation Proclamation" is read in Portland, Maine; the Illinois State Association celebrates on the grounds of the Civil War battle field at Bull Run in Virginia; in Washington, two members of the House of Representatives are arrested for violating a city ordinance prohibiting the setting off of firecrackers in the public streets; Friends of Universal Suffrage meet in South Salem, Mass., and Susan B. Anthony reads the Declaration of the Mothers of 1848; a freight train carrying a "large quantity of fireworks" on route to a celebration in Springfield, Mass. derails near Charleston and the train is completely wrecked

1868- President Andrew Johnson issues his Third Amnesty Proclamation in Washington, D.C. directed to those who participated in the Civil War; the Declaration of Independence is read in both English and Spanish at a public celebration in Santa Fe, New Mexico; in Richmond, some black "societies" parade, "but there is no public celebration by the whites"; in Groton, Mass., the Lawrence Academy, is destroyed by fire due to a firecracker "thrown on the piazza by a boy"; in Buffalo, St. John's Episcopal Church burns to the ground due to a rocket that exploded in its spire

1869- A monument dedicated to George Washington is unveiled in Philadelphia; in New York, 350 Cuban "patriot" residents parade "to evoke sympathy for the Cuban revolutionary cause" and the Army of the Potomac Society meets to establish itself as a permanent organization; blacks celebrate the Fourth on July 3rd in Columbia, S.C.; the Declaration of Independence is read in English and German at a public celebration at Diamond Square in Pittsburgh

1870- President Ulysses S. Grant participates in Fourth of July opening exercises in Woodstock, Conn.; in Newark, N.J., 13 young ladies dressed to represent the 13 original states, proceed in a carriage; in Marysville, Pa., at a picnic held by black military companies, a riot ensues with several persons shot

1871- The New Saenger Hall is dedicated in Toledo, Ohio; in Vienna, American Minister Hon. John Jay gives a Fourth dinner hosting the ambassadors of the Vienna Court; the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence on the grounds of Mount Vernon takes place, the reader is John Carroll Brent, a member of D.C.'s Oldest Inhabitants Association; at Framingham Grove, Mass., the Massachusetts Woman's Suffrage Association holds a mass meeting and activist Lucy Stone and others give speeches there

1872- A monument representing an infantry soldier of the Civil War is unveiled in White Plains, N.Y.; Richmond, Va., publicly celebrates the Fourth, the first time in 12 years; Ella Wheeler (Wilcox), a poet, is presented a badge of the Army of Tennessee Society at its meeting in Madison, Wisconsin; in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Vice President Schuyler Colfax gives an oration

1873- In Philadelphia, the transfer of Fairmount Park for use by the Centennial Commission in preparation for the International Exhibition and Centennial Celebration in 1876 takes place; in Salt Lake City, Utah, Mme. Anna Bishop Troupe performs in the Tabernacle before a crowd of 6,000, including Brigham Young and "U.S. officials"; in Buffalo, N.Y., a "large delegation" of native Americans and Canadians attend a ceremony there; Mark Twain gives a Fourth of July address in London


Fourth of July celebration, Snohomish, Washington, c 1874

1874- In Saybrook, Conn., the Thomas C. Acton Library is dedicated; the New York Times publishes an editorial acknowledging the increased interest in the South for celebrating the Fourth and encourages Southern towns to do just that; in Lancaster, Pa., the Soldiers and Sailors Monument at Penn Square is dedicated; Modesto, California, holds its first Fourth of July celebration and music was provided by the Modesto Brass Band

1875- In Augusta, Georgia, the white military celebrates the Fourth, the first time in that town since the Civil War; several blacks and possibly one white are killed when a fray erupts at a Fourth of July celebration held at the Court House in Vicksburg, Miss.; on the Centennial Grounds in Philadelphia, the Order of B'nai B'rith hold "exercises" incident to the breaking of the ground for their proposed statue to religious liberty; at Atoka, "Indian Territory," a celebration of the Fourth by Native Americans takes place with 3,000 persons participating; Homer, Louisiana, celebrates the holiday on Saturday, July 3


1 Grand Army of the Republic in Parade

1876- Centennial celebrations (many are three-day celebrations, 3-5 July) occur throughout the United States and abroad; in Philadelphia at Fairmount Park, two separate celebrations include the German societies unveiling a statue of Baron Alexander von Humboldt and the dedication, including an address provided by John Lee Carroll, Governor of Maryland, of the Catholic Temperance Fountain; also in Philadelphia, Bayard Taylor's "National Ode, July 4, 1876," is read at Independence Square while Susan B. Anthony and others belonging to the National Woman's Suffrage Association present and read their Declaration of Rights for Women at the Centennial Celebration; in Philadelphia as well, General Sherman reviews the troops as they parade; in Washington, D.C., at the First Congregational Church, the poem "Centennial Bells," by Bayard Taylor is read by the poet; the long-standing tradition of Navy vessels participating in July 4th celebrations in Bristol, R.I., begins with the presence there of the U.S. sloop Juniata; in Washington, 11 couples celebrate the Fourth by getting married, Congress appoints a committee of 13 to attend the celebration of the Oldest Inhabitants Association there, and 300 artillery blasts are fired, 100 at sunrise, 100 at noon, 100 at sunset; in Richmond, Va., the U.S. and Virginia flags are raised on the Capitol for the first time on the Fourth in 16 years and the Richmond Grays (an African-American regiment) are in Washington celebrating; in New York, on the eve of the Fourth, an Irish couple name their newborn child American Centenniel Maloney, in honor of the day; in New Orleans, Louisiana, the monitor Canonicus fires a salute from the Mississippi River; in Hamburg, South Carolina, an incident that results in a massacre of African-Americans occurs; in Montgomery, Alabama, the Declaration of Independence is read by Neil Blue, the oldest citizen of Montgomery, and the only survivor of those who voted for delegates to the territorial convention which adopted the Constitution under which Alabama was admitted into the union in 1819; in Joliet, in Quincy, Illinois, the cornerstone of the new Court House is laid; in San Francisco, a mock engagement with the iron-clad Monitor occurs and there is a parade there that is over 4 miles long, with 10,000 participants; in Chicago, at the Turners and Socialists celebration, a revised Declaration of Independence from the socialist's standpoint is distributed; in Freeport, Illinois and Chicago, the Declaration of Independence is read in both English and German; in Evanston, Illinois, a centennial poem "The Girls of the Period" is publicly read by Mrs. Emily H. Miller; in Wilmette, Illinois, a woman (Miss Aunie Gedney) reads the Declaration of Independence; in Savannah, Georgia, a centennial tree is planted, accompanied by appropriate speeches; in Utica, New York, 30 veterans of the War of 1812 join in a parade along with two of Napoleon's soldiers


Confederate Fife & Drum Corps

1877- In Woodstock, Conn., Roseland Park is dedicated and Oliver Wendell Homes reads his poem, "The ship of state, above her skies are blue"; in New York, at a ceremony held at the Sturtevant House, 89-year old Daniel Lopez, who fought on board the frigate Constitution, dances a jig

1879- Frederick Douglass addresses the citizens of Frederick, Md.; at Sunbury, Pa., Gov. Hoyt unveils a statue of Col. Cameron; in Charleston, S.C., the Lafayette Artillery, "a white militia company," fires an artillery salute, the first since 1860; in Montgomery, Ala., a letter from Jefferson Davis is read at the public celebration there; at Lake Walden, Mass., a "grand temperance" celebration is held, with Henry Ward Beecher, speaker

1880- Gen. James A. Garfield, is guest speaker at the dedication of the Soldiers' Monument in Painesville, Ohio; in Boston, a statue of Revolutionary War patriot Samuel Adams is unveiled; in San Francisco the first daytime fireworks ever exhibited in the country takes place at Woodward's Gardens; the first Fourth of July celebration held in Uintah County, Utah, occurs and "only eight men and women [were] present"


4th of July parade float in Huntsville, Alabama

1881- In Washington, D.C., the Chief of Police issues an order banning all fireworks in respect to the shooting of President Garfield while, at the same time, prayer meetings for the President's recovery are held in lieu of Fourth celebrations throughout the country

1882- Buffalo, N.Y., celebrates its 50th anniversary as the laying of a cornerstone for a soldiers' monument takes place there; the chapel of Dutch Neck Church in Princeton Junction, N.J. is dedicated

1883- The Declaration of Independence is read in Swedish at a celebration at Bergquist Park in Moorhead, Minn.; seven hundred Yankton and Sautee Sioux participate in a Fourth celebration in Yankton, S.D.; a monument to George Cleaves and Richard Tucker, "the first settlers of Portland," is unveiled in Portland, Maine; in Woodstock, Conn., John Greenleaf Whittier's poem, "Our Country," is read at the public celebration there; Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show opens at North Platte, Neb.; former President Rutherford B. Hayes is in Woodstock, Conn., attending the ceremony and giving a speech; in Plainfield, N.J., a Revolutionary cannon (dating to 1780), known as the "one-horn cannon," is fired

 May 15, 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed into law the Agricultural Act that established the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

1884- The formal presentation of the Statue of Liberty takes place in the Gauthier workshop in Paris; General George B. McClellan is honored at a celebration in Woodstock, Conn.; Samuel Bayard Stafford attends the Veterans of the War of 1812 as a visitor and carries the old flag of the Bon Homme Richard and the boarding cutlace of Paul Jones and Bloodgood H. Cutter; Cambridge, Md., celebrates its 200th anniversary of its founding; in Swan City, Colorado, miners blow up the town's Post Office because they are not supplied with fireworks

1885- Gen. Abraham Dally, 89-year old veteran of the War of 1812 raises the flag at the Battery in New York while the French man-of-war La Flore, decorated with flags and bunting, holds a public reception on board in New York harbor; in Jamestown, N.Y., a mock Civil War battle is fought; municipal officials in Salt Lake City and heads of the Mormon Church there order all American flags flown at half-mast in the city to emphasize their religious freedoms, and Californians are angered by the act


4th of July float on the brick streets of Tulsa, Oklahoma

1886- Portland, Maine, celebrates its 100th anniversary of the town's incorporation

1887- First Fourth of July celebration in Yellowstone National Park takes place; the New York Times issues a call for a new Declaration of Independence for commercial freedom in the world markets; in Providence, R.I., a statue of Union Army General Ambrose Burnside is unveiled

1888- A commemoration of Francis Scott Key and dedication of the first monument of him in the West is unveiled in San Francisco; in Amesbury, Mass., a statue of Josiah Bartlett, the first signer of the Declaration of Independence, is unveiled


  Deadwood, South Dakota 1888

1889- President Harrison gives a speech in Woodstock, Conn. and is the third President to be in Woodstock on July 4th

1890- In Chattanooga, Tenn., 2,000 Confederate veterans march in a parade, without Confederate flags, while four generals (Gen. George B. Gordon, La.; Gen. W.S. Cabell, Tex.; Gen. E. Kirby Smith, Tenn.; Gen. "Tige" Anderson, Georgia) give speeches there; in Portland, Maine, General Sherman and other generals attend the Army of the Potomac celebration there



Grange float 4th of July parade in Evansville, Indiana

1891- A Tioga County, N.Y., soldier's monument is unveiled in Owego, N.Y. and a speech by Gen. Benjamin F. Tracy, Secretary of the Navy, is given there; in Plainfield, N.J., a cannon used in the War of 1812 is fired; in Newark, N.J., at Caledonian Park, 5,000 German Saengerbunders, accompanied by an orchestra of 200 pieces, sing the "Star-Spangled Banner"; on this day, Cheraw, S.C., is the first town in that state to celebrate the Fourth in over 30 years; the Seventy-Second Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers from Philadelphia dedicates a bronze monument in Gettysburg; in Buffalo, N.Y., the Society of Veterans parade in honor of the Army of the Potomac; the cornerstone of the new schoolhouse of St. Paul's Parish in New York is laid

1892- In New York, the City Hall and Federal Building inadvertently fly American flags of 42 stars and 35 stars, respectively, not the new flags of 44 stars representing the full number of states; in New York, ground is broken for the statue of Columbus, a gift from Italy to the city; in New York harbor, the Brazilian cruiser Almirante Barroso is gayly decorated with a 40-foot American flag; Quincy, Mass. celebrates its 100th anniversary


Calaveras County, California 4th of July parade

1893- The World's Fair continues in Chicago as a new liberty bell is rung there; Auburn, N.Y., celebrates its Centennial anniversary of its settlement in tandem with the Fourth; Julia Ward Howe reads poetry at a Woodstock, Conn. celebration; in Cape May, N.J., ex- President Harrison gives a patriotic speech on the rights and duties of citizenship; in the Battery in New York, a gunner is put under arrest for inaccurate counting of a 21-gun national salute in which 23 rounds were fired; a bronze statue made by Thomas Ball of P.T. Barnum is unveiled in Bridgeport, Conn.


Deadwood, South Dakota 1890s

1894- In Huntington, N.Y., a memorial to Captain Nathan Hale is unveiled; in Highlands, N.J., a white-bordered flag denoting universal liberty and peace waves for the first time; Vice President Stevenson gives a speech on the historic battlefield of Guilford Court House in Greensboro, N.C.; in Cleveland, the dedication of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument takes place and Gov. William McKinley gives a speech at the ceremony; at the state fair of Illinois, the corner stone of the exposition building is laid; in Montevideo, Minnesota, the Camp Release Monument, commemorating the Dakota Conflict of 1862, is dedicated

1895- At Chautauqua, N.Y., women are dressed in yellow as the first "woman's day" is celebrated in tandem with Independence Day; Katharine Lee Bates' poem "America" is first published on this day in the Boston Congregationalist, a weekly church publication

4th of July parade in Minnesota

1896- In Brooklyn, N.Y., a bronze statue of Maj. Gen. Gouverneur Kemble Warren, commander of the Fifth Corps of the Army of the Potomac, is unveiled; Palm Springs, California, celebrates its first Fourth of July

1897- The New York Times prints a facsimile edition of the Declaration of Independence in its issue of 4 July 1897; American newspaper correspondents are barred from attending a Fourth celebration at the U.S. Consulate in Havana, Cuba; in Avondale, Ohio, Thomas C. McGrath unveils a statue of Thomas Jefferson "on the lawn in front of his beautiful residence on Rockdale and Wilson Avenues"; the U.S. flag flies over the White House on July 5, despite the President's absence (for years the flag which flies over the White House had been hauled down each time the President left the White House; President McKinley is in Canton, Ohio.


Westward Expansion float

1898- At Washington Grove, Md., a few miles outside of Washington, D.C., Mrs. J. Ellen Foster is the orator of the day and gives a traditional Fourth of July address; in Auburn, Calif., the Placer County Courthouse is dedicated; in Waynesburg, Pa., the cornerstone for the Soldier's and Sailor's Monument for Civil War veterans of Greene County is laid


1900 Fourth of July Parade in Salida, Chaffee County, Colorado

1899- "Horseless-carriages" take part in a Fourth celebration in Dyersville, Iowa; in Helena, Montana, the cornerstone of the new State Capitol is laid; Gov. Theodore Roosevelt gives speech at his home town, Oyster Bay, N.Y., as other speakers predict he will be the next President; in Plymouth, England, all the British warships there are decorated with flags and a 21-gun salute is fired; in London, Mark Twain addresses the American Society at their dinner there.


4th of July parade at the turn of the century in Indiana

Thank you to James R. Heintze, American University, Washington DC. for his tireless research on the history of the 4th of July, which he shares online & in his books. 

A few paintings of picnics in 19th century America...


 Asher Brown Durand (American artist, 1796-1886) Picnic in the Country 1863


 Thomas Prichard Rossiter (American artist, 1818-1871) Picnic on the Hudson 1863


 James McDougal Hart (Scottish-born American artist, 1828-1901) Picnic on the Hudson


Lilly Martin Spencer (English-born American artist, 1822–1902) The Artist and Her Family at a Fourth of July Picnic, c. 1864


James McDougal Hart (Scottish-born American artist, 1828-1901) An Afternoon Concert


Lilly Martin Spencer (English-born American artist, 1822–1902) The Home of the Red, White, and Blue


Picnic in the Woods by F Wilton 1876


 Idle Hours, by William Merritt Chase, 1894


Charles Courtney Curran (American artist, 1861-1942)  Picnic Supper on the Sand Dunes


Benjamin Champney (American artist, 1817-1907) Picnic on Artist's Ledge, Overlooking Conway Meadows, New Hampshire


James Brade Sword (American artist, 1839–1915) The Picnic

Chevaux & Voitures. Phaeton a Caisse Fixe.  Published by W. Schaus, New York. 1852

Edward Lamson Henry (American genre artist, 1841–1919) The Pillory and Whipping Post, New Castle, Delaware


George Caleb Bingham (American genre painter, 1811-1879)  The Verdict of the People


George Caleb Bingham (American genre painter, 1811-1879) Martial Law


George Caleb Bingham (American genre painter, 1811-1879) Stump Speaking


George Caleb Bingham (American genre painter, 1811-1879) The County Election

William H Lippencott (American artist, 1849-1920)


Louis Lang (American artist, 1814–1893) Reminiscenes of Lake Mahopac New York Ladies Preparing for a Boat Race


Francis Coates Jones (American artist, 1857-1932) Women in a Rowboat


Edmund Charles Tarbell (American artist, 1862–1938) Study for Mother and Child in a Boat 1892


Frederick Childe Hassam (American artist, 1859-1935) The White Dory 1895


Winslow Homer (American artist, 1836-1910) Towing the Boat


Alfred Thompson Bricher (American painter, 1837-1908) ) The Artist's Wife in a Boat 1881 detail


Theodore Robinson (American artist, 1852-1896) Miss Motes and her Dog Shep, 1893


Alfred Thompson Bricher (American painter, 1837-1908) Drifting 1886


Jerome B. Thompson (American genre painter, 1814-1886) On the River 1867


Charles Courtney Curran (Amercian artist, 1861-1942)  Lotus Lilies

Samuel S. Carr (American genre artist, 1837–1908)  Children on the Beach


Edward Lamson Henry (American genre artist, 1841–1919) East Hampton Beach


Winslow Homer (American artist, 1836-1910)  Beach Scene, Cullercoats


Samuel S. Carr (American genre artist, 1837–1908)  Beach Scene


Winslow Homer (American artist, 1836-1910)  Beach Scene

Samuel S. Carr (American genre artist, 1837–1908) Beach at Coney Island