‘Twas The Nineteenth Of April In (18)75 — And The Centennial Was Coming Unstuck
On a new bridge that arched the flood Their toes by April freezes curled, There the embattled committee stood, Beset, it seemed, by half the world.
April 1972 | Volume 23, Issue 3
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EmailConcord’s Grand Ball was held in the spacious and steam-heated hall of the Middlesex Agricultural Society on the bank of the Sudbury River west of the Fitchburg Railroad station. Brilliant gaslights made it blindingly clear that an enthusiastic decorations committee had left no inch of space in the hall undecorated. President Grant did not return for the festivities; he had decided to remain in Lexington, where he attended a grand levee and planted an elm tree. Without any slackening of ardor, despite Grant’s absence from Concord, about three hundred couples danced through the night, many of the ladies wearing colonial dresses long treasured in their attics. The sun was rising as the last of the dancers headed for their beds, just twenty-four hours after the thudding of cannon had saluted the beginning of the Centennial.
It had indeed been a glorious day.
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Why do we need a national nonprofit membership society for American history?
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“Save America’s Treasures” has been totally eliminated—the largest Federal program supporting preservation of such treasures as the original Star Spangled Banner and George Washington’s tent.
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65% of Americans don’t know what happened at the Constitutional Convention, according to a recent survey by Newsweek.
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The “Teaching American History” grants—the largest Federal program supporting history education—have been completely eliminated.
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Visits to the Top 20 Civil War battlefields have dropped in half from 1970 to 2009 according to official National Park Service statistics.
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40% of Americans can’t identify whom we fought in World War II, according to a recent survey by Newsweek.
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A quarter of Americans believe Congress shares power over U.S. foreign policy with the United Nations, according to a recent Annenberg survey.
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“There is little that is more important for an American citizen to know than the history and traditions of his country,” John F. Kennedy wrote in American Heritage.
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The “We the People Program,” which touched some 30 million students and 90,000 teachers over 25 years, has been completely eliminated.
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Two-thirds of Americans could not correctly name Yorktown as the last major military action of the American Revolution, according to a recent national Gallup survey.
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The National Heritage Areas and Scenic Byways program, the only major Federal program encouraging visits to historic places, has been completely eliminated in Congressional committee.
