Washington Monument

“ The beautiful Treasury building is completed, and a block further on, the click of ceaseless hammers and the rising buttresses of solid stone tell of the new war and navy departments which are swiftly growing beside the historic walls of the old. Even the Washington monument has been taken into hand by General Babcock, to whom personally the Capital owes so much, and by a fresh appeal to the States he hopes to re-arouse their patriotism and insure its grand completion. Flowers blossom on the ramparts of the old forts, so alert with warlike life ten years ago. ”

“ Before the dawn of the century whose eventful years will soon have faded into the past—when death had but lately robbed this Republic of its most beloved and illustrious citizen—the Congress of the United States pledged the faith of the Nation that in this city, bearing his honored name, and then, as now, the seat of the General Government, a monument should be erected to commemorate the great events of his military and political life. ”

“ Washington Monument, as a good many of you know, is not a solid shaft of stone. It is built of great granite blocks, as a building is built, and is, in fact, a building, for it has several little rooms in the base; rooms where men can stay who watch the big pointed shaft of stone, and other rooms where are kept the engines that run the elevator. ”

“ Marsh, I understand that the main feature of the Washington Monument is to be an obelisk of great height, surmounted by a colossal statue, and with bas-reliefs at a suitable height from the base. I believe I have not only seen but sketched every existing genuine—that is, Egyptian—obelisk, for no other can fairly said to be genuine. The obelisk is not an arbitrary structure which every one is free to erect with such form and proportions as suit his taste and convenience, but its objects, form, and proportions were fixed by the usage of thousands of years ”

“ In 1846 the society, through its ex officio president, James K. Polk, made another appeal, stating the society wished to proceed with the erection of the Washington Monument, and it was hoped legislation would be enacted at the following session of Congress to provide a location for it. By a resolution adopted February 29, 1847, the United States consuls abroad were also invited to solicit subscriptions “for the erection of a suitable National Monument to the memory of Washington from American citizens, seamen, and others of liberal patriotic feelings.” ”

“ WASHINGTON MONUMENT. A huge obelisk erected in the city of Washington, having a total height of 555 feet 51⁄8 inches. It is the highest masonry structure in the world. The cornerstone was laid in 1848 and work on the monument continued slowly until 1877, when it ceased, but was resumed in 1878, and finished in 1884. The Washington National Monument Society originated the plan and controlled the work of construction until 1877, when its property was conveyed to the United States. Maryland marble is the material out of which the monument was constructed. ”

“ Every monument to Washington is a tribute to patriotism. Every shaft and statue to his memory helps to inculcate love of country, encourage loyalty, and establish a better citizenship. God bless every undertaking which revives patriotism and rebukes the indifferent and lawless! A critical study of Washington's career only enhances our estimation of his vast and varied abilities. ”

“ But most of its neighbors in Washington find it for other reasons an unceasing joy. To us it is more truly at the heart of things than even the Capitol. It is the hoary sentinel at our water-gate; or, spread the city out like a fan, and the Monument is the pivot which holds the frame together.
The visitor who has seen it once has just begun to see it. A smooth-faced obelisk, devoid of ornament,{264} it would appear the stolidest object in the landscape; in truth, it is as versatile as the clouds. Every change in your position reveals it in a new phase. ”

“ The latest generations of men will survey, through the telescope of history, the space where so many virtues blend their rays, and delight to separate them into groups and distinct virtues. As the best illustration of them, the living monument, to which the first of patriots would have chosen to consign his fame, it is my earnest prayer to Heaven that our country may subsist even to that late day in the plenitude of its liberty and happiness, and mingle its mild glory with Washington's. ”

“ Let him who looks for a monument of Washington, look around the United States. The whole country is a monument to him. Your freedom, your independence, your national power, your prosperity, and your prodigious growth, is a monument to Washington. ”

“ Think not to transfer to a tablet or a column the tribute which is due from yourselves. Just honor to Washington can only be rendered by observing his precepts and imitating his example. He has built his own monument. We and those who come after us, in successive generations, are its appointed, its privileged guardians. ”

“ We are not watching a combat, only an assault, for these demonstrations call forth no response. On the champion—taking everything, giving nothing—the only effect they produce is a change of color from snowy white to ashen gray. Even that is but for a moment. As the storm of hail melts into a shower of limpid raindrops to which the relieved trees open their palms, the wind ceases its wailing, and the wall of cloud falls apart to let the sun’s rays through once more.
The Monument is, of course, only one of many memorials to great men in Washington. ”

“ THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT AS SEEN FROM THE MALL GROUNDS
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Work was resumed on the shaft in 1880. The first 13 courses—26 feet—were faced with white marble from Massachusetts. The remainder is Maryland white marble similar to that used in the lower section. The new work was backed with dressed New England granite to the 452-foot elevation, above which the walls are entirely of marble, of through-and-through blocks, and from the 470-foot level, where the ribs of the pyramidion begin, the courses are secured to each other by mortise and tenon joints cut in the builds and beds of the stone. ”

“ But the world has not outlived its need of picture writing and symbolism, and the great object lesson of the Washington monument will doubtless prove a large factor in the moral and political education of present and future generations. ”

“ Entirely aside from the Revolution, if Washington had not been a great general, he was well started on lines that would have made him a very substantial citizen. The confidence he expressed in the West is believed to be, and has been stated to be, a higher monument to his fame than the metal-tipped, slender, tapering sky-pointing and heaven-reaching obelisk reared in his honor near the banks of the Potomac. ”

“ The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia have caused this statue to be erected, as a monument of affection and latitude to George Washington, who, uniting to the endowments of a hero the virtues of the patriot, and exerting both in establishing the liberties of his country, has rendered his name dear to his fellow-citizens, and given the world an immortal example of true glory. ”

“ When, in 1848, the people began to build the Washington Monument, the engineers despaired of securing on the proper site a foundation sufficient for so great a structure; and consequently the Monument was located out of all relations with the buildings which it was intended to tie together in a single composition. To create these relations as originally planned was one of the chief problems of the commission. ”

“ There was no suggestion made that Congress should assume the completion of the Monument; the Society were to continue actively in the work they had been prosecuting. Congress would make simply a donation to the funds. The sum proposed was the same in amount [57] which the House of Representatives, by their resolution of January 1, 1801, had agreed to appropriate for erecting a mausoleum to Washington, in the City of Washington. ”

“ Fellow Citizens:—There is a peculiar and tender sentiment connected with this memorial. It expresses not only the gratitude and reverence of the living, but is a testimonial of affection and homage from the dead.
The comrades of Washington projected this monument. Their love inspired it. Their contributions helped to build it. Past and present share in its completion, and future generations will profit by its lessons. To participate in the dedication of such a monument is a [Pg 188] rare and precious privilege. Every monument to Washington is a tribute to patriotism. ”

“ No report seems to have been made in the Senate. A vault, however, appears to have been prepared for the remains beneath the center of the dome and rotunda of the Capitol and beneath the floor of its crypt.
Again did Congress fail to take steps to carry out its deliberate action to build a monument to Washington. In 1819, Mr. Goldsborough, in the Senate, moved a resolution to erect an equestrian statue to General Washington, which passed July 19th. The resolution was read twice in the House, referred to Committee of the Whole, and was indefinitely postponed. ”

“ The skeleton of a decaying scaffolding lingers about its summit, and tradition says that the spirit of Washington often comes down and sits on those rafters to enjoy this tribute of respect which the nation has reared as the symbol of its unappeasable gratitude. The Monument is to be finished, some day, and at that time our Washington will have risen still higher in the nation's veneration, and will be known as the Great-Great-Grandfather of his Country. The memorial Chimney stands in a quiet pastoral locality that is full of reposeful expression. ”

“ The pledge was freely given; for we were confident that our brethren in the States would rejoice at the opportunity thus presented of testifying their gratitude and veneration for him whose "memory, maxims, and deathless example" we endeavor to keep alive in the hearts of the American people.
"I would suggest that your Council appoint a Washington Monument Committee to receive subscriptions and forward the sums collected to the Treasurer of the Society. The committee should procure a book in which to insert the name and address of each contributor and the amount contributed. ”

“ A short side trip from Washington Street down King Street takes the traveler to the George Washington National Masonic Memorial, which has been erected at the western outskirts of the town on Shooters Hill. It is 333 feet high, and was designed by Harvey W. Corbett, architect.
Returning to Washington Street and proceeding southward the traveler passes the Confederate Monument, and soon reaches the southern limits of the town and passing within a stone’s throw of the first corner stone of the District of Columbia, still standing on Jones Point. ”

“ Whatever may be said to excuse or explain the delay which has been suffered in redeeming the pledge, the contributions of nearly a quarter of a million of dollars which individual citizens have already made towards erecting a monument to the father of his country, abundantly shows that its completion is an object dear to the hearts of the people. ”

“ They see thousands of Americans starting out every night from the Place de l'Opéra and coming back in the morning all boozed up, and so they assume that everything is up to the mark. You'll find the same thing in Washington. No Washingtonian has ever been up to the top of the Washington monument. Once the elevator in the monument was out of commission for two weeks, and yet Washington knew nothing about it. ”

“ It was an American Monument, and its construction and management was said to be mainly in the hands of Catholics and foreigners. Complaints were also made of the administration of the association, and of the expenditures and losses in the collections of funds. For these and divers other causes, the Americans of this District resolved in their respective Councils that this work ought to be typical of their Government, completed by the free act of the People, under the direction and by the hands of the natives. ”

“ We, the undersigned, citizens of ——, in the State of New Jersey, believing the proffer of a block of marble recently made by the Pope of Rome to this country for the Washington Monument to be totally inconsistent with the known principles of that despotic system of government of which he is the head ”

“ The matter was noticed in a daily paper in an article which, after referring to the former dispossession of the Society and the long "silence" at the base of the Monument, said:
"It was not till this state of things unhappily took place that the popular enthusiasm drooped and cooled, and it is hardly fair to expect a resuscitation in an hour or a day. We trust, however, that the night is far spent; that the day is at hand, and even the tribute of the voters of Washington on Monday last, small as it was, is an evidence of new life and returning vigor. ”

“ Let it stand before the world in all its original strength and beauty, securing peace, order, equality, and freedom, to all within its boundaries, and shedding light and hope and joy upon the pathway of human liberty throughout the world—and Washington needs no other monument. Other structures may testify our veneration for him; this, alone can adequately illustrate his service to mankind.
Nor does he need even this. The republic [219] may perish; the wide arch of our ranged Union may fall; star by star its glories may expire; stone by stone its columns and its capitol may moulder and crumble ”

“ The pilgrim to Mount Vernon, the spot consecrated by Washington's hallowed remains, is often shocked when he looks upon the humble sepulchre which contains his dust, and laments that no monument has yet reared its lofty head to mark a Nation's gratitude. ”