In 1772, George Washington purchased a house from Michael Robinson in Fredericksburg, Virginia for his mother. Mary Ball Washington spent her last 17 years in this comfortable home. A mirror Mrs. Washington called her "best dressing glass" and other possessions are on view in the house. Her sundial still tracks the time of day in the garden.
The house offers tours.
Built in 1752 by merchant Jan Zabriskie, the Steuben House witnessed the crossing of George Washington and the garrison of Fort Lee across the Hackensack River during their infamous November 1776 retreat. Because of this strategic position on the banks of the river at the New Bridge, the Steuben House survived throughout the American Revolution and was used by both Colonial and British soldiers. The confiscated mansion once served as a military headquarters for General Washington and was later presented to Major General Baron von Steuben as thanks for his efforts during the War for Independence.
The house offers tours and educational programs.
Rockingham is believed to be the second oldest house in the Millstone River valley, its original construction dating between 1702 and 1710. Jedidiah Higgins, one of the earliest settlers in the Rocky HillKingston area, is credited with building the house. In 1783, while the Continental Congress was meeting at Nassau Hall in nearby Princeton, Congress rented this house from the widow of Judge John Berrien for use by General George Washington from August 23 to November 10, 1783. Martha Washington joined him at Rockingham.
A second website for the site can be found here.
The site offers tours, exhibits, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).
John Langdon rose from modest origins to become a merchant, shipbuilder, Revolutionary leader, signer of the United States Constitution, and three-term governor of New Hampshire. The house he built for his family in 1784 expresses his status as Portsmouth's leading citizen and was praised by George Washington, who visited there in 1789. Its reception rooms are ornamented by elaborate wood carving in the rococo style. After Langdon's death in 1819, the house was occupied by other leading families. At the end of the 19th century, Langdon descendants purchased the house and restored it to its 18th-century state, adding on a substantial wing designed by McKim, Mead, and White to house modern conveniences.
The house offers tours.
Mount Vernon was the beloved home of George and Martha Washington from the time of their marriage in 1759 until General Washington's death in 1799. He worked tirelessly to expand his plantation from 2,000 acres to 8,000 and the mansion house from six rooms to 21. Visitors are invited to tour the Mansion house and more than a dozen outbuildings including the slave quarters, kitchen, stables, and greenhouse. They can stroll four different gardens, hike the Forest Trail, and explore the "George Washington: Pioneer Farmer" site, a four-acre working farm that includes a recreation of Washington's 16-sided treading barn. George and Martha Washington rest in peace in the tomb where wreathlaying ceremonies are held daily, and the Slave Memorial and Burial Ground is nearby.
The site offers multimedia presentations, exhibits, tours, demonstrations, educational programs, river cruises, research library access, and recreational and educational events (including living history events).
The Foundation operates several historic sites, including HistoryQuest and the Paca House. HistoryQuest features a comprehensive welcome center, offering tickets and reservations for tours, excursions, venues, and other events. Exhibits tell the stories of those who have lived and worked in Annapolis through the decades. The Paca House, restored home of William Paca, signer of the Declaration of Independence and Revolutionary-era Governor of Maryland, stands today as one of the most elegant landmarks in Annapolis.
The foundation offers tours and recreational and educational events; HistoryQuest offers tours and exhibits; the Paca House offers tours and occasional recreational and educational events.
The Park memorializes the historic crossing of the Delaware by George Washington and his troops during the American Revolution, while preserving and presenting a number of historic structures, including the 18th-century McConkey's Ferry Inn, the 18th-century Thompson-Neely House, and a variety of early-19th-century homes and structures.
The park offers exhibits, tours, a short film, classes, and educational and recreational events (including living history events).
The Foundation operates two historical sites, Historic Kenmore and Ferry Farm. Built by George Washington's sister, Betty Washington Lewis and her husband Fielding Lewis, Kenmore, a 1775 Georgian-style mansion, reflects the pre-Revolutionary War wealth and status of the Fredericksburg merchant. Lewis lost his fortune due to his patriotic support of the war but the house he built remains. Ferry Farm is the boyhood home of George Washington. Augustine Washington moved his family to this property in 1738, when his son, George, was six years old. George received his formal education during his years here, and forged friendships in the neighborhood that lasted the rest of his life. In 1754, George moved to Mount Vernon while his mother, Mary Ball Washington, stayed on at the farm until 1772, when she moved to Fredericksburg.
The foundation offers educational programs and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events); Kenmore offers tours; Ferry Farm offers exhibits and tours.
The old cracked Bell still proclaims Liberty and Independence Hall echoes the words, "We the People." Explore Franklin's Philadelphia and learn about the past and America's continuing struggle to fulfill the Founders' Declaration that "all men are created equal."
Education is a primary mission of the park. The park offers resources for your classroom, for a field trip, and for professional development. The park’s education center, the Independence Park Institute (IPI), offers education programs that connect participants of all ages to the resources and stories of Independence National Historical Park.
September 17, Constitution Day, commemorates the 1787 signing of the Constitution. Ever since its creation, the Constitution has provoked patriotic passion and heated debate. Match the quotes below to the historical figure whose view of the Constitution they reveal.
1. "Our Constitution is so simple and practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form."
Herbert Hoover
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Woodrow Wilson
Abraham Lincoln
Roosevelt spoke these words on March 4, 1933, in his First Inaugural Address— which also included his famous phrase "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." In this speech, FDR first assured the American people that he had faith that the Constitution and current understandings of constitutionally-acceptable presidential power were sufficient to overcome the crisis posed by the Great Depression. He then went on to note that, if necessary for the good of the country, he would ask Congress for executive power equivalent to that granted in wartime.
During his presidency, many of FDR's New Deal reforms would be found unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, leading to constant tension and conflict between the President and the court.
2. "In examining the Constitution of the United States, which is the most perfect federal constitution that ever existed, one is startled, on the other hand, at the variety of information and the excellence of discretion which it presupposes in the people whom it is meant to govern."
Pierre-Etienne Du Ponceau
Benjamin Franklin
Alexis de Tocqueville
Marquis de Lafayette
In his book Democracy in America, French thinker, writer, and politician Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859), considers the strengths and weakness of the American federal system of government as it was in the early 1830s, when he visited the young country on a 9-month tour. This passage comes from chapter 8 of the book's first volume: "On the Federal Constitution." Subheading "The Federal Constitution, Part V," "Why the Federal System is Not Adapted to All Peoples" looks at the uniqueness of the Constitution and of the expectations it sets out for the people putting it into practice.
3. "A sacred compact, forsooth! We pronounce it the most bloody and heaven-daring arrangement ever made by men for the continuance and protection of a system of the most atrocious villainy ever exhibited on earth."
William Lloyd Garrison
Frederick Douglass
John Murray Spear
Lydia Maria Child
Fiery abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879) included this condemnation of the Constitution in the December 29, 1832, issue of his abolitionist newspaper The Liberator. The article in which it appeared, titled "On the Constitution and the Union," denounced the Constitution for allowing slavery to exist in the U.S., calling it a document "dripping" "with human blood."
Garrison famously burned a copy of the Constitution at a 4th of July gathering in Farmingham, MA.
4. "The Constitution was founded on the law of gravitation. The government was to exist and move by virtue of the efficacy of 'checks and balances.' The trouble with the theory is that government is not a machine, but a living thing."
Woodrow Wilson
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Lyndon B. Johnson
Woodrow Wilson included these words in his 1913 book The New Freedom: A Call for the Emancipation of the Generous Energies of a People, which laid out many of the views on which he had campaigned for the presidency. Writing in 1885, in his earlier book Congressional Government, Wilson saw many problems in the United States' established form of government, arguing that the Founders' system of checks and balances obscured responsibility more than it ensured balance. Wilson saw the Constitution as a product of a certain time and place, with questionable relevance to the present day.
For the full text of FDR's 1st Inaugural Address and related primary sources, turn to the Library of Congress's American Memory site "I Do Solemnly Swear . . .": Presidential Inaugurations' page on the speech. Many presidential inaugural speeches make reference to the Constitution, revealing the view of the Constitution that the president giving the speech holds (or claims to hold); search this collection for other presidents speaking on the document and its iconic status in U.S. government and culture.
You might also look at the American Memory collection Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention for 277 primary source documents "relating to the work of Congress and the drafting and ratification of the Constitution."
The National Endowment for the Humanities' EDSITEment looks further at the life and accomplishments of Alexis de Tocqueville in an August 2009 feature on the author and the introduction to his Democracy in America. The feature collects suggestions for teaching the introduction and selected links; a link to the full text of the book's two volumes, hosted by the University of Virginia, is included.
The full text of William Lloyd Garrison's "On the Constitution and the Union" can be read here, as can other articles by Garrison, in TeachingAmericanHistory.org's Document Library (which includes the Constitution and a range of other founding documents).
Project Gutenberg, a database of out-of-copyright public domain texts, hosts the full text of Wilson's The New Freedom, as well as other works by Wilson.
For more on the Constitution, try NHEC's 2008 round-up of Constitution and Constitution Day resources for teachers. Or how about checking out what the U.S. government thinks citizens should know about the Constitution? U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offers a downloadable study guide for the current naturalization test, with sections on the Constitution.
