All in one for you Anon!
>>9406407
>>9406421
Response to: >>9405024 lb
What makes 'Tradition, History, Culture'
Yes, history should be preserved as another anon said, but if it be preserved, then the history should also be preserved. Why have monuments without the history? Doesn't that defeat the purpose and simply make it an empty tradition?
Here's the history of the Washington Monument:
July 4, 1848: The cornerstone of the Washington Monument was laid by the Freemason Society. President Polk would succumb to cholera just three months after the end of his term in office, making his retirement from the office the shortest of all the other Presidents thus far. At 53, he was also the youngest to die in retirement. During the years the monument was constructed, was the civil war and the presidents during that time suffered from the curse.
July 4, 1850: President Taylor was said to have eaten copious amounts of raw fruit and iced milk during a fund-raising event at the obelisk Washington Monument under construction. For several days, he was severely ill with an mysterious digestive ailment. It was diagnosed as cholera morbus, at the time a generic term for a variety of intestinal ailments but not actual cholera which was an epidemic at this time. Other members of his cabinet had also become ill. He got a fever, and treatment proved futile, and the curse continued.
November, 1852: Pierce won the presidential election. Despite his friendly nature and attractive appearance, he was plagued with personal tragedy.
January 6, 1853, while he and his family had been traveling by train, their train car derailed and rolled, killing their 11-year-old son, Benjamin, nearly decapitating him. Neither he nor his wife were able to mentally recover from it, and it affected his presidency. Jane Pierce wondered if the train accident was divine punishment, though blaming it on her husband's involvement in politics and his election. She of course did not function in the usual First Lady role, beginning with her refusal to join in the inauguration. He was sworn in with a law book, likely rattled and afraid to swear on the Bible. He battled alcoholism while his marriage failed. During his term, he executed many unpopular acts, giving him the dubious reputation as one of the worst President's in American history.
His alcoholism finally caught up to him when he died in 1869 of cirrhosis of the liver. Buchanan had counseled he work with Vice President-elect King to choose his Cabinet, but he did not do so, likely because King became ill with tuberculosis, traveling to Cuba to convalesce. Instead, he worsened, and Congress had to allow him to be sworn at the American consul in Havana in March. As he didn't want to die abroad, he returned to Alabama and died on April 18, and his place was not filled while Pierce was in office, which meant the Senate President pro tempore was next in line to the presidency. Pierce had expanded the role of the U.S. attorney general in appointing federal judges and attorneys, which led to the development of the "Justice" Department. His Secretary of War had been Jefferson Davis, and he used the Army Corps of Engineers to oversee construction projects in DC, including the expansion of the Capitol and the building of the obelisk Washington Monument.
March 4, 1857: Pierce left office, and James Buchanan was president. The curse continued. He was unable to bring about peace between the sharply divided sides of the North and South, again, earning him the reputation of one of the worst Presidents. During his term, the Panic of 1857 occurred, brought about by runaway consumption of imported goods from Europe (that open trade with Britain), the rivalry and excess of the railroad barons, and risky land speculation in the West involving the banking system, ushering in deep poverty. It was this financial panic that interrupted the funding of the Washington Monument. Then came the War. To the British, he was the best president. Buchanan had also influenced the decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford. In the Kansas situation, Buchanan replaced the territorial governor with orders to bring the opposing parties (slavery and anti-slavery) to agree on a constitution. Buchanan had chosen Robert Walker of Mississippi who would actually aid the proslavery faction. As months passed, Walker realized slavery would not serve the territory.
March 4, 1861: Lincoln president. In his address, he told Southerners he would not abolish slavery in their states, noting that it was only on the question of extending slavery to territories or to new states that was the question. The cursed continued, with the Civil War, and he would be assassinated, the Washington Monument again interrupted from its construction. Lincoln then answered Ft. Sumpter's request for supplies. The South considered this an act of war.
April 15, 1865: Lincoln died in the morning. President Johnson was sworn in at 10:00 am, less than 3 hours after Lincoln's death. The curse continued. Johnson was the first U.S. President to be impeached. He also is commonly ranked by historians as being among the worst U.S. presidents, and the Washington Monument wasn't even finished yet.
March 4, 1869: Grant president, and Johnson refused to attend the inauguration. The curse continued. His term was marked by a poor economy and scandals. His handling of the Panic of 1873 resulted in economic depression. His cabinet was scandalized by corruption and bribery, which all but erased his war hero image. He died penniless and of cancer in 1885. It was during his presidency in 1876 that congress passed the approval to fund the commencement of the building of the Washington Monument.
March 3, 1877: Hayes president. The curse continued. Construction on the Washington Monument started again in 1879 during Rutherford's presidency. Rutherford, a Republican, failed in his attempt to convince the southern Democrats of racial equality and to convince the majority Democrat Congress to fund the enforcement of civil rights. This began a horrible time of racism that was to have far reaching consequences, all of which we are keenly to this day suffering as a nation. Ironically, history was rewritten to make it appear as if the Democrats were on the side of the minorities, while the Republicans were the racists. This has stuck to this day with a fake claim of party swapping. William Evarts, Skull and Crossbones member, served as Secretary of State during which he refused to address corruption and was forced to do so when the truth was revealed. Hayes faced a House of Representatives controlled by a majority of Democrats, many of whom did not consider him to be the legitimate president, and the Republicans began tiring of the Southern violence. His attempts to protect black's rights were useless. Among those resisting Hayes was Arthur because Hayes had run on the promise of reforming the patronage system.
September 19, 1881: Arthur president. The curse continued. During office, Arthur suffered from Bright's disease, a fatal kidney disease. While running for office, he displayed no sign of the disease, so it is thought he contracted it in office. His weakened condition became obvious in 1882. His retirement from office was the next shortest after Polk's, and he died also not long after in 1886. The capstone of the Washington Monument was laid in 1884 when he was President. It was he who had dedicated it in 1885.