 Thanksgiving has been celebrated nationally since 1789, with the first proclamation by President George Washington after a request by Congress. The Continental Congress, the legislative body that governed the United States from 1774 to 1789, issued several "national days of prayer, humiliation, and thanksgiving", a practice that was continued by presidents Washington and Adams under the Constitution, and has manifested itself in the established American observances of Thanksgiving and the National Day of Prayer today. As President, on October 3, 1789, George Washington made the proclamation and created the first Thanksgiving Day designated by the national government of the United States of America. On the day of thanksgiving, Washington attended services at St. Paul's Chapel in New York City, and donated beer and food to imprisoned debtors in the city. 

 In his proclamation, Washington declared that the necessity for such a day sprung from the Almighty&amp;rsquo;s care of Americans prior to the Revolution, assistance to them in achieving independence, and help in establishing the constitutional government. Not ignoring the authority of state governments, Washington distributed his proclamation to the governors, requesting that they announce and observe the day within their states. Newspapers throughout the country subsequently published the proclamation and public celebrations were held. Washington himself marked the day by attending services at St. Paul's Chapel in&amp;nbsp;New York City, and by donating beer and food to imprisoned debtors in the city.  

Federal Hall National Memorial

First Presidential Proclamation of Thanksgiving Day

This sculpture depicts the moment after President Washington took the oath of office, which he did at Federal Hall on Wall Street in 1789. The pedestal was designed by Richard Morris Hunt.

Overlooking the crowds filling Broad Street up to Wall Street.  

George Washington at Federal Hall

After the Revolutionary War, America`s First Congress met in City Hall (Federal Hall) from 1785 to 1790, the Bill of Rights was written and ratified. New York City was the first capital of the United States once the Constitution was ratified. George Washington took the oath of office to become the first President of the United States from the balcony of the old City Hall.Pierre L`Enfant renovated the building from the former British colonial city hall.

"National Historic Site, Federal Hall Memorial, Site of old Federal Hall, first American Capitol under the Constitution. Here met the Stamp Act Congress. The provincial assembly and the Congress of the Confederation. Here was adopted the Northwest Ordinance on this site, in 1789, Washington was inaugurated and the Congress, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court were organized. Here Congress adopted the Bill of Rights. On May 26, 1939, this site and the building now standing upon it were established in perpetuity as a National Historical Shrine. United States Department of the Interior".  

1st US Capitol

John Peter Zenger was a German printer and journalist in New York City. Zenger printed The New York Weekly Journal. He was accused of libel in 1734 by William Cosby, the royal governor of New York, but the jury acquitted Zenger, who became a symbol for freedom of the press. In 1733, Zenger began printing The New York Weekly Journal, which voiced opinions critical of the colonial governor, William Cosby. On November 17, 1734, on Cosby's orders, the sheriff arrested Zenger. After a grand jury refused to indict him, the Attorney General Richard Bradley charged him with libel in August 1735. Zenger's lawyers, Andrew Hamilton and William Smith, Sr., successfully argued that truth is a defense against charges of libel.John Peter Zenger trial would lead the way for the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, which reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

&lt;p&gt;Stereograph shows a parade float portraying the 1735 trial of German immigrant John Peter Zenger. The float is part of a large parade in New York City&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt; 

"Who was Lately Try'd and Acquitted for Printing and Publishing a Libel against the Government" 

John Peter Zenger's Sedition Trial

On the afternoon of April 8, 1918, Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks decided to do their part in the fundraising and made their way to the Sub Treasury Building. Between 20,000 and 30,000 people turned out to see their antics, the largest crowd ever assembled on Wall Street up to that time. Chaplin threw himself into the war effort, embarking on a nationwide tour to promote the sale of bonds. That year he would make a propaganda film called 'The Bond'. But there may have been a bit of self-promotion in his appearance at the Sub Treasury. His film 'A Dog&rsquo;s Life' would conveniently open in movie theaters five days later. People weren&rsquo;t used to hearing their movie stars speak in 1918. &ldquo;I never made a speech before in my life,&rdquo; he proclaimed through a megaphone that noon, standing in front of the statue of George Washington. &ldquo;But I believe I can make one now.&rdquo; Fairbanks &mdash; known for swashbucklers and romances &mdash; happily broke character, goofing around with Chaplin to the delight of the crowd. &ldquo;Folks, I&rsquo;m so hoarse from urging people to buy Liberty bonds that I can hardly speak.&rdquo;

The United States had entered the conflict the prior year, on April 6, 1917, and began selling bonds to raise funds for the war effort. Although many Americans were caught up in a patriot fervor, war bond sales were initially quite weak. Most Americans in the late 1910s had never bought a bond of any kind. To promote sales, the government began enlisting celebrities from several fields of entertainment, most notably motion pictures. Since the New York area was filled with film stars &mdash; Hollywood not yet being the center of the film business &mdash; its streets were soon filled with dutiful movie stars, extolling the patriotic and moral virtues of supporting their county through bond sales. Celebrities drew tens of thousands to Wall Street and the foot of the United States Sub Treasury building (today`s Federal Hall) to drum up support for World War I war bonds / Liberty Bonds. Another example, the sale of doughnuts &mdash; considered a symbol of wartime &mdash; on the street by glamorous movie stars like Martha Mansfield.

 Throughout World War I, Sons of the Revolution sold Liberty Bonds in the Long Room to help raise money for the wartime effort, 1918  

Fraunces Tavern

Selling Liberty Bonds in New York City

Protesters set up camp in Zuccotti Park bringing economic inequality into the national spotlight spawning a worldwide Occupy movement. The Canadian anti-consumerist and pro-environment group/magazine Adbusters initiated the call for a protest. The main issues raised by Occupy Wall Street were social and economic inequality, greed, corruption, and the undue influence of corporations on government&mdash;particularly from the financial services sector. The OWS slogan, "We are the 99%", refers to income and wealth inequality in the U.S. between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population.

Zuccotti Park

Occupy Wall Street

 George Washington took the oath of office as the first president of the United States. He delivered his first inaugural address to a joint session of Congress, assembled in Federal Hall in the nation's new capital, New York City. 

1st Presidential Inauguration

On "Black Thursday", the economic bubble of the Roaring Twenties finally burst. Triggered by an overconfident public who were actively trading stocks purchased with easy credit, a raise in the interest rate by the Federal Reserve, low wages, the proliferation of debt, a struggling agricultural sector and an excess of large bank loans that could not be liquidated. Stock prices fall sharply on a day of heavy liquidation. The following Monday, "Black Monday", the stock market falls 22.6%, the highest one-day decline in U.S. history. The crash triggers similar declines in markets around the world. The next day, "Black Tuesday", panic sets in as investors all try to sell their stocks at once. Over 16 million shares of stock were sold, setting a market record of over $14 billion in paper losses. Stock tickers could keep up with the heavy trading volume. At the end of the day, the market was down 33 points, more than 12.8% and the Great Depression began.Panic set in, and on October 24, Black Thursday, a record 12,894,650 shares were traded. ... Black Monday was followed by Black Tuesday (October 29, 1929), in which stock prices collapsed completely and 16,410,030 shares were traded on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day

The great Stock Market Crash of 1929 actually took place over several days starting on Black Thursday, October 24, 1929, and continuing through the next week, ending on Black Tuesday, October 29. The front page of the New York Daily Investment News on Friday, October 25, tells a story that transcends the words on the page. That action led this newspaper to convey a sense of optimism by declaring that the worst of the panic was over. We know now that this couldn&amp;rsquo;t have been further from the truth. The day we now know as &amp;ldquo;The Crash of &amp;lsquo;29&amp;rdquo; &amp;mdash;or Black Tuesday&amp;mdash;occurred the following week &amp;ndash; on October 29. The combined losses on October 28 and 29 exceeded $30 billion and almost 25% of the stock market&amp;rsquo;s value.  

New York Stock Exchange

Stock Market Crash of 1929

As a symbol of Wall Street excesses, 23 Wall Street, the Bank of JP Morgan, was the target of a bomb attack on September 16, 1920. 33people were killed and more than 400 were injured. The perpetrators were never found. The facade also suffered significant damage. The pock marks from the explosion are still visible in the marble facade.One of the mobs which pushed everywhere trying to get word of friends or relatives following the bomb explosion in the office of J.P. Morgan &amp; Co. at Broad and Wall Streets which killed at least 15 and injured hundreds

A bomb  exploded in the office of J.P. Morgan &amp;amp; Co. at Broad and Wall Streets killing at least 15 and injuring hundreds  

Wall Street Bombing of 1920

The Great Blizzard of 1888, Great Blizzard of '88, or the Great White Hurricane (March 11&ndash;14, 1888) was one of the most severe recorded blizzards in American history. The storm paralyzed the East Coast from the Chesapeake Bay to Maine, as well as the Atlantic provinces of Canada. Snow fell from 10 to 58 inches (25 to 147 cm) in parts of New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and sustained winds of more than 45 miles per hour (72 km/h) produced snowdrifts in excess of 50 feet (15 m). Railroads were shut down and people were confined to their homes for up to a week. Railway and telegraph lines were disabled, and this provided the impetus to move these pieces of infrastructure underground. Emergency services were also affected.In New York, neither rail nor road transport was possible anywhere for days, and drifts across the New York&ndash;New Haven rail line at Westport, Connecticut, took eight days to clear. Transportation gridlock as a result of the storm was partially responsible for the creation of the first underground subway system in the United States, which opened nine years later in Boston. The New York Stock Exchange was closed for two days.Similarly, telegraph infrastructure was disabled, isolating Montreal and most of the large northeastern U.S. cities from Washington, D.C. to Boston for days. Following the storm, New York began placing its telegraph and telephone infrastructure underground to prevent their destruction.

 Streets in New York City as the storm hit. Many overhead wires broke and presented a hazard to city dwellers.  

 14th Street, New York City, "just after the storm" (March 14)  

The great storm of March 12th-13th - scene in Printing-House Square, New York City, showing the terrible force of the blizzard [People being blown over by the wind in blizzard; masthead covered with black headline "Blizzard"]    

Great Blizzard of 1888

The massive sculpture is a brick facade of a canal house reminiscent of those that would have been found in 17th century, New York City`s Dutch colonial history. The one-ton hand-painted sculpture, is a 40-foot-high facade of a 17th-century gabled Dutch canal house.When George Washington was inaugurated at Federal hall in 1789, the New York City that had survived the brutal seven-year British occupation was still peppered with vestiges of the homes that 17th century settlers from the Low Countries had left behind.But those slender, gabled canal houses with their Flanders-brick facades were hardly the only legacy of 40 years of Dutch rule, from 1624-1664. What made New York unique among the American settlements was that the Dutch also instilled the values of religious freedom and free trade, well over a century before the first Congress enshrined those freedoms at Federal Hall, in what became known as the Bill of Rights.Originally Commissioned by curator Jan Hoet for his exhibition titled &ldquo;Over the Edges&rdquo; in Ghent, Belgium, Tolle replaced the fa&ccedil;ade of a 17th-century Flemish canal house with a three-dimensional version of its reflection in the water below, blurring the border between architecture and its environment.Tolle named the facade &ldquo;Eureka&rdquo; for the exclamation of discovery often attributed to Archimedes

Eureka : 40 foot sculpture

An art installation of 50 distressed flags collected from each of the 50 states.The American flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing. Artist Mel Ziegler journeyed through all 50 United States between 2011 and 2016 and exchanged distressed American flags flying at civic and private locations&mdash;city halls, post offices, hospitals, homes, and schools&mdash;for new flags. The 50 decayed flags form a work, Flag Exchange, that spans the geography of our union, and represents the spectrum of our allegiance. Ziegler`s work is the catalyst for A Living Thing, which seeks to create space for common ground within our increasingly fractured civil discourse. A Living Thing offers a sanctuary for conversations, performances, debate, and acts of solidarity and resistanceFlag Exchange offers a powerful reminder that artists do new and vital things for our public life, even when nothing else works. Art finds the common ground that we've otherwise lost.

Flag Exchange: A living thing

The Lower Manhattan Historical Association ("LMHA") holds a parade through Lower Manhattan every year starting 2015.This parade is part of a resurgence of patriotic activities in Lower Manhattan on July 4, after a long hiatus from 1976 to 2015. It is in recognition of the recent growth of Lower Manhattan as one of the City's fastest growing residential neighborhoods and as one of the City's major centers of historical tourism.The parade, which traverses Wall Street and passes many of the historic monuments in Lower Manhattan - is designed to provide marchers and spectators with an understanding of the tremendous historic importance of Lower Manhattan.

 Historic re-enactors bring to life the epic American Revolution and the reading of the Declaration of Independence.every year  

July 4th Celebration in New York City

 Around 1699, de Peyster donated part of his garden for the construction of a new city hall. That building was later renamed Federal Hall, which briefly served as the first capitol of the United States, and the site of the first inauguration of George Washington as president. It was replaced in 1842 with the Greek Renaissance structure that stands there today. 

Federal Hall that you see today is actually the third building on this site. Originally, the building was New York`s second City Hall.George Washington gave the renovation project to Pierre L`Enfant who was then a young engineer on his staff as his first architectural commission. Washington was inaugurated on its balcony in 1789; the statue in front was installed for the 100-year commemoration.When the capital was moved to Washington DC, this building was constructed as the US Customs House in 1842 until that function was moved about 20 years later. The Treasury Department then used it to store some of the country`s gold and silver bullions until the Federal Reserve Bank was built.Around 1699, de Peyster donated part of his garden for the construction of a new city hall. That building was later renamed Federal Hall.&nbsp;

opens an engineering and architecture firm;&amp;nbsp; General Washington provides public commissions including the renovation of Federal Hall and the city plan for the nation&amp;rsquo;s new capital&amp;nbsp;  

The dome was originally intended to be coffered, as is common in classical architecture. Instead, a series of zigzag panels taper toward the central skylight,   contrasting with the geometric order of the rest of the interior. The panels are adorned with an Anthemion (palm leaf) motif, a common ornamental feature of Greek architecture borrowed from Egypt. Note also the ring of stone rosettes circling the skylight.   

The gilded iron balcony is among the most beautiful and intricate features of the rotunda interior. The lower portion (called the "skirt") is embellished with the same Anthemion motif as the dome. The female figure seen to the right in the above photo is called a caryatid, another common feature of Greek architecture that is decorative but also acts as structural support for the railing above. The remainder of the railing features a floral design  

The Sub-Treasury desks were arranged around the rotunda of the building.  

The original design called for a&amp;nbsp;colonnade&amp;nbsp;of eight columns facing Wall and Pine Streets, square&amp;nbsp;pilasters&amp;nbsp;on Nassau Street, a massive&amp;nbsp;coffered&amp;nbsp;dome protruding above the roof, and a cruciform floor plan.  

Consequently, a group called Federal Hall Memorial Associates was formed in 1939, raising money to prevent the building's demolition.&amp;nbsp;The building was designated as&amp;nbsp;Federal Hall Memorial National Historic Site&amp;nbsp;on May 26, 1939.  

 'On this site the United State in Congress Assembled on the 13th day of July in the Year of Our Lord 1787 and of their sovereignty and Independence the twelfth, enacted an Ordinance for the government of the territory north west of the River Ohio, by which it was dedicated forever to freedom. Under another Ordinance, passed here by the same body on the 27th day of the same month, Manasseh Cutler, acting for "The Ohio Company of Associates" an organization of soldiers of the Revolutionary Army, purchased from the Board of Treasury for settlement a portion of the waste and vacant land of the territory. On April 7th 1788 Rufus Putnam heading a party of forty eight began the first settlement at Marietta and on July 15th Arthur St. Clair as first Governor established civil government in the territory. From these beginnings sprang the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.'  

&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection; that he would incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow-citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for brethren who have served in the field; and finally that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;mdash;Washington&amp;rsquo;s &amp;ldquo;Earnest Prayer&amp;rdquo; was written by him at Newburgh, New York, at the close of the Revolutionary War, and appeared in the Circular Letter Addressed to the Governors of all the States on the Disbanding of the Army, June 14, 1783 &lt;/p&gt; 

Federal Hall National Memorial

ASSOCIATED SITES