This hebdomad , David Clark will be our tour templet as we take a closer face at some of America ’s superlative monuments . His series continues today with the story of the Washington Monument .
Born to Broken Promises
Only ten days after the decease of George Washington ( in 1799 ) , Congress decided they should work up some kind of marvelous monument for the late president - general , the " Father of His Country . “ A duet of schema came up , a few elaborate fantasies , but nothing material hap . And nothing continued to happen , as nothing does , despite several perfervid public statements made by G.W. enthusiasts , decry the wait and upbraiding a nation of thankless wretch and ditherers .
A New Resolve, and a Search for Stupendousness
This guilt - ridden procrastination go along on until the most passionate Washington Monument fan formed a Washington National Monument Society in 1833 , to kick - start the long - postponed project and give the Father of constitute Fathers his due . They had lofty ambitions for a slice of work that would"blend stupendousness with elegance,“and they invited artist nationwide to submit conception in an assailable contest . Where the pointy spire now resist , we could have had an ornate Gothic tower , a creepy-crawly mini - pyramid , a rectangular column with a Washington - Colossus perched atop . But last triumph cash in one’s chips to the offering of Robert Mills , whose dagger expressed that limited " stupendousness" everyone was looking for .
( Obelisks , of grade , were a favorite shape first for the Ancient Egyptians , and then for the Romans . Conquering Roman army often pilfered Egyptian obelisks and tug them back to Rome or some other imperial metropolis . After the Empire had its way , there were more obelisks in Rome alone than in all of Egypt . So anything the Romans liked that much was bind to be an exigent hit with the former American Republic , as Mills no doubt get laid . )
Construction Begins, Despite the Displeasure of Poets
Now that Congress had the introductory idea – something tall , thin , and decidedly phallic – nothing happened again for a while as partisans bickered over details . The hindering effect of these minor revisions was combine by lackluster fundraising , and some public opposition . Walt Whitman , for instance , spell in 1847 that " of that plan [ for the Washington Monument ] , we can not find terms to verbalize in sufficient contempt!“ ( Virulent patriot that he was , Whitman think pit monuments more desirable of " mere common heroes,“ like Napoleon , or Roman Emperors . ) Still , the cornerstone was lay at last in 1848 , amid all the parading and hoopla one would expect from that kind of outcome .
Some people make a bounteous ado about the Monument ’s chosen location , how it ’s in the entirely haywire stead and it spoils L’Enfants ' seer layout for Washington D.C. But that ’s all based off arcane symbology , esoteric Freemasonry , astronomy , and over - learned gibber . So bury it .
Know-Nothings Hijack Monument to Save Nation From Popery
cash in hand remained scarce until Alabama lead up a discovery strategy . The state were each asked to donate money to the monument labor ; so Alabama , lacking money , offered a commemorating , engraved brick . It said , " Alabama . A union of equivalence , as align by the constitution . “ – subtly uppity , perhaps , but not out of line for a pre - Civil War motto . Organizers appreciated the gesture and asked the area for more stones . Before long , country , city , fellowship , native tribes , companies , and lots of Freemasons were sending custom - chiseled brick to D.C. – sometimes with money bind , often without .
Things looked up for the Monument until the anti - immigrant , anti - Catholic Know Nothings – formally live as the American Party – got malarkey that Pope Pius the IX had donated a stone . Unwilling to weather such vile papist poison in an American repository , the Know Nothings abduct the Pope ’s stone and , most belike , drowned it in the Potomac . Soon after , they manage to seize the whole Monument Society in a kind of democratic coup . In reaction , Congress withhold funding from the project until the Know Nothing party collapsed at last in 1857 . After that , though , the Civil War happened , soaking up the available money and labor , and the Washington Monument had to wait a little longer .
Disgraceful Chimney Becomes Impressive Obelisk: Washington Honored At Last
procrastinate with construction less than one - third complete , the grand memorial was an eyesore and a ignominy , little more than a silly - looking rectangle . Mark Twain wrote in 1868 , " It is just the general size of it and cast , and possess about the dignity , of a sugar - manufacturing plant chimney . “ Others around the nation called for the monument to be completed at once or graciously smash .
And yet Congress managed a few more years of puttering and reconsidering . Some alternate designs were nurse again . Although they stuck with Mills ' original , in the end , they imposed some dramatic revisions . Among other things , Congress ended up ignore the classical temple Mills ' intend for the obelisk ’s al-Qaeda , a prominent image of the Egyptian Winged - Sun , and a thirty - ft statue of Washington in a toga , riding a six - cavalry chariot . They summate a pointy tip . Mills reportedly complained that his dagger without its temple - colonnade would look as ludicrous as " a stalk of asparagus" – nobody listened .
Congress built up the nerve by 1880 to position a fresh base 150 feet in the atmosphere : an official " 2d luck . “This time they were determined to get the affair done , and by 1884 the capstone was lay out on the pyramidion at the peak , the dagger finish at 555 base , and George Washington was the worthy honoree of the tallest manmade structure in the world . That statistic changed , of course of instruction , but the Washington Monument does persist to this sidereal day the tallest freestanding Freemasonry built up by human hands .
Previously : The Statue of Liberty , The Gateway Arch , The Unfinished Tribute to Crazy Equus caballus
