"The man is the monument, the monument is America."
- Marcus Cunliffe, Historian, 1958
The Washington Monument is known throughout the entire United States of America, but most of us just take it for granted and do not give it a second thought. If we questioned ourselves as to why the Washington Monument is there, who built it, when was it built, or who or what it was named after, we would realize that we have very limited knowledge on the Monument's background. The following post will provide basic facts about the Washington Monument's background and history, as well as comparing the perceived controversy between what the memory of the monument was more than 100 years ago when it was built and today.
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| The Washington Monument in 1885 (The Washington Post, February 22, 1885) |
Background: 170 Years of History
Design and Construction
- The Washington Monument was named and built in honor of the first president of the U.S., President George Washington.
- In 1833, the Washington Monument National Society (WMNS) was founded and began its mission of raising funds for a monument to be named after George Washington.
- Robert Mills' design for the Monument was chosen in 1845.
- Mills originally wanted a very complex design that would later seem impossible to build because of the lack of funds and political issues to come.
- In 1848, President Polk chose the site for the Monument, which is where we enjoy it today, in the center of the National Mall.
- In June 1848, the WMNS began construction of the Washington Monument, having only raised $87,000.
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| The capstone of the Washington Monument (The Washington Post, February 22,1885) |
Forty Year Gap
- The construction of the Monument halted as soon as the $87,000 had been used, which left the monument at a height of 150 ft. approximately.
- The pressing economic situation of the country and critical political issues such as the Civil War prevented the WMNS from being able to raise more funds for construction.
- Interesting fact: During the Civil War the Washington Monument grounds were used for the grazing of government cattle.
- In 1876, Senator John Sherman proposed the passing of a resolution that stated that the federal government had to complete the construction of the Monument.
- An additional $200,000 were used to complete the Washington Monument, which was achieved on December 6, 1884.
- Due to the 30 year gap between the start and end of the construction of the Monument, the marble for the obelisk was acquired from two different quarries in Baltimore, MD which can be seen through the two colors of stone. The first 150 ft. is a more pearl-like color, and the rest is more of a beige color.
Dedication Ceremony
- The dedication ceremony for the Washington Monument took place on February 21, 1885.
- Important groups that attended included: the military, masonic organizations, the Grand Army of the Republic, and the Stonecutters od D.C.
- The ceremony took place ar the base of the Monument and then eventually there was a procession to the Capitol building where more speeches were given, but was not open to the public.
- At the beginning of the ceremony Col. Casey had the honors of representatively offering the monument to the American people, who was symbolized by President Chester A. Arthur.
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| The Washington Monument 2010 |
- Robert Mills' original design went through many alterations due to lack of funds for the construction of the Monument, today the Washington Monument stands at 555 feet and five and a half inches tall as a lone obelisk.
- Today, 193 Commemorative Stones are displayed throughout the inside of the shaft that were donated to the Monument by all 50 states, from fraternal and community organizations, cities and towns, foreign countries, and individuals.
- The importance of the Monument is kept alive in Washington, D.C. especially since no building can be built to surpass its height it in the D.C. area.
- The significance of the Monument has changed over the years, now instead of representing the man, George Washington, it represents Washington, D.C., the city.
A Monumental Comparison: Then and Now
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| View from the top of the Washington Monument |
From 1848 to 2010, much has changed about the monument- from its physical structure, to the aesthetics surrounding the structure to its complex and morphed meaning over time. Tong Zhang and Barry Schwartz, authors of “Confucius and the Cultural Revolution: A Study in Collective Memory”, propose two models that frame understandings of collective memory. First, they articulate that “memory is context-dependent and changes as it is invoked across generations.”[1] Second, they articulate “every society, even the most fragmented, requires a sense of sameness and continuity of what came before.”[2] Concurring with this argument, James Young, author of The Texture of Memory: Holocaust Memorials and Meaning, expounds that some memorials educate the next generation by inculcating them with a shared experience.[3] He adds, “New generations visit memorials under new circumstances and invest them with new meanings. The result is an evolution in the memorial’s significance, generated in the new times and company in which it finds itself.”[4]
In 1848, it was the memory of a great man that was celebrated with the inception of the monument and over time the memory of the past has grown to change the meaning of the monument in the present. The extent to which memory builds a common American heritage through the monument has been greatly dependent upon tension between the past and present and their reciprocal impression upon one another.
While originally constructed to remember America’s first President, the monument’s collective meaning and symbolism have become more complex over time. Once about memorializing a great founding father and his legacy in the creation of the United States, today the public perceives the Washington Monument as having little to do with Washington, the man and considerably more to do with Washington, the city. Collective memories provide societies with an imagined community, a sense of stability, being, and order to feel connected to a nation of people far greater than one individual’s experience. Memory, however, is never neutral.
According to the NPS, the uninformed visitor is led to believe that the significance of the monument and George Washington are conflated to the point that the events and celebrations at the monument over time have eclipsed the original intent of it - Washington’s legacy. Young himself admits that monuments as cultural reifications “reduce or, in Broszat’s words, “coarsen” historical understanding as much as they generate it.”[5] Monuments although built with a specific purpose in mind, take on a life of their own and the people themselves indirectly change the monument or memorial’s meaning and significance.
Conclusion
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| View from the top of the Washington Monument |
[1] Tong Zhang and Barry Schwartz, "Confucius and the Cultural Revolution: A Study in Collective Memory," in States of Memory: Continuities, Conflicts, and Transformations in National Retrospection ed. Jeffery K. Olick (Durham Duke University Press, 2003), 101-02.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Young, The Texture of Memory: Holocaust Memorials and Meaning, 2.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid., 5.
