联邦大厅----美国政府诞生地

黄安年文  黄安年的博客/2015年7月7日上午美东时间,晚上北京时间发布

在美国独立日前夕,我们来到纽约世界贸易中心遗址参观,随后步行前往华尔街及南渡口浏览。这里一直是美国的金融中心,在纽约作为临时首都期间,联邦大厅也是美国第一届总统华盛顿宣誓就职的地方,因而也是美国联邦政府的诞生地,具有极其重要的历史意义。此地我来过多次，这次和两个外孙等旧地重游。

照片17张3日下午拍摄于现场，其中有我的身影照是女儿拍摄的。

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Birthplace ofAmerican Government

Here on WallStreet, George Washington took the oath of office as our first President, andthis site was home to the first Congress, Supreme Court, and Executive Branchoffices. The current structure, a Customs House, later served as part of the USSub-Treasury. Now, the building serves as a museum and memorial to our firstPresident and the beginnings of the United States of America.

http://www.nps.gov/feha/index.htm

Federal Hall

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Federal Hall, built in 1700 as NewYork's City Hall, later served as the first capitol building of theUnited States of America under the Constitution, as well as the site of GeorgeWashington's inauguration as the first President of the United States. Itwas also where the United States Bill of Rights wasintroduced in the First Congress. The building was demolished in 1812.

Federal Hall National Memorial was built in 1842 as the United States Custom House,on the site of the old Federal Hall on WallStreet, and later served as a sub-Treasury building. It is nowoperated by the National Park Service as a nationalmemorial commemorating the historic events that occurred there.

History[edit]

Federal Hall,Seat of Congress, 1790hand-colored engraving by Amos Doolittle, depicting Washington's April 30, 1789 inauguration

Historicbuilding[edit]

The original structure on thesite was built as New York's second City Hallin 1700, on Wall Street, in what is today the Financial District of LowerManhattan. In 1735, JohnPeter Zenger, an American newspaper publisher, was arrested for committinglibel against the British royal governor and was imprisoned and tried there.His acquittal on the grounds that the material he had printed was trueestablished freedom of the press as it was later definedin the Bill of Rights.^[1]

ArchibaldRobertson’s "View up Wall Street" with City Hall (Federal Hall) andTrinity Church, New York City, from around 1798

In October 1765, delegates fromnine of the 13 colonies met as the Stamp Act Congress in response to the levying ofthe Stamp Act by the Parliament of Great Britain. Drawntogether for the first time in organized opposition to British policy, theattendees drafted a message to King George III, the Houseof Lords, and the House of Commons, claiming entitlement tothe same rights as the residents of Britain and protesting the colonies' "taxation without representation".

After the American Revolution, the City Hall served asthe meeting place for the Congress of the United Statesunder the Articles of Confederation, from 1785until 1789. Acts adopted here included the Northwest Ordinance, which set up what wouldlater become the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin,but more fundamentally prohibited slavery in thesefuture states.

In 1788, the building wasremodeled and enlarged under the direction of Pierre Charles L'Enfant,^[2] who was later selected by President GeorgeWashington to design the capitalcity on the Potomac River. This was the first example of Federal Style architecture in the United States.It was renamed Federal Hall when it became the first Capitol of the United Statesunder the Constitution in 1789. The 1st United States Congress met there onMarch 4, 1789, to establish the new federal government, and the first thingthey did was count the votes that elected George Washington as the first President of the United States. Hewas inaugurated on the balcony of the building on April 30, 1789.

Many of the most importantlegislative actions in the United  States occurred with the 1st Congress atFederal Hall. Foremost was the proposal and initial ratification of the Bill ofRights to the U.S. Constitution; twelve amendments to the Constitution wereinitially drafted (ten were later adopted), and on September 25, 1789, the United States Bill of Rights wasproposed in Federal Hall, establishing the freedoms claimed by the Stamp Act Congress on the same site 24 yearsearlier. Also, the Judiciary Act of 1789 was enacted in thebuilding, which set up the United States federal court systemthat is still in use today.

George Washington in front of Federal Hall National Memorial

CustomsHouse and Treasury building[edit]

In 1790, the United Statescapital was moved to Philadelphia, and what had been Federal Hall once againhoused the government of New York City until 1812,when the building was razed with the opening of the current New York City Hall.^[3] Part of the original railing and balconyfloor where Washingtonwas inaugurated are on display in the memorial.^[4] The current structure, one of the bestsurviving examples of classical architecture in New York, was built as the country's firstCustoms House. Designed by John Frazee, it was constructed of Tuckahoemarble and took more than a decade to complete. It opened in 1842.

In 1862, Customs moved to 55Wall Street and the building served as one of six United StatesSub-Treasury locations. Millions of dollars of gold and silver were keptin the basement vaults until the Federal Reserve Bank replaced the Sub-Treasurysystem in 1920.

In 1882, John Quincy Adams Ward's bronze George Washington statue waserected on its front steps, marking the approximate site where he was inauguratedas President in the former structure.

In 1920, a bomb was detonatedacross the street from Federal Hall at 23Wall Street, in what became known as the Wall Street bombing. Thirty-eight people werekilled and 400 injured, and 23  Wall Street was visibly damaged, but Federal Hallreceived no damage. A famous photograph of the event shows thedestruction and effects of the bombing, but also shows the statue of Washington standingstoically in the face of chaos (see below).

Main hall of thememorial

FederalHall National Memorial[edit]

The building was designated as FederalHall Memorial National Historic Site on May 26, 1939, and redesignated a nationalmemorial on August 11, 1955. As with all historic areas administered by theNational Park Service, the memorial waslisted on the National Register of HistoricPlaces on October 15, 1966. Federal Hall was designated a landmark by the New York City LandmarksPreservation Commission on 000000001965-12-21-0000December21, 1965.^[5]

Congress convenesfor a special session at Federal Hall National Memorial on September 6, 2002

On September 6, 2002,approximately 300 members of the United States Congress traveled from Washington,D.C. to New York to convene in Federal Hall National Memorial as a symbolicshow of support for the city, still recovering from the September 11, 2001 attacks. Held justfour blocks from the World Trade Center site, the meeting wasthe first by Congress in New Yorksince 1790.^[3]

The site closed on December 3,2004 for extensive renovations. In 2006, Federal Hall National Memorialreopened after a $16 million renovation, mostly to its foundation, after cracksthreatening the structure were greatly aggravated by the collapse of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers.

It was reported on June 8, 2008,that New York City MayorMichaelBloomberg and ABC News invited 2008 United States presidentialcandidates John McCain and BarackObama to a town hall forum at Federal Hall.^[6] Both candidates declined the offer"because they do not want it limited to one television network."^[7]

The National Park Serviceoperates Federal Hall as a national memorial. As a national memorial, the siteis open free to the public from 9 a.m.to 5 p.m. on weekdays. It has tourist information about the New York Harborarea's federal monuments and parks, and a New  York City tourism information center. The gift shophas colonial and early American items for sale. Normally its exhibit galleriesare open free to the public daily, except national holidays, and guided toursof the site are offered throughout the day. Exhibits include GeorgeWashington’s Inauguration Gallery, including the Bible used to swearhis oath of office; Freedom of the Press, theimprisonment and trial of JohnPeter Zenger; and New York: An American Capital, preview exhibitcreated by the National Archives andRecords Administration.

Shrine[edit]

Two prominent American ideals arereflected in the current building's architecture: The Doriccolumns of the facade, designed by IthielTown and Alexander Jackson Davis, resemble those ofthe Parthenonand serve as a tribute to thedemocracy of the Greeks; the domed ceiling inside, designed by JohnFrazee, echoes the Pantheon and is evocative of the republicanideals of the ancient Romans.

The current structure is oftenovershadowed among downtown landmarks by the New York Stock Exchange, which is locateddiagonally across Wall and Broad Streets, but the site is one of themost important in the history of the United States and, particularly, thefoundation of the United States government and its democraticinstitutions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Hall