Author Archives: malloryberry

George Washington’s First Inaugural Address

By: Mallory Berry

My close friend is a Historic Preservation major, here at The College. I have spent plenty of hours sitting beside her, watching her screen while I did my own homework. Seeing her go into different databases, and look up historical documents always amused me, and part of me believed that I would never have to do that same research, as she did every day. However, through her I was able to really appreciate this search for documents.

I started my search for a document that related to the early United States, and quickly became fascinated with the idea of viewing primary documents from that time period. Seeing the cursive-script lined pages brought life to that time period, for me. As an English major, and throughout this class, it has been interesting to read from a printed book; but I think that reading texts as they were written can bring a new perspective to what was said. The careful lines, how the text was organized by the author, coffee-stained pages, and any mistakes crossed out, or notes left in the margin can allow readers to see something very personal, as opposed to Times New Roman on a bleach-white page.

Browsing The Library of Congress’s database, I was able to find a section on Words and Deeds in American History. From there, I searched through, looking for something that felt relevant to our coursework. Dated back to April 30, 1789 shows the written document for George Washington’s inaugural address to Congress and the House of Representatives. Having the opportunity to view the original document, and to be able to read through his thought process while writing was extremely interesting to me. People now see figures like George Washington as stable figures who do not make any mistakes. However, being able to see words scratched out, and marks notating where he wants to add a sentence, or change his word choice was very humanizing.

The formatting of the page is a scanned version of Washington’s journal. The quality of the document is not great, just because of the fact that it is a document from the 18th century, and moving that to a digital format can also affect the way in which it looks. Reading the document was a little difficult, with the smudged letters, and being able to see the pen strokes from the previous page bleeding through. Reading the cursive text was not incredibly difficult for me, but all of the other marks on the page did slow me down in reading it. On the other hand, had this page been typed up, and placed in front of me, I do believe that it would be significantly easier to read than how Washington wrote it. If this was reproduced to be printed, I would hope that all of the marks Washington made would be maintained, or put in a footnote– because I think that there is great power in the words that he chose to use, and how exactly he got to that point.

With Washington being a historical figure that we often reference throughout this course, but have not had the chance to examine his writing, I thought that this would be a perfect document to examine. I really enjoyed looking for it, and encourage anyone looking for some historical reading to check out the 12 pages of Washington’s writing.

George Washington’s first inaugural address, 30 April 1789.
(George Washington Papers)

https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage

Provost Dungeon Tour– by Mallory Berry

I went to the Old Exchange Building and Provost’s Dungeon this past week to get a better insight into 18th century life for Charlestonians. I chose this location because it is one of the historic landmarks I have not been to in Charleston yet, and I thought it would be a great way to expose myself to something new while also being able to use the historical knowledge I have gained in this class.

My first stop of this 18th-century tour of Charleston was at the Washington square park on Broad St. I walked around, and admired the statues and signage that explained who the person was and why they were important. Of course, the one I stopped at for longer than the others was the George Washington statue. It was incredibly interesting to read about his travels to Charleston, and his impact on the country. Having that statue be the first stop on my trip set it up to be the perfect journey through the experience of the early United States.

Once I arrived at the Old Exchange Building, I was met with two young men dressed in 18th-century garb selling tickets at the front door. It honestly felt as though I was sent back to the 18th century myself, at that moment. Additionally, once I walked in, and could see all of the artifacts from the 18th century, I felt especially drawn back at that time period. Throughout being able to look at the artifacts and their descriptors, I became more conscious of the power these people once had in the early Americas. The most impactful point of the exhibit to me was the part in which they allowed you to “see back in time” through paintings of what you would have been able to see from the Old Exchange Building’s windows during the 18th century. I stood at those murals for a while, pondering the experience of those who actually lived through that time period, and would have been able to see through those windows in the past.

As I walked through the rest of the Old Exchange Building, being able to witness actual artifacts was very helpful in making connections to what we have learned in this course. Seeing familiar names, as well as familiar events was extremely interesting, grabbed my attention– especially after learning about all of this in the class. Some pictures I chose not to include in this blog post, but that were still very important to me, were some descriptions of Benjamin Franklin as well as John Andre. Having had the ability to read the works of these individuals, and then see their “most important” facts listed in a museum added to the experience for me.

I personally found it incredibly beneficial to see descriptions of the people we discuss in class, and some artifacts from that time period. I think this puts students who live in Charleston at an advantage, as not many other colleges have as many historical landmarks and museums about American history as we do.