Place where John & Abigail Adams, and John Quincy & Louisa Catherine Adams worshipped and are buried. Of interest is a letter from John to Abigail about his thoughts on church: Phyladelphia Octr. 9, 1774 My Dear I am wearied to Death with the Life I lead. The Business of the Congress is tedious, beyond Expression. This Assembly Read more...
President Abraham Lincoln spoke September 30th, 1859 at the Wisconsin State Fair. This campaign speech was his only speech on agriculture. He would create the U.S. Department of Agriculture two years after being elected as President of the United States. In recognition of then-Candidate Lincoln’s speech, a granite marker with a brass plaque was placed by the 4th Congressional District Read more...
From the Newspaper: the body was conveyed to the Methodist Church, and a funeral sermon delivered by the Rev. J. B. McFerrin. The speaker, in that portion of his remarks personal to the deceased, gave a brief sketch of his life and public career, passed a high and deserved eulogium on his moral character and unblemished integrity, and detailed in Read more...
Newton Bateman (1822-1897) was born in poverty in New Jersey, moved to Illinois, started a school in St. Louis, then became Illinois Superintendent of Public Instruction, and authored the Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois. While Bateman was a student at Illinois College here in Jacksonville, Lincoln was a state legislator representing nearby in New Salem, in the also nearby Springfield. They Read more...
The tallest structure in DC is the Washington Monument. This is a fitting monument to General Washington whose willingness to challenge the great British Empire and whose humility to relinquish that power is properly honored. But the top of the monument does not honor Washington, rather it reads, Laus Deo – Glory to God. Straight north of the Washington Monument Read more...
On Washington Avenue, stands the Thomas Jefferson Religious Freedom Monument, made from stones sent from churches across the country. It commemorates Jefferson’s Virginia Religious Freedom Statute, promising that “no man shall… suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief.” The Statute became the basis for the religion clause of the First Amendment. copyrighted and used by permission from David Beale, Baptist History Read more...
Marked by a tall obelisk at 1500 Washington Avenue, is the grave of George Washington’s mother. Near the obelisk, an inscription on Meditation Rock says of her, “Here Mary Ball Washington prayed for the safety of her son and country during the dark days of the Revolution.” Mary’s home is at 1200 Charles Street. copyrighted and used by permission from David Read more...
Learn from Tim Schmig about the multiple references to God in the Jefferson Memorial: Below the frieze on the dome I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man The Declaration of Independence We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, Read more...
The K in James K Polk stands for Knox. His mother was Jane Knox, a direct descendant of John Knox, the Scottish preacher who faced off against Bloody Queen Mary. His mother, it is said, held to four things: the Bible, the Confession of Faith, the Psalms, and Isaac Watts’ Hymns. His father on the other hand, scoffed at religion. Read more...