America will soon celebrate its 250th birthday. This column at our nation’s first milestone anniversary, its 50th. Let’s now turn to July 4, 1876, when Americans marked the centennial of the Declaration of Independence.
By the time of its 100th anniversary, the nation had 37 states with a population of 45 million. It was only 11 years after the end of the Civil War and just days after Lt. Col. George Custer was defeated by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse in the Battle of Little Bighorn. The president was Ulysses S. Grant. There was no vice president. The man who held the job, Henry Wilson, died the previous year; in those days there was no provision to appoint a successor.
“The centennial anniversary of the day on which the people of the United States declared their right to a separate and equal station among the powers of the earth seems to demand an exceptional observance,” said Grant. “It seems fitting … a grateful acknowledgment should be made to Almighty God.”
On Independence Day in 1876, parades rolled through cities and small towns, and fireworks set alight jubilant skies. That year’s celebration coincided with the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, the city where the Declaration was signed.
At the exposition’s July 4 ceremony, Richard Henry Lee, grandson of the revolutionary leader of the same name, read the Declaration to an assembled throng. A century earlier, the elder Lee had made the motion at the Second Continental Congress declaring independence from Great Britain.
The Philadelphia Exposition showcased new industrial, agricultural and technological innovations, including the steam engine, the Remington typewriter, Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone and Thomas Edison’s telegraph. What would become iconic American foods — Heinz Ketchup, Hires Root Beer and popcorn — were greeted with great cheer.
Susan B. Anthony led suffragists in crashing the official ceremony at Independence Hall with their own "Declaration of the Rights of Women.” A special pavilion celebrated numerous inventions pioneered by women.
Across the country, crowds gathered from New York’s Central Park to Galveston, Texas, where 100 white doves (one for each year) were released. In Peoria, Illinois, lawyer and orator Robert G. Ingersoll called the Declaration of Independence the "grandest, the bravest, and the profoundest political document that was ever signed."
Festivities traversed California, a state for only 25 years. More than 10,000 marchers and 400,000 spectators powered a grand parade in San Francisco. San Diego staged a full day of activities, from benedictions to parties and songs. In Los Angeles, the centennial committee produced a book on July 4 festivities, including a lengthy parade and lively civic pageantry.
Some White Southerners, however, saw no reason to revel; they viewed Independence Day as a pro-Union event celebrated mostly by Northerners. This underscored the raw emotions and economic hardships that still existed after four brutal years of civil war and a tense decade of Reconstruction in the South.
Louisian’s recognition of Independence Day 1876 was restrained — although observances were reported in New Orleans, Morgan City, Hahnville, Donaldsonville, New Iberia and Natchitoches.
William Pitt Kellogg was governor of h. Born in Vermont and later an Illinois resident, he began his h career when President Abraham Lincoln appointed him customs collector for the Port of New Orleans. He went on to become one of the state’s most prominent Reconstruction-era Republicans. Kellogg not only served as governor, but survived impeachment after the state Senate failed to convict him, held seats in the U.S. House and Senate and battled through bitter Reconstruction election contests.
In 1876, Louisian had a population of about 850,000. New Orleans had 200,000 residents and Baton Rouge had fewer than 7,000.
At the time, Charles J. Leeds was mayor of New Orleans, when the city was Louisian’s temporary state capital. Leeds was known for pursuing drainage and street improvements, but he also supported the paramilitary White League’s insurrection, known as the Battle of Liberty Place, which sought to overthrow the Reconstruction government just two years before the centennial celebration.
Leon Jastremski was mayor of Baton Rouge. In that position, he worked to restore the city as Louisian’s capital. Born in Toulon, France, Jastremski fought on the Confederate side in some of the Civil War’s most famous battles: Harpers Ferry, Antietam, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg.
July 4, 1876 — just imagine all that happened during those first 100 years, and what was to come in the next 150.