THE 1788 GRAND FEDERAL PROCESSION OF PHILADELPHIA: A SHORT HISTORY

By Harry Kyriakodis, Esq. Held on July 4, 1788, the Grand Federal Procession of Philadelphia was a propaganda display on the part of Pennsylvania Federalists that linked the proposed United States Constitution with the celebration of the Declaration of Independence. Other towns and cities in the nation put on events called "federal processions" while the Constitution was being ratified, but Philadelphia's affair was the largest and most spectacular Federal Procession of them all.

The pageant began at Third and Cedar (South) Streets and wound its way three miles through Philadelphia to the Bush Hill mansion once located near present-day 17th and Spring Garden Streets. The parade was more than a mile and half long and comprised over five thousand people. A broad range of flag-waving artisans and tradesmen in 88 groupings participated in the procession, along with bankers, clergymen, constables, doctors, foreign diplomats, lawyers, merchants, military officers and units, port wardens and customs collectors, Philadelphia court justices, students, and so on. Five of Pennsylvania's delegates to the Constitutional Convention marched as well.

Teams of horses pulled several large floats built on carriages. One float was the Grand Federal Edifice, or "New Roof," a circular temple devised by artist Charles Willson Peale. About 30 feet high, the structure symbolized the new federal government: 13 Corinthian

columns—three incomplete or missing—supported a dome representing the national government. Peale's concept was that without the unifying dome, the individual columns would topple. Ten states that voted for ratification received columns; the three that had not yet voted (New York, Rhode Island and North Carolina) received unfinished columns or no columns at all. Atop the dome was a cupola (representing the new central government) crowned by the figure of Plenty holding her cornucopia. The motto "In Union the Fabric Stands Firm" was carved in the float's base. Members oCarpenters' Company of Philadelphia built the Grand Federal Edifice.

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William Hamilton, owner of the Bush Hill manor, offered his grounds as the site of the pageant's formal ceremonies. The estate occupied a large amount of land approaching the Schuylkill River immediately norof Vine Street, which was Philadelphia's northern limit that time. Approximately 17,000 men, women and

children—half the city's population—spread out in front of the manor house. The sprawling lawn sloped down towards Vine Street and the Schuylkill, as the house was located atop a rise (Bush Hill). This gentle incline is still visible today in the region between Callowhill and Spring Garden Streets, from 16th to 20th Streets.

The highlight of the city's Grand Federal Procession was an oration from the New Roof by Judge James Wilson. A huge feast followed, with casks of porter, beer, and cider. Ten toasts were drunk in honor of the ten states that had ratified the Constitution. A cannon was fired at each toast and another cannon was fired in response by the ship Rising Sun, lying a few miles away in the Delaware River with ten other decorated vessels as part of the festivities. The ships were later illuminated in the evening.

Altogether, Philadelphia's Constitutional Procession on July 4, 1788, was the largest civic event in America up to that point. It was organized in only a few days by local Renaissance Man Francis Hopkinson along with help from many important Philadelphians of the day, including painter Charles Willson Peale, journalist Benjamin Franklin Bache, and composer Alexander Reinagle. The entire expense of this celebration was borne by voluntary contributions from those who marched in the parade.

PHOTOS: THE CARPENTERS' COMPANY OF PHILADELPHIA RECREATED THE FEDERAL EDIFICE FOR THE U.S. CONSTITUTION'S BICENTENNIAL PARADE IN PHILADELPHIA (1987). THE FLOAT WAS LATER PARADED IN WASHINGTON, DC, AS PART OF THE PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURAL PARADE FOR GEORGE H. W. BUSH (1989).

Members of the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia subsequently constructed two replicas of the Grand Federal Edifice. One was made in 1887 for the centennial commemoration of the U.S. Constitution. The other was made a hundred years later for the Constitution's bicentennial parade in Philadelphia on September 17, 1987. This modern New Roof float also participated in the January 20, 1989, Presidential Inaugural Parade for George H. W. Bush.

For more on the Grand Federal Procession of Philadelphia, see "The Federal Procession of 1788," by John C. Van Horne, Librarian of the Library Company of Philadelphia, a talk delivered to the Quarterly Meeting of The Carpenters' Company, July 20, 1987; at www.ushistory.org/carpentershall/history/procession.htm.

SUP L POSED VICINITY OF THE BUSH HILL ESTATE, SITE OF FORMACEREMONIES OCESSION, OF THE 1788 GRAND FEDERAL PR

PAINTING BY AUGUST KÖLLNER; INSETS: JAMES WILSON, ANDREW HAMILTON AND FRANCIS HOPKINSON

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The adoption of the Federal Constitution and the creation of a broad basis of support for it were the work of skilful statesmanship, persuasive pamphleteering, time and experience. They were also results of the inspired efforts of patriotic showmen in scores of towns who in the spring and summer of 1788 organized spectacular demonstrations approving and explaining the new frame of government to the people. These were the "federal processions"; and by far the largest of them all, the best organized, and perhaps the most influential was that held in Philadelphia on July 4, 1788.

--From Whitfield J. Bell, Jr., ed., Francis Hopkinson's Account of the Grand Federal Procession Philadelphia, 1788 (Boston, MA: The Old South Assn., 1962), at 3.