American Symbols & Icons

George Washington• George Washington

was the first president of the United States of America. He was the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. We celebrate his birthday on February 22 with a holiday.

Quiz• What monument was built in honor of his

memory?

• Where is this monument?

Answer

• Washington Monument

• Washington D.C.

"Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

Statue of Liberty

• Statue of Liberty was a gift from _________?

• She is a symbol of hope and freedom for immigrants coming to America.

Event at which a gift from France to the US was conceived:   Dinner PartyDate:   1865Location:   Glatigny, France (near Versailles)Host:   Edouard-Rene Lefebvre de Laboulaye (1811-83)Honored Guest:   Frederic Auguste Bartholdi(As accounted by Bartholdi in 1885 - ref: Trachtenberg)

Date Construction of the Statue began in France:   1875Title of Statue: "Liberty Enlightening the World"

Sculptor:   Frederic Auguste BartholdiBartholdi's Military Rank: Quartermaster to a force of five thousand soldiersBartholdi's Commander at Autun during Franco-Prussian War in 1870:        Giuseppe Garibaldi (FS1986)

Statue Facts

Sculptor:   Frederic Auguste BartholdiBartholdi's Military Rank: Quartermaster to a force of five thousand soldiersBartholdi's Commander at Autun during Franco-Prussian War in 1870:        Giuseppe Garibaldi (FS1986)

Structural Engineer: Gustave EiffelMethod of Fabrication: Repousse Process

Statue completed in Paris: June 1884Statue presented to America by the people of France: July 4, 1884Statue dismantled and shipped to US: Early 1885

1885 Transport Ship: French frigate "Isere" Number of individual pieces shipped to US: 350Number of crates required: 214

                               

Statue Facts

Statue Pedestal• Largest 19th century Concrete Structure in the US -

    Statue of Liberty Pedestal    27,000 tons, 13,300 cubic yards.     Below grade: 53 feet deep, 91 feet square at the bottom, 65 feet square at     the level of the original Fort Wood.     The pedestal above grade is constructed of concrete walls from eight to     nineteen feet in thickness that continue the battered line of the     truncated pyramidal foundation, tapering from 65 feet square at     grade to 43 feet at the foot of the statue with a central     opening 27 feet square.

Date of Final Assembly of statue & pedestal: 1886

Abraham Lincoln

• Our sixteenth president

• He issued the Emancipation Proclomation

• He was assassinated in 1865 by ___________

• Birthday Feb. 12

Quiz

• What was built in honor of Abraham Lincoln?

• Where is it?

ANSWER

• Lincoln Memorial

• Washington D.C.

Liberty Bell

• Rung July 8, 1776 to proclaim the United States freedom from Britain

• Cracked in 1835

Quiz

• Where is the Liberty Bell on display?

ANSWER

• Independence Hall

• Philadelphia

Bald Eagle

• Symbol bird of the United States

• Represents traits of courage, strength, and independence

4th of July• Declaration was

signed on this day 1776

• Birthday of the United States

• Fireworks are in remembrance of the Battle of 1812 when Francis Scott Key wrote the Star-Spangled Banner

QUIZ

•Why do we celebrate using

fireworks?

ANSWER

• Fireworks are in remembrance of the Battle of 1812 when Francis Scott Key wrote the Star-Spangled Banner

Declaration of Independence

• Written by Thomas Jefferson and adopted by the Second Continental Congress

• Led to the Revolutionary War

• Declared the United States FREE from England

QUIZ

• In what year was the declaration written?

ANSWER

•1776

United States Constitution

• Oldest set of laws used today.

• Contains the Bill of Rights

• Written September 18, 1787 and ratified a year later.

Pledge of Allegiance

• I Pledge Allegiance to the flagof the United States of America

And to the Republic for which it stands,One Nation under God,

Indivisible,With Liberty and Justice, for All.

Star-Spangled Banner• Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed by the twilight's last gleaming

• Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming

• And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in airGave proof through the night that our flag was still there

• Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet waveO'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

American Flag• 13 Stripes-

representing the original 13 colonies

• 50 Stars – representing the 50 states

• More Red stripes than white stripes because red is the first color stripe on the flag.