Preserving Potentials

We had nearly circled the tidal basin by the time we reached the John Paul Jones statue and made our way to the Archives. Getting in entailed a maze of security checks. "Has this ever changed!" said Andy.

We wandered individually in the stacks, looking at the interactive exhibits. I couldn't read and absorb fast enough. One display said two of every three Confederate deaths and three of five Union deaths in the Civil War between 1862 and 1865 were caused by disease: typhoid, measles, diarrhea, pneumonia and dysentery. It prompted a government order for all hospitals to attach body tags from 1863 on.

I didn't know a Constitutional Amendment proposed in March of 1861 would have halted all government interference in slavery. It was proposed to stop secession. Instead, four years later on December 18, 1865, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery altogether. The District of Columbia ended slavery on April 16, 1862, and even paid owners loyal to the Union $300 for each freed slave. It's amazing to me how some decisions are driven so much more by economics than morality.

Thomas Jefferson raised geese so he'd have quills for his pens. A goose only produces three to five good feathers for quill pens, and pens last about a week.

And twice I read the information about Hiram Rhodes Revels, the first African-American elected to the U.S. Senate in 1870. He even took Jefferson Davis' seat. How appropriately ironic! I could have browsed hours more and not scratched the surface.
Together Andy and I headed back to the Rotunda for a look at America's most treasured documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. "You can read the Constitution, 'cause it was locked up in a drawer in the dark after it was completed," said a docent. "See, here's the signature of George Washington." He pointed to the Constitution. "And here is Thomas Jefferson and here, Benjamin Franklin. But the Declaration of Independence, now that's a different story. It was handled and passed around, 'cause the people were so excited about it. Why, they had it hangin' up on the wall for 40 years, includin' ten years exposure to sunlight opposite a window in the Patent Office Building. Imagine that!"

Now cool temperatures, low light levels and absolutely no photography preserve the most influential legal documents of all time.

What an exhausting day! We stopped at Legal Seafood on F Street to relax with a glass of Chardonnay. Metro reduced fare didn't take effect until 7 p.m. Crossing D Street, we watched a whole group of photographers move camera equipment. "It looks like a movie," said Andy.

"I'm checking it out," I declared.
"Sure, come in until someone throws you out," said a man moving an equipment box along the sidewalk. We just finished. We filmed a Washington D.C. lottery commercial."

"Guess we'll never see that one," I told Andy.

Our day's end at the Washington Monument did not include an opportunity to reach the top. All tickets had been distributed by 10 a.m. "How about tomorrow?" I asked Andy.

"No," he answered. "Ticket distribution opens at 8:30 a.m., we won't get here until 10 on the Metro, and it's supposed to rain. I don't want to wait in line to go to the top and not see anything."

"Then I guess we'll enjoy it now," I said. Surrounded by lighted American flags, the obelisk pointed skyward to a twinkling star-filled universe.