Excerpt from Memorial Exercises on the Occasion of the Centennial Anniversary of the First Presbyterian Church of Caldwell, N. J., Wednesday, December 3, 1884 "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them. That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over. That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever. - Joshua IV. 6, 7, 23, 24. If it had not already been done, I should embrace the splendid opportunity which this centennial anniversary furnishes, to bring before you the fullest history of this church which can now be written. Fourteen years ago it was my privilege to present you with the record of eighty-six years of the now completed century of your ecclesiastical life. In the absence, therefore, of necessity to review again in detail the items of our church's history, I have found what appears to me a suitable theme for this interesting occasion in the text announced. As the reading of the Scripture lesson placed before us the connection of these words, we may turn directly to the subject which they suggest, viz.: The Signification and Purpose of Sacred Memorials. The divine wisdom plainly appears in this command to observe a then already customary form of commemoration. It met that human weakness through which it happens that the most sacred impressions are prone to die. Moreover it harmonized with God's usual methods hitherto. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Columbus Day, Labor Day, Martin Luther King's Birthday, and other celebrations matter to Americans and reflect the state of American local and national politics. Commemorations of cataclysmic events and light, apparently trivial observances mirror American political and cultural life. Both reveal much about the material conditions of the United States and its citizens' identities, historical consciousness, and political attitudes. Lying dormant within these festivals is the potential for political consequence, controversy, even transformation. American political fetes remain works in progress, as Americans use historical celebrations as occasions to reinvent themselves and their nation, often with surprising results. In six engaging chapters 'assaying particular political holidays over the course of their histories, Red, White, and Blue Letter Days examines how Americans have shaped and been shaped by their calendar. Matthew Dennis explores this vast political and cultural terrain, charting how Americans defined their identities through celebration. Independence Day invited African Americans to demand the equality promised in the Declaration of Independence, for example, just as Columbus Day—celebrating the Italian, Catholic explorer—helped immigrants proclaim their legitimacy as Americans. Native Americans too could use public holidays, such as Thanksgiving or Veterans Day, to express dissent or demonstrate their claims to citizenship. Merchants and advertisers colonized the American calendar, moving in to sell their products by linking them, often tenuously, with holiday occasions or casting consumption as a patriotic act.