The practical construction of the Washington National Monument, in detail, as a work of great engineering skill, is a subject for separate account and technical discussion.
The history of the Monument is found in the annals and proceedings of Congress and in the records and archives of the Washington National Monument Society. This history, in the main, is the history of that Society—its original formation, subsequent incorporation by act of Congress, and its long continued and patriotic labors to fulfil the object of its existence, the erection at the seat of the Federal Government of a great Monument to the memory of Washington.
The origin of the Society is to be found in the failure of the National Congress, through a long series of years, to redeem a solemn pledge made by the Continental Congress, in 1783.
A review of this failure properly precedes any account of the Society or of the constructed Monument.
IN CONGRESS.
On the 7th of August, 1783, it was resolved by the Congress "that an equestrian statue of General Washington be erected at the place where the residence of Congress shall be established." The resolution also directed that "the statue should be supported by a marble pedestal on which should be represented four principal events of the war in which he commanded in person."
On the pedestal were to have been engraved the following words:
"The United States, in Congress assembled, ordered this statue to be erected in the year of our Lord, 1783, in honor of George Washington, the illustrious Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the United States of America during the war which vindicated and secured their liberty, sovereignty, and independence."
At this time Washington was beloved by the American people as their great leader in their struggle for liberty. But the passage of this resolution by Congress was not followed by any legislative action looking to its practical execution.