Foundations stronger than stone and paper

A solid foundation is essential to any endeavor. A building like the Empire State Building rests on a solid foundation, a life like Abraham Lincoln or Joseph Smith's was possible because of solid foundations and a nation must be centered over a solid foundation to enable personal and collective liberties. Today was a day where I was able to see foundations and think about some foundations of my own life.
  Because I don't start my internship until next week I'm going to be able to visit some of the museums, monuments, and institutions this week. If today had to have a theme it would be 'foundation'.
   I went with two of my friends from the program who didn't start today and we started by walking the 15 minutes to the Lincoln Memorial. I have many thoughts about Lincoln and his legacy. I thought that the inclusion of his 'Gettysbug Address' and second inaugural speech in the monument were fitting. The Lincoln Memorial has also become the symbol of equality and ability to express the desire for change with events like Marian Anderson singing and Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech in 1963.

While George Washington may be "First in War and Peace", Abraham Lincoln and he share the place as "First in the hearts of his countrymen" for their positions as founder and restorer of the Union. 

After that we continued on our journey as we walked to the FDR and then Jefferson Memorial. It was a lovely day, where it was cold enough that I was glad for the windbreaker, but still winter. The National Mall and museums were nearly empty and there were no lines. It was nice to walk by the Potomac down to the other presidential monuments. 

I felt that many of FDR's quotes about the nature of poverty and need are very applicable today and I enjoyed the memorial to one of the president's that guided our nation through both the Great Depression and World War II. 

Photo taken from the FDR Memorial

After looking at the Jefferson Memorial we walked up (yes, there was quite a bit of walking) to the National Museum of American History. We didn't get to get through the whole museum but we enjoyed the "Star-Spangled Banner" and the Presidential gallery. I didn't know that they have a 'sun-stone' from Nauvoo and one of the Golden Spikes from the finishing of the transcontinental railroad  in 1869. They also had the counter from the 1960 Greensoboro, NC  'Sit In' that was accompanied by an interesting exhibit on the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation and the 1963 Civil Rights  march. On the way out we also enjoyed some of the less historically important, but still enjoyable artifacts of movies, like a 'Batarang' from The Dark Knight and Daniel Radcliffe's Harry Potter robe

After learning that it is much cheaper to always carry a water bottle rather than buy one in the Smithsonian Cafeteria for lunch, we headed to the National Archives to finish our day. I don't have any pictures inside the Archives because in order to protect the documents photography is not permitted. I loved being able to see the documents that have formed the foundation of our nation: Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. While the documents themselves have no power, they represent ideas and beliefs that are much stronger than the paper they are found on or the stone that protects them. There was no line and only fifteen to twenty people in the rotunda so we had a chance to sit and read the documents. It was amazing.