Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Trinity Church influence on Revolution and Other Relations

Not only was Trinity Church apart of financial ownership, but it reached out to the community as well during the revolution. Its connection with Wall Street was a crucial part how the church owned so much land and grew to have people come by regularly.
1.      Definitely Monumental
a.       George Washington’s inauguration was held here.
b.      Alexander Hamilton
c.       Buried in the cemetery
                                                              i.      Francis Lewis (signer of the Declaration of Independence)
                                                            ii.      Hugh Williamson  (signer of the U.S Constitution)
2.      Soldiers /Martyrs monument 
a.       Soldiers who died in revolutionary war   
3.      Trinity Wall Street has played a pivotal role in the religious and civic life of the city
a.       Gave two thirds of land to city and to religious institutions
                                                              i.      Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic
b.      Gave back to the community
4.      Imagine you were a slave back then and once you were freed, you could go to school! Trinity Church created school for freed slaves in eighteenth century. If you were a slave during this time, by the American Revolutionary War, you constituted nearly a quarter of the population in the city, which had the second largest number of slaves in the nation after Charleston, South Carolina.
                                                              i.      Called Trinity Charity
1.      The city expanding they needed more members mission house, hospital, helping the elderly.. etc.
5.      A place where many could pray for their loved ones during the dark days and revolution.
6.      It’s relation to Occupy Wall Street
a.       Trinity is located near Zuccotti Park, the location of the Occupy Wall Street protest.
 It has offered both moral and practical support to the demonstrators. 

4 comments:

  1. Did Alexander Hamilton have a large role in this church? If he did, in what way? Also if the church didnt have such a good relationship with Wall Street, would have as many people gone regularly and would the church be less significant?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hamilton did not really have an exact role in the church, but you can tell he made an enormous impact on it, after all he is buried there. It really is such an honor to to be buried in such a memorable church. I also believe the church was trying to portray that Hamilton was no "greater" in social class than a farmer or merchant. As we saw on the tour, Hamilton's tombstone is not the most extravagant one in the cemetery so this really showed that the people of the church and the New York society in general thought of Hamilton as "one of them." I know i am straying a little far from your question, but I think it is important to notice the location of Hamilton's tombstone.Trinity church is on Wall Street which is practically NYC's financial street, and the fact that Hamilton was in charge of our nations money, Trinity church seems like an excellent place to bury him because of its location right on wall street.
      To answer your second question I don't believe that its actual street location would be significant because this was where George Washington prayed after his inauguration and many civilians looked up to him for support. So I do not believe the location would cause much of an impact on the significance because George Washington prayed there and Trinity church really helped out the community

      Delete
    2. Hamilton did not really have an exact role in the church, but you can tell he made an enormous impact on it, after all he is buried there. It really is such an honor to to be buried in such a memorable church. I also believe the church was trying to portray that Hamilton was no "greater" in social class than a farmer or merchant. As we saw on the tour, Hamilton's tombstone is not the most extravagant one in the cemetery so this really showed that the people of the church and the New York society in general thought of Hamilton as "one of them." I know i am straying a little far from your question, but I think it is important to notice the location of Hamilton's tombstone.Trinity church is on Wall Street which is practically NYC's financial street, and the fact that Hamilton was in charge of our nations money, Trinity church seems like an excellent place to bury him because of its location right on wall street.
      To answer your second question I don't believe that its actual street location would be significant because this was where George Washington prayed after his inauguration and many civilians looked up to him for support. So I do not believe the location would cause much of an impact on the significance because George Washington prayed there and Trinity church really helped out the community

      Delete
  2. One thing that I found amusing was how the church provided education for slaves. I feel as if after the war, the African Americans began to have more time for them to improve themselves with education and communities to be comparable to the white population.

    ReplyDelete