Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Objects of State: US Edition

Episode Date: July 13, 2021

Every government had objects which central to their functioning. These are items, physical objects, usually steeped in history and tradition which are involved in the mythology of the state. In most countries, these objects are often given the status of religious relics, and in some countries, they might actually be religious relics. The United States is no exception. Learn more about the American objects of state in this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every government has objects which are central to their functioning. These are items, physical objects, usually steeped in history and tradition, which are involved in the mythology of the state. In most countries, these objects are given the status of religious relics, and in some countries, they actually might be religious relics. The United States is no exception. Learn more about the American objects of state in this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong?

throughline is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night and how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. This episode is sponsored by Expedia's OutTravel the System podcast. I know you love to hear the story behind the story. So let me tell you why I think you might want to listen to the Expedia podcast, Out Travel the System. This season alone, the show talks to someone on a mission to visit every country in the

world. In case you're wondering, the tally stands at 194 out of 197 countries. There's the man who's visited and stayed at literally thousands of hotels who share some of his favorite unique accommodations and experiences. Or how about the woman who has reached some deep philosophical conclusions about travel and privilege in no small part because of the pandemic? Get all of this and more when you tune into the show, including including larger insights about the future of travel, as well as tips and tricks to maximize

your savings for your next trip, whenever you feel ready to head out into the world again. You can find OutTravel the System on your podcast platform of choice. The genesis of this episode came from researching stories about several different historical objects. After researching several of them, I realized that they all had a common theme. They were all important objects in the history of the country, and there is either some important significance behind them, or the actual object is used in the governance of a country. Every country has these items, and some countries put more importance on them than others. I'm going to start with the United States, just because that's what I'm most familiar with.

And we'll start with the most obvious and important one, the Constitution of the United States. I'm not talking about the ideas and the words in the Constitution, but rather the actual, physical, original copy of the document itself. There's been a rumor floating around for years, that the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights were all written on hemp paper. And this is not true. While hemp paper was common at the time, it wasn't used for really important documents. Really important documents were written on parchment. The drafts of the Constitution may have been written on hemp paper, but the final draft was not.

Partiment is made from animal skin. The parchment that the Constitution was written on came from sheepskin. The actual document was actually a rush job. Once the delegates agreed on the final language, the final parchment version had to be done over a weekend for the final signatures. The person whose handwriting is on the Constitution is a man by the name of Jacob Chalice. He was the assistant clerk to the Pennsylvania General Assembly, which met at Independence Hall, where the constitutional convention delegates were meeting. He was paid $30 for his service. Because he had to transcribe almost 4,000 words to four large pieces of parchment, there are actually are a few small,

all errors in the document. There were a couple of cases where he missed a word and then had to insert a word between others. On the bottom of the first page, he had to scrape out an entire line, and when he had the document ready for the delegates on Monday, they had a last minute changed when they increased the maximum allowable number of representatives from one per 40,000 people to one per 30,000. He actually documented the changes at the end of the last page. The document was really not considered very important after it was signed. James Madison originally took custody of the document, as he was the Secretary of State, but then he lost track of it. It was found in 1883 in the closet of the building used by the departments of state, war, and

Navy. It was folded in a tin box, and nobody even knew it was there. In 1894, the State Department took control and put the document between two plates of glass for protection. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge issued an executive order which transferred the documents to the Library of Congress. A building for the National Archives was completed in 135. as a New Deal program, but the documents weren't moved there right away. They were actually held in Fort Knox during the duration of World War II. In 1951, the documents were transferred to a special case which was filled with helium and special light filtering glass. Today, the Constitution, along with the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence, is on display at the National Archive Rotunda during the day.

In the evening, the documents descend into a specially designed vault that can withstand a nuclear blast. Another item that has special significance is the Star-Spangled Banner. This is the actual flag that was flown over Fort McHenry and Baltimore during the War of 1812, and it was the inspiration for the U.S. National Anthem. The flag has 15 stars and 15 stripes, which represented the 15 states at the time. They eventually gave up adding new stripes, as there were too many. The flag was originally 30 by 42 feet, and it was created by a local Baltimore seamstress named Mary Young Pickersgill. The flag was commissioned by the Fort Commander who wanted, quote,

a flag so large that the British would have no difficulty seeing it from a distance, unquote. As it notes in the song, the flag survived the war, and it went into the hands of the family of the Fort Commander. Over the years, they gave away pieces of the flag as gifts, and currently the flag is only 30 by 34 feet in dimension. Today, the flag is owned by the Smithsonian Institute, and it is on permanent display at the National Museum of American History. Both houses of Congress have objects which capture the traditions of their bodies. In particular, the gavels. The House of Representatives has many gavels. Gavils get used, and they literally take a beating.

The House has gone through many, many, many different gavels. In fact, they used to have their own lave in Washington just to make gavels. The oldest gavel in the House collection was used by the former Speaker of the House, Nicholas Longsworth, from 1925 to 1931. There's a rather recent tradition that started in 1999. At the opening of a new session of Congress, it's called to order by the clerk of the House. The clerk has one duty, and that is to run the election for the Speaker of the House. For this one duty, the clerk has a special gavel which is only taken out and used for this one purpose. The gavels used in the House are typically mallet-type gavels with a handle.

In the Senate, the gavels have a much longer history. There was a single hourglass-shaped ivory gavel with no handle, which was believed to have been first used in 1789 by then Vice President and President of the Senate, John Adams. However, by the 1950s, it was getting worn out and cracked. They put silver end caps on the gavel to help stop the wear, but it finally shattered in 1954 by the then Vice President Richard Nixon. The current Senate gavel was donated to the Senate by the newly independent government of India. The desks in the Senate also have a lot of history.

Each senator gets their own desk on the floor of the Senate. Some of the desks are reserved by Senate rules for senators from certain states. The desks used by Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and Jefferson Davis are all reserved for the senior senator from the respective states where they're from. The president also has some traditional objects, in particular the presidential desk, also known as the Resolute Desk. The Resolute Desk was a gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford Hayes in 18. The wood from the desk came from the hall of the HMS Resolute, which was a ship that got trapped in ice in the Arctic. The desk weighs approximately 1,300 pounds. The location of the desk has changed over the years.

It's been used all over the White House in both public and private areas. The desk was first used in the Oval Office by John F. Kennedy in 1961. President Johnson moved the desk and then put it on display in the Smithsonian. The desk was taken out of the Smithsonian by Jimmy Carter and has, has been used by every president since. There have been a total of six different desks used by various presidents since President Taft created the modern West Wing, which was used as the administrative wing. The ceremonial desk for the vice president is the Theodore Roosevelt desk.

There's one final object I want to mention. This is actually the object that got me started down this rabbit hole about government objects. It started with a real simple question. To whom does the President of the United States submit their resignation? to if they resign. You might think it would be the vice president, or if not them, then maybe the Speaker of the House. But it isn't. When Richard Nixon resigned, and he was the only president to resign, he submitted his letter of resignation to the Secretary of State. Why the Secretary of State? Because the Secretary of State is the keeper of the seal of the United States. The seal isn't just a

design that's on the currency, but it's also a physical object which is used to validate official documents. It consists of a metal dye as well as a large wooden press. There have been several presses used since the establishment of the country, but the current press and dye have been in use since 1904. The seal is currently on display in the headquarters of the State Department, visible through Plexiglass. But it's actually used two to three thousand times per year to validate documents such as treaty ratifications, appointments of ambassadors, and communications from the president to the heads of foreign governments. If you go to the government, if you go visit the State Department, there's a good chance you may actually see some official come out,

stick a piece of paper in the press, and validate some official document. These are just a few of the objects which hold a special place in the U.S. federal government. Other countries have their own objects, which I'll be exploring in future episodes. Many of those objects are much more interesting, actually, than the American ones, if for no other reason that their country is much older. The associate producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Thor Thompson. Today's review comes from listener, Bybe, over at Podcast Republic. They write, Love learning about new things and quick small bites. The topics are things I didn't know I wanted to know about, and I'm glad that I have. Thank you, Baibay. As you know, there are

known unknowns, but there are also known unknowns and unknown unknowns. Turning unknown unknowns into known knowns is what my podcast is all about. Remember, if you leave a review, you two can have your review read on the show. Also, if you email me a question, I'll answer it as well.