Freedom Shrine

A Freedom Shrine presented by the Exchange Club of Stamford and dedicated on June 14, 1979 was created by the National Exchange Club to strengthen citizen appreciation of American heritage through reproductions of historic American documents displayed in chronological order. These include the Mayflower Compact signed by 41 colonists aboard the Mayflower at Cape Cod on November 11, 1620; the Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4, 1776 and later signed by members of Congress; Washington's May 22, 1782 letter to Colonel Lewis Nicola rejecting a proposal to make him king; the Treaty of Paris of September 3, 1783 recognizing the independence of the United States; the Constitution completed on September 17, 1787; the Northwest Ordinance passed on July 13, 1787; the Bill of Rights, proposed on September 25, 1789 and ratified by December 15, 1791; Washington's First Inaugural Address and his Farewell Address draft; Jefferson's First Inaugural Address of March 4, 1801; "The Star Spangled Banner" written after the British attack on Fort McHenry in September 1814; the Monroe Doctrine of December 2, 1823; the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863; the Gettysburg Address of November 19, 1863; Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address of March 4, 1865; the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery, adopted on December 18, 1865; Robert E. Lee's August 24, 1865 letter accepting the presidency of Washington College; the account of Susan B. Anthony's 1872 trial for illegal voting; Theodore Roosevelt's January 22, 1907 letter on Cuba; Wilson's First Inaugural Address of March 4, 1913; the Nineteenth Amendment adopted on August 26, 1920; Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" address of January 6, 1941; the selection of General Eisenhower as Supreme Commander of Overlord; McAuliffe's Christmas message of 1944 at Bastogne; the German and Pacific instruments of surrender ending World War II in 1945; John F. Kennedy's 1961 inaugural address; and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a Dream" speech of August 28, 1963.

Stamford, Connecticut · United States