THE 1788 GRAND FEDERAL PROCESSION

OF PHILADELPHIA: A SHORT HISTORY

By Harry Kyriakodis, Esq.

Held on July 4, 1788, the Grand Federal Procession of

Philadelphia was a propaganda display on the part of
Pennsylvania Federalists that linked the proposed United
States Constitution with the celebration of the Declaration
of Independence. Other towns and cities in the nation put
on events called "federal processions" while the
Constitution was being ratified, but Philadelphia's affair
was the largest and most spectacular Federal Procession
of them all.
The pageant began at Third and Cedar (South) Streets
and wound its way three miles through Philadelphia to the
Bush Hill mansion once located near present-day 17th and
Spring Garden Streets. The parade was more than a mile
and half long and comprised over five thousand people. A
broad range of flag-waving artisans and tradesmen in 88
groupings participated in the procession, along with
bankers, clergymen, constables, doctors, foreign
diplomats, lawyers, merchants, military officers and units,
port wardens and customs collectors, Philadelphia court
justices, students, and so on. Five of Pennsylvania's
delegates to the Constitutional Convention marched as well.
Teams of horses pulled several large floats built on carriages. One float was the Grand
Federal Edifice, or "New Roof," a circular temple devised by artist Charles Willson Peale.
About 30 feet high, the structure symbolized the new federal government: 13 Corinthian
 columns—three incomplete or missing—supported a
dome representing the national government. Peale's
concept was that without the unifying dome, the
individual columns would topple. Ten states that voted
for ratification received columns; the three that had not
yet voted (New York, Rhode Island and North Carolina)
received unfinished columns or no columns at all. Atop
the dome was a cupola (representing the new central
government) crowned by the figure of Plenty holding her
cornucopia. The motto "In Union the Fabric Stands
Firm" was carved in the float's base. Members of the
Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia built the Grand
Federal Edifice.
William Hamilton, owner of the Bush Hill manor, offered
his grounds as the site of the pageant's formal
ceremonies. The estate occupied a large amount of
land approaching the Schuylkill River immediately north
of Vine Street, which was Philadelphia's northern limit at
that time. Approximately 17,000 men, women and
children—half the city's population—spread out in front of the manor house. The sprawling lawn
sloped down towards Vine Street and the Schuylkill, as the house was located atop a rise (Bush
Hill). This gentle incline is still visible today in the region between Callowhill and Spring Garden
Streets, from 16th to 20th Streets.
The highlight of the city's Grand Federal Procession was an oration from the New Roof by
Judge James Wilson. A huge feast followed, with casks of porter, beer, and cider. Ten toasts
were drunk in honor of the ten states that had ratified the Constitution. A cannon was fired at
each toast and another cannon was fired in response by the ship Rising Sun, lying a few miles
away in the Delaware River with ten other decorated vessels as part of the festivities. The ships
were later illuminated in the evening.
Altogether, Philadelphia's Constitutional Procession on
July 4, 1788, was the largest civic event in America up to
that point. It was organized in only a few days by local
Renaissance Man Francis Hopkinson along with help from
many important Philadelphians of the day, including
painter Charles Willson Peale, journalist Benjamin
Franklin Bache, and composer Alexander Reinagle. The
entire expense of this celebration was borne by voluntary
contributions from those who marched in the parade.

PHOTOS: THE CARPENTERS' COMPANY OF

PHILADELPHIA RECREATED THE FEDERAL EDIFICE
FOR THE U.S. CONSTITUTION'S BICENTENNIAL
PARADE IN PHILADELPHIA (1987). THE FLOAT WAS
LATER PARADED IN WASHINGTON, DC, AS PART OF
THE PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURAL PARADE FOR
GEORGE H. W. BUSH (1989).
Members of the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia subsequently constructed two replicas of
the Grand Federal Edifice. One was made in 1887 for the centennial commemoration of the
U.S. Constitution. The other was made a hundred years later for the Constitution's bicentennial
parade in Philadelphia on September 17, 1987. This modern New Roof float also participated in
the January 20, 1989, Presidential Inaugural Parade for George H. W. Bush.
For more on the Grand Federal Procession of Philadelphia, see "The Federal Procession of
1788," by John C. Van Horne, Librarian of the Library Company of Philadelphia, a talk delivered
to the Quarterly Meeting of The Carpenters' Company, July 20, 1987; at
www.ushistory.org/carpentershall/history/procession.htm.

SUPPOSED VICINITY OF THE BUSH HILL ESTATE, SITE OF FORMAL

CEREMONIES OF THE 1788 GRAND FEDERAL PROCESSION,
PAINTING BY AUGUST KÖLLNER;
INSETS: JAMES WILSON, ANDREW HAMILTON AND FRANCIS HOPKINSON
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The adoption of the Federal Constitution and the creation of a broad basis of support for it were the work
of skilful statesmanship, persuasive pamphleteering, time and experience. They were also results of the
inspired efforts of patriotic showmen in scores of towns who in the spring and summer of 1788 organized
spectacular demonstrations approving and explaining the new frame of government to the people. These
were the "federal processions"; and by far the largest of them all, the best organized, and perhaps the
most influential was that held in Philadelphia on July 4, 1788.
--From Whitfield J. Bell, Jr., ed., Francis Hopkinson's Account of the Grand Federal Procession
Philadelphia, 1788 (Boston, MA: The Old South Assn., 1962), at 3.