Office of the Historian

No. 2.
By the President of the United States of America.

a proclamation.

Whereas by the act of Congress approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, providing for a national celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the Independence of the United States, by the holding of an international exhibition of arts, manufactures, and products of the soil and mine, in the city of Philadelphia, in the year [Page 29] eighteen hundred and seventy-six, it is provided as follows: “That whenever the President shall be informed by the governor of the State of Pennsylvania that provision has been made for the erection of suitable buildings for the purpose, and for the exclusive control by the commission herein provided for of the proposed exhibition, the President shall, through the Department of State, make proclamation of the same, setting forth the time at which the exhibition will open, and the place at which it will be held; and he shall communicate to the diplomatic representatives of all nations copies of the same, together with such regulations as may be adopted by the commissioners, for publication in their respective countries;”

And whereas his excellency the governor of the State of Pennsylvania did, on the twenty-fourth day of June, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, inform me that provision has been made for the erection of said buildings and for the exclusive control by the commission provided for in the said act of the proposed exhibition;

And whereas the President of the United States Centennial Commission has officially informed me of the dates fixed for the opening and closing of the said exhibition, and the place at which it is to be held:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States, in conformity with the provisions of the act of Congress aforesaid, do hereby declare and proclaim that there will be held, at the city of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, an international exhibition of arts, manufactures, and products of the soil and mine, to be opened on the nineteenth day of April, anno Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-six, and to be closed on the nineteenth day of October, in the same year.

And in the interest of peace, civilization, and domestic and international friendship and intercourse, I commend the celebration and exhibition to the people of the United States; and in behalf of this Government and people, I cordially commend them to all nations who maybe pleased to take part therein.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington this third day of July, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, and of the Independence of the United States the ninety-seventh.

[seal.]
U. S. GRANT.

By the President:
Hamilton Fish,
Secretary of State.