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July 3, 1825/July 3 2025: Lafayette “Naturalizes” Americans at Federal Hall

Federal Hall

The Marquis de Lafayette is winding up the bicentennial of his tour of the United States as the nation’s guest by helping to naturalize 150 people from 43 countries at Federal Hall in New York in a ceremony conducted Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain, United District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The ceremony combined history and civics at the historic site at the location where Washington once swore an oath of office and the fledgling country was governed. Naturally, the location being in southern New York City it was girded in scaffolding so the participants in the ceremony were forced to enter through the rear entrance rather than walk the step entrance with the statue of Washington. Still that was a short price to pay for what was about to unfold.

The proceedings represented a collaborative effort by multiple seemingly unrelated entities.

First, there was the American Friends of Lafayette (AFL) who provided Lafayette. He is nearing the end of his 13 month visit to the then United States. It began only months ago in New York when he first arrived in August and will conclude in September when he returns to France from Washington, DC.

Second, it was held Federal Hall instead of the usual Judge’s chambers. Historic Federal Hall is operated by the National Park Service which already has suffered from cutbacks, retirements, and layoffs. It will further be decimated by the passage of the new spending bill signed into law on July 4, 2025.

Third, it was conducted by the Southern District of New York. Normally the citizenship ceremony would have been held in the chambers of the Chief Judge. She agreed to relocate to Federal Hall.

Fourth, the music was provided by Tyler Diaz who played music composed by Charles Francis Johnson, University of Pennsylvania, in 1824 for Lafayette’s visit. This was an exceptional honor for a Black composer.

Fifth, this combination of entities was created by Abby Suckle, Vice President of the Lower Manhattan Historical Association (LMHA) as part of her “It happened here” initiative celebrating events which actually occurred in lower Manhattan.

Needless-to-say, the planning required to create this unique experience was tireless effort on Suckle’s part assisted by Catherine Hughes (LMHA).

The ceremony consisted of the following:

Jennifer Zehner, Park Ranger and Site Manager, National Park Service, welcomed people to this historic site.

Chuck Schwam, Executive Director, the American Friends of Lafayette, spoke about Lafayette’s importance in American history and the bicentennial celebration of visit in 1824-1825.

Lafayette himself, fully costumed, then addressed the future citizens, their families, and others in the audience about his love and hopes for this country. He passionately and robustly but briefly regaled the audience with his own experience as a one-time visitor to the country who helped bring about its creation in the American Revolution.

Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain spoke about her own experience as the descendant of immigrants to New York. She was referring to the Great Migration from the former Confederacy north. Her very position as Chief Judge in the leading federal district in the United States spoke volumes about the opportunities for the soon-to-be-sworn in citizens. Besides her life story, she spoke about the importance of voting and joked about seeing the new citizens in her courtroom as jurors, another important responsibility as citizens. I don’t know what is customary for the remarks by a judge in a naturalization ceremony, so I have no basis for determining the length and subject of such comments. I suspect that being in Federal Hall with Lafayette may have influenced her to go beyond the routine to speak more historic than the usual “congratulation” comments.

Following her remarks, the future citizens where called up one by one to receive their certificate of citizenship. That action began a series of stops probably unique to this ceremony.

The new citizens then posed for pictures with Lafayette sometimes with a relative. It is quite possible that before the naturalization ceremony they had never heard of Lafayette before. Now they will have this photographic keepsake along with the naturalization certificate as a memory of the event.

They received a t-shirt “It Happened Here” from the cultureNow station.

They received information about Lafayette from the American Friends of Lafayette.

Finally they received a clipboard of voter registration forms to fill out.

As one might know or suspect, the naturalization ceremony was an emotional experience for the participants. People had waited years, even decades, before becoming citizens. Now the moment had arrived. The magical moment was an emotional experience for new-citizens there with their families. It was an emotional experience for others in the audience as well. It is easy to forget how meaningful becoming an American citizen can be, how important it is, and why people cry at these ceremonies.

We hear a lot these days about aspirations. We should consider the words of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as aspirations of a world we hope will come and not as one in which we live. That deflection into the future has its place in the American political discourse but it overlooks what is happening in the present.

Having been there at Federal Hall on July 3 for the naturalization ceremony, I can say

At that moment, in that place, in that ceremony, the words of aspiration were fulfilled;

At that moment, in that place, in that ceremony, the America Dream was lived;

At that moment, in that place, in that ceremony, we were a city on a hill.

There is only one word to describe what happened on July 3, 2025, naturalization ceremony at Federal Hall,

PERFECTION.

 

Immigrant Achievements

On October 10, 2022, the Lower Manhattan Historical Association (LMHA) resumed its annual in-person “Alexander Hamilton Immigrant Achievement Awards Ceremony” after the COVID hiatus. The ceremony was held at Trinity Commons, the new facility of Trinity Church in Manhattan located on a bridge walkway from Church. It provides a spectacular view the Trinity Church and is a wonderful facility to hold an event in lower Manhattan.

The awards this year were awarded to (in alphabetical order):

Michael Arad (Israel): the designer of the National September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center site titled “Reflecting Absence.” His design was selected by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation from among over 5000 submissions. He subsequently worked on fulfillment of his architectural vision.

Manuel Castro (Mexico): Commissioner in the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. He is responsible for running the New York City agency dedicated to supporting over 3.2 million immigrants in New York City. Previously during COVID, he was the executive Director of New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE).

Wellington Chen (Formosa, Hong Kong): He is an architect by training and has a life-long interest in community resuscitation. He is the executive director of the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation and serves on a range of organizations encompassing political, economic, and social areas.

I was asked to speak (for four minutes) on the importance of immigration. Below is my talk.

Today we salute Alexander Hamilton for helping to establish the country that would permit millions of other immigrants to fulfill the American dream.

I would like to begin with the story of one such family … mine. About one century ago, my father’s family arrived in the here from Russian-occupied Latvia.  Sound familiar?

My grandfather had first come here several years earlier to avoid the Russian draft.  Sound familiar?

He subsequently returned home, married, started a family, and left again. When the family arrived with my father they settled in Eagle Pass, Texas. Perhaps you heard of it recently. Later they relocated to New York. This means my family may be the first immigrant family to travel from Eagle Pass to New York.

Now here we are a century later. What has changed?

Or as the son of Italian-American immigrants said: “It’s déjà vu all over again.”

By now, I am sure you have the pictures of Russians fleeing Putin’s partial mobilization and war. As I looked at those scenes of longlines of cars, I was reminded of another scene of longlines of cars, only this one to fulfill the American Dream.

The scene is from the ending of the movie Field of Dreams. The cars are heading for a mythical baseball field in a field of corn. There Kevin Costner is playing catch with his deceased father. The father asks, “Is this heaven?’ The son replies, “It’s Iowa.” The father looks around and says, “I could have sworn this was heaven.” Kevin asks his father, “Is there a heaven?” Dad answers, “Oh yeah. It’s the place dreams come true.” The son looks around and sees his family, his home, and his farm and says, “May be this is heaven.” Grown men have be known to weep at this scene.

Closer to where we are today, there is another cinematic attestation of the cosmic fulfillment of the American Dream at a City on a Hill. I am referring, of course, to the scene from Working Girl. Melanie Griffith is taking the Staten Island ferry to New York. She sees before her not the Iowa farm but the city of Manhattan. She sees Lower Manhattan with the World Trade Towers. She sees the Statue of Liberty. She does so to the sound of Carly Simon singing

Let the river run
Let all the dreamers
Wake the nation
Come, the New Jerusalem.

New York is the island at the center of the world.

New York is the cosmic center.

New York is the City on a Hill.

New York is where dreams come true.

From the Jews who arrived in 1654 to the Irish at Castle Garden to the Great Migration, New York has been a beacon light for centuries even before the torch of Lady Liberty shone.

If the Lower Manhattan Historical Association granted awards to all the immigrants to this land who have fulfilled the American Dream, we would be here for years.

We must recognize that the dream has not been fulfilled for all who have come here or have been brought here or have been born here.

We must recognize that there still is much work to be done before that vision can be fulfilled.

 But we also should take time to recognize and salute those who have succeeded.

 It is with that vision in mind that the Lower Manhattan Historical Association is proud to grant the Alexander Hamilton Immigrant award to this year’s awardees.

Immigrants and July 4

On July 2, the Lower Manhattan Historical Association (LMHA) held its second annual Alexander Hamilton Immigrant Awards Ceremony at Federal Hall, the National Park service site at Wall and Broad Streets in Lower Manhattan. Following the ceremony a parade was held (an edited video will be available at the LMHA website in the near future.
As a board member of the organization, I was asked to say a few words immediately prior to the handing out the awards. A slightly longer version of my remarks are presented below.

 

Today we honor four Americans at the Alexander Hamilton Immigrant Awards Ceremony. If I had said these words – say – 5, certainly 10 years ago, people would have been befuddled and looked at me in bewilderment.

Sure Alexander Hamilton was a founding father.

Sure he helped establish this country.

Sure he has a long list of achievements which I could recite until you are bored.

But immigrant!?

Recognizing Alexander Hamilton for having been an immigrant!

What’s going on here?

When Hamilton and others constituted this country, no one knew that it would last.

No one knew it would have a centennial.

No one knew it would have a bicentennial.

No one knew it would celebrate its 241st birthday.

But even as those first Americans sang Yankee Doodle Dandy, they called America an experiment.

And as we know, not all experiments succeed.

A journey had begun but would it endure?

With round two, the War of 1812, it looked like the experiment might end in failure. As a new generation of Americans was baptized by blood into the American covenant experience, things looked grim for the fledgling country. But we sang the Star Spangled Banner and endured. The journey continued.

On July 4, 1817, in Rome, New York, a hole in the ground was dug on what became the Erie Canal, a wonder of wonders of technological achievement and political vision. The journey continued and their were canal songs to sing as you can hear from the Hudson River Ramblers outside on the steps of Federal Hall.

By July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of our birthday, the experiment seemed a success. We had overcome the threats to our existence and were ready to fulfill a manifest destiny. On that very day two of the authors of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, died within hours of each other. For the people of times there could only be one explanation for such a coincidence: Divine Providence blessed this country. The journey continued.

On July 4, 1827, New York freed its slaves. The unfinished business that stained the very fabric of this country ceased in at least one more part of it. The journey continued.

At the beginning of July in 1863, the two halves that had been rendered asunder fought at Gettysburg. Months later, Abraham Lincoln in an address that would redefine the country, said these words which Americans still recall to this very day: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

Lincoln knew that not all the people in the audience were sons and daughters of the American Revolution.

Lincoln knew that many of the people in the audience and who had voted for him were immigrants.

Lincoln also knew that Americans native-born or naturalized who had been baptized by blood in the war to preserve the Union stood as one with those who had created the country 77 years earlier. Lincoln heard a new song, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, a song that combined the words of a Congregationalist and the music of a Methodist camp song, the leading religions of the colonial past and the Civil War present joined together. The journey continued.

When the “War to end all Wars” was fought, once again immigrants joined with the native-born on behalf of the country they loved. Irishman George M. Cohan revived Yankee Doodle Dandy on behalf of the effort to win the war Over There, Over There and America sang his songs as another generation and new immigrants were baptized by blood into the American covenant community. The journey continued.

World War II confronted America with the face of pure evil. This time it was a Russian-born Jewish immigrant, Irving Berlin, who composed the song America sang on its way to victory. With “God Bless America” another generation of Americans, native born and from Ellis Island rose to the occasion. The journey continued.

Have we run out of new songs to sing about the country we love? Have we stopped producing people who express their love of country through music? Sure there is Born in the USA by the Boss, a beloved song to the Gipper, who said it was morning in America and we are a city on a hill that the eyes of the world are upon. We don’t hear those sentiments coming from the White House anymore.

But what about “Hamilton.” Not a song to sing but a musical to experience. Not simply a Hamilton for academics to study, but Hamilton as a story for all Americans to tell, a soundtrack for Americans to buy, a musical for high school students to perform, a message for all Americans to hear.

Yes, he is still the same Hamilton who did all those things that helped build this country, but he has become something more than an academic figure, he has become a symbol, a metaphor, an example. He has done so not only though himself but through the cast that shares his story. When Hamilton lived there was no such thing as a white race in America. There were Scotch-Irish, Dutch, Palatines, French Huguenot, Puritan English, Cavalier English and woe to the person in New York who didn’t recognize the difference among the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora. Now we have new names and more peoples but the issue remains the same – are we all part of We the People?

Hamilton answers in the affirmative.

Hamilton affirms that July 4 is the birthday of the country for all Americans.

Hamilton asserts that we are all part of the American narrative.

The journey continues

Who will tell the story ends the musical.

We will tell the story.

Right here.

Right now.

With the Alexander Hamilton Immigrant Achievement Awards

Thank you and congratulations to the awardees for continuing the journey.