One hundred and thirty years ago today, the President of the United States extended an invitation to the nations of the world to come together for a World’s Fair in Chicago.
President Benjamin Harrison. [Image from Campbell, James B. Campbell’s Illustrated History of the World’s Columbian Exposition, Volume I. M. Juul & Co., 1894.]
December 24, 1890
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
WHEREAS satisfactory proof has been presented to me that provision has been made for adequate grounds and buildings for the uses of the World’s Columbian Exposition, and that a sum not less than $10,000,000, to be used and expended for the purposes of said exposition, has been provided in accordance with the conditions and requirements of section 10 of an act entitled “An act to provide for celebrating the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus by holding an international exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures, and the products of the soil, mine, and sea, in the city of Chicago, in the State of Illinois,” approved April 25, 1890:
NOW, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, by virtue of the authority vested in me by said act, do hereby declare and proclaim that such international exhibition will be opened on the 1st day of May, in the year 1893, in the city of Chicago, in the State of Illinois, and will not be closed before the last Thursday in October of the same year.
AND in the name of the Government and of the people of the United States I do hereby invite all the nations of the earth to take part in the commemoration of an event that is preeminent in human history and of lasting interest to mankind by appointing representatives thereto and sending such exhibits to the World’s Columbian Exposition as will most fitly and fully illustrate their resources, their industries, and their progress in civilization.
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 24th day of December, 1890, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and fifteenth.
By the President:
BENJ. HARRISON
JAMES G. BLAINE,
Secretary of State.
Signatures of President Benjamin Harrison and Secretary of State James G. Blaine. [Image from The Graphic History of the Fair. Graphic Co., 1894.]