President Elect Obama Will Travel via Train for Washington Inauguration
Manila Commuter on Dec 16 2008 at 8:10 am | Filed under: Around the World
Video Courtesy of PhillySchroeder
As is traditional with all US Presidents Elect, the soon to be President of the United States will be heading to his inauguration in Washington via the railways. The Obama family will board the train in Philadelphia, before proceeding to Wilmington, Del. to pick up Vice-President elect Biden and his family, make a stop in Baltimore — before finally arriving in Washington for the historic inauguration.
Philadelphia was chosen as the first leg of the trip due to its historical significance of having been the site of the first Continental Congress, an event that gathered “56 delegates from twelve of the Thirteen Colonies that would become the United States,” which, in turn, “organized an economic boycott of Great Britain in protest and petitioned the king for a redress of grievances.”
The train ride is also significant because it marks the final leg of President Elect Obama’s journey that began in Old State Capitol — “the site of Abraham Lincoln’s famous “House Divided” speech in 1858 about how the United States could not continue to be divided by the issue of slavery.” It is very apt that the first elected black president of the United States announced his candidacy on those very same steps.
The presidential inaugural committee also hopes that the train stops in Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore, will allow “as many Americans as possible who wish to participate, but can’t be in Washington” to take part in the inaugural process.
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