Click on the days of the week for the events of that day.

FRIDAY DECEMBER 28th

The Public Reading of The Declaration of Independence

Friday, December 28th 9:00 am to 9:30 am

This reading will take place at the large outdoor mural depicting the first public reading of the Declaration which took place in Trenton and will be read by Thomas Jefferson from the acclaimed American Historical Theatre .

New Citizens Swearing-In Ceremony

Friday, December 28th 9:00 am to 9:30 am

The United States was built on the promise of a new beginning, and for 25 newly naturalized citizens, their journey as Americans begins today. Join us as the Department of Homeland Security’s Citizenship and Immigration Services Bureau help dozens of New Jerseyans realize their American Dream. County Executive Brian Hughes will kick-off this moving ceremony.

Trenton Battlefield Walking Tour

Friday, December 28th 9:30 am to 11:30 am

This 10-block interpretive walk narrates the events of the two battles of Trenton. Broad and Warren Streets turn back to Queen and King Streets as Washington’s shivering troops approach from two directions to strike the Hessian forces with shock and awe. On the tour you will
• Walk in the footsteps of Stark’s and Mercer’s attacks;
• Site the guns at the twin artillery positions manned by Capt. Thomas Forrest and Lt.
Alexander Hamilton (yep, that one!);
• Walk the ground where Lt. James Monroe’s squad launched their famous attack on the
German guns;
• Survey the ground of the Hessian counterattack and the mortal wounding of Col.
Johann Rall; and
• Stand at the base of Washington’s Mill Hill defense, where the general set his plan for
his daring, nighttime flank maneuver.
The tour will be led by Ralph Siegel of Trenton Battlefield Tours.
Event is free. Reservations required. Limited to 100 hundred people.

The Puritan Origins of American Patrotism

Friday, December 28th 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm

George McKenna, author of The Puritan Origins of American Patriotism and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Political Science at City College of New York, examines the entire panorama of American history to track the development of American patriotism. That patriotism—shaped by Reformation Protestantism and imbued with the American Puritan belief in a providential “errand”—has evolved over 350 years and influenced American political culture in both positive and negative ways. The germ of the patriotism, an activist theology that stressed collective rather than individual salvation, began in the late 1630s in New England and traveled across the continent, eventually becoming a national phenomenon. Today, American patriotism still reflects its origins in the seventeenth century.

The Washington-Rochambeau Route

Friday, December 28th 1:45 pm to 2:45 pm

General Washington and Rochambeau marched through New Jersey on their way to the ulimate confrontation at Yorktown. The National Park Service recently completed the Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary Route Study as authorized by Congress and sponsored by the New Jersey Historic Trust. Dr. Robert Selig participated in this assessment as an historian and will discuss the historical importance of the route.

The Roles of Blacks in the American Revolution

Friday, December 28th 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm

Join interpreters Fred Minus and Algernon Ward as they explore the roles of blacks in the American Revolution, including a discussion of the 40 Marbleheaders who crossed the Delaware with George Washington and the eight local blacks from the Trenton area who fought in the battles of Trenton.