Excerpt from Report of the New Jersey Commissioners on the Centennial Exhibition, 1877 The Centennial Exhibition was not only the great event of the century in its relations to every material interest of the country, but it was an impressive and appropriate commemoration of a historic event, which the American people, in an especial sense, are accustomed to regard as the most important in the world's history. Our own State of New Jersey was conspicuous in exploits of valor and patriotism in the permanent establishment of our national independence, and she has been scarcely less identified with, and instrumental in rendering the celebration of its one hundredth anniversary a crowning success. That the exhibition feature of the occasion was a thoughtful device cannot be gainsayed, and while other nations united with us in this notable commemorative exhibition, with great credit to themselves, our own people have special cause for thankful gratulation for the surpassing excellence and impressive significance of the American department. International Exhibitions have well nigh become necessities, and will no doubt often be repeated by leading nations. Where held, they have always awakened a good degree of national ambition, and a laudable desire to excel all preceding efforts. The American population was not exempt from this spirit of emulation, which was illustrated not only in the vigorous preparation of a comprehensive national display of their resources and products, but in their personal devotion to the exhibition through the entire season. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.